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Princess Astrid of Norway died Friday at 94, just two days after attending the funeral of her younger brother, the late King Harald. “His Majesty the King has received with great sorrow the news that Princess Astrid has passed away,” the Norwegian Royal House said in a statement Friday afternoon. Astrid made her final public appearance Wednesday, arriving in a wheelchair after months of health issues for Harald’s funeral at Oslo Cathedral in Oslo, Norway. 6 Norway’s Princess Astrid, older sister of the late King Harald, died on Sept. 11 at the age of 94 — just two days after his funeral. BACKGRID 6 Astrid visiting her brother’s coffin in the Palace Chapel days before her death. Norwegian Royal House/Instagram She had been hospitalized for pneumonia earlier this year. In May, the palace said she was receiving treatment for heart failure and had been fitted with a temporary pacemaker.

Its not inconsistent at all. These are two completely different issues. One case people were fired for exercising their religious beliefs. In the other, employers had to purchase insurance they did not support. But that is not a burden. The court ruled correctly.

The legal victory for the BART workers underscores a profound transformation in American religious liberty law that has taken place over the past 5 years. For most of the nation’s history, religious accommodation did not mean dodging public health mandates. Historic religious exemptions centered on core matters of worship, sacred ritual, and non-negotiable spiritual duties. Early Americans fought for exemptions from mandatory military service, church taxes, or courtroom oaths that violated strict biblical commands against swearing. When public health rules like smallpox vaccination arrived in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, courts treated them as universal civic protections rather than religious battlegrounds. The Free Exercise Clause protected the soul, the altar, and the pulpit from state intrusion, not personal medical autonomy from standard civic obligations. The modern paradigm of using religious accommodation to challenge vaccine mandates chips away at that constitutional foundation. By reframing religious freedom as an individual right to veto workplace health policies, the law turns freedom to practice one’s own faith into a consumer-style personal preference. Historic free exercise protected individuals when the state compelled them to violate clear religious sacraments or forced them to confess secular creeds. Converting this profound shield into a convenient instrument for avoiding vaccine divorces the doctrine from the sacred obligations that gave it unique moral authority in 1791 and 1868. This is not to say there aren’t personal health reasons and concerns about vaccines, but simply applying a religious concern because there’s a “box for it” on the form misshapes what liberty means for those who have very real practice concerns. I know there are those who will argue that these particular vaccines violate their sincerely held religious beliefs that they suddenly discovered during COVID-19, but it tends to cheapen and call into question the entire range of religious practice that many have fought to protect over the past two-and-a-half centuries. ------------------------------------------------ But the reason people are checking this box now is because vaccines have CHANGED. 1) Almost all of them now contain Mrna tech. The President of Maderna said on a TED talk, that these change your DNA. 2) Almost all of these vaccines are cultured from aborted fetus tissue, from abortions. Now those may not be compelling liberty issues to this author, however, they are very compelling to some people. Let's not shame those people or invalidate their feelings because they believe these are real issues.

What did W.W. Prescott say?

Hobie: these are old arguments. W. W. Prescott (1855-1944) showed problems with these arguments.

Want to lower your risk of dementia? It doesn’t involve a blood test New blood tests that might predict Alzheimer’s years before symptoms begin may sound tantalizing for people who worry about later-in-life dementia, but doctors say they aren’t quite ready yet. Besides, you don’t need a test before trying to lower your risk. Read more. Why this matters: Instead, focus on addressing potentially preventable brain risks. One large study found people who reached middle age without high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking lived dementia-free for nearly 13 years longer than people with all three of those common health problems in their 50s. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Cut the number of choices you make each day. Your brain will thank you Centenarians living in Japan exceed 100,000 for the first time

