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Crews race to find Colombia quake survivors Residents and rescue workers search through the rubble after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, on Monday. (Santiago Saldarriaga/AP) Rescue efforts are underway after a powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Colombia Monday morning, collapsing buildings and sending people rushing from homes, workplaces and schools. At least 132 people have been killed and 570 injured, including 60 deaths in the western city of Pereira, according to local officials. And the toll is expected to rise as crews continue to dig through the rubble. The government has declared a national disaster, deploying soldiers and rescue teams throughout devastated communities in search of survivors. + Live updates: What we know so far + Video: Scenes of chaos after catastrophic earthquake hits (1:10) + A closer look: Visualizing the earthquake in maps and charts

Key races to watch today A slate of primary elections today will offer another test of the Democratic Party’s ideological direction, with consequential races across the upper Midwest. In Wisconsin, 37-year-old democratic socialist Francesca Hong is favored to win the Democratic nomination for governor — offering an early look at how a swing state electorate might respond to the party’s shift leftward this fall. Minnesota also has a moderate-versus-progressive clash shaping up today between Angie Craig and Peggy Flanagan for the Democratic Senate nomination. And in South Carolina, Trump’s endorsement power is again on the ballot as he backs Darline Graham, the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, for a full term against a crowded field of Republican rivals. + Read more: What to watch in today’s primaries + Q&A: Have questions about the primaries? Ask CNN’s John King

Trump’s vaccine order explained President Donald Trump signs an executive order about vaccines on Monday. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP) President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that recommends US children receive fewer vaccinations spread out over a longer period of time, despite little scientific evidence supporting such changes. While the Trump administration says the shift is meant to give families more flexibility in deciding when to vaccinate their kids, many doctors say the president’s approach could instead create greater uncertainty and confusion. For now, though, as millions of children head back to school, not much will change. Health experts say any shifts to the shots available or the CDC’s recommended schedule could take months or years — if they happen at all. The order will now likely be challenged in court. At stake is how far Trump’s power can reach in reshaping vaccine policy, particularly when his approach is at odds with established scientific guidance. + Read more: What Trump’s order means for vaccinations this fall + Video: Erin Burnett debunks Trump’s claim that childhood vaccine is ‘size of a bottle of soda’ (2:19) + Fact check: Trump makes numerous false and misleading claims about vaccines and autism

Trump Melts Down as His Suck-Up Pal Faces Humiliating Crisis FIFA boss Gianni Infantino is facing intense calls to resign over his wild plans to sell the World Cup. President Donald Trump has come out swinging for his under-fire FIFA shill, Gianni Infantino. The Swiss soccer administrator finds himself in a sticky spot after it was revealed that he spearheaded a move to sell off a hefty chunk of the rights to the organization’s competitions, including the World Cup, the crown jewel of FIFA, soccer’s world governing body. The idea, called the FIFA Forward Enterprise, was revealed by the Times of London about a week after the World Cup final. It was immediately, and ferociously, panned by the football world, including regional associations under FIFA. The blowback to the idea has been so intense that it has been scrapped and Infantino, 56, looks to be clinging onto power, with not many allies rushing to his aid. However, perhaps because of his jaw-dropping charm offensive on Trump—for whom he created the FIFA Peace Prize last year—he still has one powerful backer. “FIFA would be making a terrible mistake if, for any reason, they even considered replacing President Gianni Infantino,” the 80-year-old wrote on Truth Social on Monday evening, breaking his silence on the matter and throwing his weight behind his friend. “He is fantastic, having just presided over the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented. If he is gone, it will never be as successful or profitable again!” Infatino earns $6 million a year in his position and, as The Times put it, the job—along with flying on a private jet and hanging out with celebrities and world leaders—has “become his sole identity.” He would have got a $30 million salary if his plan went through, according to reports. It comes after Infantino received yet another blow from the soccer world when the presidents and general secretaries of European governing body UEFA, North & Central American and Caribbean governing body CONCACAF, and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) called for his resignation in an open letter on Monday. “Leadership in football is not a possession. It is not about holding—or demanding—power to be held. It is a duty of service to the football family that entrusts it,” the letter read. “When trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned.” The blowback started when UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, threatened to pull all European nations from FIFA competitions. Soon after, CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, joined its European counterparts in boycotting; then the Asian federations said it “stood with” the other two. UEFA, fellow FIFA administrators and even the new prime minister of the United Kingdom, Andy Burnham, publicly heaped scorn on Infantino. But he is clinging on. On Saturday, the organization hit back, crying foul over a “concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine FIFA and its President.” That came after reporting turned personal. The Daily Telegraph in London reported last week that married Infantino had an affair with a junior employee while he was the general secretary of UEFA, and his alleged lover was paid “a six-figure sum” when she left the organization. Infantino does have some support, with CONMEBOL (South America) and CAF (Africa) on his side. Mexico has broken ranks with its administration, CONCACAF, to back him, too. But now he has perhaps his most powerful backer yet. Trump has a vested interest in the Enterprise. Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared Kushner is the president’s son-in-law, was slated to invest in the enterprise through his company, Thrive Eternal. Infantino spent months leading up to the World Cup lavishing Trump with shiny gold gifts and furnishing him with compliments. He also created a Peace Prize and awarded it to the president, opened a FIFA office in Trump Tower in New York, and allowed the Club World Cup trophy to be displayed in the Oval Office. He also laughed along during Trump’s inauguration speech as the president threatened World Cup co-hosts Canada and Mexico. Last week, Infantino appeared to borrow directly from Trump’s rhetorical playbook, describing critics of the World Cup’s organization as being “so consumed by hate and criticism.” Infantino, who was first elected in 2016 and ran unopposed in 2019 and 2023, reportedly scrambled to the Trump administration when his plan unraveled. The New York Post reported last week that he had repeatedly tried and failed to reach Trump by phone after the deal collapsed, and instead scheduled a call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-melts-down-as-his-suck-up-pal-faces-humiliating-crisis/? ps:How pathetic are these people?????

