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📝 AI's manifesto war Silicon Valley's AI moguls are flooding Washington with competing blueprints for superintelligence, clashing over a defining question: Does safety come from spreading powerful AI or containing it? Why it matters: Their fight will shape who gets access to the best models, how America competes with China, and whether the government can slow the race in an emergency, Axios' Andrew Kay and Zachary Basu write. 🫨 Alarming developments, seemingly by the day, have turned the manifestos from thought exercises into an urgent policy battle. OpenAI and Anthropic both disclosed that their advanced models went rogue and broke into external systems during cybersecurity evaluations. Kimi K3 delivered a double shock: The Chinese model not only reached frontier-level performance but did so with open weights that anyone can download, modify and deploy. The manifesto map: Each mogul's post offers a different theory of the danger — and a different prescription for containing it. 🏛️ July 14 — Set the standards: Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis proposed an industry-funded, federally overseen "Frontier AI Standards Body" to test models before release. Voluntary reviews could eventually harden into binding rules governing access to the most powerful systems. 🔑 July 24 — Open the defense: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang argued that open models give American developers and cybersecurity defenders more tools, and he rallied Meta, Microsoft, Google and OpenAI to sign a letter, "Open Weights and American AI Leadership," supporting the open AI ecosystem. 🚧 July 27 — Gate the danger: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for "mandatory safety testing" and tighter controls on the chips and distillation techniques helping China develop powerful open-weight models. He stopped short of supporting a blanket ban. 🌐 July 28 — Spread access: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg cast broadly available "personal superintelligence" as a safeguard against a future controlled by a handful of companies and governments. 🛑 July 28 — Build the brake: More than 1,200 frontier-lab employees signed "Pacing the Frontier," a petition asking Washington to create international tools for deliberately slowing development if AI begins advancing beyond human control. 🏛️ Behind the scenes: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's No. 1 topic in Hill, administration and White House meetings this past week was previewing the capabilities of the company's most powerful AI yet: Astra, the next major ChatGPT model family, as yet unreleased. OpenAI said yesterday that an internal version of Astra was behind research leaps in 10 major open mathematical problems in "high-dimensional geometry, coding theory, arithmetic circuit complexity, group theory, operator algebras, quantum complexity, lattice cryptography and extremal combinatorics."

🐘 Pre-Trump GOP is coming for Vance Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images The Wall Street Journal opinion page tried to stop Donald Trump a decade ago and again in 2024. Now, the standard-bearer of traditional conservatism is making an early case against his presumed heir. Why it matters: Vice President JD Vance has the inside track for Trump's endorsement. But a GOP faction that never embraced Trump's overhaul of the party is already arguing against handing the reins to Vance, Axios' Mike Zapler writes. 🔎 The main arguments in the WSJ opinion pages: Vance is putting ambition ahead of governing. As congressional Republicans try to pass an agenda that might avoid a November wipeout, Kimberly Strassel wrote, "Mr. Vance is promoting a book." She was referring to Vance's media tour to promote his just-published bestseller, "Communion." According to Vance's office, he's been on Capitol Hill over two dozen times since he became VP. His personality rankles. Strassel wrote a follow-up after Vance's fans came after her for her earlier column. "One answer [for the aggressive response] is simply that Mr. Vance is a sensitive bunny," she wrote. He's naive. An unsigned WSJ editorial zeroed in on Vance's defense of the memorandum of understanding with Iran that quickly unraveled, as well as his claims that the Iranian regime had turned over a new leaf. "We promise that wasn't Mr. Obama or John Kerry speaking," the editorial board wrote dismissively. He cozies up to Carlson. "Mr. Vance has spent the Trump presidency trying to curry favor with Mr. Carlson as part of laying the ground for a 2028 presidential run," Allysia Finley wrote. 🥊 The other side: Allies say the Journal is fighting the last war — clinging to a vision of conservatism the Republican Party has left behind. If anything, his supporters say, the paper's criticism helps Vance politically — showing he's in tune with the grassroots and not heeding the old guard. "No one in Vance's orbit is concerned or surprised about being attacked by the literal beating heart of the pre-Trump GOP establishment," a top Vance ally told Axios. "When the Wall Street Journal ed board hits him, it only sends the exact signal to our base that we want. … These guys are doing our work for us." Keep reading.

