By KATIE WORKMAN, Associated Press

You have to become a little crafty at this time of year about getting vegetables onto the table in ways that still feel interesting. In many places, the cold has settled in, farmers’ market offerings have thinned out, and we’re left with the hardiest of fruits and vegetables.

Root vegetables are the stars now, but they do benefit from a bit of inspiration when figuring out how to use them.

Enter soup. Even the most stoic vegetables can be coaxed into something soft, sweet and yielding. In this Creamy Rutabaga, Parsnip and Cheddar Soup, they’re simmered until ready to be puréed into a smooth potage that warms the soul and happily anchors a meal.

A recipe for a creamy rutabaga, parsnip and cheddar soup is displayed in New York on Aug. 31, 2018. (Cheyenne M. Cohen via AP)

This is the kind of soup you can’t stop spooning up, full of earthy flavor from rutabagas and parsnips — the kind of vegetables that linger in the produce drawer, quietly daring us to figure out their fate. But if you ignore them long enough… well, then the rutabaga wins.

Not this time. And yes, I see you too, parsnips.

The color of the cheddar cheese — white, yellow or deep orange — will affect the hue of the soup. There’s no right or wrong, just something to keep in mind. The parsley is optional, and the sour cream adds a lovely creaminess, but it shouldn’t be a deal breaker. This soup is forgiving, flexible and very much on your side.

If you have an immersion blender you can puree the soup right in the pot, which saves time, skips having to pull out the blender or food processor, and eliminates the need to transfer hot contents back and forth.

This could certainly be a first course, but it’s substantial and comforting enough to be the main event, especially when paired with a crisp green salad.

Rutabagas 101

First, some tips on choosing, storing and cooking the rutabagas:

Pick rutabagas that feel heavy for their size with firm, smooth skin.
Medium-size rutabagas tend to be sweeter and less woody.
A food-grade waxy coating is normal, often added to rutabagas to extend their shelf life. Just peel it off before cooking.
Store unpeeled, unwashed rutabagas in the refrigerator crisper. They’ll keep well for several weeks.
If greens are attached, remove them before storing.

And prepping rutabagas:

Trim the ends, then peel with a sharp knife or sturdy vegetable peeler.
Cut into evenly sized pieces so they cook at the same rate.
Rutabagas take a bit longer than potatoes to cook, but they soften beautifully.

Creamy Rutabaga, Parsnip and Cheddar Soup

Serves 6

A recipe for a creamy rutabaga, parsnip and cheddar soup is displayed in New York on Aug. 31, 2018. (Cheyenne M. Cohen via AP)

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup chopped onion

2 stalks celery, sliced

2 large rutabagas, peeled and diced

2 parsnips, peeled and sliced

5 cups less-sodium chicken or vegetable broth

1 tablespoon pureed chipotles in adobo

1 ½ cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup sour cream

To serve (optional):

Chopped parsley

Sour cream or crème fraiche

Directions

1. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the shallots and the celery and sauté for about 4 minutes, until tender. Add the rutabagas and parsnips and stir, then pour in the broth, raise the heat to high and bring to a simmer. Lower the heat to medium and simmer, partially covered, for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

2. Use an immersion blender to puree the vegetables right in the pot, or carefully transfer the vegetables and some of the liquid in batches to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Return the soup to the pot, if needed, and over low heat stir in the chipotles in adobo and sprinkle in the cheese slowly, stirring as you do, until the cheese is melted. Add the sour cream and heat until heated through. Serve hot, with chopped parsley and a bloop of sour cream or crème fraiche if desired.

Katie Workman writes regularly about food for The Associated Press. She has written two cookbooks focused on family-friendly cooking, “Dinner Solved!” and “The Mom 100 Cookbook.” She blogs at https://themom100.com/. She can be reached at Katie@themom100.com.

By BRIAN MELLEY

LONDON (AP) — The third and final round in Prince Harry ‘s battle with the British tabloids began Monday with his lawyer alleging that the Daily Mail and its sister Sunday newspaper engaged in a “clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering” for two decades.

Attorney David Sherborne said a longstanding culture of hiring private investigators who practiced “dark arts” to spy on celebrities for scoops had left Harry distressed and isolated.

It was “disturbing to feel that my every move, thought or feeling was being tracked and monitored just for the Mail to make money out of it,” Harry said, according to his lawyer’s written opening statement.

The intrusions were “terrifying” for his loved ones, created a “massive strain” on his personal relationships, and the distrust and suspicion they caused left Harry “paranoid beyond belief,” Sherborne said.

Tens of millions of dollars are on the line in the privacy invasion case in which the Duke of Sussex is joined by Elton John, actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, and others who claim the publisher of the Mail hired private investigators to bug their cars, obtain their personal records and eavesdrop on phone calls.

Associated Newspapers Ltd. has denied the allegations, called them preposterous and said the articles in question were reported with legitimate sources that included “leaky” associates willing to dish dirt on their famous friends.

The prince vs. the publishers

The trial in London’s High Court is expected to last nine weeks and will see the return of Harry to the witness box Thursday for the second time since he made history in 2023 by becoming the first senior member of the royal family to testify in more than a century.

Harry, wearing a dark blue suit, cheerfully waved at reporters as he entered the court building via a side entrance. He took a seat in the back row of the courtroom near Hurley and Frost as John watched the proceedings online.

The case in the High Court follows two cases Harry brought against the other major tabloids that grew out of the widespread phone hacking scandal in which some journalists intercepted voicemail messages around the turn of this century.

Harry won a court judgment in 2023 that condemned the publishers of the Daily Mirror for “widespread and habitual” interception of phone messages. Last year, Rupert Murdoch’s flagship U.K. tabloid made an unprecedented apology for intruding on Harry’s life for years, and agreed to pay substantial damages to settle his privacy invasion lawsuit.

The litigation is part of Harry’s self-proclaimed mission to reform the media that he blames for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a car crash in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi in Paris. He also said persistent press attacks on his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, led them to leave royal life and move to the United States in 2020.

Defense says ‘leaky’ friends among sources of articles

Defense lawyer Antony White said the lawsuits were based on weak inferences by trying to connect articles to payments made to investigators.

But he said witnesses, from editors to reporters who have worked for the newspapers for decades, were “lining up” to dispute the allegations and explain their sources, which he said were often very close the subjects of the articles.

“This is in reality little more than guesswork — it involves jumping to conclusions based on insufficient evidence, or worse, artificially selecting and presenting evidence to fit the preconceived agenda,” White wrote in his opening statement. “It also ignores the fact that references in articles to a ‘friend’, or similar, as a source can be accurate.”

In addition to Harry’s social circle, royal press officers, publicists and freelance journalists and photographers were also good sources, White said.

Associated Newspapers also argues that the claims, dating as far back as 1993, were brought too late when the suits were filed in 2022. Judge Matthew Nicklin refused to throw out the cases on those grounds but will reconsider that defense after hearing the evidence.

Skeletons in the closet

Sherborne said the company’s vigorous denials, destruction of records and “masses upon masses of missing documents” had prevented the claimants from learning what the newspapers had done.

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“They swore that they were a clean ship,” Sherborne said. “Associated knew that these emphatic denials were not true. … They knew they had skeletons in their closet.”

Sherborne said his clients had not been aware they were phone hacking victims until private eye Gavin Burrows came forward in 2021 to help those he targeted.

Burrows said he “must have done hundreds of jobs” for the Mail between 2000 and 2005, Sherborne said in a previous hearing. Harry, Hurley, Frost, and John and his husband, David Furnish, were “just a small handful of my targets,” Burrows said in a statement read in court.

But Burrows has since disavowed that sworn statement and said he never worked for the Mail.

White said a substantial part of the case collapses without Burrows on the side of the claimants.

“Indeed, in the case of several of the claimants, their explanations of their ‘personal watershed moments’ show that without Mr. Burrows they would never have brought their claims,” he said.

But Sherborne, who said other witnesses have said Burrows did work for the newspapers, downplayed the investigator’s significance to his case.

“Mr Burrows is just one of a large number of private investigators Associated used and, we say, engaged in unlawful activities,” Sherborne said. “He was just the original whistleblower.”

The other claimants are anti-racism activist Doreen Lawrence and former politician Simon Hughes.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will attend the Supreme Court’s oral arguments Wednesday in a case involving the attempted firing of Fed governor Lisa Cook, an unusual show of support by the central bank chair.

The high court is considering whether President Donald Trump can fire Cook, an unprecedented attempt by the White House to remove an official appointed by former President Joe Biden. Powell plans to attend the Wednesday session, according to a person familiar with the matter.

It’s a much more public show of support than the Fed chair has previously shown Cook, who Trump first sought to fire in late August. But it follows Powell’s announcement last week that the Trump administration has sent subpoenas to the Fed, threatening an unprecedented criminal indictment of the Fed Chair.

Powell issued a video statement Jan. 11 condemning the subpoenas as “pretexts” for Trump’s efforts to force him to sharply cut the Fed’s key interest rate.

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By JAMEY KEATEN

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Corporate chiefs and government leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump swarm into Davos, Switzerland, this week, joining an elite annual meeting that promotes dialogue and economic progress — even as a domineering tone from Washington has upended the global order and billionaires have reaped trillions in new wealth as the poor lag behind.

The World Economic Forum, the think tank whose four-day annual meeting opens Tuesday, has a stated motto of “improving the state of the world,” and this year’s theme is “A spirit of dialogue.” One question is whether Trump will speak with attendees — or at them.

Nearly 3,000 attendees from the interlinked worlds of business, advocacy and policy will tackle issues including the growing gap between rich and poor; AI’s impact on jobs; concerns about geo-economic conflict; tariffs that have rocked longstanding trade relationships; and an erosion of trust between communities and countries.

“It’s really going to be a discussion at a very important moment … geopolitics is changing,” said Mirek Dušek, a forum managing director in charge of programming. “Some people think we’re in a transition. Some people think we’ve already entered a new era. But I think it’s undeniable that you are seeing a more competitive, more contested landscape.”

Trump set to loom large

Trump’s third visit to Davos as president comes as U.S. allies worry about his ambition to take over Greenland, Latin America is grappling with his efforts to reap Venezuela’s oil, and his hardball tactics toward Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell have stirred concern among business leaders and lawmakers alike.

Trump’s peace-making credentials also will be on the table: An announcement looms about his “ Board of Peace ” for Gaza, and he and his administration are expected to have bilateral meetings in the warren of side rooms at the Congress Center.

The U.S. leader seems to revel in strolling through the Davos Congress Center and among executives who back his business-minded, money-making approach to politics.

Critics will also be nearby: He’s blown hot and cold recently with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, an invitee; Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi of Iran, whose leaders face U.S. sanctions over their handling of recent protests, was set to speak but organizers on Monday canceled his appearance, saying “the tragic loss of civilian lives” means “it is not right” for the government to be represented.

The two likeliest counterweights to Trump’s administration on the international scene — China and the European Union — get top billing on the first day: EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will speak Tuesday morning, right before Vice Premier He Lifeng, China’s “economic czar” — as Dušek put it.

Founder Schwab sits out, as Nvidia chief makes a debut

The forum will be without its founder, Klaus Schwab, who hosted the first event in Davos 55 years ago focusing on business, only to see it since balloon into a catchall extravaganza. He stepped down in April. New co-chairs Larry Fink, the head of investment firm BlackRock, and Andre Hoffman, vice chair of pharmaceuticals firm Roche, are in charge.

This year will also mark the debut appearance of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, arguably the world’s most important tech leader today, among some 850 CEOs and chairs of global companies – along with celebrities like Hollywood actor and safe-water advocate Matt Damon.

The future of AI, its impact on business and work, and the prospects for artificial general intelligence will be key themes.

The presidents of Argentina, France, Indonesia, Syria and Ukraine will be among the dozens of national leaders on hand.

As rich-poor divide widens, trust in institutions falters

Leading public-relations firm Edelman reports in its annual trust barometer – launched a quarter-century ago and this year surveying nearly 34,000 people in 28 countries – that trade and recession fears have climbed to an all-time high, optimism is falling especially in developed countries, and “grievance” last year has morphed into broader “insularity.”

“People are retreating from dialogue and compromise, choosing the safety of the familiar over the perceived risk of change,” said CEO Richard Edelman. “We favor nationalism over global connection and individual gain over joint progress. Our mentality has shifted from ‘we’ to ‘me’.”

The survey found that about two-thirds of respondents said their trust was concentrated toward CEOs of the companies that they work for, fellow citizens or neighbors, while nearly 70% believed institutional leaders — such as from business or government — deliberately mislead the public.

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Oxfam, the world-renowned advocacy group, issued a report which showed that billionaire wealth rose by more than 16% last year, three times faster than the past five-year average, to more than $18 trillion. It drew on Forbes magazine data on the world’s richest people.

Oxfam said the $2.5 trillion rise in the wealth of billionaires last year would be enough to eradicate extreme poverty 26 times over. Their wealth has risen by more than four-fifths since 2020, while nearly half the world’s population lives in poverty, the group said.

The Trump administration has led a “pro-billionaire agenda,” the group said, through actions such as slashing taxes for the wealthiest, fostering the growth of AI-related stocks that help rich investors get richer, and thwarting efforts to tax giant companies.

The advocacy group wants more national efforts to reduce inequality, higher taxes on the ultra-rich to reduce their power, and greater limits on their ability to shape policy through lobbying.

With such concerns filtering through to policymakers, Trump, who is leading the biggest-ever U.S. delegation and will have about a half-dozen Cabinet secretaries in tow, is expected to discuss housing and affordability in his Davos speech on Wednesday.

Critics of WEF, and Trump, take to the streets

As usual, protesters rallied over the weekend in and near Davos ahead of the event. Hundreds of marchers scaled an Alpine road up to the town on Saturday behind a banner in German that read “No Profit from War” and alongside a truck that bore a sign: World Economic Failure.

Companies like Microsoft, India’s Tata Consultancy, social media titan TikTok and cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike joined governments from countries like Nigeria, Qatar, Ukraine and the United States — a USA House is making a debut this year — to set up shop on the Davos Promenade to promote their services, products and national economies.

Davos storekeepers rent out their premises so that forum participants can have the prime real estate for the week.

Critics have long accused the annual meeting of generating more rhetoric than results, and they see Trump’s return as sign of the disconnect between haves and have-nots. Some say Swiss leaders who support the event and flock to Davos too are adding to the problem.

“It is worrying how Swiss politicians are courting warmongers and their profiteers in Davos,” said Mirjam Hostetmann, president of Switzerland’s Young Socialists, who have led protests against the event. “The WEF will never bring peace, but will only fuel escalation.”

AP World Economic Forum: https://apnews.com/hub/world-economic-forum