All Activity

Trump shifts his tone on Jimmy Carter while grappling with Iran, inflation and his own legacy Jimmy Carter used to be one of President Donald Trump ’s favorite political targets, a catchall foil for feckless Democrats that he could jeer at to make himself look strong and decisive. Read More.

Safety fears limit Ebola response in Congo, with more than 12 attacks recorded At least a dozen attacks on health facilities and workers have been recorded during Congo's Ebola outbreak as safety fears restrict the response in the worst-affected region, authorities said Saturday. Read More.

Venezuela earthquakes death toll surpasses 5,000 The death toll from the two powerful earthquakes that shook Venezuela last month rose to 5,069 late on Friday, local authorities said. Read More.

US military launches new airstrikes to ‘swiftly punish’ Iran for deaths of US troops DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military said that it carried out new airstrikes against Iran on Sunday to “swiftly punish” the country’s Revolutionary Guard after an attack on a base in Jordan killed two American service members, left one missing and four requiring hospitalization. https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-hormuz-strait-war-july-18-2026-5adfef67554652580963684d9a663af2?

Trump repeated election integrity claims in primetime address. Here are 16 we've fact-checked In his July 16 address, Trump revisited long-running claims about mail ballots, voting machines, noncitizen voters and the 2020 election. https://www.snopes.com/collections/trump-election-integrity-claims/?

⚽ 1 for the road: "1 in a billion" photo 20-year-old soccer star Lionel Messi helps bathe 6-month-old Lamine Yamal during a September 2007 photo session in Barcelona, Spain. Photo: Joan Monfort/AP Almost two decades ago, photographer Joan Monfort didn't think much of his photo shoot of a teenage Lionel Messi bathing a cute baby boy in a plastic bathtub. Not until the remarkable twist of fate became clear years later, when that infant blossomed into Lamine Yamal. Now those images of the long-haired Messi, his hands covered in soap suds as if anointing Yamal as soccer's Next Big Thing, have become the most talked about — and gawked about — in the run-up to tomorrow's World Cup final, when Messi's Argentina will play Yamal's Spain for the biggest trophy in the sport. "I have never been a believer or thought that anything was destined to occur, but I am beginning to have my doubts. This is beyond all reasonable explanations," Monfort told AP from his home in Barcelona. Photo: Joan Monfort/AP How it happened: Luck dictated that Yamal's mother, who appears in the calendar photo, won a raffle of families in the city of Mataró, near Barcelona, who wanted to participate. Soccer destiny then deemed that her baby boy, who would become a star for Barcelona some 15 years later, was paired up with the Argentine who would become one of the greatest of all time. Read a 2024 interview with Monfort about the "1 in a billion" photo (CNN).

🏟️ Priciest World Cup matches Data: TicketData.com. (Excludes championship final and third-place match.) Chart: Brad Jennings/Axios Some of the toughest World Cup tickets, per Axios' Brad Jennings via TicketData: Mexico. Three of Mexico's home matches ranked among the tournament's five most expensive. Each required at least $3,000 to get in. Argentina vs. England. The dramatic 2-1 semifinal in Atlanta on Wednesday carried a $3,560 get-in price. Scotland vs. Brazil. The June 24 Miami match drew a $3,382 get-in, amped by the boisterous traveling "Tartan Army."

⛽ Another reason gas stays high Illustration: Megan Robinson/Axios Ukraine's drone attacks on refineries have hammered Russia's oil infrastructure, creating an economic shock that is increasingly visible worldwide, including in the U.S., Axios markets correspondent Matt Phillips reports. The ripple effects can now be seen in the U.S. After Russia banned exports of the fuel last week, U.S. diesel prices edged above $5 a gallon Thursday. 💥 The International Energy Agency says: "Almost every large refinery in the western part of Russia has been hit by drones. ... Attacks continued through June and into July, with many refineries being hit multiple times." Russia's traditional diesel customers — which include large emerging markets like Brazil — are turning to the U.S. for supplies. That foreign buying is helping to push up prices for Americans. Read on.

😶‍🌫️ Our smoky days Data: NOAA/NESDIS Hazard Mapping System. Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios Hazy, polluted summer days, like Americans across the Midwest and Northeast continue to deal with this weekend, are rapidly becoming the new normal. The eastern half of the country has seen a steady increase in smoky days, with nearly half of 2023 recording at least light smoke. The latest: President Trump is threatening to raise tariffs on Canada over the wildfire smoke that's drifted into the U.S., saying the "cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying." Go deeper.

