Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Friday.
Trump demands ‘unconditional surrender’ from IranPresident Trump said in a social media post that there would be no negotiated end to the war with Iran, and insisted on “unconditional surrender.” He made the post to Truth Social after Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president, said that some countries had begun mediation efforts. Trump’s comments marked another shift in the goals of the U.S. military actions, writes David Sanger, who covers the White House. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters that the administration would consider Iran in a state of “unconditional surrender” when Trump determined that Iran no longer posed a threat to the U.S. Meanwhile, Iran fired missiles and drones across the region. Qatar’s foreign ministry cited attacks on buildings in Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said they had intercepted ballistic missiles in their airspace. Iran’s missile launches have slowed, but drone volleys could deplete its neighbors’ air defenses, our expert writes. The Israeli military said it struck more than 400 targets in western Iran today, shifting focus after a day of bombarding Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The Israeli military also reported that five of its soldiers had been severely wounded by Hezbollah attacks on its forces there. About 300,000 Lebanese have fled their homes, the Norwegian Refugee Council said. In other war news:
An unexpectedly bad jobs reportEmployers cut 92,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate rose to 4.4 percent, according to data released today. That surprised economists; many had forecast that employers, who had been in a holding pattern, would shake off their reluctance to hire. Including revisions to earlier data, job growth for the last three months effectively slowed to zero. Austan Goolsbee, the head of the Chicago Fed, called the report a “tough” one, but warned against overreacting to one month of data, noting that bad weather and strikes could have been a factor. The number of job openings in December, the most recent month for which data is available, fell to its lowest level since September 2020. But initial claims for unemployment insurance have stayed low, indicating that employers overall are not laying off workers in large numbers. Related:
Indonesia plans a social media ban for childrenOfficials said Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, would bar anyone under the age of 16 from access to social media. Eighty percent of children in the country are connected to the internet. Starting on March 28, their accounts will be deactivated in stages, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox. In January, Australia became the first country in the world to put such a ban in place. Last month, Spain announced an under-16 ban, and Malaysia is mulling similar restrictions.
The lucrative pardon industry surrounding TrumpJoseph Schwartz, who received a three-year sentence for tax crimes related to a nursing-home empire, got out in three months after paying lobbyists and lawyers with ties to the president’s team. And he wasn’t shy about sharing his strategy with other inmates. It doesn’t work for everyone, and it’s not entirely clear why Schwartz was set free. But people are willing to spend: Lobbyists got paid nearly $5.2 million last year by clients seeking clemency from Trump, public records show, and that most likely reflects only a fraction of the spending. Kenneth P. Vogel investigated how it works. More top news
It’s spring books seasonAnd we’re excited. The Book Review picked 32 novels to look forward to, including new installments in series from Tana French and Solvej Balle. There are also coming-of-age stories from Walter Mosley and Tom Perrotta, and Kathryn Stockett’s second novel, 17 years after “The Help.” (Save the ones you want to read to your personal list.) In nonfiction, we’ve got 26 more. Arsenio Hall, Liza Minnelli and Tom Junod have new memoirs (read our interview with Junod); Ian Buruma and Ibram X. Kendi have histories of authoritarianism; and Serena Kutchinsky writes about her father, who was obsessed with crafting the world’s largest jeweled egg.
Meet the mood liftersThere’s a friendly crossing guard who always lifts Jancee Dunn’s spirits. That made Jancee, who writes our Well newsletter, curious: How do human mood-lifters like her crossing guard do it? And why? So Jancee talked to three people who stay positive in places of notorious stress: Quinton Miller, a New York City bus driver; Brian Bertrand, who heads daily operations at the D.M.V. in Tillamook, Ore.; and Rachel Brooks, the jury manager at the Essex County Courthouse in Newark. Here’s what they told her. For more: Sign up for Jancee’s newsletter. Dinner table topics
Cook: Kaab el ghazal, the Moroccan cookies also known as gazelle horns, are a sweet staple of Eid al-Fitr. Watch: Chris Fleming has a wild way with language and the best comedy special of the year so far. Read: English-language versions of Chinese children’s books are a rarity. Here are three good ones. Romance: Longer lives means longer sex lives. We talked to sex therapists and older adults about what to know. Clean: Keep your towels fresher with a tiny laundry tweak. |
