Thought of the Day
It is Friday… any plan of being a productive member of society is officially thrown out the window.
March 14th 2025
Bubble watch: Indiana and Xavier now feeling the heat with Texas and North Carolina closing strong
Xavier and Indiana had chances to give their NCAA Tournament resumes a significant boost. But the Musketeers lost 89-87 to No. 25 Marquette, and Indiana fell 72-59 to No. 23 Oregon. Those aren’t bad losses by any means, but they were squandered chances. And Xavier and Indiana are very much on the bubble. Texas and North Carolina are two bubble teams whose outlooks seemed pretty precarious a couple days ago. Now they’re still alive in their conference tournaments. The Longhorns snagged a huge win over No. 14 Texas A&M, 94-89 in double overtime. The Tar Heels beat Wake Forest 68-59.
North Carolina beats Wake Forest 68-59 to advance to ACC semifinals behind RJ Davis’ 23 points
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — RJ Davis had 23 points and five 3-pointers, Ven-Allen Lubin added 10 points and 13 rebounds, and No. 5 seed North Carolina beat fourth-seeded Wake Forest 68-59 on Thursday in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals for coach Hubert Davis’ 100th victory with the program.
North Carolina (22-12), which has won eight of its last nine games, advances to play No. 1 seed Duke in the semifinals on Friday. Duke coach Jon Scheyer said it’s a “real longshot” that freshman star Cooper Flagg will be able to play because of an ankle sprain.
Wake Forest (21-11) was looking to advance to its first ACC Tournament semifinals since 2006.
Jae’Lyn Withers rattled in a 3-pointer from the corner with 4:35 left to give North Carolina a 57-56 lead and the Tar Heels never trailed again.
North Carolina went ahead 63-57 with 2:04 left after six straight points. Ven-Allen Lubin went 1 of 2 at the free-throw line, but he blocked a shot at the other end and Davis sank his fifth 3-pointer in six attempts. Lubin capped the run with an alley-oop dunk.
After Hunter Sallis ended Wake Forest’s field-goal drought that lasted nearly five minutes, Lubin threw down a putback dunk to make it 65-59 with 1:27 left.
North Carolina guard Drake Powell jumped to intercept an inbounds pass and Seth Trimble was fouled with 31.8 left before making 1 of 2 free throws for a seven-point lead.
Trimble also finished with 10 points for North Carolina, which avenged a 67-66 loss at Wake Forest on Jan. 21.
Sallis led Wake Forest with 25 points. Tre’Von Spillers had 10 points and nine rebounds, and Efton Reid III grabbed 10 rebounds.
Davis turned his left ankle with 6:49 left in the second half when he stepped on the foot of Juke Harris on a drive. After a short break, he made two free throws to give North Carolina the lead at 54-53.
Wall Street tumbles after Trump escalates his trade war; S&P 500 sinks 1.2%, and Dow drops 500
By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street’s sell-off is accelerating Thursday after President Donald Trump upped the stakes in his trade war by threatening huge taxes on European wines and alcohol. Not even a double-shot of good news on the U.S. economy could stop the bleeding.
The S&P 500 was down 1.2% in afternoon trading, caught in a dizzying, battering stretch that’s driven the index roughly 10% below its record, which was set just a few weeks ago. Wall Street calls such steep drops a “correction,” and if the index finishes the day below 5,529, it would be the first for the U.S. stock market since 2023.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 507 points, or 1.2%, as of 2:15 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.6% lower.
The swings for stocks have been coming not just day to day but also hour to hour, and the Dow hurtled between a slight gain and a drop of 689 points during Thursday’s trading.
The turbulence is a result of uncertainty about how much pain Trump will let the economy endure through tariffs and other policies in order to reshape the country and world as he wants. The president has said he wants manufacturing jobs back in the United States, along with a smaller U.S. government workforce and other fundamental changes.
