Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Friday.
Measles cases hit a recordThe U.S. has recorded 2,318 confirmed cases of measles so far this year, mostly among children. That tally, over less than seven months, is already more than the total number of cases in any other year since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000. The uptick is part of a grim trend. Through the first 25 years of this century, annual case counts were usually under 100 and never above 1,500. But now, in both this year and last, cases have surpassed 2,200. Reversing course would probably require a significant increase in vaccination rates, which fell during the pandemic. Later this year, a panel of international experts will meet to determine whether the U.S. has lost its measles elimination status, long viewed as a crowning public health achievement. In other health news:
An Iranian threat prompted Trump’s Air Force One swapPresident Trump flew to this month’s NATO summit in Turkey on the new, Qatari-donated Air Force One and then departed on an older presidential jet. Multiple people briefed on the matter told The Times that he made the change because of a credible threat by Iranian proxy forces targeting the president and his aircraft. The White House press secretary said this week that the new Air Force One would be taken out of service for about one month this fall for “additional upgrades and enhancements.” My colleagues previously reported that the new jet lacks the advanced defensive capabilities of the old model. In related news:
Officials admit canceling grants to states that didn’t back TrumpIn a court filing, Trump administration officials acknowledged this month that they had terminated more than $7.5 billion in federal grants for clean energy projects “based solely” on political criteria. They targeted projects in states that voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. Federal officials had previously framed the move as protecting taxpayer funds from waste, but an Energy Department lawyer acknowledged that none of the grants were terminated “based on any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction or performance-based factor.” In other politics news:
India’s young protesters take aim at ModiWhat began in India as a student protest over a canceled college entrance exam has grown into a wider campaign against corruption, poor job prospects and mismanagement of the education system. The demonstrations are a rare challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who for more than a decade has projected an image of nearly divine infallibility. Today, thousands of young people protested in Mumbai and New Delhi. After talks with the organizers — the self-described Cockroach Janta Party, which derived its name from an insult — Modi’s government offered some concessions. But protesters said they would keep pressing for their central demand: the resignation of India’s education minister. More top news
Kok-boru, a traditional Kyrgyz pastime, is like polo, but with bare hands instead of mallets and a goat carcass instead of a ball. It’s intense, sometimes dangerous, and male-dominated. But last year, six teenage girls formed the country’s first women’s kok-boru team. Watch them play.
Philly wins the LeBron sweepstakesThe N.B.A.’s biggest star is sticking around. LeBron James, who will turn 42 this year, announced today that he is joining the Philadelphia 76ers for his record 24th season and accepting the minimum allowed salary for a veteran player. My colleagues at The Athletic reported that James picked the 76ers because they presented the best chance of winning another title. The long-shot acquisition is a win for the team’s president of basketball operations, Mike Gansey, who lost Ohio’s 2001 “Mr. Basketball” award to James. For more on sports:
How Conor Oberst survived young rock stardomSince Conor Oberst was 12 years old, people have built businesses around his homemade, shaky-voiced folk songs. He was a teenage poster boy for 2000s indie rock and then a potential cautionary tale about the burden of such pressures. Oberst recently sat down with my colleagues Joe Coscarelli and Jon Caramanica, on the latest episode of “Popcast,” to talk about the struggles that nearly killed him and his newfound clarity of purpose. Watch here.
Dinner table topics
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
