China's Xi to visit Putin; Biden hosting Irish prime minister on St. Patrick's Day; and more morning headlines

Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning to visit Russia next week in a diplomatic boost for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The show of support came the same day the International Criminal Court at The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin for alleged war crimes. Xi's visit comes amid sharpening East-West tensions over the war in Ukraine. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is expected to dominate the discussions. China has refused to condemn Moscow’s aggression and has sought to project itself as neutral in the conflict. It has condemned Western sanctions and accused NATO and the U.S. of provoking Russia into military action. Xi's trip to Moscow is the latest sign of Beijing's emboldened diplomatic ambitions.

President Joe Biden donned a green tie and sported shamrocks in a chest pocket as he welcomed Ireland’s prime minister to the White House — two years after the COVID-19 pandemic scuttled the last St. Patrick’s Day meeting. Biden said Friday that he plans to visit both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland this year. Biden and Prime Minister Leo Varadkar visited the Capitol, as well, on Friday, and the president and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy both spoke warmly of their Irish heritage. Earlier, Varadker and his partner had breakfast with Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, where the Irish leader praised U.S. support for LGBTQ rights.

Besieged Republican Rep. George Santos is carrying on in Congress despite calls for him to resign after he admitted to fabricating many aspects of his life story. He faces a crush of investigations, but he is rewriting his story in real time — delivering speeches, dashing through the halls of the U.S. Capitol, business as usual. It’s an unusual up-is-down approach that would have been almost unthinkable in an earlier generation. But it's one that signals the new norms taking hold amid the deepening of a post-truth era in Congress. Pressed about it, Santos declared, "Truth still matters very much.”

North Korea says it fired an intercontinental ballistic missile to “strike fear into the enemies” as the United States and its allies staged military exercises. The launch occurred hours before South Korea and Japan agreed to work closely on regional security with the United States. With four missile displays in about a week, North Korea has ratcheted up its response to the biggest U.S.-South Korean military drills in years. State media said Kim Jong Un supervised the Hwasong-17 launch and described his rivals' exercises as “open hostility” toward the North. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said at his summit with Japanese Prime Minster Fumio Kishida that their countries needed to work together to counter the North Korean threat.

The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was remembered during ceremonies at the Supreme Court. The justice was a champion for women's rights and died just ahead of the 2020 election. Chief Justice John Roberts called her a “woman of conviction, courage and quiet compassion.” Ginsburg served as a justice for 27 years and was the Supreme Court’s second female member. Her death allowed then-President Donald Trump to replace the liberal icon with a conservative justice, moving the high court to the right. The ceremonies at the Supreme Court are a tradition following the death of a justice. The tradition dates to 1822.