July 18, 2026 Good morning. A summer weekend offers a bounty of daylight that we feel duty-bound to exploit properly. But sometimes the sun-and-fun mandate becomes an unnecessary burden. María Jesús Contreras Scenic route By Melissa Kirsch There’s a particular kind of pressure on summer weekends to get up and get out, to do something worthy of the bounty of warmth and light. The options are picturesque and limitless: Will you swim or hike or simply stroll? Perhaps a picnic! Rent bikes? You always say you’re going to read under that tree, what’s stopping you? Oh, the places you said you’d explore, the outdoor tasks you’d finish, the plans you made last February when you felt cold and constrained and said “as soon as it’s warmer” and look, now it is. It’s enough, some weekends, to make you wish for a rainy day. Even those of us who wait all year for July to open its golden gate and let us out feel a little bullied by summer’s mandate to exploit the day. The promise of your days off is that you’re free to do whatever you please. Which includes lying here by the air conditioning vent with a glass of lemonade — maybe with a book, maybe even watching something on a screen — undisturbed by ants or mosquitoes or other habitants of the outside world. But even though we know we’re the captains of our own weekends, the guilt is real. By the time most of us get up, the sun’s rays are already beating on the backside of the curtains like a dog at the door: let me in, let’s go, what are you waiting for? Even in this, the longest possible unofficial summer, I’m painfully aware there are a mere 16 weekends, and the squandering of even one can feel wasteful. My internal taskmaster prods me off the couch and into the world with bleak prophecies of the first frost and 4 p.m. dusk. I took a wrong turn on my drive home from out of town last Sunday that resulted in a late-night detour on the minor highways of New Jersey, a dreaded tunnel-bound traffic jam where no matter how many times I switched lanes, I was in the wrong one. I had two friends in the car and felt terrible about subjecting them to this purgatory, this waste of a precious summer weekend. Then I tried to flip the script, to approach the moment with a spirit of abundance. The situation was annoying but not altogether unpleasant. I was with two friends; we were talking and singing along with the radio and spending our time on earth gazing at miles of taillights arrayed against the darkness together. It felt at first like we were being kept from living our lives, but of course the whole time we were still living them. In the winter, staying inside is a cozy privilege, an act of restorative self-care. In the summer, we cast it as burning daylight, almost a moral failure. I try to remind myself on those days I decide to nap or do laundry or otherwise forgo the obvious pleasures of the season that the days aren’t a project to be managed. That I’m living and breathing and thinking and experiencing within them no matter what I’m doing. The story I tell of how I spent my summer weekend may sound better if it unfolds at the beach or the barbecue than under a blanket on the couch — or on the New Jersey Turnpike, for that matter. But the setting of the story doesn’t really matter that much. We take turns that may at first seem misguided, but eventually, finally, we arrive back at home. ICE’S LEGAL RECORD Federal prosecutors seldom lose cases. More than 90 percent of criminal defendants plead guilty or are convicted at trial. But over the past year, those prosecutors have lost about half their cases against people charged with assaulting immigration officers. A Times investigation has found that is at least partly because Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have engaged in misconduct as they try to meet President Trump’s aggressive deportation goals. Here’s some of what our reporters uncovered: The Trump administration has charged more than 550 people with assaulting federal officers — far more than previously known. About 400 cases have been resolved so far. In 214, the defendants were acquitted or the charges were dropped. In dozens of the cases, videos and court records show that federal agents were the first to get physical — shoving, tackling or pepper-spraying defendants. In at least seven, officers’ own conduct caused their injuries. Two judges found that agents intentionally destroyed evidence. The Times obtained court filings for every case, interviewed witnesses and federal officials and watched videos of dozens of confrontations. Read the investigation, or click below to watch one of the reporters, Danny Hakim, explain what he found. These links are free to read and watch. The New York Times THE LATEST NEWS Politics The Trump administration revived a policy that gives immigration agents wide authority to deny green cards to people they deem likely to rely on public assistance. Federal courthouses around the country are falling into a dire state of disrepair. Judges say the government is not doing enough to respond. War in Iran Migrant workers flocked to Dubai for economic opportunity. Many now say the war has meant job losses and salary cuts. Oil prices jumped to their highest level in a month. Around the World Mykhailo Fedorov in Kyiv. Jędrzej Nowicki for The New York Times Volodymyr Zelensky fired his defense minister in Ukraine, sidelining a popular rival after a dispute over drone strategy. Read what happened. Andy Burnham, who was installed yesterday as the leader of Britain’s Labour Party, is about to become prime minister. One mother had to rush back to Venezuela after an earthquake to dig for her daughter’s body. Nearly 200 wildfires continued yesterday to devastate large swaths of Ontario, Canada, and spew smoke across the continent. Washington, D.C., had some of its worst air quality on record. As Trump feuds with Italy’s prime minister, the U.S. ambassador is cruising Italy’s coast on his superyacht. Tech The Chinese start-up Moonshot AI released a new A.I. model that appeared to narrow the lead held by well-funded American competitors. Times Exclusive: Meta is in talks to rent out its A.I. data centers to Anthropic. The deal could be worth $10 billion over two years. Start-ups are booming after a decades-long slump, supercharged by A.I. Other Big Stories Tony Hertz/Alamy Taylor Farms said it would pull some of its iceberg lettuce, which was linked to the cyclospora outbreak. We explain if it is safe to eat lettuce. Two U.S. Forest Service employees were freed unharmed after being held hostage at gunpoint for 15 hours in a Northern California forest. A South Carolina man was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for firing a rifle to scare away a Black neighbor. THE WEEK IN CULTURE Film and TV Kit Connor, left, and Joe Locke in “Heartstopper Forever.” Netflix The new “Heartstopper Forever” film, born of the popular boy-meets-boy series on Netflix, creates a couple bond so convincing that it survives even occasional over-explanation, our critic writes. “The Polygamist,” the hit South African Netflix show about (you guessed it) a polygamist, has become a major talker outside Africa, where polygamy is legal in some countries. Want more “Odyssey” after watching Christopher Nolan’s take? These books might scratch your itch. Music Gary Stewart was largely forgotten after his tragic death in 2003. Now a new generation is rediscovering the onetime “king of honky-tonk.” Major music industry groups want to add labels to songs made using A.I. The Internet, a laid-back soul band that emerged from the Los Angeles hip-hop collective Odd Future, is preparing a fifth album. Listen to their interview on Popcast. More Culture Marcel Duchamp, a central figure of the Dada movement, famously gave up art for chess. So a chess grandmaster is playing 50 artists, critics and fans of Duchamp’s — at the same time! — to commemorate his birthday. Leaders at PEN America defended an article the group published about Israeli and Jewish authors that led to the resignation of its president last week. Chloe Fineman, the “Saturday Night Live” star known for her impressions of Melania Trump and Britney Spears, will leave the show after seven seasons. Deeply reported journalism needs your support. The Times relies on subscribers to help fund our mission. Become a subscriber today. REAL ESTATE From left: Cheryl Smith; her mother, Barbara Smith; and her daughter Dakota Foster in North Philadelphia. Hannah Yoon for The New York Times The Hunt: Three generations of women chipped in what they could to find a three-bedroom house near Philadelphia for less than $400,000. What did they choose? Play our game. What you get for $425,000: A townhouse in Savannah, Ga., a condo in Providence, R.I., and a desert home in Tucson, Ariz. Pick your favorite: An eight-bedroom compound, a forest villa and a contemporary indoor-outdoor house are all on the market in Costa Rica for $1.9 million. Which would you choose? LIVING Near Lake Naomi, in Pennsylvania in 2019. Noah Kalina for The New York Times Second home first: City dwellers priced out of their local markets are looking to vacation and weekend homes as a path to home ownership. Consider a townhouse. They can cost less to build and buy, and often are easier to maintain. Quiet down: A home’s moans and groans can drive you crazy. Here’s how to silence some of the noise. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER How to clear your home of wildfire smoke Picking up a dedicated air purifier or getting new filters for your central air-conditioner are the most effective ways you can help protect those in your home. (That includes pets.) But there are also cheaper, simpler steps you can take: It may seem obvious, but close your windows. And fill in any gaps with weather sealing tape. Vacuuming can blow fine smoke particles that have settled back into the air, so try damp-mopping instead. Change clothes after spending time outdoors. Wash your sheets more often than normal. And keep a good mask on hand. — Tim Heffernan GAME OF THE WEEK Elsa/Getty Images Argentina vs. Spain, World Cup final: The most coveted trophy in sports is up for grabs tomorrow in an intense showdown between two soccer heavyweights. On one side is Argentina, the defending champion. They are fueled by a 39-year-old superstar, Lionel Messi, who is very likely playing in his last World Cup game. On the other side is Spain, a well-rounded squad with its own global sensation, Lamine Yamal, who just turned 19. The Spanish team has allowed only one goal in its seven World Cup games. The match, in New Jersey, is on track to be the most expensive sporting event ever. It will cap off an unusually long World Cup that brought visitors from around the globe to the U.S. and persuaded many Americans to get into soccer, if only for a summer. As you wait: Scroll through our favorite photos from this year’s tournament. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was albumen. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Crossplay, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa 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 Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren

THIS DAY IN HISTORY July 18 1940 FDR nominated for unprecedented third term Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who first took office in 1933 as America’s 32nd president, is nominated for an unprecedented third term. Roosevelt would eventually be elected to a record four terms in office. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 1960s 1969 Senator Ted Kennedy drives car off bridge at Chappaquiddick Island 1980s 1986 Video of Titanic wreckage released American Revolution 1792 Naval hero John Paul Jones dies in Paris Arts & Entertainment 1989 Sitcom actress murdered; death prompts anti-stalking legislation 1995 Barack Obama’s “Dreams from My Father” is published Civil War 1863 Robert Gould Shaw leads Black infantry’s doomed assault on Fort Wagner Crime 1984 Twenty-one people are shot to death at McDonald’s European History 1925 Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” is published Sports 1976 Gymnast Nadia Comăneci scores first perfect “10” in Olympic history U.S. Presidents 1947 Harry S. Truman signs second Presidential Succession Act Women’s History 1947 First female army officer is commissioned

July 18, 2026 The Lie of Now “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27) One tactic that “the rulers of the darkness of this world” use to entice mankind to ignore eternity involves portraying the here and now as all there is (Ephesians 6:12). Advertisements, music, and even academic works unashamedly prioritize the now. What’s wrong with believing that the experiences of this world exhaust all realities? The Lord Jesus warns His listeners with the story of a man who lived to increase his wealth, treating this life as the only one. The rich man said, “And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:19-20). One big pitfall of pursuing material pleasures is that it ignores judgment day. God’s righteous nature compels Him to judge every wrong committed. “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble” (Malachi 4:1). “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings” (Malachi 4:2). Jesus Christ suffered sin’s hellish punishment for each of us so that everlasting joy can await those who “repent . . . and believe the gospel” during this brief life (Mark 1:15). The best part of now is not the lie that now is all we have, but the chance to live for our Savior both now and forever. BDT

In Colorado, USA, there is still an active volcano. It last erupted about the same time as the pyramids were being built in Egypt. The volcano is named Dotsero and is located on the Western Slope in Eagle County, right near Interstate 70. James

Photos show West Bank Palestinians keeping watch at night as settler violence grows As darkness fell over the town of Sinjil in the occupied West Bank, its Palestinian residents gathered on a roadside overlooking a nearby valley. Together, they scanned the area with flashlights, searching for any signs that Israeli settlers might be approaching. Read More.

DNA from the skull of an unknown Revolutionary War soldier reveals more than his name After 246 years, Pvt. John Pumphrey is unknown no more. https://apnews.com/article/america-250-revolution-dna-unknown-soldier-a672d84951897c9f2c2615a1e6c49758?