Project 2025 Goon Secretly Installed in Ultra-Sensitive Role Right-winger chosen to make sure Reflecting Pool fiasco doesn’t reflect badly on the president. Donald Trump is planning to put one of his most reliably right-wing goons in charge of any eventual investigation into his botched renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The 80-year-old president personally oversaw the $16 million project to refurbish the D.C. landmark, only to watch as the waters turned slimy green and the pool lining split. He quickly blamed the damage on vandalism, even though his handpicked D.C. prosecutor couldn’t make any charges stick and passed the blame to Doug Burgum’s Interior Department, which was in charge of the refurb. Now, Trump has nominated Dennis Kirk, a Project 2025 author and former adviser to Tulsi Gabbard, to run the Interior Department’s inspector general office—the watchdog that will oversee any investigation. Kirk, whose contributions to Project 2025 as associate director included a training video and an essay on the consequences of “progressive ideology” in the federal workforce, had senior roles in the Office of Personnel Management during Trump’s first term, The Washington Post reported. In the next administration, President Joe Biden withdrew Kirk’s nomination to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, an executive branch agency that aims “to protect Federal merit systems against partisan political” practices. Earlier in Trump’s second term, Kirk was an adviser to then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Yet at the same time, according the Post, Kirk was working in the office of the intelligence community’s inspector general—drawing criticism from Democrats and ethics groups. Among those attacking Kirk’s nomination to the Interior Department IG job was Rep. Jared Huffman, the House Natural Resources Committee’s highest-ranking Democrat, who called Kirk a “fake and fraudulent watchdog.” “Each and every thing this political puppet does will be in service of Donald Trump,” he said in a statement. He went on: “This man helped write the Project 2025 playbook for seizing control of the federal workforce. Now he sits inside the office charged with rooting out corruption at Interior, the department that manages our national parks, public lands, Tribal programs, and now under Trump, gold-slathered statues and a botched Reflecting Pool renovation. “That same office is weighing serious ethics investigations into senior officials in this administration. It’s no surprise the White House suddenly wants its own man inside the one place that Trump’s cronies still have reason to fear.” In a statement, the Center for Western Priorities Executive Director Aaron Weiss referred to the firing last year of the Interior Department’s previous inspector general, Mark Lee Greenblatt. “Interior’s watchdog was fired, left vacant for eighteen months, and is now hosting one of the architects of Project 2025,” Weiss said. “At least five investigation requests from members of Congress are sitting in that office right now, and its integrity has been compromised. Congress cannot outsource its constitutional oversight duty to an inspector general’s office taken over by the White House.” One investigation request Weiss mentioned concerned reporting from Politico that Interior Department staffers would routinely shred official documents and use disappearing Signal messages. Greenblatt himself was also critical of Kirk’s nomination, telling The Hill that “the chilling effect on whistleblowers is real.” “Who would jeopardize their careers by submitting a complaint about an administration official to an IG who is avowedly aligned with the administration?” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told the Post in a statement that “Kirk has consistently demonstrated loyalty to the rule of law during his long career within government.” The Daily Beast has reached out to the Interior Department for comment. The White House said in a statement, “Dennis Kirk has a long career within government demonstrating a loyalty to the rule of law. We look forward to Mr. Kirk being confirmed as the next Inspector General at Interior.” ps:Isn't that interesting!

