Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.
Justice Dept. sues California over its voter rollsThe Trump administration sued the state of California today, seeking to temporarily block it from counting mail ballots submitted by voters that administration officials describe as “likely noncitizens.” The suit is considered a long shot. But the Justice Department is trying a new strategy, asking a court to prevent the counting of votes from roughly 20,000 people “until their citizenship status can be determined.” California officials vowed to fight the effort; its secretary of state said that the list of 20,000 names “lacks both the detail and function to be of any investigative use.” Today’s move opens a new front in President Trump’s campaign to prove that thousands of people have voted illegally. Investigators have found small numbers of people who have been caught voting illegally, but nowhere near the quantities needed to swing major races. Some election officials have expressed concern that the president could use his unsubstantiated claims to challenge the midterm results. In other news ahead of the midterms:
Zelensky defies TrumpUkraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said in an interview published today that his military would no longer abide by Trump’s demand to stop striking Russian oil refineries. Zelensky also sharply criticized Trump for making deals with Vladimir Putin, and described him as being on the wrong side of history. The unusually public burst of anger came just before the Ukrainian president arrived in Brussels, where many European leaders expressed support for his decision to resume refinery attacks. But Ukraine has depended heavily on U.S. support, and the emerging rift between the two countries could be a risky one. A fire broke out overnight at a Russian oil refinery after it was hit by a drone strike, a local official said. A Ukrainian official confirmed that Kyiv was behind the attack. For more: Russia is seizing an opening to inflict immense suffering in Ukraine.
Trump cancels plans for a livestreamed executionThe president said today that he had canceled the Pentagon’s plans to broadcast the execution of the Army officer who killed 13 people and wounded 32 others at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had previously said the plan emphasized that there are “serious consequences for these types of things.” But Trump said today that “many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die.” Dozens of retired senior military officials, along with both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, publicly criticized the planned livestream. Even Vice President JD Vance said he would not watch it.
Homeownership is drifting out of reach for manyMortgage rates remained elevated for the eighth straight week, hovering at 7.4 percent for the most popular home loan, the 30-year fixed-rate. That’s the steepest it has been in three years, though not historically high when compared with decades past. The difference now is that home prices are sky-high as well. That is putting home buying out of reach for many Americans, especially first-time purchasers. It also could depress home building, compounding the problem. For more:
More top news
It took nearly an octillion calculations, a thousand trillion trillion, to train OpenAI’s new model. It would take an iPhone 13 million years to do that much math. Hard to comprehend? We visualized it for you. Related: Does managing your children’s work (and play) feel like it takes an octillion calculations? Some parents are leaning on A.I. agents for help.
‘You Can See Everything’ asks us what we mean by truthThere aren’t too many three-hour documentaries that can sell out theaters. But that’s exactly what is happening with “You Can See Everything,” a film arriving this week about Elizabeth Holmes, the blood-testing entrepreneur turned celebrity inmate. In the hands of Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, the movie is also an up-close examination of truth, reality and the contours of knowledge. Our critic, Manohla Dargis, described it as a wily, disturbing exploration of the relationship between documentarians and their subjects. “Few movies speak as uncannily to the pathos and destabilizing confusions of the present moment,” Manohla writes. Read her review.
London’s oldest restaurant plans to stay open foreverCharles Dickens was a regular. So, too, was King Edward VII, who wooed his mistress there. And now Rules, a 228-year-old institution with a menu heavy on game meats, a hearty wine list and antlers on seemingly every wall, is the first restaurant to be owned and safeguarded by Britain’s National Trust. The previous owner gave Rules to the Trust, which aims to preserve British heritage, under terms that require it to remain a restaurant in perpetuity. My colleague Amelia Nierenberg went there this week to see what it’s like.
Dinner table topics
Bake this croissant French toast and revel in its almond-y goodness. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