Trump’s latest escalation came Thursday when he threatened 200% tariffs on Champagne and other European wines, unless the European Union rolls back a “nasty” tariff announced on U.S. whiskey. The European Union unveiled that move on Wednesday, in response to U.S. tariffs on European steel and aluminum.
U.S. households and businesses have already reported drops in confidence because of all the uncertainty about which tariffs will stick from Trump’s barrage of on -again, off -again announcements. That’s raised fears about a pullback in spending that could sap energy from the economy. Some U.S. businesses say they’ve already begun to see a change in their customers’ behavior because of the uncertainty.
A particularly feared scenario for the economy is one where its growth stagnates but inflation stays high because of tariffs. Few tools are available in Washington to fix what’s called “stagflation.” If the Federal Reserve were to cut interest rates to boost the economy, for example, that could also push inflation higher.
Good news came on both those economic fronts Thursday.
One report showed inflation at the wholesale level last month was milder than economists expected. It followed a similarly encouraging report from the prior day on inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling.
But “the question for markets is whether good news on the inflation front can make itself heard above the noise of the ever-changing tariff story,” said Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.
A separate report, meanwhile, said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. It’s the latest signal that the job market remains relatively solid overall. If that can continue, it could allow U.S. consumers to keep spending, and that’s the main engine of the economy.
On Wall Steet, some stocks connected to the artificial-intelligence industry resumed their slide and weighed on stock indexes. Palantir Technologies, which offers an AI platform for customers, sank 4.5%. Super Micro Computer, which makes servers, lost 6%. Nvidia swung between gains and losses before rising 0.7%.
Such stocks have been under the most pressure in the U.S. stock market’s recent sell-off after critics said their prices shot too high in the frenzy around AI.
Other areas of the market that had also been riding big earlier momentum have seen their fortunes swing drastically. Elon Musk’s Tesla fell 3.2% following a rare back-to-back gain, and it’s down more than 40% so far in 2025.
American Eagle Outfitters dropped 4% after the retailer said “less robust demand and colder weather” has held back its performance recently. It forecasted a dip in revenue for the upcoming year, though it also delivered a stronger profit report for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
On the winning side of Wall Street was Intel, which jumped 14.9% after naming former board member and semiconductor industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as its CEO. Tan, 65, will take over the daunting job next week, more than three months after Intel’s previous CEO, Pat Gelsinger, abruptly retired amid a deepening downturn at the once-dominant chipmaker.
In the bond market, Treasury yields lost an early gain to sink lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.26% from 4.32%. The yield has been mostly dropping since January, when it was approaching 4.80%, as traders and economists have ratcheted back their expectations for U.S. economic growth.
While few are predicting a recession, particularly with the job market remaining relatively solid, recent reports have shown a souring of confidence among U.S. consumers and companies.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia, but the moves were relatively modest.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Duke’s Cooper Flagg exits ACC quarterfinals with ankle injury, but returns to bench without a boot
By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Duke star Cooper Flagg left his team’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinal game on Thursday with a left ankle injury and is doubtful to return.
The ACC player and newcomer of the year returned to the bench early in the second half, walking under his own power. He was not wearing a boot on his foot, but did not appear as though he planned to return to the game.
The top-ranked Blue Devils were trailing 26-17 late in the first half when Flagg went up for a rebound and crashed to the floor after he appeared to have his left foot land on the foot of Georgia Tech’s Baye Ndongo. He hobbled back to the bench in clear distress, then bent over with his hands on the seats and pounded a chair with his right fist.
After sitting on the bench for a few minutes, Flagg got up and put his arms around two teammates and was taken to the locker room for observation. He was later shown in a wheelchair in the bowels of the Spectrum Center, possibly being taken for X-rays.
Duke entered the game 28-3 but got off to a rough start missing its first 13 3-point shots to fall behind 14 to the unranked Yellow Jackets.
Duke clawed back to within five at the break.
Duke was projected as the likely No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament coming into the game after taking over the top spot in the rankings this week. The Blue Devils had won eight straight games before the ACC Tournament.
