Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Friday.
Trump orders an investigation into Epstein’s ties to his criticsPresident Trump came under pressure this week when Congress released a trove of Jeffrey Epstein’s emails, in which the convicted sex offender mentioned his ties to Trump. The president emphatically denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and insisted that anyone suggesting otherwise was perpetuating a “hoax.” Today, however, Trump demanded that the Justice Department begin an investigation into several other people mentioned in the emails, including former President Bill Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and the venture capitalist and megadonor Reid Hoffman. Notably, he singled out only Democrats, and his own name was nowhere to be seen. “This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats,” Trump wrote today on social media. “Records show that these men, and many others, spent large portions of their life with Epstein, and on his ‘Island.’ Stay tuned!!!” Attorney General Pam Bondi acquiesced to the president’s demand just a few hours later and named a prosecutor to lead the inquiry. The move, which came just four months after the Justice Department formally declared that nothing in the Epstein files warranted further investigation, demonstrated a stark demonstration of her willingness to surrender the department’s traditional independence. In other Trump administration news:
A judge says he will approve Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcyA bankruptcy judge announced this afternoon that he would give final approval to a plan to settle thousands of opioid lawsuits against Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. Under the agreement, the company will soon cease to exist. Its owners, members of the billionaire Sackler family, are mandated to pay as much as $7 billion over 15 years to states, communities, tribes and others harmed in the decades-long national opioid addiction crisis.
Russia pummels KyivUkraine’s capital city, Kyiv, came under a punishing overnight attack. Russian forces launched 430 drones and 19 missiles into Ukraine, killing six people and wounding dozens of others. Fireballs blazed through neighborhoods, and residential buildings were hit “in practically every district,” the head of the city’s military administration said. The targets of the attacks were not immediately clear. But Russia’s recent assaults have often hit Ukraine’s power grid, an effort to plunge the country into cold and darkness as winter looms. For more: Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is facing domestic political pressure. His decision to remove Odesa’s mayor was viewed by some as a power grab, and a sweeping corruption investigation recently reached his inner circle.
Melting ice is a growing menace in the HimalayasThe ice of the Himalayas has been slowly wasting away, creating roughly 20,000 unstable glacial lakes across the mountain range. Those lakes, which sometimes overflow because of falling rocks or landslides, pose a potentially catastrophic threat to the cities and towns below. My colleagues mapped out one devastating flood from a glacial lake above the secluded village of Thame. More top news
Get ready for gifting seasonThe holidays are fast approaching. For many of us, that means planning presents. To make things a little bit easier, my colleagues put together an annual gift guide. Check out this year’s list, which includes 324 gift ideas across different price points. If that’s not enough, my colleagues at T Magazine offered stylish suggestions for readers who are stumped about what to get.
Oliva Nuzzi did it all for loveOlivia Nuzzi was once one of the country’s most prominent political journalists, writing dishy magazine pieces on Trump and other major Washington figures. Then, last year, her career collapsed when the public got wind of her apparent digital affair with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then a presidential candidate. Nuzzi exiled herself to Los Angeles for a year, where she hiked and secretly wrote a memoir, “American Canto” — in which she writes that she really did love “the politician,” her moniker for Kennedy. Now, for the first time since the scandal, she talked to my colleague Jacob Bernstein about the experience.
Dinner table topics
Cook: Try this tortellini salad with a creamy green goddess dressing. Watch: A new film chronicles the poet Andrea Gibson’s final year of living with cancer and trying to make every second count. Read: “The Ha-Ha” is one of our Book Review’s top picks of the week. Gaze: Here’s how to watch the Leonids meteor shower reach its peak this weekend. Consider: We talked to experts about the best foods and drinks for constipation. Test yourself: Take this week’s news quiz. Play: Here are today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. Find all our games here. |
