Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Monday.
White House promised a vast crackdown on liberal groupsVice President JD Vance invited television cameras into his official White House office this afternoon for an episode of Charlie Kirk’s podcast. He said he was guest-hosting the show to honor Kirk, the right-wing activist who was assassinated last week. During the show, Vance invited some of the highest-ranking members of the Trump administration to praise Kirk and to lay out their plans in response to his killing. Making broad and unsubstantiated claims about their political opponents, the officials said they would bring the weight of the federal government down on what they claimed was a network of left-wing groups that incited violence. Separately, two senior administration officials told The Times that cabinet secretaries and federal department heads were working to identify organizations that funded or supported violence against conservatives. One official said the Trump administration would look for links between liberal groups and episodes such as the recent burning of Teslas and assaults against immigration agents. In Utah, investigators were still working to identify a motive in Kirk’s killing. The state’s governor has said that the suspect had a “leftist ideology” and that he acted alone. The director of the F.B.I. said today that the authorities had found physical evidence connecting the suspect in custody with the shooting of Kirk, including a note that was destroyed but later reconstructed. Related: A Washington Post columnist said she was fired for her social media posts after Kirk’s killing.
U.S. officials said China agreed to a TikTok saleTreasury Secretary Scott Bessent said today that the U.S. and China had agreed to a “framework” for an agreement that would shift TikTok into U.S.-controlled ownership. Bessent said that President Trump would talk on Friday with Xi Jinping, China’s leader, to finalize the deal. Trump had set a deadline of this Wednesday to enforce or delay a law requiring the video app to be separated from its Chinese owner or face a ban in the U.S. A bipartisan majority of Congress had passed the ban because of concerns that TikTok’s ties to China made it a national security threat, but Trump delayed its enforcement for months. In related news, China said Nvidia had violated its antitrust law, the latest sign of tension between Beijing and Washington.
Trump said U.S. military struck another Venezuelan boatThe president announced today that the U.S. military had struck a boat that he said was carrying drugs from Venezuela. It was the second time this month that he has ordered the use of lethal force against a vessel from that country. Trump said that three “narcoterrorists” had been killed in the latest strike. Hours earlier, Venezuela’s leader condemned the earlier strike, which killed 11 people on Sept. 2, as a “heinous crime.”
The U.A.E. got A.I. chips. Trump’s family got crypto riches.Trump’s inner circle struck two major deals this year with a top Emirati royal. One involved the sale of valuable computer chips to the United Arab Emirates; the other was a $2 billion crypto deal that would financially benefit the president’s family. There is no evidence that one was explicitly offered in return for the other. But an investigation by my colleagues, which David Yaffe-Bellany explains in the video above, found that they were being negotiated at the same time and by some of the same people — and that they were intertwined in ways that have not been previously reported. Here are our takeaways. More top news
It was a big year for first-time winners at the EmmysAt last night’s Emmys ceremony, Jean Smart won her seventh acting award. But she was the outlier. This year, the acting categories were dominated by first-time winners. They included Noah Wyle and Katherine LaNasa for “The Pitt,” the low-budget HBO Max medical series that became a surprise sensation this year and proved that network-style dramas can still compete for viewers (and awards) with prestige TV. See all of this year’s winners. For more: Here’s how to stream the winning shows. Also, check out the best looks from the red carpet and the scenes from the after parties.
Ralph Nader was unhappy with his erasers. We tried to help.Ralph Nader, the renowned consumer advocate, told Annemarie Conte, a Wirecutter advice columnist, that he believed pencil erasers were getting worse. He asked for help. And if Nader needs help finding a good eraser, maybe you do, too. So Annemarie began investigating. She asked the experts — more than 100 elementary school kids — to offer their honest assessments of the erasers on some of the best reviewed pencils. Annemarie also talked to people whose job it is to think about pencils. After 12 weeks of testing, she has advice. One tip: Product maintenance can be just as important as product choice.
Dinner table topics
Cook: Serve this chicken au poivre with crusty bread to sop up all that sauce. Read: Samanta Schweblin explores the ambiguities and ironies of domestic life in a mesmerizing new story collection. Plan: Check out Dan Brown’s favorite places in Prague. Consider: Most workout supplements lack evidence. These might actually be worth trying. Touch up: We asked experts for advice on applying makeup to mature skin. Test yourself: Take the latest Flashback history quiz. Play: Here are today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and |