2028: Trump's final act Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images A special look for AM readers at Axios CEO Jim VandeHei's political briefing, published first in his weekly Axios C-Suite newsletter: President Trump doesn't much care if Republicans lose the House and/or the Senate in November. Yes, he'd prefer a big win. But he seems indifferent to the election and the possibility of endless Democratic investigations of his family, wealth and policies, close advisers tell us. A big reason: Trump knows he'll emerge just as strong, or even stronger, heading into his final two years, at least among Republicans. The big picture: Trump is not a share-the-stage, pass-the-torch, groom-your-successor kind of guy. Instead, he'll exploit his leverage: 🏛️ A more MAGA Senate. Almost all of his critics will be gone through defeat or retirement. The incoming class is very Trumpy. If they keep the Senate, Trump loyalists like Mike Lee (Utah), Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Rick Scott (Fla.) will chair committees. 🗳️ A more MAGA House. Trump already serves as de facto speaker, but his few outspoken GOP critics — Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) — will be gone, replaced by members who won because of him. 👑 A '28 kingmaker. Trump's firm hold on the base means he will dictate the GOP's nominee and shape their message. He wants a Vance-Rubio ticket and will likely get it if his mind doesn't change. Imagine any '28 hopeful, especially Marco Rubio or JD Vance, trying to break with the boss while working for the boss. 💰 Cashing in. Trump will use levers of power to keep raising money to expand his clout beyond the presidency. "He likes the fact that when he tells someone, 'Give me money,' they give him money," an adviser told us. 👓 3 dramas to watch post-November: Trump will flirt with running again in '28 until the bitter end, but it's all about PR and keeping Vance and Rubio in their place. As potential outside-the-walls competition in '28, the White House is watching Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.). A constitutional clash over congressional oversight, among the last and most vital powers lawmakers hold dear. What happens if Trump orders his entire administration, family and friends to just ignore Congress?

Trump, 80, Self-Soothes With Disturbing AI Slop Spree The president made dozens of bizarre posts on Saturday afternoon as he melted down over his Reflecting Pool humiliation. President Donald Trump spent his Saturday afternoon winding down in one of the few ways he seems to know how: by posting bizarre, AI-generated images of himself on Truth Social.Trump, 80, went on yet another disturbing posting blitz in which he imagined himself as Elvis Presley, mocked his political foes, daydreamed over his “Arc de Trump,” and laid claim to both Venezuela and Greenland.The president posted 43 times from Saturday morning to afternoon, in a session that included a mix of reposts and his usual AI slop.His standout post of the day was one in which he pictured himself in an Elvis Presley-inspired jumpsuit, complete with a bedazzled eagle next to his exposed chest. The image was posted with no caption or context. Trump also spent several posts self-soothing over his advanced age. One image of himself was captioned, “President Trump ages in reverse!” Another post sat current Trump and young Trump next to each other, accompanied by the caption, “Same Guy. Even more energy now!” The president bizarrely referred to himself in the third person in one post, writing, “President Trump is fixing our wonderful White House, just like he is fixing our Country!” Another image of him, taken in May 2024 as he arrived at a Manhattan courthouse for the Stormy Daniels hush money trial where he was found guilty of 34 felony counts, was captioned, “Only Trump.” A separate AI-generated post depicted Trump as a Revolutionary War general leading soldiers into battle, with a battered American flag waving behind him. In real life, Trump avoided the military draft five times. In another post, Trump shared a mock-up of this much-hyped triumphal arch project in Washington, D.C. He captioned the image, “The Triumphal Arch, prior to affixing the magnificent Statues and Artwork!” In two other posts, Trump attacked his perceived foes Bruce Springsteen and rising Democratic star James Talarico by mocking their appearances. The president also made clear that he’s still thinking about claiming Venezuela and Greenland, despite strong international opposition to the bonkers idea. In one image, captioned the “51st state,” Venezuela was overlaid with the American flag. In an even more bizarre photo, a gigantic Trump peeked over the mountains of Greenland with the caption, “Hello, Greenland!” Trump made a string of other posts without an apparent overarching theme, including two dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, a split-face composite of him and George Washington, an AI-generated photo of him kissing a golden Jesus Christ on the cross, and a Trump 2028 poster. The president also dedicated a throwback to an AI-generated photo he first posted in May that depicted him walking next to a shackled alien. The White House did not immediately return the Daily Beast’s request for comment. The confounding Truth Social posting sprees have become part of the aging president’s routine. He appears to delight in sharing these often nonsensical creations online. Trump’s flurry of posts also included one that lashed out at Jeanine Pirro, his pick for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool fiasco. Trump raged at his own appointee for dropping a felony vandalism charge against a suspect in the damage to the pool, which prosecutors attributed to a poor job by the contractor and not to thugs. “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don’t know what she was thinking?” he wrote. “There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!” https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-80-self-soothes-with-disturbing-ai-slop-spree/?

