Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Tuesday.
Trump says ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’If Iran does not agree to end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. Eastern time, President Trump said that the U.S. would unleash mass destruction in Iran, leveling bridges and power plants. “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump said. Follow here for the latest updates. The president could change his plans or extend the deadline. He has done so multiple times during the war. But Trump said he would “probably” go ahead with the strikes, and with a couple of hours remaining before the deadline, there were conflicting accounts about the status of U.S.-Iran talks to strike a deal. Iranian officials said that negotiations, which Pakistan had mediated, had been called off. Hours later, however, Pakistan’s prime minister said that talks were “progressing steadily,” and requested that both sides agree to a two-week cease-fire to allow for peace negotiations. Earlier today, the pace of bombardment accelerated in all directions. The U.S. launched more than 90 strikes on Kharg Island, the oil export hub. Israel launched airstrikes on bridges in Iran. And Iranian forces launched attacks on energy facilities in Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. In Iran, some residents braced for the possibility of more strikes, while others responded to the American threats with indifference, defiance and bewilderment. One big question: Experts say Trump’s threatened attacks could be unlawful. It comes down to: What defines a civilian target? Behind the scenes: My colleagues Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman detailed the inside story of how Trump decided to attack Iran. Here are the biggest takeaways from their extensive reporting.
Vance goes to Hungary to boost its nationalist leaderVice President JD Vance traveled to Budapest today in a show of support for Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is trailing badly in polls days before the election. Vance praised the Hungarian leader as the “only true statesman in Europe,” and said that Trump “loves you and so do I.” The visit, at a time of war in the Middle East, underscored just how much the U.S. leaders care about an election in a country with fewer than 10 million people and a tiny economy. The Trump administration, like Moscow, sees Orban as a valued thorn in the side of Europe’s other leaders. For more: Roma voters could sway the election.
Britain bars Ye over antisemitismThe British government announced today that it would not allow the rapper formerly known as Kanye West into the country because of his history of antisemitism. Ye, as he is now known, had been scheduled to headline a three-day festival in London in July. The decision was announced soon after the rapper made a last-minute plea to avoid a ban, saying he was happy to meet members of Britain’s Jewish community to hear their concerns. A major British Jewish group said they would meet with him, but only if he agreed not to perform at the festival. Last year, Australia blocked Ye from entering after he released a song called “Heil Hitler.”
Google search results are less reliable than they soundAs you’ve probably noticed, Google search results now include an A.I. summary at the top. That information is typically delivered in an authoritative tone, as if to say: no need to search any further. But a recent analysis found that the A.I. results are accurate about nine out of 10 searches. That may seem fairly reliable, but at Google’s scale, that means tens of millions of erroneous results every hour. We dug into the reasons for the errors. More top news
Marcel Duchamp challenged our ideas about artThe French-born artist Marcel Duchamp is considered the godfather of some of the most challenging and cerebral art of the 20th century. He sometimes took commonplace objects — a snow shovel or a bicycle wheel — and displayed them as artworks he called “readymades.” Many of his celebrated works will be displayed at a new MoMA exhibit opening on Sunday. The show includes four recreations of Duchamp’s best-known work: “Fountain,” a store-bought urinal with the pseudonym “R. Mutt” scrawled on its front. It was voted the most influential of all modern artworks by a panel of experts, and it inspired generations of toilet art.
A new Everest for everyday athletesMore than 1.5 million people in 30 countries have competed in a Hyrox race, where participants alternate between running and doing exercises like sled pulls and farmer’s carries. Fueled by a growing interest in strength training, the events have exploded in popularity since beginning in Germany in 2017; some races sell out in minutes. The Hyrox races attract people with a wide range of fitness levels. For many everyday athletes, they are more attainable than marathons, more challenging than a push-up routine and more entertaining than weight lifting.
Dinner table topics
Cook: Zest up your dinner with this jalapeño-orange pork tenderloin. Read: “Wolvers” is one of this month’s most captivating new thrillers. Get inspired by our fashion photographer’s unconventional look of the week. Sleep: Consider these expert-approved tips for quieting your racing mind at night. Test yourself: Take our quiz to see how well you know characters from popular novels. Play: Here are today’s Connections, Wordle and Mini Crossword. |