Trump Faces Bombshell Probe Over ICE Raids on Troops’ Families Lawmakers demand answers after ICE detained more than 50 spouses and parents of active-duty troops. An investigation into the roundup of American service members’ relatives by Donald Trump’s immigration agents has been launched by scores of lawmakers.The probe comes after the Associated Press found more than 50 spouses and parents of active-duty troops have been swept up in the president’s immigration crackdown. The Daily Beast previously reported on the detentions, which have led to at least six family members being deported. In a letter sent Sunday evening to the Department of Homeland Security, the Pentagon, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 60 Democrats vowed to establish whether the agencies are teaming up to expel troops’ family members. They warned in the letter, provided to the Associated Press: “These efforts imperil military readiness, weaken service members’ morale, and betray America’s promises to the people who put their lives on the line for our nation.” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 77, is spearheading the investigation alongside Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, 80, Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, 58, and a group of House Democrats. “Donald Trump is breaking our country’s promises to service members by tearing apart dozens of military families who were promised immigration protections,” Warren said. “That’s just plain cruel, and it’s hurting our military readiness and morale.” Troops’ parents and spouses were shielded from removal for decades under presidents of both parties. The AP found those safeguards have been stripped away as part of Trump’s mass deportation drive. Some service members have had to postpone deployments to care for their children after a spouse was seized. The lawmakers also demanded to know why military recruiters continue to dangle immigration protections as a perk of signing up. “This report is appalling and shows the unbelievable cruelty at the center of the Trump immigration agenda,” said Blumenthal, the senior Democrat on the Senate veterans’ affairs committee. “We will be demanding answers and accountability.” The letter landed days after Trump, 80, created the Military Spouse Commission—chaired by Jennifer Rauchet, wife of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, 46—to improve life for troops’ partners. In an Aug. 6 letter in the Federal Register, the president wrote that military spouses are “intrinsically linked to the good order, readiness, and retention of our military.” The Pentagon told the AP it would “reply directly to the authors of the letter,” while DHS said, “U.S. military service alone does not automatically grant lawful immigration status, or exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws.” The VA, the White House, and Republican Sens. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Jerry Moran of Kansas, who chair the Senate committees on armed services and veterans’ affairs, did not respond to the AP. Danitza James, president of Repatriate Our Patriots, which supports military families and veterans facing deportation, told the outlet: “They trust our government to take care of their families, and they’re not doing that.” The Daily Beast contacted the White House, DHS, the Pentagon, and the VA for comment. The White House referred us to DHS. A DHS spokesperson said in a statement: “DHS and ICE value the contributions of all those who have served in the U.S. military. U.S. military service alone does not automatically grant lawful immigration status, or exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws. “Having a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation’s laws. Military service by an immediate relative does not automatically grant parole, lawful status, or immunity from immigration enforcement; if you are in the United States illegally, you are subject to enforcement. Programs like Military Parole in Place (MIL-PIP) are NOT automatic—ICE will not ignore the immigration laws of our country.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-faces-bombshell-probe-over-ice-raids-on-troops-families/? ps:Pathetic!!

In my personal opinion, i believe that one goal of Kinship was to provide spiritual care to a group of people who were not thought to be getting it in Adventism, without asking them to change their sexuality.

Talking Exodus with Alan Millard On Tim Mahoney’s first overseas trip to investigate the Biblical Exodus account in 2002, he interviewed two prestigious scholars at the University of Liverpool, England. In our previous two Thinker Updates we covered the discussion with Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen. Today we feature excerpts from the talk with the former Ranking Professor of Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages, Alan Millard. https://www.patternsofevidence.com/2026/08/06/talking-exodus-with-alan-millard/? Urartu’s Inscribed Bronze Bowls A new study published in the journal Antiquity investigates more than 100 bronze bowls from the ancient kingdom of Urartu (biblical Ararat), which are now held in museums across Armenia, Russia, and elsewhere. The bowls bear royal inscriptions, which the authors analyze for content, engraving method, the paleography of the Urartian script (how it changed over time), and the construction of Urartian royal authority. The scholars offer new insights into a civilization whose writing culture is only partially understood. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/inscriptions/urartus-inscribed-bronze-bowls/?

