For the first time, a detainee at the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay has testified about the brutal treatment he experienced as part of the U.S. government's interrogation program at CIA black sites.
Driving the news: A panel of military officers, selected by a Pentagon legal official, sentenced Majid Khan, a Pakistani citizen and former Baltimore resident who joined al-Qaeda as a courier, to 26 years in prison on Friday, AP reports.
President Biden on Friday told French President Emmanuel Macron that his administration's handling of the U.S.-U.K. submarine deal with Australia was "clumsy."
Why it matters: The U.S. has been attempting to repair its relationship with France since the country declared a "crisis of trust" over the new Indo-Pacific security partnership known as AUKUS, which caused Australia to scrap a multibillion-dollar submarine contract with France.
President Biden told reporters on Friday that Pope Francis believes he should continue to receive communion, adding that the pope "was happy that I was a good Catholic."
Why it matters: The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this year sparked debate over whether politicians who support abortion rights should be denied communion. Francis has previously said that Catholic bishops should not let politics influence pastoral decisions.
Hopes for a breakthrough with Chinese leaders are hanging by a thread just two days before the UN climate summit, but the story's not over yet.
Catch up fast: China, in a long-awaited new submission to the UN Thursday, declined to speed up its existing pledge to reach peak carbon emissions before 2030.
With paid family leave out of the Build Back Better framework released by the White House yesterday, the U.S. remains one of seven countries without paid leave for new moms, Bloomberg reports.
The others: Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Tonga, per UCLA's World Policy Analysis Center.
Biden's meeting in Romewith French President Macron is expected to produce fresh U.S. commitments to European security initiatives, including more investment for counterterrorism forces in Africa, French officials tell Axios.
Why it matters: This will be the first time the two leaders have met in-person since the French declared a "crisis of trust" over the U.S. and U.K.'s secret submarine deal with Australia, which triggered the recall of France's ambassador to Washington for the first time in history.
Mexico announced Thursday it will give temporary humanitarian visas to children and pregnant women who are traveling with a migrant caravan currently moving north through the country.
Driving the news: A recent caravan of Central American and Caribbean migrants is traveling towards Mexico City and the U.S. and comprised largely of families with children, per Reuters.
