First Run News

SHANGHAI — Moody’s Investors Service downgraded its credit rating on China’s sovereign debt by a notch on Wednesday, saying the steady buildup of debt in the Chinese economy would erode the country’s financial strength in the years ahead. In a bluntly worded statement, Moody’s said the Chinese government remained committed to achieving high economic growth despite slowing productivity gains and a shrinking population of working-age adults.

WASHINGTON — President Trump praised President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines in a phone call last month for doing an “unbelievable job on the drug problem” in the island nation where the government has sanctioned gunning down suspects in the streets. Mr.

If one assumption has undergirded Republican economic policy for decades — and is the foundation of the Trump administration’s first budget proposal — it is that tax cuts will unleash fantastic growth. The basic idea is that shrinking the government’s share increases what people take home, encouraging workers to work more and investors to invest more.

■ Pope Francis welcomed President Trump to the Vatican on Wednesday for the first face-to-face meeting of two leaders with contrasting visions. ■ For Mr.

VATICAN CITY — Vatican on Wednesday, shaking his hand before ushering him into his study for the first face-to-face meeting of the two leaders, who symbolize starkly different views of the world. Around 8:20 a.m., under a crystalline blue sky, the president’s motorcade rolled into the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, where ostrich-feather-plumed Swiss Guards saluted as Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania, stepped out of an armored limousine. A few minutes before Mr.

• Russia and the Trump campaign. • President Trump asked two top intelligence officials to deny the existence of any evidence of collusion between his campaign and Russia, former officials said. Both of the intelligence officials testified before lawmakers on Tuesday. Mr. Brennan, the former C.I.A.

WASHINGTON — Donald J. Trump’s campaign might be aiding that fight. Mr. Brennan, in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, said he was concerned by a series of suspicious contacts between Russian government officials and Mr. Trump’s associates. The C.I.A.

LONDON — Some of the girls had barely reached puberty. Many had come with parents in tow.

A deadly bombing struck an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, on Monday night. Traumatized fans, including children, screamed and ran.

With bomb-sniffing dogs, bag inspections and rows of metal detectors at the entrance, the modern concert arena is in some ways a fortress. But the blast that killed 22 people on Monday at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, highlighted the dangers that still exist along the perimeters of these buildings — on the street or in public concourses where concertgoers and others may gather in large numbers, unexamined by any security force. Inv