This group that Nelson was (sort of) credited with starting (the kinship group). What was the real purpose of this group? Was it a group whose goals were to provide better counseling to active homosexuals in an attempt to bring them into a more compliant Christian lifestyle? Or was the groups intention to identify homosexuals to make it easier for them to connect and enjoy homosexual acts? Sort of like the LGBT bumper stickers you see on the back of cars which it appears the primary purpose is to advertise the occupant is friendly to acts of buggery. I honestly don't know about this man but clearly, he appears to have been highly educated and productive in his professional work life.

Fuming TV Addict Trump, 80, Erupts as His $1.7B Failure Is Exposed The president vowed to take legal action in a deranged name-calling rant. Donald Trump went on a furious rant after a liberal think tank said the president’s costly National Guard deployments in cities did not reduce violent crime. Analysis from the Center for American Progress found that the Trump administration’s crime crackdown in cities such as Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., cost American taxpayers more than $1.7 billion but had little effect. A report from CAP published in July suggested that Trump tried to portray his troop-deployment efforts as a success by “exploiting” the fact that violent crime and murder were already declining in the cities his administration targeted with its “extreme interventions.” On Monday, Chandler Hall, the associate director for public safety at CAP, discussed the analysis of whether there “actually was a change in the pre-existing trends” before Trump deployed troops to the cities during an interview on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal. “We looked at what were the effects of the National Guard deployments, not just in D.C., but in all cities in which the National Guard were deployed,” Hall said. “What we find is that across multiple cities, multiple data sets, and multiple time windows, we find no effect that violent crime actually did change post the National Guard deployments in any of the cities.” In a rambling Truth Social post of 190 words, Trump lashed out at Hall while also threatening to sue CAP for exposing his unnecessary $1.7 billion crackdown.’ “Chandler Hall, representing, on Television, the foolish Center for American Lack of Progress, stated that adding the National Guard to Cities, including our now Great Again, Washington, D.C., had ‘NO impact on Crime.’ How crazy is that,” Trump posted.“Hall was met with furious dissent. The report is just another Radical Left SCAM, as are the people who fund this gaggle of Lunatics, including George Soros, Bill and Melinda Gates, Google, Apple, Visa, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, WellsFargo, Bank of America, Walmart, Toyota, T-Mobile, and NBC Universal. Foreign support includes the Embassy of Japan, the Korea Foundation, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (Taiwan), and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates,” he continued. “The Dumocrats love it, and are against anything ‘TRUMP.’ These people, and others like them, are so bad for our Country. Their stated course is anything to hate or demean ‘TRUMP.’ The 80-year-old president also threatened that CAP would be “met with a lawsuit,” which is apparently being drawn up now. “I am also strongly considering adding some of the contributors to this Fake Organization. Crime is way down since I took Office, and they know it. Liars, at this level, must be held accountable! President DONALD J. TRUMP.” Trump, who spends an extraordinary amount of time watching cable news television as president, had his meltdown after managing to catch Hall on the relatively obscure Washington Journal program hosted on the C-SPAN television network. Hall’s appearance on the show began at 9:25 a.m. ET on Monday morning, a period in which Trump’s public White House schedule listed him as taking part in “Executive Time.” Analysis from the Daily Beast found that the 80-year-old president was only seen in public three times in Washington, D.C., before 11 a.m. during the entire month of June. On most of these days, Trump’s mornings were taken up with so-called “Executive Time.” Trump’s post was shared alongside a clip of border czar Tom Homan praising the crackdown in D.C. during a Monday appearance on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show. “I’ve lived in D.C. at least 15 years, and I wouldn’t walk the streets of D.C. without a concealed weapon,” Homan said. “President Trump has made Washington D.C. an example for the whole world. Over 16,000 arrests, almost 2,000 firearms taken off the street. Three dozen murder suspects taken off the street.” In his Washington Journal appearance, Hall did state “in the interest of fairness” that the deployment of troops in areas like D.C. did result in a fall in “opportunistic property crime,” such as theft or vandalism. Hall also noted that the nonpartisan D.C.-based think tank Niskanen Center issued a report in June revealing that Trump’s deployment of troops to the capital had no measurable effect on reducing violent crime. Instead, the crackdown was merely a “blunt and expensive” stunt, as the troops’ presence in tourist areas only resulted in a 24-percent reduction in crimes such as theft and vandalism rather than violent crimes. The Daily Beast has contacted the Center for American Progress for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/fuming-trump-80-erupts-as-his-17b-failure-is-exposed/?