Tens of thousands flee as Iran-backed rebels draw Yemen into the wider war More than 125,000 people in Yemen have fled as the Iran-backed rebels advanced down the Red Sea coast to a key maritime chokepoint. The offensive, linked to the wider Iran war, has threatened Saudi oil exports, pushed up global fuel prices and rattled markets. Read more. What to know: A Saudi-led blockade, along with the Houthis’ repressive rule and detention of U.N. and aid workers, has made life miserable in the now-expanding territory under rebel control. Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, weak and fragmented, has struggled to push them back. As the Houthis continue to make headlines, I found this explainer by our colleague Joseph Krauss on why Yemen’s Houthis have only grown stronger through years of war particularly helpful. Do you have a question about the Houthis, Yemen or the wider conflict with Iran? Email us here and we’ll put your questions to our reporters. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ UN-backed experts cite possible US war crimes in Iran strikes Saudis seek allies’ help as missile defenses run low in fight with Houthis, officials say WATCH: Yemeni families flee fighting

Fed rate hike likely means more expensive credit cards and mortgages, but savers may rejoice Trump administration has cut or frozen $177 billion in grants across every state, analysis shows Dr. Nicole Saphier, Trump’s 3rd surgeon general pick, faces Senate questions over her vaccine stance Trump suggests EU allowing Canada as associate member could be a ‘hostile act’ House approves sweeping Russia sanctions bill, sending it to Trump Trump administration hits South Africa with new sanctions over alleged discrimination against whites US troops must prepare to fight around the moon, Trump’s top military adviser says House passes bill aimed at addressing impact of data centers on energy costs Federal judge restricts warrantless immigration arrests in Southern California AP exclusive: Change in human trafficking policy could make some minors easier to deport Fencing goes up around the main Kennedy Center building after board votes to close it Trump and Whatley double down on the administration’s record in North Carolina Senate contest Kamala Harris is to campaign in Michigan with Abdul El-Sayed The Obamas’ family dog Sunny dies, the former president says

Speaker Johnson recesses the House early as GOP lawmaker pushes Hegseth impeachment GOP Rep. Thomas Massie’s resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the war in Iran and his bipartisan effort to force the release of more files in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation are all being left behind, blocked from votes. Read more. Why this matters: The renegade Republican from Kentucky, seized control of the chamber for a blistering hourlong speech criticizing Johnson, the Republican majority and the work he said the speaker is refusing to conduct to lower prices for Americans and hold the Trump administration accountable. Massie lost his own primary bid for reelection after Trump mounted a costly campaign to kick him out of Congress. Earlier in the day, Johnson, who claimed this Congress was the most productive in decades, dismissed Massie’s effort to impeach Hegseth as “a stunt.” “Secretary Hegseth has done an extraordinary job at the Department of War,” Johnson said.

