National News

The West African nation of Liberia was settled 200 years ago by people of color from the United States. Brenda Brewer Moore can trace her family history back on both sides to former slaves who became some of the most prominent figures in their newly adopted country — explorers, surveyors, ambassadors. These settlers, known as Americo-Liberians, brought cultural traditions across the Atlantic Ocean with them, including Thanksgiving.

The three white men who chased down and killed Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was jogging through their Georgia neighborhood last year, were all found guilty of murder charges.

The high-profile shooting — and the 10 weeks it took for law enforcement to make the first arrests — galvanized racial injustice protests in the summer of 2020.

Soccer star Karim Benzema, who plays for Real Madrid and the French national team, has been found guilty of conspiring to blackmail a former teammate over a sex tape. The scandal has been unfolding since 2015 and caused major setbacks in both players' careers.

A court in Versailles, France, handed Benzema a one-year suspended jail sentence and fined him 75,000 euros (about $84,000). The court also found four of Benzema's co-defendants guilty of attempted blackmail.

The past year and a half have been stressful on many fronts for Chris Aragon, a caregiver for his older brother who has cerebral palsy.

"The left side of his body is atrophied and smaller than his right side, and he has trouble getting around. He's kind of like a big teenager," says Aragon, 60, who is part Apache and lives with his brother on the Fort Berthold Reservation of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, in North Dakota.

President Biden has nominated Shalanda Young to be director of the White House Office of Management and Budget and Nani Coloretti as deputy director, the White House said.