Trump scoffs at Iran’s demand for war reparations Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei stressed that Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the U.S. meets its conditions. This includes compensation for war damage, a demand President Donald Trump said Tehran’s negotiators hadn’t raised until now. Read more. What to know: Trump responded that he is now demanding “compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts.” The U.S. government has blamed Iran-backed militants for the deaths and injuries of hundreds of Americans over several decades, including more than 600 U.S. troops killed in Iraq between 2003 and 2011. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump used elaborate ruse to fly out of Turkey following summit because of Iran threat, report says What to watch Tuesday: Primaries in Wisconsin and Minnesota showcase Democratic divide Washington grapples with a National Guard deployment extended until 2029 Trump media company announces a massive loss and new turnaround effort Deadline passes for Rep. Max Miller to be replaced on Ohio ballot as he faces domestic abuse claims Ocasio-Cortez says she’s freezing her eggs as she decides her next political moves

August 11, 2026 By Matthew Cullen Good morning. I’m Matthew, the regular host of The Evening, The Times’s end-of-day newsletter. Sam Sifton’s on vacation this week, so I’m filling in today. Let’s start with the midterms. Primary voting happens in six states today. Nick Hagen for The New York Times Three political tests Today is the busiest remaining Election Day before the big one in November. Voters across six states will weigh in on dozens of races, shaping what both parties stand for. It’s easy to feel a bit lost in the mess. That’s why I want to focus your attention this morning on three crucial races, each posing a different question for the American electorate. Peggy Flanagan and Angie Craig. Stephen Maturen and Tom Baker/Getty Images In Minnesota, escaping a scandal: A moderate and a progressive are battling for the Democratic nomination for a Senate seat. The moderate argues that she is more electable. The progressive is pushing Democrats to distance themselves from corporate donors and Israel. Does that sound a bit like last week’s Democratic primary in Michigan? Supporters of Peggy Flanagan, the progressive, certainly hope so. (The lefty candidate won there.) But the moderate, Representative Angie Craig, isn’t running only on ideology. She says that Flanagan, the lieutenant governor, is too closely associated with a fraud scandal involving the state’s social services system to win statewide. (Here’s what else to know about the race.) Darline Graham Meg Kinnard/Associated Press In South Carolina, accepting the unknown: Republicans will vote today on a replacement for Senator Lindsey Graham, who died last month. His sister, Darline, has already taken over his seat on a temporary basis and is running to get the position full time. President Trump has endorsed her. Darline Graham is respected in the state for helping people with disabilities find jobs, but relatively little is known about her political views. (My colleagues on Capitol Hill have asked, but she dodges their questions.) That leaves voters in the deep-red state with a choice: back a conservative with well-documented positions or a candidate with the president’s support. Francesca Hong and David Crowley. Joshua Lott/Getty Images, Kayla Wolf/ Associated Press In Wisconsin, purple-state socialism: The front-runner for the state’s Democratic nomination for governor is Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist. That’s something of a surprise in a state where Republican and Democratic voters are about evenly split. But Hong, a state lawmaker, has consistently polled ahead of her more moderate, better-funded rivals. Some mainstream Democrats favor one of Hong’s opponents, David Crowley, out of fear that her left-wing views would turn away moderate voters. Hong has argued for abolishing ICE, and has previously said the police exist to uphold white supremacy and called for Thanksgiving to be canceled. A note of caution These races offer tests for the left, the center and Trump’s sway over his party that are likely to influence the way we think about national politics. But individual races have their own specific features, too. Some candidates, like Hong, benefit from an aggressive, old-fashioned ground campaign. Others ride on their charisma, their fund-raising prowess or their opponent’s mistakes. It’s easy to see every campaign as a proxy for larger forces, but sometimes they’re just their own things. More on elections The Trump administration is making a push to deport noncitizens who registered to vote, even if they did so inadvertently or never cast ballots. Asked about Democratic midterm candidates, Trump said there were “jihadists being elected all over the place.” COLOMBIAN EARTHQUAKE A.F.P. — Getty Images; Associated Press; Reuters Rescue workers have been digging through rubble in western Colombia after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake. It damaged more than 1,500 buildings — including homes, schools and health centers — officials said. They gave a death toll of 111, which appears likely to rise. Rescue workers often called for silence so they could hear the cries of survivors buried in rubble. The quake was the strongest to hit Colombia in at least a decade and its center was in one of the country’s poorest areas. A pair of brothers who lost their mother and other family members in Venezuela’s earthquakes in June have also survived this earthquake. Read their story. THE LATEST NEWS Politics Trump hid in a catering container to exit Air Force One and board a military jet when he was leaving Turkey last month, officials said. He did so because of a threat from Iran. Todd Blanche was sworn in as attorney general after a turbulent nomination process. He believes the president can control the Justice Department’s actions. Traffic to Trump’s social media platform fell by double digits in June and July, trackers estimate. The parent company, which Trump co-founded, appears to be struggling financially. Bernie Sanders called for a pause in A.I. development. “Stop building machines that humans cannot control,” he said. Health Trump issued an executive order calling for American children to be immunized against 11 diseases. The C.D.C. recommends vaccinations against 17. Decades of scientific evidence contradicts Trump’s claims that childhood vaccines are unsafe, overtax the immune system or cause autism. Here’s a fact-check. Fertility doctors are using A.I. to help men with very low sperm counts have biological children. The Middle East Iran is negotiating with Oman to allow some traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. But Iran refuses to fully reopen the waterway unless the United States agrees to its demands. Trump is eager to declare success and move on from the wars in Iran and Gaza. It’s not that simple. Around the World Raúl G. Rodríguez Castro Norlys Perez/Reuters Raúl G. Rodríguez Castro, a scion of the Castro family, has been talking with top Trump administration officials. His ambition is to become president of Cuba, people close to him say. He’s also been linked to the Cuban mafia. Taiwan cut off the internet for 30 minutes to test how people would respond if Chinese did so. Russia’s Supreme Court barred the country’s only antiwar party from running in parliamentary elections next month. Other Big Stories A 27-year-old woman and her baby daughter died when a sightseeing boat capsized near the Statue of Liberty. The boat’s captain was arrested. Workers at a facility that provides in-flight meals to some of the nation’s busiest airports said in a complaint that they had been exposed to cockroaches, maggots and mold. IN ONE MAP Source: Customs and Border Protection. The New York Times Trump promised to wall off the southwestern border. But his administration struggled to build much in his first term, as Democrats in Congress resisted funding the project. He mostly replaced existing barriers. His second term is different. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed last year, included almost $47 billion for wall building. That’s more than all border wall spending over the past 20 years combined. See how the wall will be built. OPINIONS A young, moderate and Kennedy-esque Democrat has a narrow lead in Iowa’s race for governor. Ben Rhodes, a former Obama adviser, asks: Can he break the Republican grip on red states? It’s not just the arch and the East Wing. By making it easier to demolish historic buildings, Trump could reshape sites around the country, Paul Goldberger, a former Times architecture critic, writes. Deeply reported journalism needs your support. The Times relies on subscribers to help fund our mission. Become a subscriber today. MORNING READS Associated Press; Agence France-Presse — Getty Images We’ve made these links free for you. “Personal cooling”: Air-conditioned clothing and refrigerators for humans are helping people in Asia cope with extreme heat. Off script: What happens when a driverless car encounters fireworks on the Golden Gate Bridge? Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about how climate change is affecting chile farmers in Pakistan. Metropolitan Diary: Mugged by a squirrel. Here Lies Dobby: A project to connect the electrical grids of Britain and Ireland changed its route after people protested that its cable would run through the grave of a house-elf from “Harry Potter.” Free climber: Jake Whisenant set a record for one of the fastest ascents of El Capitan, the granite monolith in Yosemite National Park. He died in a climbing accident at 30. TODAY’S NUMBER $433,000 — That is how much France can fine companies that make unsolicited telemarketing calls under a new law that goes into effect today. For calls targeting vulnerable individuals, the sentence could be as much as five years in prison and a fine of $578,000. SPORTS Soccer: UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation continue to call for Gianni Infantino’s resignation as president of FIFA. Trump still backs him. Olympics: Jonah Koech, a hopeful to run for the United States at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, accepted a three-year ban for blood doping. RECIPE OF THE DAY Andrew Bui for The New York Times In this take on esquites, the chef Elijah Deleon turns his childhood snack of grilled corn mixed with mayonnaise, cotija, chile flakes and lime into a charred corn and Cheddar salad. A simple aioli dresses charred kernels, adding the zing of garlic and Dijon. Sliced shishito peppers add a fresh, grassy crispness. STILL THE ONE Pari Dukovic for The New York Times Post Malone says he listens to Shania Twain before going onstage. Rihanna ranks her in the pantheon of divas alongside Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Diplo described meeting her as “face-melting.” More than 30 years after her first No. 1 hit, Twain is still one of the hottest acts around. More on culture The director of “Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody” planned two performances. Now it’s running in New York until at least November and has spawned productions in Canada and Britain. Jason Arday, a British scholar who resigned from Cambridge last week in part over questions about his background, has a memoir coming out tomorrow. Read the takeaways. Late night hosts wondered if Trump got a wig. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Liam Cobb Go on a nature walk. It can improve your attention span. Try a Mediterranean-style diet for better gut health. Take notes with these affordable yet satisfying pens recommended by Wirecutter. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was glamour. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren Deputy Editorial Director: Lauren Jackson

☢️ Scoop: U.S. brokers secret Syria deal President Trump meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, last month. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images The International Atomic Energy Agency will soon remove nuclear material from a clandestine site in Syria after the Trump administration reached a deal with Syria and Israel, Israeli and U.S. officials tell Axios' Barak Ravid. According to two Israeli officials, the Assad regime stored nuclear material there that was part of its Al-Kibar nuclear reactor project. A U.S. official said the material included yellowcake, which can eventually be enriched as part of a nuclear fuel cycle. Keep reading.

🤖 Lingo: "Chipflation" Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED. Chart: Emily Peck/Axios Memory chip prices are skyrocketing, thanks to AI demand — with no end in sight, Axios' Emily Peck writes. Why it matters: "Chipflation" is pushing up prices for electronics like smartphones and laptops, as well as cloud storage and hardware costs. By the numbers: The Producer Price Index for electronic components and accessories, which measures what companies pay for semiconductor chips and other parts, has gone vertical this year — rising 27.6% in June from a year earlier. Keep reading. 💰 P.S. Nvidia and a group of Wall Street firms are collaborating to provide half a trillion dollars ($500 billion!) in financing to the chipmaker's customers at "attractive rates" for "the buildout of AI infrastructure over time." Nvidia announced a partnership with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR. Go deeper.

👀 Autonomy's dark side Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images New revelations about "rogue" AI agents have exposed a dystopian hazard: Give an agent a goal, and it may decide that hacking, deception or rule-breaking is worth the payoff, Axios' Zachary Basu writes. Why it matters: Billions of AI agents could soon be acting on behalf of humans in the real world, multiplying the consequences of every loophole, incentive and boundary they learn to exploit. Zoom in: The potential dangers of agentic overreach were laid bare over the weekend with Australia's first known autonomous AI hack, triggered by an innocuous request to book a sold-out fitness class. An Australian man's AI assistant found a security flaw and used it to book classes months beyond the system's normal limit. When he asked it to move him up a waitlist, the agent went further: It discovered the booking system had no safeguard preventing one user from canceling another's reservation — then used the flaw to kick a stranger off the list. 🔭 Zoom out: The gym episode surfaced amid a far more ominous run of disclosures, where agents have resorted to hacking, deception and other unauthorized tactics during controlled tests. At a cyber conference last week, OpenAI revealed its agents had spent weeks exploiting the company's own testing infrastructure before hacking AI platform Hugging Face. In response, OpenAI has begun "consciously slowing down research," including on its latest model Astra, to ensure it has the right cyber safeguards in place. 🖼️ The big picture: These incidents are vivid examples of AI's "alignment" problem, or the challenge of ensuring software respects the implicit ethical and practical boundaries humans take for granted. Researchers have spent years wrestling with alignment, mostly through thought experiments imagining a future superintelligence pursuing a goal so single-mindedly that it destroys humanity.

America's big crime decline Data: Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA). Chart: Russell Contreras/Axios Violent crime kept falling across many of the nation's largest cities through June, with homicides down 17.2% from the first half of 2025, Axios' Russell Contreras writes from a Major Cities Chiefs Association report. Why it matters: The decline now spans two presidencies — falling under President Biden after the pandemic-era surge and continuing to drop under President Trump. 🧮 By the numbers: An Axios analysis of the organization's survey of 66 large U.S. communities found drops in violent crime in the first six months of 2026 compared to the same period last year. Homicides fell 17.2%. Robberies dropped 16.6%. Rapes declined 6.2%. Aggravated assaults fell 5.7%. Taken together, the four categories were down about 8.3%, for roughly 14,200 fewer reported violent crimes, according to the Axios review. 🔬 Zoom in: The homicide drops are striking in several cities that have struggled with high levels of violence. D.C. reported 46 homicides, down 43.9% from 82 in the first half of 2025. Homicides in Memphis fell 43.7%, from 119 to 67, and 38.3% in Houston, from 154 to 95. Philadelphia recorded 83 homicides, down 27.2% from 114. Trump often takes credit for the decline and links it to his deployment of the National Guard in cities such as D.C. and Memphis. Explore the data.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY August 11 1934 Federal prisoners land on Alcatraz A group of federal prisoners classified as “most dangerous” arrives at Alcatraz Island, a 22-acre island San Francisco Bay. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1806 Meriwether Lewis is shot in the leg 1960s 1965 Watts Rebellion begins 21st Century 2022 Anne Heche dies after fiery car crash in LA Arts & Entertainment 1973 “American Graffiti” opens 1973 Hip-hop is born at a teen party in the Bronx 2014 Oscar-winning actor Robin Williams dies at 63 Civil War 1864 Confederate general Jubal Early abandons Winchester, Virginia Cold War 1984 Reagan jokes about bombing Russia Crime 1980 Carol Bundy confesses her connection to the “Sunset Slayer” Middle Eastern History 1952 Hussein succeeds to Jordanian throne Vietnam War 1972 Last U.S. ground combat unit deactivated in South Vietnam World War I 1919 Weimar Constitution adopted in Germany World War II 1943 Germans begin to evacuate Sicily

Former Syrian President Assad sentenced to death in absentia for war crimes DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced ousted President Bashar Assad and his brother in absentia for murder, torture and crimes against humanity committed before and during the country’s 14-year civil war that left about half a million people dead. https://apnews.com/article/syria-assad-death-trial-d4c486b5d39bbdb41108112b0ddc8e79?

Tupac Trial, 30 Years On Jury selection began yesterday for the man charged with killing rapper Tupac Shakur. Duane “Keefe D” Davis stands accused of first-degree murder in one of hip-hop's most famous killings. See crime scene photos. Davis once led the South Side Compton Crips, a rival to the Bloods-affiliated gang associated with Shakur’s record label. On Sept. 7, 1996, Shakur and others were seen assaulting Davis’ nephew after a Mike Tyson fight. Later that night, Shakur was in a black BMW driven by his label’s cofounder when he was fatally shot from a white Cadillac. Prosecutors allege Davis directed the killing but did not pull the trigger and was one of four passengers in the Cadillac (the other three have died). Davis acknowledged his involvement in a 2018 BET interview and 2019 memoir, but pleads not guilty and characterizes the memoir as fiction (free w/email). He previously accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of commissioning the murder, which Combs denies.

August 11, 2026 True Prosperity “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” (3 John 2) This text has been misused by many who promote the modern false gospel of health and wealth—teachers who promise healing and financial success to every believer whose “soul prospereth.” The negative implication of such teaching, of course, is that Christians who are not in robust physical health and enjoying material affluence are somehow lacking in faith and are not in the will of God. This pernicious notion is disproved, of course, merely by the example of Paul the apostle. He was a far more exemplary Christian than any of these latter-day false teachers, yet his earnest prayer for healing from his “thorn in the flesh” was denied, and he died in poverty and martyrdom in a Roman dungeon (2 Corinthians 12:7). There are numerous modern examples as well: Fanny Crosby was blind but wrote many wonderful hymns, for example, or many have given their lives in sacrificial service on a thousand mission fields. Note that our text is not a promise but a prayer. Furthermore, that prayer will be answered in great fullness, but not necessarily now! “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. . . . He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (Revelation 21:4,7). In the meantime, we should remember that this coming time of true prosperity will be measured in accordance with the health and prosperity of our souls, exactly as John had prayed for his spiritual children, for Jesus said, “My reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12). HMM

The iconic Red Bull logo features two charging gaurs (massive wild forest bovines native to South and Southeast Asia) rather than standard domestic cattle. The branding originated from a Thai predecessor called Krating Daeng, which translates directly to "Red Gaur". James

Border crossings into the US from Canada declined in 2025 The number of people crossing into the US from Canada by land has declined overall since 1996. https://usafacts.org/articles/border-crossings-into-the-us-from-canada-declined-in-2025/? How many measles cases are there in the US? As of August 6, 2026, 2,465 cases have been confirmed in 2026, 7% of which required hospitalization. There were no reported deaths. This is the highest annual case count since the US declared measles eliminated in 2000. https://usafacts.org/answers/how-many-measles-cases-are-there-in-the-us/country/united-states/? One last fact Fires have accounted for 1,698 (38.1%) of all disaster declarations since 1980, the most of any disaster type. Severe storms are the second-most common, accounting for 24.7%.

His eposlurea of quest, on the Internet runs to 43 pages. Thje power that you suggest. in som,e cases, belongs to the local congregation and not to the organized Conference. To remove a total congregation is only done by a vote kot all congregations.

🏰 Parting shot: Castle cruise Photo: Steve Ward Steve Ward of Plymouth, Mich., shares this view of the Gravensteen while vacationing in Ghent, Belgium, earlier this month. The medieval castle dates to 1180, and once served as the residence of the Counts of Flanders. 🍺 Ward also points to a favorite bit of local lore: In 1949, students occupied the empty castle in protest of a new beer tax, staying overnight before the standoff ended peacefully the next morning.