September 17, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. OpenAI disclosed more incidents of concerning behavior from its A.I agents. Canada has a new relationship with the European Union. And the Federal Reserve decided to raise interest rates. President Trump’s not happy. We’ve got all of that, and more, below. But before we get to it, let’s talk about the mess in college sports. University of Oregon players. Lydia Ely/Associated Press Moneyball Were college sports more enjoyable when the athletes weren’t paid? Maybe for those of us at home. There was something thrilling about seeing the teenage Landon Collins commit to Alabama’s football program in 2012, live on television, his mom sitting beside him wearing L.S.U. purple, and thinking he’d roll Tide for the following four years. (Even though he turned pro after three, it was a good bet that Collins wouldn’t move to Miami for a big payday in his sophomore year.) Fans root for teams made up of players who want to be on them. Back then, anyway. And never mind the fans. Today the happiest beneficiaries of college sports are the people who play them. And it’s hard to be mad about that: Revenue-sharing and endorsement deals have let them enjoy the economic fruits of their considerable physical labor over the past few years. They have agency, too. If they don’t like their deal, they can transfer schools as often as they like. Universities make a lot of money on sports. The current system gives some of it to the students who play them. What does that look like in practice, though? Chaos, to some: Players jump all over the country, making like professional athletes in a largely unregulated bazaar. Colleges try to outbid one another, spending more and more on sports. University of Texas fans. Alex Slitz/Getty Images Now the government aims to do something about it. In a lopsided vote this week, senators from both parties decided to debate a piece of legislation, the Protect College Sports Act, that would limit the ability of athletes to switch schools. The bill would allow one college transfer and dictate that athletes who make a second move would have to sit out a year, with a few exceptions. Athletes would retain the right to compensation for their “name, image and likeness.” And the bill would limit midseason coaching moves and set a five-year window for athletic eligibility. “Right now, it is the Wild West,” Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas and a chief author of the bill, told Carl Hulse, who reports on Congress. Cruz worked on the bill with Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington. He said it would help make certain that college sports “remain strong and vibrant for decades to come.” That is not how some opponents see the legislation, which they say places restrictions on players that don’t exist for coaches — or regular workers out in the world. They say it preserves the financial interests of the N.C.A.A. “What this bill does at its core is to protect a system of exploitation,” said Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut and a chief opponent. Civil rights groups largely concurred. “Sharecropping is over,” Derrick Johnson, the president of the N.A.A.C.P., said this week. “We should not ask athletes, particularly Black athletes, to generate revenue on the football field or basketball court and they share in none of the revenue.” The bill could reach a final Senate floor vote in the middle of next week. Email us at themorning@nytimes.com and tell us how you feel about it. Related: The Athletic’s college football staff looked into 68 teams to determine how much their rosters cost. Top teams can spend around $50 million a year. See their full report, along with 10 takeaways. RATE BUMP What does the Fed’s decision to raise the interest rate by a quarter of a point mean for you? The rise in the benchmark rate, however small, means your borrowing costs are probably going to go up — in your credit card bills, for instance, and for any new loans (say, for cars or houses) you take out in coming months. They’re all tied to the Fed’s interest rate. On the other hand, if you have savings accounts, you’ll probably start to see a better return on your savings. The economy takes and gives. That’s why folks bet on it. All 12 voting members of the Fed agreed on the rate increase, the first in more than three years. They probably aren’t done raising rates. FREE TO READ Igor Adameyko, Gerd Günther, Wim van Egmond, Benedikt Pleyer A recent competition honored the work of photographers who capture images of microscopic life. See more amazing videos. The House held the billionaire investor Leon Black in criminal contempt after he refused to appear for a deposition and turn over documents about Jeffrey Epstein. Merriam-Webster added 1,400 words to its online dictionary. Check out the new definitions. A.I. researchers are worried about the day when the technology could start improving itself — and researchers could lose control. Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about a man who keeps earning advanced degrees. He already has 12. THE LATEST NEWS Around the World Mark Carney and Ursula von der Leyen at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, yesterday. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press The European Union invited Canada to become its first associate member. It’s a sign Trump’s pressure has backfired. The authorities in Turkey have arrested dozens of people in a crackdown on L.G.B.T.Q. activists and associations. At least 70 people died in Sudan after shafts collapsed at an unofficial gold mine. Artificial Intelligence OpenAI disclosed six new instances in which its models hid mistakes, made up data and moved files onto the open internet without permission. Essays by Anthropic’s chief executive, Dario Amodei, help explain why some people are so worried about A.I. Read excerpts. A.I. isn’t pushing up unemployment yet, but it is slowing wage growth, new research shows. The Maldives is using A.I. to help rebuild eroding beaches. Politics The Trump administration is holding up the publication of the I.R.S.’s annual estimate of unpaid taxes. Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, said she was “cancer-free” after disclosing a diagnosis of breast cancer earlier this year. The U.S. immigration authorities fast-tracked the deportation of a former Ecuadorean official despite fears he could face torture back home. More on Science Warming temperatures caused by climate change destabilized ice and permafrost in the Himalayas, very likely contributing to recent catastrophic floods in Nepal, a report found. Scientists fused human neurons into the brains of mice. The mice don’t seem to be behaving any differently. Other Big Stories Two former U.S. Navy service members admitted to dealing fentanyl-laced pills to active-duty sailors after one sailor died of an overdose. Flooding from monsoon-fueled storms in the American Southwest has killed at least three people. OPINIONS The New York Times Brittany Wagner’s father, a construction worker, fell 35 feet on a job and then endured 18 years of chronic pain. Eventually, he died by suicide. She says what killed him was his struggle to get help. Click the video above to watch. Would an A.I. slowdown in the United States allow China to pull ahead? Ezra Klein’s podcast guest, an expert in Chinese A.I., is skeptical. Introducing the Shows tab. A new place to find and follow podcasts in audio and video. Explore Shows in The Times app. ANNIE DILLARD, 1945-2026 Annie Dillard walked into the woods and came out with a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on the wonders and horrors of creation, the modern classic “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.” Reviewers (including Eudora Welty, who assessed it for The Times) were quick to understand the book as a 20th-century analogue to Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden.” It made her a star of American literature at just 28. In the years to follow, Dillard published essays, meditations on religion, poems, a theory of literature, two novels, journalism, a best-selling autobiography and another best seller, “The Writing Life.” She gave herself to that life, telling her students that if you choose to be a writer, “you can’t be anything else. You must go at your life with a broadax.” She died at 81. Read three of her essays, written early in career but published for the first time in 2016 in The New York Times Magazine. TODAY’S NUMBER 107,677 — That’s how many people in Japan are at least 100 years old, according to new data from the country’s health ministry. It’s an increase of nearly 8,000 since last year. The oldest woman is 114, and the oldest man is 112. SPORTS Soccer: Cavan Sullivan, a 16-year-old American soccer prodigy, has been called up to the U.S. men’s national team. N.F.L.: The league fined the Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair for writing the name of a Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces on his face. College sports: Arizona State’s hockey coach was determined to toughen up his program. What happened next left one player on life support. Read our exclusive investigation. RECIPE OF THE DAY Kelly Marshall for The New York Times I’m not here to deliver faint praise. Ham El-Waylly’s recipe for kung pao tofu is fantastic, and worth making often enough that you learn its contours by heart. Tonight it could take you an hour, top to bottom. Make it four times and you’ll cut that time considerably. I rate it 10/10, with one note: I sometimes use cashews in place of the peanuts. A HUNGRY HEART Thea Traff for The New York Times Here’s a lovely passage from Alexis Soloski’s glittery profile of the actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus: “As an actress, she specializes in need, so naked and desperate that it makes the women she plays indelible. I can defend almost no choice her characters make. But their wanting is undeniable, as is the demented pleasure she conveys when a want is satisfied.” Think about her in “Seinfeld,” in “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” in “Veep.” True, no? Now Louis-Dreyfus has a new desire. It’s to return to the theater for the first time in more than four decades. She’ll make her Broadway debut this fall in a revival of Jon Robin Baitz’s drama “Other Desert Cities.” “It’s very delicious for me to consider chomping on,” she said. The whole thing’s a pleasure to read. More on culture Four very different artists — the Colombian superstar Karol G, the genre-bending Spanish experimentalist Rosalía, the innovative Argentine jazzy-trap and hip-hop duo Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso and the Uruguayan songwriter Jorge Drexler — each secured seven Latin Grammy nominations yesterday, before the 27th annual awards in November. John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell play the jaded C.I.A. agents at the center of “Wild Horse Nine,” the darkly comic new movie from the writer-director Martin McDonagh. The two actors talked to The Times about their sinister characters and the politics that underpin the film and, because they’re longtime friends, the conversation’s delightful. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS The New York Times Eat sardines. They’re good for your bones, your heart, your blood. Plus, they’re delicious. Subscribe to The New York Times. I make the suggestion because a subscription is the best way to ensure that this work continues, every day, across the world. We’ve got a good deal going. Replace the comforter that the dog who’s not allowed on the bed managed to shred. The coziness experts at Wirecutter found the best ones. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was pinewood. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. See you tomorrow. — Sam Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. 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

Carney embraces EU associate membership proposal as Trump pushes Canada closer to Europe STRASBOURG, France (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday embraced the prospect of his country becoming the European Union’s first associate member, saying closer ties with the continent would ensure no country could control Canada’s markets or undermine its sovereignty. https://apnews.com/article/carney-canada-eu-trump-parliament-speech-ef4559ce5972abb47444e469f42005bb?

THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 17 1862 Battle of Antietam breaks out The a pivotal, bloody Civil War skirmish halted Confederate momentum on the battlefield and abroad. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1868 Cheyenne and Sioux battle frontiersmen at Beecher’s Island 1970s 1978 Camp David Accords signed 21st Century 2011 Occupy Wall Street begins Arts & Entertainment 1967 The Who literally spark an explosion on national television 1996 Oprah launches influential book club 1983 Vanessa Williams becomes first Black Miss America Civil War 1862 The Allegheny Arsenal explodes, killing 78 people Space Exploration 1976 NASA unveils its first space shuttle, the Enterprise U.S. Constitution 1787 U.S. Constitution signed U.S. Presidents 1796 George Washington prepares final draft of farewell address World War II 1939 Soviet Union invades Poland

🍻 1 fun thing: America's Oktoberfest capital A man wears souvenir pins on his alpine hat during Oktoberfest Zinzinnati in 2021. Photo: Jeff Dean/AFP via Getty Images The world's largest Oktoberfest celebration outside Munich takes place in ... Cincinnati. Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, which started as a street festival in 1976, drew a record 808,300 people last year. It turns 50 when it starts today, Axios Cincinnati's Kristen Swilley writes. By the numbers: At a recent Oktoberfest, attendees consumed: 🌭 87,542 metts (a German sausage). 🥨 23,004 soft pretzels. 🍰 20,000 cream puffs. 🥬 3,600 pounds of sauerkraut. 🧀 702 pounds of Limburger cheese.

🗳️ States brace for ICE at polls Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Adam Gray/Getty Images The Trump administration's hints about sending ICE agents to election polling places this fall have led state officials from Maine to Oregon to make plans to counter any actions that could affect voters, Axios' Brittany Gibson writes. Why it matters: It's illegal for federal law enforcement to be at polling places. But when asked about ICE at the polls, President Trump said in May he'd "do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections." Keep reading.

⚡ Scoop: Trump plans Gulf summit on Iran President Trump is expected to hold a meeting with Gulf leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday to discuss the next steps in the war with Iran, Axios' Barak Ravid scoops. Why it matters: The meeting is expected to focus on U.S. ideas for a postwar strategy as Trump and his senior team work on a day-after plan expected to be finalized after the midterms. The sources said Trump will meet with leaders or foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.

💵 Trump's Fed fury Via Truth Social The Fed's decision to raise interest rates yesterday for the first time in three years put new Fed chairman Kevin Warsh immediately at odds with the man who picked him, Axios' Neil Irwin and Rebecca Falconer write. The Fed unanimously raised rates a quarter point, to between 3.75% and 4%. Twelve of 18 officials expect another hike this year, while four expect two more. President Trump responded on Truth Social: "LOWER THE INTEREST RATES FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND FAST!" He said rates should be 1% or lower. Later, Trump said he still has confidence in Warsh while blaming the rest of the Fed for the hike: "I'm relying on Kevin, but he's got a very tough board." More on the rate hike.

💰 CEO confidence hits 4-year high New this morning: CEO economic confidence is the highest since 2022, with that optimism now spilling into plans to hire more workers, Axios Macro authors Courtenay Brown and Neil Irwin write. The Business Roundtable's CEO Economic Outlook Index climbed 3 points in the third quarter, to 94 — the fifth consecutive increase and well above the historical average of 83. The index has climbed steadily from a five-year low after President Trump's "liberation day" tariffs early last year. Explore the data ... Keep reading.

💊 AI's $40 billion drug gamble Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios Curing disease is one of AI's most tantalizing use cases, attracting tens of billions in venture funding to design promising new drugs. Proving they actually work in humans is the hard part, Axios' Dan Primack and Caitlin Owens write. Why it matters: AI is getting better at identifying drug candidates, but they still have to survive the same expensive, failure-prone clinical trials as everything else. 🖼️ The big picture: A peer-reviewed paper published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery argues that AI's clinical impact remains "disappointingly limited," despite major advances in identifying potential drugs. The researchers find that while AI has gotten good at identifying drug candidates, it hasn't done much to prove those predictions will survive the complexity of human biology. AI-derived drugs still run into the same bottleneck as conventional drugs: proving efficacy in large, diverse patient populations, where failure rates are high and costs are astronomical. 🧮 By the numbers: Venture capitalists have poured more than $40 billion into AI biopharma this decade, according to PitchBook. But few AI-derived medicines have progressed beyond Phase II clinical trials, where researchers test whether a drug actually works in patients with the disease. At the same time, the FDA is trying to shave time off an earlier part of the drug-development process. A new pilot will let drugmakers submit applications on a rolling basis, aiming to move promising drug candidates from discovery into human clinical trials faster. The push reflects a broader concern that the U.S. drug-development system is too slow, particularly as early-stage clinical development can move faster and more cheaply in China.

🤖 The AI hacking crisis is here Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images An unprecedented wave of AI-powered, human-driven cyberattacks is coming, security experts say — and it's a far more urgent risk than theoretical conversations about AI wiping out humanity, Axios' Sam Sabin and Bradley Olson write. Why it matters: The great September AI panic — which spread from boardrooms to Congress to American households in the last week — may have missed the point. Powerful models with advanced cybersecurity capabilities are already allowing attackers to bypass the human bottleneck that has long prevented most hacking campaigns from reaching industrial scale. Executives and former officials have told Axios they fear automated cyberattacks that turn off critical services like the power grid, or attackers using AI agents (like the ones that breached Hugging Face) to hack self-driving cars or create a botnet that takes over the whole internet. OpenAI yesterday disclosed six new incidents in which its models concealed mistakes, sought unauthorized credentials, uploaded files to the public internet or communicated across supposedly isolated training environments. 🎨 The big picture: Rather than seeing recent safety failures at OpenAI and other frontier labs as terrifying instances of agents running amok, seasoned cybersecurity experts instead say they represent cautionary tales illustrating what will happen when powerful models meet poor security controls. "I don't worry about the machine waking up and deciding to end us," Bugcrowd CEO Dave Gerry told Axios. "What I worry about is a system with too much access doing exactly what it was told without the necessary adversarial testing." 👀 What to watch: A number of business executives are saying behind closed doors that they plan to hold frontier labs accountable for the behavior of their models. If they get hacked as Hugging Face did, expect litigation.

Axios interview: GOP's midterm villain Hasan Piker told the media briefing Status that yesterday's "The Axios Show" taping with Alex Thompson was "the most contentious interview I've ever conducted." LOS ANGELES — In a new episode of "The Axios Show," out tomorrow, left-wing streamer Hasan Piker says he believes America conducts more terrorism in the world than al-Qaeda. "Pound for pound as far as the number of deaths, yes," Piker told Thompson. He added: "We have caused tremendous terror all around the world." Why it matters: Piker is a top streamer on Twitch, a platform popular with gamers. His history of incendiary statements has become central to Republicans' attacks in Michigan's critical Senate race, after Piker campaigned for Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed in the primary. 🔎 Zoom in: Piker's comments to Axios came in response to a question about his previous statement that "America is the top dog in terrorism." Piker pointed to the deaths of more than 100 people at an elementary school in Minab, Iran, earlier this year. AP and The New York Times found evidence that at least one U.S. missile struck the school. "If you're killing 140 schoolgirls, that is an act of terror," he said. "This doesn't mean that all Americans are terrorists. But the reality of the matter is we have to create an environment of accountability to ensure things like that never happen again." 🖼️ The big picture: Republican-affiliated groups have already spent nearly $3 million in ads attacking El-Sayed over his affiliation with Piker, according to the tracking firm AdImpact. Most of the ads feature a clip of Piker in 2019 saying "America deserved 9/11." He apologized for the remark and has since argued that the terror attacks were part of "blowback" from U.S. involvement in the Middle East in previous decades. "This doesn't justify the action, mind you," he told Axios. "This is more so analysis to stop further violence from taking place, both violence in the region, but also violence on the home front as well." Michigan's GOP Senate nominee, Mike Rogers, frequently ties Piker to El-Sayed. El-Sayed has dodged questions about Piker and occasionally appeared irritated by them, often referring to him as just a "streamer in California." In a statement last night, El-Sayed said: "I do not agree with this statement [on al-Qaeda], nor do I give much weight to the statements made by a social media streamer." ▶️ Watch a 1-min. clip.

UN-backed experts cite possible US war crimes in Iran strikes GENEVA (AP) — Experts commissioned by the U.N.’s top human rights body say they have found “reasonable grounds” to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran, including on a school in the southern city of Minab. They also accuse Iran’s theocratic government of carrying out crimes against humanity against its own people, in a report published Thursday. https://apnews.com/article/un-human-rights-us-iran-99e690efd1e818e835d4f5a00e0d261b?

The first spacecraft to visit Mars was Mariner 4 in 1965. James

🌳 New lingo: "Greenbath" Photo: Josh Trent Pic du jour from reader Josh Trent in Cheverly, Md.: "Fantastic morning 'greenbath' as the sun peeks through on the running trail."

How dogs read us Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios New research is providing evidence for what pet owners and animal lovers have long suspected: Dogs are remarkably good at reading human emotions. Why it matters: The findings offer clues about how living as human companions for thousands of years may have shaped dogs. 🧠 Zoom in: For the study, published recently in iScience, researchers scanned pups' brains while they looked at photos of human facial expressions portraying a range of feelings, including happiness, fear, sadness and anger. Dogs processed the faces just like humans do, focusing on eyes, noses and mouths, and their brains showed a distinct response to happy faces. While smiles elicited the biggest response, dogs appeared to read the other emotions, too. And their brains didn't put all the negative feelings in the same bucket. Instead, brain activity differed depending on whether the pups were looking at a fearful, sad or angry face. 🔎 The intrigue: This study analyzed dogs' brain responses when they were looking at photos of strangers. Their reactions would likely be even stronger when observing their owners' faces, the study authors note. 💛 The money quote: "Humans are really good at picking up small details on the face, and so are dogs," study author Raúl Hernández-Pérez from the University of Vienna told the BBC. The bottom line: Whether it's your dog or one you meet out and about, you're not the only one getting something out of saying hello.

Substandard View in browser President Trump appointed Kash Patel to lead the FBI not because of his brief experience in law enforcement but because he is a political brawler. The problem, as Patel demonstrated yesterday, is that he is not a very good one: No skilled political messenger would have allowed nearly every headline about a Senate hearing to connect their name and agency with bestiality. Yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was Patel’s first appearance on Capitol Hill since a raucous visit in May. (At that hearing, Patel and Senator Chris Van Hollen verbally agreed to each take a self-screening test for alcohol abuse. Van Hollen posted his results the next day, but his office said it never heard back from Patel.) It was also Patel’s first hearing since CBS News revealed changes to FBI hiring standards, which reportedly now allow the bureau to consider applicants who have hired prostitutes fewer than three times, stole from an employer more than three years ago, or engaged in sex with animals before the age of 18. Democrats were eager to press Patel on the changes, but the hearing’s buzziest exchange turned out to be between Patel and Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a Republican. During his questioning, Kennedy seemed to be doing everything he could to offer Patel a chance to defuse the story—but Patel, unable or unwilling to recognize the openings, didn’t take them. The ranking Democrat, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, asked about the new requirements first. Patel said the bestiality change was designed to ensure that people who had been forced to engage in sex with animals were not shut out of an FBI job. “We did not want to punish victims of bestiality,” Patel said. “We are not going to target victims.” Whether this is accurate is unclear. The memo laying out the new standards has not been made public, but sources told CBS News that the rules “do not distinguish between candidates who were coerced into sexual activity with animals, as opposed to those who engaged in such acts willingly.” Kennedy was the next senator to quiz Patel, and he tried to do some cleanup. “I’m really trying to understand,” he said, rubbing his face. “’Cause I listened to the exchange between you and Senator Durbin, and I’ve read a few news accounts, and I’m confused.” He asked Patel, almost rhetorically, to affirm that the FBI still had hiring standards, and Patel argued that changes had been necessary to ensure the quick hiring of good agents. As for bestiality, the old rule had “automatically disqualified any individual who participated on either side of it.” Kennedy, a bit of a ham, couldn’t resist a jibe: “So you disqualified the animal?” But he was also losing patience. “I’m trying to understand why you did this,” he said, and then offered an unusually frank description of how many Senate hearings work today: “I understand the game. People try to make you look bad. We do the same thing when the other party’s in office.” He gave Patel another shot. The director replied that sometimes human traffickers force victims to engage in bestiality, and that the FBI did not want to disqualify victims—even though, again, the guidelines reportedly don’t make such a distinction. An exasperated Kennedy wasn’t buying it. “Someone came to you and recommended” this? he asked. “And when you saw bestiality—I say this with respect—the person who recommended it, why didn’t you just say, ‘What planet did you parachute in from? Why do I wanna lead with my chin and get into bestiality?’” One answer is that Patel just isn’t very politically astute. It’s hard to claim you’re cleaning up and reforming the FBI, as Patel has, when you’re allowing johns and people who stole from their employers to apply. As for bestiality, more careful wording of the FBI memo that first laid out the new standards would have avoided the controversy. Better preparation for the hearing might have given him a clearer explanation than what he offered. And sharper instincts would have told Patel that Kennedy was trying to help him out. Any high-level appointee should be able to get through a congressional hearing without bestiality becoming the main topic. Instead, Patel takes his cues from Trump, whose instinct is always to push back. But what works for Trump doesn’t work for others. It’s not even clear whether it works for Trump anymore. Patel may have felt a need to loosen qualifications for agents because the FBI has experienced an exodus of staffers since he took over. More than 1,100 special agents, who had an average tenure of almost 22 years, left in 2025 alone, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management. Durbin has alleged that more than 5,000 nonpartisan civilian staffers departed last year. Some left of their own accord, and others were fired who were involved in investigations that Trump and Patel don’t like, such as those looking into the January 6 riot. This spring, my colleague Sarah Fitzpatrick reported that Patel’s colleagues had been concerned about what they described as Patel’s excessive drinking, repeated absences, emotional outbursts, and impulsive behavior. (Patel denied the allegations and sued Fitzpatrick and The Atlantic for defamation, demanding $250 million.) If Patel doesn’t have the skills and temperament to run the FBI well, isn’t really cleaning up the bureau’s ranks, and can’t even get through a standard Senate hearing without things going off the rails, one might wonder why he’s in the job at all. Lower hiring standards apparently start at the top. Related: Kash Patel’s performative deflections The FBI director is MIA.