Fairlife pauses US production after cyberattack breached milk brand's systems Milk brand Fairlife is pausing its production in the U.S. after a ransomware cyberattack breached the company's systems. Read More.

Pakistani troops kill 24 militants in raids as violence escalates in region near Afghanistan Pakistani security forces raided multiple militant hideouts in the country’s northwest region, killing Pakistani Taliban and seizing a cache of weapons, the military and local officials said. Read More.

Chinese AI model takes US tech industry by surprise with abilities rivaling Claude and ChatGPT Another powerful new artificial intelligence model from China took the U.S. tech industry by surprise Friday, the latest sign that Chinese startups that publicly release their “open-source” AI technology are making the California titans of AI sweat. Read More.

Disruption, Interrupted (Aaron Schwartz / Bloomberg / Getty)   View in browser Last night, President Trump delivered a rare prime-time speech, but his address fell well short of the hype. Purportedly, the president was going to make a major statement about election integrity, but in reality, the speech was dense and hoarsely delivered. As my colleagues report, he provided no evidence to back up his long-standing lie that the 2020 election was stolen. The White House also released four tranches of documents meant to support the speech, but Trump’s claims were a farrago of recycled information, misrepresentations of evidence, and tendentious claims based on materials too heavily redacted to parse. Major news networks, apparently concerned that Trump would mislead, declined to air the address live. So why even deliver it? The speech was a sign of desperation. Trump spoke now not only to distract from his sputtering Iran war and its effects on the economy, but also because his attempts to concretely interfere with the 2026 election thus far have almost all failed. As his opportunities to change the rules of the game before November slip away from him, the president is falling back on one of the few tools he has left: attempting to sow chaos and doubt among Americans. Trump has been remarkably successful in his push to gerrymander ahead of the midterms. Several Republican states have redrawn their districts to add GOP-leaning seats, the Supreme Court’s April decision in Louisiana v. Callais allowed other states to move forward with their own maps, and a state court in Virginia shot down retaliatory gerrymandering that would have assisted Democrats. In all, this has given Republicans several more likely seats. But nearly everything else has faltered, including the president’s signature legislative initiative to overhaul elections by, in part, requiring votes to provide proof of citizenship. Last week, Trump refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill “in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT.” This is a peculiar and ineffective gesture—the housing bill became law anyway—but he’s right about the prospects for the SAVE America Act. Yesterday, Senator Thom Tillis, a retiring Republican from North Carolina, vowed to block the legislation if it comes up again. As Tillis noted, it would now be too late to implement for the midterms anyway. Most of the subversion methods Trump has tried, however, have been executive actions that don’t require Congress. But the president doesn’t have control over elections—that power is delegated to the states or to Congress. As a result, most of Trump’s big moves have either been blocked by courts or simply ignored by state and local officials. Federal judges blocked parts of an executive order that purported to instruct states not to accept mail-in ballots after Election Day and to require proof of citizenship. Judges also ruled against an order that would have established a federal database of voting-age citizens, and then would have tried to force states to use the list to screen votes by blocking the U.S. Postal Service from delivering ballots to anyone not included on it. The process was an arcane, possibly unworkable attempt to solve a problem—widespread noncitizen voting—that simply doesn’t exist. Although some states have voluntarily handed over voter rolls to the federal government, many others have challenged demands in court and won. The Justice Department’s pressure tactics are now also drawing angry reactions even from Republican allies. In Idaho, the state government, which has forwarded alleged cases of noncitizen voting to the federal government, received a threat of prosecution if noncitizens were allowed to vote; GOP leaders were seething over recent communications from the Justice Department. Earlier this month, Trump fired two members of the Election Assistance Commission, and a third resigned, leaving the body without any leaders. What exactly Trump intends here is a little opaque. The EAC is basically advisory, and hamstringing it will make life harder for local officials, but this also looks like an admission of defeat: Trump had attempted to use the EAC to decertify all existing voting machines and enforce his proof-of-citizenship order. Now he appears to be giving up on it—even though the EAC would be a useful way to help local officials remedy some of the security weaknesses Trump discussed in his speech, such as the computer systems used to run voting processes (though, crucially, no evidence suggests that actual ballots or vote totals are vulnerable). Trump continues to look for evidence of fraud in the 2020 election, but his search remains fruitless, and he didn’t even mount an argument for it last night. The president has been particularly focused on Georgia, but a Trump-appointed federal judge this month blocked the Justice Department from subpoenaing people who worked in Fulton County in that election, and two FBI agents assigned to trawl through old evidence were fired for refusing to do so, MS NOW reported. What options does this leave Trump? One is trying to create chaos by insisting that fraud exists. That was the apparent goal of last night’s speech. Having come up short on any efforts involving legislation or policy, Trump’s main confederates in his latest push are Bill Pulte, the acting director of national intelligence, an extreme partisan who has no statutory role in elections and also no experience in election administration or security; and John Solomon, a right-wing pundit with a long history of spreading false claims, who has been brought on by the White House to construct narratives like the ones Trump laid out. The second, as I wrote in an in-depth October article about how Trump was already trying to subvert the midterms, is to deploy troops or federal law enforcement around the time of the election. The danger posed by either of these options should not be dismissed, but there are reasons they were not Trump’s first choices: They are risky and less likely to succeed. Because election officials, experts, and nonprofit organizations have been paying attention to the threat for months, they are now much more prepared for anything the administration might attempt, as Washington Monthly’s Garrett Epps recently reported. The greatest defense against subversion, as I wrote last fall, is for Americans to vote. A close election is easier to steal than a decisive one, and Trump’s political failures have produced polling that points in the direction of a strong vote against the Republican Party this fall. (As Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican gadfly, noted this week, squawking about election fraud is an odd choice when your party controls the White House, House, and Senate.) Prime-time addresses that spew grievances and obvious falsehoods may drive voters even further away from the GOP. In an ironic twist, last night’s speech really might help protect the integrity of the 2026 election. Related: Trump just did more damage to American elections than China. Trump dooms his own party.

🌵 Arizona GOP showdown Data: Axios research; Chart: Kathleen Hunter/Axios The next test for House Republicans seeking statewide office this year comes Tuesday in Arizona, where Reps. Andy Biggs and David Schweikert are facing off in the state's gubernatorial primary. Why it matters: 2026 has so far been a rough year for House Republicans seeking statewide office. Four of them have already lost gubernatorial primary bids. Polls show Biggs, who has President Trump's endorsement, with a solid lead in the battle to unseat Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. In June, neither Rep. Nancy Mace nor Rep. Ralph Norman qualified for South Carolina's gubernatorial runoff. Rep. Dusty Johnson and Randy Feenstra also fell short in their gubernatorial primary bids in South Dakota and Iowa, respectively. The poor showings are among the warning bells flashing for incumbents across the board. Serving in the House has historically been viewed as a solid stepping stone to higher office. The House has broken the record this year for the most retirements in the 2000s (you'd have to go back to 1992 to find more). — Kathleen Hunter

⚡️ Supercharged House-Senate pipeline Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images The Senate is set for another big House infusion next year. Why it matters: The two chambers often clash over differing cultures and procedures. An influx of senators used to the faster, more confrontational politics of the House could create new headaches for Senate leaders. 🚨 At least five, and potentially as many as 13, current House members could become senators next year, though their paths vary widely. Competitive midterm races, retirements, primary challenges and senators running for governor have opened the door to fresh Senate blood. Driving the news: Several GOP House members are in the mix to replace Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who died July 11, via a November special election. Reps. Russell Fry, Ralph Norman, Nancy Mace and Joe Wilson have either expressed interest in running for the seat or are viewed as potential candidates ahead of the Aug. 11 primary in reliably red South Carolina. 🤔 The intrigue: Some of the likeliest new GOP senators are hardline conservatives used to leveraging slim majorities, including Reps. Andy Barr (Ky.), Kevin Hern (Okla.) and Harriet Hageman (Wyo.). "Most incoming House members were active in [the conservative Republican Study Committee] when I chaired it, including Kevin Hern, who followed me as chair," Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) told us. "Hopefully, they get to the Senate and maintain their fervor from the House in wanting the Senate to move and act differently and help shake it up." Zoom in: The members with some of the clearest paths to the Senate, in addition to Barr, Hern and Hageman: Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) 👀 What to watch: Other House members face tougher primaries, more competitive general elections, or both. In Iowa, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson has a clear advantage in the race to succeed outgoing GOP Sen. Joni Ernst, but Republicans will need to spend there. In Massachusetts, Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton would first have to unseat Sen. Ed Markey in the primary. In New Hampshire, Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas would face a competitive general election against former Republican Sen. John Sununu. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) first has to win her primary against progressive Abdul El-Sayed, who has led recent polls. Then she would have to hold on to a battleground state against presumptive former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) faces a tough bid to unseat Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.). Both Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) have expressed interest in Sen. Marsha Blackburn's (R-Tenn.) seat if she is elected governor. Blackburn, as governor, could appoint her successor. Bonus: There are also two recent but former House members with shots at the Senate — Rogers in Michigan and Mary Peltola in Alaska. 💬 What they're saying: Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), who moved from the House to the Senate last cycle, notes how a single senator wields more power. "The structure forces engagement, requires listening and pushes ideas to be tested beyond a simple majority. Because of that, individual senators hold real power," he told us in a statement. "This is one of the clearest differences between the Senate and the House. In the House, power is centralized," he continued. "Having served there, I saw how difficult it is for an individual member to shape major legislation." The House-to-Senate pipeline is common. Forty-four current senators were previously House members. In the 2024 election cycle, seven House members were elected to the Senate. In 2022, three were. And in 2020, just two were. — Stef W. Kight

🚀 SpaceX falls to Earth Data: Financial Modeling Prep; Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios SpaceX shares are falling again today after closing below their IPO price yesterday, Axios' Matt Phillips reports. That's amid questions about an AI bubble, the upcoming end of a lockup period for early investors, and yesterday's aborted Starship launch attempt. 👀 What we're watching: Nearly 1.4 billion SpaceX shares could hit the market after the company reports second-quarter results, likely in early August. That could roughly quadruple the supply of tradable shares, forcing the question: Will the buying public be eager to snatch them up? The bottom line: We'll soon get a better idea of how the market truly values SpaceX. Go deeper.

Details of Trump AG Pick’s Jaw-Dropping Meeting With Epstein Victims Exposed Todd Blanche was issued an ultimatum during his Senate confirmation hearings. A survivor of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein blasted Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for refusing to provide victims with any concrete answers during a “demoralizing” meeting that seemed solely aimed at earning Blanche a promotion. During Blanche’s Senate confirmation hearings this week, Republican Thom Tillis told President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and top choice to permanently lead the Department of Justice that the only way to earn his vote would be to meet with Epstein’s victims. Survivor Dani Bensky told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday that Blanche had been ignoring her and the other victims for the past eight months, but he quickly agreed to meet with them once his Senate confirmation was on the line. That meeting, however, failed to live up to the women’s already low expectations, survivor Liz Stein told the hosts of MS NOW’s The Weeknight. “It had absolutely nothing to do with us, and it had everything to do with Blanche checking a box so that he can get a promotion,” she said. “I don’t think that we had high expectations going into this meeting. I certainly did not. But I didn’t expect to walk out of the meeting feeling the way that we feel right now. It was demoralizing, to say the very least.” The survivors would have been happy with pretty much anything Blanche had to offer them, but he refused to give them anything concrete, she added. “He completely talked around questions,” Stein said. “He didn’t give transparent answers. He didn’t give us any promises as far as following up on investigative leads. He had no real answers for the Ghislaine Maxwell transfer and no real explanation for the improper redactions.” Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping lure, manipulate, and groom young girls for Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. After meeting with Blanche last summer, she was moved from the low-security Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee in Florida to the minimum-security Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, a dorm-style facility with a study, game room, and arts and crafts classes that is typically not available to sex offenders. During this week’s meeting with survivors, Blanche did say he would meet with the women again if they first went to the FBI—something they’ve already been doing for the past 30 years, Stein said. “It just felt like more political posturing and using survivors the way that we’ve been used as political pawns,” she added. “We’re victims of the crime of sex trafficking. And the fact that our Department of Justice will not take that seriously is beyond concerning not just to us, but should be concerning to Americans all across this country.” In a statement, the DOJ told the Daily Beast that Thursday’s meeting had been a “productive, initial discussion” involving Blanche, senior DOJ officials, FBI special agents, and victim services representatives. “Acting AG Blanche answered questions and walked through what is needed for investigations to proceed,” the statement said. “While some victims said that they had not reached out to the FBI under this administration, he encouraged victims to meet with FBI investigators as the next step, and attendees spoke with agents after the meeting about scheduling interviews.” The department also said it was “determined to bring justice for all victims of human trafficking and sex crimes.” Stein, however, also ripped into Blanche for meeting with other top Trump administration officials in the Situation Room last year to try to contain the MAGA civil war that erupted when the FBI and DOJ announced that the government’s investigative files would not be released. Congress eventually voted to force the DOJ to publish the files, but in the meantime, Blanche suggested he meet with Maxwell and hatched a plan to offer an empty gesture of transparency designed to calm Trump’s base, New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan revealed in their book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump. The incident was yet another case of the administration treating Epstein’s crimes as a “reputational problem” instead of prosecuting more of his associates, Stein said. “Usually, the situation room is reserved for acts of war, natural disasters,” she said. “Yet they were in there discussing the Epstein files. And it just makes you pause and wonder why.” Trump and Epstein were close friends for more than a decade, and Trump’s name appears in the files thousands of times. The president has denied knowing anything about Epstein’s crimes or being involved in any wrongdoing. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told the Daily Beast in a statement that Trump has been “totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein.” “By releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and calling for more investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, President Trump has done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone before him,” she said. https://www.thedailybeast.com/details-of-todd-blanches-jaw-dropping-demoralizing-meeting-with-epstein-survivors-exposed/? ps:Pathetic!!

Young Trump Voters Deliver Damning Verdict on His Second Term The president is bleeding support among a key demographic that helped hand him his 2024 win. Young voters who backed Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election have delivered a blistering verdict on his second administration. “We’re a humiliation across the world in terms of foreign policy. The United States is not what it once was, and we can’t seem to drive costs down for the average American,” Zachary, a 25-year-old scientist from Missouri who voted MAGA two years ago, told a New York Times focus group. The results, published Friday with participants’ surnames withheld, come as polls show Trump, 80, has hit -45 in approval ratings among Gen-Z voters, according to last month’s figures from The Economist. That same demographic was partly responsible for putting Trump back in the White House, with roughly half of young voters backing him, up from just 37 percent in 2020 and 36 percent in 2016. Zachary added that Trump’s second stint in the White House has left him completely disillusioned with the American Dream, telling the Times that the oft-cited mantra of “work hard, get ahead” no longer holds true. “I feel like working hard and having a grinding mind-set is more of the way to meet the bare minimum,” Zachary said. “I’m always working. I’m doing stuff on my off time. And I can save exactly $120 every paycheck.” Caleb, a 24-year-old management consultant who lives in Maine, was of much the same view when he spoke to the Times. “When I see people working 60-plus hours a week in a trade and not able to make a dent in cost of living, it does feel like it’s gotten tougher, at least, to play by the rules,” he said. Both men gave Trump just one out of five on a rating scale of how they currently view the president’s second term. “I’d say 1 mostly because I feel there’s a high level of corruption and a lack of transparency within this administration that I definitely either didn’t see or didn’t notice in the first Trump term,” Zachary said. “I feel like he wants to make it mostly a country for people that are already well off,” he went on. “Most of the policy that comes down isn’t benefiting 80 percent to 90 percent of Americans.” Caleb added that “it’s hard for me to look at the status quo and not see it as objectively worse when it comes to policy,” adding that most of the changes he’s seen have been “reactive to other issues that were caused during the administration.” He urged Trump to “focus on sustainable change,” while Zachary thinks the president “needs to be working more for the working-class, average American, rather than being concerned with his own image.” Trump hasn’t fared much better even among members of the group who rated him higher on that scale. Kim, a 25-year-old medical scribe from Virginia who gave Trump two out of five, told the Times that “nothing seems affordable or feasible right now” and that “the way that he’s acting has just been disappointing.” Christian, a 25-year-old curriculum adviser from Tennessee who gave the president three out of five, told the Times the president “forgets about certain people in different tax brackets” and that he “makes decisions for maybe wealthier people in the front of his mind.” Even Alvin, a 24-year-old engineer and New Yorker who rated him four out of five, told the Times that Trump should “keep doing what you’re doing, but at least help us with the economy.” The Daily Beast contacted the White House for comment on this story. “President Trump is committed to maintaining Republicans’ majority in Congress,” White House assistant press secretary Liz Huston said. “Young Americans are directly benefitting from President Trump’s policies, which include the largest middle-class tax cuts in history, improved housing affordability, the most secure border in history, and the lowest murder rate since 1900.” “President Trump will continue to advance his proven economic agenda to accelerate growth, create jobs, and lower costs for Americans,” she added. https://www.thedailybeast.com/young-maga-trump-voters-deliver-damning-verdict-on-his-second-term/?

🎉 Yahoo! It's Friday! You made it. History in progress: Australia's Lucas Herbert shot a 28 on the front nine this morning at Royal Birkdale, tying the lowest nine-hole score ever at The Open. Can he keep it up and break 60 at golf's oldest tournament? In today's edition: World Cup Final preview, Round 1 at The Open, MLB and MLS return from the break, fans flock to Fanatics Fest, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports...     ⚽️ WORLD CUP FINAL THE UNSTOPPABLE FORCE VS. THE IMMOVABLE OBJECT (Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports) Five weeks and 102 games later — 103 if you count tomorrow's third-place consolation match — Spain and Argentina will battle on Sunday in the Meadowlands in a World Cup Final worthy of one of the most entertaining tournaments in recent memory. The unstoppable force vs. the immovable object: Argentina's penchant for late-game heroics, fueled by arguably the greatest player ever to lace up a pair of boots, will square off against Spain's unyielding spine on the biggest stage in sports. La Albiceleste simply never die, scoring 13 of their 19 goals after the 70th minute and winning all four knockouts despite never holding the lead in the 90th minute. They are more than one player, but their unrelenting faith in Messi has been handsomely rewarded as he leads the team, and the tournament, in every conceivable attacking statistic. La Roja, on the other hand, never let their opponents off the mat, allowing just one goal in the entire World Cup. And despite having an abundance of world-class talent, Spain are far less dependent on the output of any one individual. Six players have scored, seven have registered an assist, and Lamine Yamal has just one goal contribution. Preordained: These two sides, which have met just once before in a non-friendly competition (1966 World Cup group stage), were supposed to play this past March in the Finalissima, the quadrennial matchup between the reigning European and South American champions. That match, hosted by Qatar, was canceled due to the Iran War. But destiny arrived all the same, and now for the first time ever the world's top two teams will meet in the World Cup Final. All eyes on Messi. (Francois Nel/Getty Images) Notes: Curtain call: Messi made a home in Spain for 17 seasons with Barcelona. Now, he'll look to rip out the hearts of the fans who cheered him during his formative years as he seeks to lead Argentina to an unprecedented fourth consecutive major title (2021 and 2024 Copa América, 2022 World Cup). The edge of history: Spain are on the doorstep of their own unprecedented accomplishment, sitting on a 37-match unbeaten streak that ties Italy (2018-21) for the longest ever. One more victory, and they'll stand alone at the top. Tip your cap(e): The only game Spain failed to win in this World Cup was a scoreless draw against Cape Verde, who also pushed Argentina to the limit before falling late in extra time. A truly remarkable debut from the Blue Sharks, whose exploits won't soon be forgotten. Further reading: The 10 best matches of an unforgettable World Cup (Jeff Eisenberg, Yahoo Sports)   🌎 SNAPSHOTS THE WORLD IN PHOTOS (Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Southport, England — Florida native Jackson Suber, 26, had never been to Europe or even played links golf before this week. He's ranked 115th, has competed in just two majors and prepared for Royal Birkdale by watching YouTube videos of the course. No matter. On Thursday, he posted a 5-under 65 to take the opening-round lead at The Open Championship. Leaderboard: Daniel Brown and Sungjae Im (-4) finished Round 1 just one stroke back, while Bryson DeChambeau and Cam Young (-3) were among the nine golfers tied for fourth. Scottie Scheffler (-2) looked solid; Rory McIlroy (+2) struggled. (Trevor Hayes/MLB Photos via Getty Images) 🇺🇸 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — Regular-season baseball returned on Thursday night, as the Mets took down the Phillies, 4-1, to kick off MLB's second half. Good start: The Mets (41-57) not only have the fourth-worst record in baseball, they also have the toughest remaining strength of schedule. If they're going to make an unlikely surge into playoff contention, a win against their red-hot division rival was a good place to start. (Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images) 🇫🇷 Chalon-sur-Saône, France — Belgium's Tim Merlier outsprinted the field on Thursday to win Stage 12 of the Tour de France, claiming his third victory of the Tour. The only other rider with more than one win in this year's race? Tadej Pogačar, who remains the leader by 3'36". Thrilling finish: Though marred by a crash, the final kilometer of Thursday's stage was an all-out sprint by about two dozen riders, with Merlier edging out the pack at the finish line.   ⚾️ THE RACE IS ON BACK FROM THE BREAK (Yahoo Sports) MLB returns from the All-Star break in earnest today following yesterday's one-game appetizer, kicking off what should be a thrilling race to the postseason. (Almost) everyone's in the hunt: 23 of 30 teams are within four games of a wild card spot. Additionally, just one division leader is more than five games ahead of second place (sorry, NL West), meaning we should see plenty of jockeying for spots in these next couple months.   📺 VIEWING GUIDE WEEKEND WATCHLIST (Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports) ⚽️ World Cup Final It all comes down to this, as Spain and Argentina meet on Sunday at MetLife Stadium (3pm ET, Fox) in what should be an epic conclusion to the 2026 World Cup. And, if you're so inclined, you can also catch France vs. England in Saturday's third-place match in Miami (5pm, Fox). Halftime show: For the first time ever, the World Cup Final will feature a Super Bowl-style halftime show, co-headlined by Justin Bieber, Madonna, Shakira and K-pop group BTS. There's also a closing ceremony (1:30pm, Fox) headlined by Post Malone, while EGOT winner Jennifer Hudson will perform the U.S. national anthem before the game. ⛳️ The Open Championship The season's final major continues at Royal Birkdale (Fri-Sun, Peacock/USA/NBC), where players began teeing off at 1:35am and the projected cut is starting to take shape. Notable tee times: Among those who have yet to tee off are Russell Henley, Justin Rose and Viktor Hovland (9:42am), Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton and Bryson DeChambeau (10:04am) and Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm (10:15am). ⚾️ Dodgers at Yankees A 2024 World Series rematch headlines MLB's first weekend back after the All-Star break, with the Yankees hosting the Dodgers on Friday (7pm, MLB), Saturday (8pm, Fox) and Sunday (7:20pm, NBC). Wild stat: The Dodgers and Yankees have MLB's highest and third-highest payrolls, spending roughly $1 billion on their rosters this year including their estimated tax bills. That's nearly as much as the nine lowest payrolls in the league combined. More to watch: ⚽️ MLS: Nashville vs. Atlanta (Fri. 8:10pm, Apple/Fox); LA Galaxy vs. LAFC (Fri. 10:25pm, Apple/Fox) … First-place Nashville and El Tráfico fill today's World Cup void. ⚽️ NWSL: Kansas City vs. San Diego (Fri. 8pm, Prime); Gotham vs. Seattle (Sat. 12pm, ABC); Denver vs. Portland (Sat. 2pm, CBS); Bay vs. North Carolina (Sat. 4pm, CBS) 🏀 WNBA: Liberty at Fever (Sat. 8pm, CBS); Sparks at Wings (Sun. 1pm, ABC); Sky at Dream (Sun. 4pm, CBS); Sun at Mercury (Sun. 7pm, ESPN) 🏎️ F1: Belgian Grand Prix (Sun. 9am, Apple) … Through nine races, the only drivers with at least 100 points are Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli (179) and George Russell (154) and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton (147) and Charles Leclerc (108). Plus: 🚴 Tour de France Stages 13-15 (Fri-Sun, Peacock); 🏁 NASCAR in North Wilkesboro, NC (Sun. 7pm, TNT) and IndyCar in Nashville (Sun. 5:30pm, Fox); 🥍 PLL Week 9 in Connecticut (Fri-Sat, ABC/ESPN+); 🏈 IFL Week 19 (Sat-Sun, Yahoo Sports) Got plans this weekend? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city.   🗽 SPORTS SPECTACLE FANS FLOCK TO FANATICS FEST (Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Fanatics) This weekend in New York City, approximately 200,000 people are expected to descend on the Javits Center for an event that has become the epicenter of modern sports-fan culture. Fanatics Fest has returned for its third iteration, leaving growing pains behind and replacing them with a spectacle of unprecedented scale. Year 3: The event's inaugural 2024 edition drew roughly 70,000 attendees. Last year, attendance grew to 125,000. Having outgrown that format, an additional day was added to this year's festival, which began Thursday and is almost entirely sold out. Rather than losing novelty with age, Fanatics Fest appears to be gaining momentum, filling the gaping "ComicCon for sports" market vacancy and evolving beyond that aspiration. A costly, but worthy investment: Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, speaking on "The Breakfast Club" podcast, shared that the company will spend $80-90 million to operate this year's event. And though they'll only earn back a fraction of that in ticket revenue, their hope is that the event's sheer spectacle — with hundreds of sports' biggest stars like LeBron James, Tom Brady and Serena Williams joining the festivities — will mint lifelong fans, collectors, and customers. We'll explore this topic further in today's edition of Yahoo Sports Biz, which hits inboxes in a few hours. Subscribe here to receive our new sports business newsletter every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.   🇨🇦 O CANADA MLS TRIVIA (Tim Austen/Getty Images) Two of Canada's three MLS teams played each other on Thursday in the league's first day back from its extended World Cup break. Question: Can you name all three Canadian teams? Hint: All three are just over the U.S. border. Answer at the bottom.   🏎️ START YOUR ENGINES YAHOO SPORTS X APPLE TV (Apple) This weekend's Formula 1 Moët & Chandon Belgian Grand Prix 2026 continues our season-long partnership with Apple TV for F1 coverage. Tune in: All three practice sessions (Fri. 7:30/11:30am ET; Sat. 6:30am) and tomorrow's qualifying (10am) will air for free on Yahoo Sports, while Sunday's race will stream on Apple TV, the new U.S. home of Formula 1.   Trivia answer: CF Montréal, Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps