U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid strained relations between Riyadh and Washington.

Blinken's trip, his second to Saudi Arabia since becoming America's top diplomat, comes after the kingdom under Prince Mohammed has been more willing to disregard the U.S. in striking its own decisions. Riyadh has clashed repeatedly with President Joe Biden on its supply of crude oil to global markets, its willingness to partner with Russia in OPEC+ and reaching a détente with Iran mediated by China. Biden also pledged to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah" over the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Republican members of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources are raising concerns about ties between Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and an Indigenous group from her home state that advocates for halting oil and gas production on public lands.

The members on Monday sent a letter to Haaland requesting documents related to her interactions with Pueblo Action Alliance as well as those of her daughter, Somah, who has worked with the group and has rallied against fossil fuel development.

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Jennifer Weeks, The Conversation

Pope Francis briefly went to Rome's main hospital on Tuesday for tests and returned to the Vatican, two months after he was hospitalized with an acute case of bronchitis.

The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said the pontiff underwent "some clinical examinations and returned to the Vatican before noon" from the Gemelli hospital.

With the "Transformers" franchise clearly at a crossroads, its latest protectors have turned to their deep bench of characters. But just adding more robots won't transform this tired series.

"Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" returns the franchise to its galaxy-wide self-importance after taking a nice detour with 2018's smaller "Bumblebee." We have a new cast of animal robots and a very evil enemy in the planet-eating Unicron, but they're not used right and the movie limps from fight to fight.

Apple has a long history of designing products that aren't the first to be introduced in a particular category but still redefine the market. With the company unveiling a headset equipped with virtual and augmented reality technology already available in other devices, here is a look back at some of Apple's other breakthrough products:

THE MACINTOSH COMPUTER, UNVEILED JANUARY 1984

France's beloved abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel has reached a ripe old age. It's been 1,000 years since the laying of its first stone.

The millennial of the UNESCO World Heritage site and key Normandy tourism magnet is being celebrated until November with exhibits, dance shows and concerts. And now a presidential visit.

Japan's government on Tuesday adopted a revision to the country's plans to use more hydrogen as fuel as part of the effort to reduce carbon emissions.

The plan sets an ambitious target to increase the annual supply by six times from the current level to 12 million tons by 2040. It also pledges 15 trillion yen ($107 billion) in funding from both private and public sources to build up hydrogen-related supply chains over the next 15 years.

Karim Benzema officially bid farewell to Real Madrid on Tuesday, saying he wanted to end his career with the club but life gave him another opportunity.

The French striker did not give any hints about his future, which reportedly remained linked to a lucrative move to play in Saudi Arabia.

The global economy is likely slowing sharply this year, hobbled by high interest rates, the repercussions of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic.