Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Tuesday:
ICE arrests surge at airportsThe Trump administration has begun arresting foreign citizens with expired visas, including spouses of Americans, at U.S. airports. The arrests, at check-in counters and arrival gates, have taken place in at least 15 airports in recent weeks, and footage of the encounters has flooded social media. The effort appears to be an expansion of an arrangement between T.S.A. and ICE, which began by targeting people with deportation orders. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants and visitors overstay visas each year, including many in a legal gray area who have active applications to stay in the country and have been issued work permits. Such individuals were not prioritized for deportation in the past unless they had committed crimes, and they were rarely detained while waiting for visa extensions or green cards. But that has changed under President Trump, whose administration views all visa overstays as illegal.
Trump hosts Zelensky and Netanyahu at the White HouseThe president welcomed the leaders of Ukraine and Israel to the White House today for a pair of back-to-back meetings about foreign conflicts that have proved difficult to wind down. Uncharacteristically, Trump kept both occasions almost entirely out of the public eye. First up was Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, whose relationship with Trump has recently appeared stronger than ever. Zelensky described today’s sit-down as “good,” and said they discussed Trump’s pledge to allow Ukraine to make its own Patriot air defense systems. Soon after, Trump met with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister. Netanyahu’s office said the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to blocking Iran from getting nuclear weapons. That effort has appeared to stall in recent weeks; the U.S. has halted its attacks, but the Iranians appear in no rush to return to the negotiating table. In related news: Iran publicly hanged two protesters, human rights groups said.
Washington pays tribute to Lindsey GrahamAfter their White House meetings this morning, Trump, Zelensky and Netanyahu went across town to the National Cathedral for Lindsey Graham’s funeral service. Graham, the South Carolina senator who suddenly died this month at 71, was “one of the great figures in Senate history,” Trump said in his eulogy. “He died doing the work he was born to do,” the president added. Graham, once a Trump critic, remained a power player in Washington by becoming a close ally of the president. He relished serving as a “bridge” between the Senate — an institution he revered — and a president who loathes the chamber. Now, Carl Hulse writes, that bridge is gone.
A powerful earthquake hits JapanA 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit southwest Japan today, igniting fires, destroying buildings, homes and highways, and injuring dozens. Rescuers searched through the rubble of a partly collapsed shopping mall after fire officials said that people appeared to be trapped inside. Aerial footage showed extensive damage: downed buildings, broken roads, flipped train cars, major fires and an elevated bridge split in two. Social media video captured the moment that the quake damaged Kumamoto Castle, one of Japan’s oldest and grandest castles. See a map of the earthquake’s epicenter.
It has been a rough season when it comes to food-borne illnessesA salmonella outbreak led to the recall of 19 million eggs. An E. coli infection was traced to some organic blueberries. And as of its latest update, the C.D.C. has confirmed or is investigating a record 11,500 cases of cyclosporiasis, an intestinal illness caused by a parasite and transmitted through food or water contaminated with human feces. But top health regulators insisted this week that consumers could still trust what they were eating. “The U.S. food supply is safe,” a top F.D.A. official said at a food safety conference yesterday. That hasn’t stopped social media users from leaping to conclusions. More top news
See this year’s Booker Prize nomineesMonths ago, my colleagues on the Book Review told us to look out for Marlon James’s upcoming novel, “The Disappearers,” about an anti-gay hate crime in 1980s Jamaica. Today — still over a month before its release — the book was nominated for the prestigious Booker Prize. Also nominated are Douglas Stuart’s “John of John” and Elizabeth Strout's “The Things We Never Say.” See all 13 nominees, and find your next great read.
Look beyond the obvious for your next tripAmsterdam and Venice are great, but they’re also frequently flooded with tourists. You could more peacefully embrace the charms of a canal-filled city by drifting down the waterways of Ghent, Belgium; Livorno, Italy; or Strasbourg, France. Here’s what to know about them. If you prefer to stay within the U.S., our travel desk recently featured four American hotels that were constructed inside historical buildings (plus one in Japan that used to be a prison).
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