Duke’s Maliq Brown also left the game with a shoulder injury and will not return. The 6-foot-9 Brown is a key reserve and versatile defender who is viewed as a vital cog in Duke’s championship hopes. He had returned against North Carolina last weekend after missing about three weeks with a shoulder injury.
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This story has been corrected to show that Flagg appeared to land on the foot of Baye Ndongo, not Darrion Sutton.
Putin agrees in principle with proposal for Ukraine ceasefire and says more discussions are needed
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he agrees in principle with a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, but he emphasized that the terms are yet to be worked out and noted that any truce should pave the way to lasting peace.
“The idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it,” Putin told a news conference in Moscow. “But there are issues that we need to discuss, and I think that we need to talk about it with our American colleagues and partners and, perhaps, have a call with President Trump and discuss it with him.”
President Donald Trump said there have been “good signals” coming out of Russia and offered guarded optimism about Putin’s statement. He reiterated that he stood ready to speak with Putin and underscored that it was time to end the war.
Putin “put out a very promising statement, but it wasn’t complete,” Trump said Thursday at a start of a meeting at the White House with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. “Now we’re going to see whether or not Russia’s there. And if they’re not, it’ll be a very disappointing moment for the world.”
Putin noted the need to develop mechanisms to control possible breaches of the truce and signaled that Russia would seek guarantees that Ukraine would not use the break in hostilities to rearm and continue mobilization.
“We agree with the proposals to halt the fighting, but we proceed from the assumption that the ceasefire should lead to lasting peace and remove the root causes of the crisis,” Putin said.
The Russian leader made the remarks just hours after the arrival of Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Moscow for talks on the ceasefire, which Ukraine has accepted. A Kremlin adviser said that Putin planned to meet with Witkoff later Thursday.
The diplomatic effort coincided with a Russian claim that its troops have driven the Ukrainian army out of a key town in Russia’s Kursk border region, where Moscow has been trying for seven months to dislodge Ukrainian troops from their foothold.
Putin said it appeared that the U.S. persuaded Ukraine to accept a ceasefire and that Ukraine is interested because of the battlefield situation, particularly in Kursk.
Referring to the Ukrainian troops in Kursk, he questioned what will happen to them if the ceasefire takes hold, saying: “Will all those who are there come out without a fight? Or will the Ukrainian leadership order them to lay down arms and surrender?”
Putin thanked Trump “for paying so much attention to the settlement in Ukraine.”
He also thanked the leaders of China, India, Brazil and South Africa for their “noble mission to end the fighting,” a statement that signaled those countries’ potential involvement in a ceasefire deal.
Russia has said it will not accept peacekeepers from any NATO members to monitor a prospective truce.
The Russian Defense Ministry’s claim that it recaptured the town of Sudzha, a Ukrainian operations hub in Kursk, came hours after Putin visited his commanders in the Kursk region. The claim could not be independently verified. Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.
The renewed Russian military push and Putin’s high-profile visit to his troops unfolded as Trump seeks a diplomatic end to the war, which began more than three years ago with Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The U.S. on Tuesday lifted its March 3 suspension of military aid for Kyiv after senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials reported making progress on how to stop the fighting during talks in Saudi Arabia.
Trump said Wednesday that “it’s up to Russia now” as his administration presses Moscow to agree to the ceasefire. The U.S. president has made veiled threats to hit Russia with new sanctions if it does not engage with peace efforts.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC Thursday that Trump is “willing to apply maximum pressure on both sides,” including sanctions that reach the highest scale on Russia.
Zelenskyy chides Russia for slow response
Ukraine has expressed its own concerns that Russia would use a truce to regroup and rearm.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy chided Russia on the Telegram messaging app Thursday for what he said was its slow response to the ceasefire proposal, accusing Moscow of trying to delay any peace deal. He said that Ukraine is “determined to move quickly toward peace” and hoped U.S. pressure would compel Russia to stop fighting.
The U.S. still has about $3.85 billion in congressionally authorized funding for future arms shipments to Ukraine, but the Trump administration has shown no interest so far in using that authority to send additional weapons as it awaits the outcome of peace overtures.
By signaling its openness to a ceasefire at a time when the Russian military has the upper hand in the war, Ukraine has presented the Kremlin with a dilemma — whether to accept a truce and abandon hopes of making new gains, or reject the offer and risk derailing a cautious rapprochement with Washington.
The Ukrainian army’s foothold inside Russia has been under intense pressure for months from the renewed effort by Russian forces, backed by North Korean troops. Ukraine’s daring incursion last August led to the first occupation of Russian soil by foreign troops since World War II and embarrassed the Kremlin.
Putin visits Russian military commanders
Speaking to commanders Wednesday, Putin said that he expected the military “to completely free the Kursk region from the enemy in the nearest future.”
Wearing military fatigues, Putin added that “it’s necessary to think about creating a security zone alongside the state border,” in a signal that Moscow could try to expand its territorial gains by capturing parts of Ukraine’s neighboring Sumy region. That idea could complicate a ceasefire deal.
Ukraine launched the raid in a bid to counter the unceasingly grim news from the front line, as well as to draw Russian troops away from the battlefield inside Ukraine and to gain a bargaining chip in any peace talks. But the incursion did not significantly change the dynamic of the war.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, assessed late Wednesday that Russian forces were in control of Sudzha, a town close to the border that previously was home to about 5,000 people.
Ukraine’s top military commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Russian aircraft had carried out an unprecedented number of strikes on Kursk and that as a result Sudzha had been almost completely destroyed. He did not comment on whether Ukraine still controlled the settlement but said his country was “maneuvering (troops) to more advantageous lines.”
Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Dmytro Krasylnykov, commander of Ukraine’s Northern Operational Command, which includes the Kursk region, was dismissed from his post, he told Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne on Wednesday. He told the outlet that he was not given a reason for his dismissal, saying “I’m guessing, but I don’t want to talk about it yet.”
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Associated Press Writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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This story has been corrected to show that Suzha is a key Ukrainian military hub, not Kursk’s biggest town.
Trump threatens retaliatory 200% tariff on European wine after EU proposes American whiskey tax
By AAMER MADHANI and JOSH BOAK Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened a 200% tariff on European wine, Champagne and spirits if the European Union goes forward with a planned tariff on American whiskey.
The European import tax, which was unveiled in response to steel and aluminum tariffs by the U.S. administration, is expected to go into effect on April 1, just ahead of separate reciprocal tariffs that Trump plans to place on the EU.
But Trump, in a morning social media post, vowed a new escalation in his trade war if the EU goes forward with the planned 50% tax on American whiskey.
“If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES,” Trump wrote. “This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday that the EU trade commissioner would be having a phone call Friday with his U.S. counterpart.
“We don’t like tariffs because we think tariffs are taxes and they are bad for business and they are bad for consumers,” she said. “We have always said at the same time that we will defend our interests. We’ve said it, and we’ve shown it, but at the same time I also want to emphasize that we are open for negotiations.”
The U.S. president has defined his opening weeks in the White House with near daily drama regarding tariffs, saying that taxing imports might cause some economic pain but would eventually lead to more domestic manufacturing and greater respect for America.
But with the EU and Trump now tussling over alcohol tariffs, the impact of a trade war could surface for consumers. It’s unclear how the import taxes would be absorbed among vintners, distillers, brewers, distributors, retailers and consumers.
Because of Trump’s threat, a previously untariffed $15 bottle of Italian Prosecco could possibly increase in price to $45. Similarly, Europe’s response to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs means that the cost of a 30-euro bottle of bourbon in Paris could increase to 45 euros.
Holly Seidewand, owner of First Fill Spirits, a shop in Saratoga Springs, New York, said before Trump threatened the tariffs on European alcohol, the spirits industry was already reeling from layoff announcements in the Kentucky Bourbon sector and the tariffs planned by the EU on American spirits.
“This ongoing tariff war doesn’t just harm importers — it weakens domestic brands, disrupts distributors, and squeezes retailers who rely on global selections,” she said. “In the end, consumers will bear the brunt of it all.”
Gabriel Picard, who heads the French Federation of Exporters of Wines and Spirits, said 200% tariffs would be “a hammer blow” for the sector. He said the U.S. market is worth 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion) annually for French exporters of wines and spirits.
“Not a single bottle will continue to be expedited if 200% tariffs are applied to our products. All exports to the United States will come to a total, total, halt,” Picard said in an interview with The Associated Press. “With 200% duties, there is no more market.”
As of now, Europe seems unwilling to back down.
“Trump is escalating the trade war he has chosen,” Laurent Saint-Martin, the French delegate minister for foreign trade, said on X. “France, together with the European Commission and our partners, is determined to fight back. We will not give in to threats and will always protect our industries.”
Trump’s latest tariff threats suggested that even companies that have publicly stood by him could be collateral damage, raising questions about whether the wider business community would be willing to openly challenge a series of trade wars that have hurt the stock market and scared consumers who worry about inflation worsening.
Bernard Arnault, the CEO of French luxury goods company LVMH, attended Trump’s inauguration in January. His company’s wine and spirits brands, which include Moët & Chandon, Krug, Veuve Clicquot and Hennessy, could be subject to the retaliatory tariffs the U.S. president is seeking. The Italian company Campari could also be hurt, after the White House highlighted it at Tuesday’s press briefing for possibly opening a U.S. factory.
The Republican president on Wednesday had signaled that he intended to take the tariffs action.
“Of course I will respond,” Trump told reporters during an Oval Office exchange with reporters.
Trump, in announcing the new steel and aluminum tariffs on Wednesday, openly challenged U.S. allies and vowed to take back wealth “stolen” by other countries, and he drew quick retaliation.
He has separate tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, with plans to also tax imports from the European Union, Brazil and South Korea by charging “reciprocal” rates starting on April 2.
The EU announced its own countermeasures. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that as the United States was “applying tariffs worth 28 billion dollars, we are responding with countermeasures worth 26 billion euros,” or about $28 billion.
Those measures cover not just steel and aluminum products but also textiles, home appliances and agricultural goods.
European Commission spokesman Olof Gill said Thursday shortly before Trump’s announcement that the EU was “prepared for whatever might come, and we have been preparing for over a year.”
“We call on the U.S. to immediately revoke the tariffs imposed yesterday, and we want to negotiate to avoid tariffs in the future,” Gill added. “They bring nothing but lose-lose outcomes, and we want to focus on win-win outcomes.”
U.S. whiskey makers, meanwhile, encouraged Trump to broker a deal.
“We urge President Trump to secure a spirits agreement with the EU to get us back to zero-for-zero tariffs, which will create U.S. jobs and increase manufacturing and exports for the American hospitality sector,” Chris Swonger, president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council, said in a statement.
When Europe responded to Trump’s 2018 tariffs with a 25% tax on U.S. whiskey, exports to the EU fell by 20% through 2021, according to the Distilled Spirits Council. Trump’s separate 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico could put 31,000 jobs at risk in the sector.
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AP writers Lorne Cook in Brussels, Samuel Petrequin and John Leicester in Paris, Mae Anderson, Dee-Ann Durbin and Mike Warren contributed reporting.
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Cinnamon Monkey Bread
Cinnamon Moneky Bread
Cinnamon Monkey Bread Recipe from Live Craft Eat
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Serving size: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 3 cans refrigerated biscuits
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
Directions
- Open biscuits and cut individual biscuits into quarters. combine the sugar and the cinnamon in a bowl and roll each of the biscuit pieces in the cinnamon sugar mixture until well coated. place in a well-greased bundt pan.
- In a saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. remove from heat and pour over biscuits.
- Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.
March 13th 2025
Thought of the Day
Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.