Trump’s Polls Hit New Low—With One Notable Exception Only one other president has bested Trump’s race to the bottom. President Donald Trump’s latest poll numbers have sunk to the lowest levels of his presidency—and are nearing historic lows for any second-term president. There’s one exception, however: a lone past president who ranked even lower. Trump has responded by repeatedly making false claims about his approval ratings. “The highest they’ve ever been,” he preened on Truth Social in June. Late last year, he boasted that his poll numbers were the highest of his entire political career when, in fact, they were the lowest of his second term. He has also claimed he won “all 50 states” in 2020. He didn’t. He lost the election. “He’s always going to project strength regardless of what the numbers are, and he’ll say they’re fake anyway,” Republican strategist Douglas Heye told The New York Times. The latest abysmal polls have found that only roughly a third of Americans—33 percent—support Trump amid his increasingly unpopular Iran war and climbing gas and grocery prices. The findings across a number of surveys are the lowest of his presidency and nearly as low as those of any second-term president since the 1940s, when polling began, the Times noted. Richard Nixon scored lower than Trump—with only 24 percent support—but that was just days before his resignation in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Trump previously scored nearly as low as he has in the current findings following the violent storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. Despite Trump’s inflated claims, while he has won a plurality of votes, he has never been elected by a majority of voters in the elections he has won—though he frequently insists he won in a landslide. He also has never been supported by a majority of respondents in Gallup polling. So many Democratic voters “strongly disapprove” of Trump that they’re more likely to vote this year, handing Republicans yet another headache. One sliver of support, however, is hanging on: Trump himself. He’s apparently convinced that Republicans have the midterms in the bag, thanks to him. He protects himself from the bad news by dismissing any and all damning surveys. “Polls are very dishonest, just like a lot of reporters,” he told journalists during the Group of 7 summit in France in June. Days later, he cited his own survey putting his approval rating at 50 percent. Then he arbitrarily boosted that figure by an additional 15 points. “Other Polls have my Approval Rating at 65 percent, and more!” he boasted. https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-polls-hit-new-lowwith-one-notable-exception/?

MAGA Exiles Declare War on Trump: ‘He Betrayed Us All’ “There’s going to be a third party, and I’m going to do everything I can to bring that about,” Tucker Carlson vowed. More trouble is brewing for Republicans in the midterm elections as a crew of high-profile Donald Trump defectors announced they’re joining forces to launch a new political “movement” to oppose the current president and his supporters. Trump “betrayed us all,” former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted on X Saturday, alongside a photo of the newly organized Trump opposition team meeting in Tucker Carlson’s hunting lodge-like Maine home. “We said no more foreign wars and we meant it and supported Donald Trump because he made that promise. But he’s betrayed us all,” Greene continued. “Our commitment is America First for all Americans, right, left, and center. The movement has begun.” The post was seen by more than 5.5 million people and racked up nearly 10,000 comments, with some defending Trump and others attacking him. Several comments wondered why Trump’s supporters could have been so delusional to begin with. “Everything Trump said was a lie,” noted one response. “The only good question is why anyone believed him in the first place??” “You’re a fraud… a terrible judge of character,” another tweeted to Greene. “Why should anyone listen to your assessments on anything now?” Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent, and Greene’s conservative journalist husband, Brian Glenn—whom she married just days ago in Las Vegas—were among those at the gathering. Greene, who resigned from Congress in January following several high-profile clashes with Trump, had hinted earlier about starting a new political movement or party that would attract activists from both the “right and the left.” Carlson told the Columbia Journalism Review last month: “There’s going to be a third party, and I’m going to do everything I can to bring that about.” He has apologized to his followers for previously backing Trump. In a scathing Bloomberg interview with journalist Mishal Husain in July, Carlson blamed the “weak” president for tying the U.S. to a no-win war with Iran simply to serve Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s drive for regime change in the Middle East. Kent resigned his position in March because of Trump’s war, saying in a statement then: “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” Massie lost his primary race after clashing with Trump over the war and the administration’s refusal to release all the Epstein files. Trump has called Greene a “traitor,” Carlson a “low IQ person,” Kent a “sleazebag,” and Massie “weak and pathetic.” New movements challenging the two-party system typically struggle. Yet this new movement could siphon votes away from Republicans in the midterms, which are already expected to be difficult for the GOP. https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-exiles-marjorie-taylor-greene-and-tucker-carlson-declare-war-on-trump-he-betrayed-us-all/?

August 2, 2026 SUPPORTED BY APPLE Good morning. President Trump said he had canceled a series of strikes on Iran because of unspecified progress on a deal. We have more news below. But first, let’s hit the road. Tom Wright-Piersanti/The New York Times Keep on truckin’ By Tom Wright-Piersanti I’m still recovering from my time at the wheel. Here’s a hypothetical: You plan a family vacation that ends with a three-day train ride across the United States. But a few hours into the train ride, a conductor announces that a train has derailed ahead of you. Amtrak says it’ll put everyone on buses, but those buses won’t arrive for hours. And it’s unclear whether they’ll take you all the way home or just to the next big city. Would you: A) Wait for the bus and ride it as far as it will take you, at no cost. Book plane tickets, for an eye-popping price. C) Rent a car and take a leisurely road trip, stopping along the way to enjoy local color and rest. D) Rent a car and drive virtually nonstop, as if you were in some sort of cross-country road race. Actually, this is not a hypothetical. It happened to me 10 days ago. My wife, 8-year-old son and I had spent a week in Tucson, Ariz., before being dumped off the train in El Paso, some 2,000 miles from our home in New Jersey. We unanimously chose Option D. We had packed plenty of snacks for the train ride. We had the Harry Potter audiobooks cued up. We’re cheapskates, and up for a challenge. Tom Wright-Piersanti Tom Wright-Piersanti/The New York Times By the time we secured a rental car (a black 2026 Hyundai Elantra), bought a cheap booster seat ($35) at Target and loaded our luggage, the sun was already setting. Google Maps said it would take us 32 hours to get home. Exhausted from the stress of the train debacle, we pulled off the road in Pecos, Texas, and got a room at the Hilton for the night ($127). It would be our last real stop. On the road Tom Wright-Piersanti/The New York Times Between the western and eastern ends of Texas, from El Paso to Texarkana, lie 812 miles of highway. The road cuts through the desert first, then into a vast flatness pocked by oil derricks. The surroundings eventually transform to scrubland, then prairies and finally forests in full summer bloom. Each passing hour — and there are lots of hours — seems to bring more green, more life, more breath. To state the obvious, and to out myself as a lifelong East Coaster, Texas is far too big. I was surprised, though, that it was never boring. The evolving landscape, the billboards, the enchanting narration of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” — it all provoked the kind of endless chitchat that bonds loved ones. Arriving in Arkansas around 7 p.m., and not wanting to slow our momentum, we decided to pick up a pizza and eat in the car. The nearest Domino’s was a few minutes off the highway, in a town called Hope. As we neared the shop, I noticed a humble house surrounded by a fence, with a brown sign denoting a landmark: the birthplace of President Bill Clinton. Neat, I thought, and we slowed down enough to snap a picture out the window. No, we didn’t stop. Google Maps said we had 20 hours to go. Tom Wright-Piersanti/The New York Times A marathon road trip in 2026 means constantly confronting the clock. I’m reliant on my phone to guide me, and my phone insists that if I want to see the directions, I must also see how much time remains. I know, intellectually, that it takes 60 minutes — 3,600 seconds, I could count them if it’d help — for that travel time to tick down to 19 hours from 20. But when you stare at it, the number never seems to budge. We hit Tennessee around 11 p.m. I had agreed to drive through the night, and the Volunteer State’s 440-mile expanse ate up most of my eight hours at the wheel. Somewhere east of Nashville, twisting through the Cumberland Plateau, the population of tractor-trailers thinned out and I found myself alone on the road. With my wife and kid asleep, I blasted the Grateful Dead. My thoughts, artificially enhanced by a citrus-flavored Red Bull, seemed to merge with the trees and the sky and the white lines of the road blurring by. I didn’t even register Google’s E.T.A. By the time we passed into Virginia, with the sun cracking over the southern Appalachians, our drive time had dwindled to eight hours. We were in the homestretch; compared with 32 hours, eight is like a trip to the grocery store. We knew we were going to make it. Tom Wright-Piersanti/The New York Times Taking stock Twelve years ago, when my future wife and I had been dating for less than a year, we drove from New Jersey to the Grand Canyon and then up to Portland. Our relationship was solidified in the stress of marathon drives, of sharing the road with eighteen-wheelers, of having nothing but our playlists and conversation to occupy our minds. The trust required to close your eyes and recline your seat as someone else takes the wheel for the night, it seems to me, is connected to the trust it takes to share a life with someone. We saw some cool stuff on that drive, sure — the Gateway Arch, the Four Corners, the redwoods. But what we really saw was each other. In retrospect, I’m grateful for that derailed train, because it gave us a chance to see each other in this distinct way again. And our son, watching the country go by from the back seat, got to see us, too. Mom and Dad, trusty at the wheel, when he closed his eyes on a dark highway, and again when he opened them the next morning. Related (sort of): Stephen Hiltner, a Travel editor at The Times, took a road trip of his own, traversing 2,448 miles of Route 66 by motorcycle over 14 days (he made a lot more stops). See what he saw. A MESSAGE FROM APPLE MacBook Air takes top spot. Fact: MacBook Air has risen to the top to become the world's most popular laptop in business. Get the facts THE LATEST NEWS Trump Administration President Trump. Pete Marovich for The New York Times Trump said he would revive a proposal for a $1.8 billion fund that would compensate his supporters if the Senate does not confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general. Trump’s approval ratings are at or near the lowest they have ever been, according to several recent polls. After Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, dropped vandalism charges over damage to the Reflecting Pool, Trump blasted her on social media. More on Politics “Where’s Mitch?” Senator Mitch McConnell, who has not been seen in public since mid-June, missed a signature Kentucky political event yesterday. Senator Susan Collins’s vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court has emerged as a major issue in her re-election campaign. The Middle East Israeli strikes in Gaza yesterday killed at least two people and damaged warehouses for medical supplies, Palestinian officials said, raising questions about a deal between Trump’s Board of Peace and Hamas. A Times visual investigation suggests that the United States struck a family home on Iran’s Qeshm Island with a 2,000-pound bomb. Iranian officials said the strike killed a husband and wife and their 2-year-old son. More International News Spain said it would install a floating barrier between Morocco and the Spanish territory of Ceuta after tens of thousands of migrants crossed into the territory. Ten people, including the renowned British Nepali climber Nirmal Purja, died after an avalanche struck Pakistan’s Broad Peak, one of the world’s highest mountains. An unsecured police database revealed how China uses vast amounts of private data like facial recognition and travel logs to track foreigners. Other Big Stories Wildfires burning in eastern Washington led forecasters to issue “a particularly dangerous situation” red-flag warning, the first one in the state’s history, according to officials. Three teenagers used Google Maps to plot a hike that was estimated to take around five hours. It lasted at least 12 and required the intervention of rescue crews. FROM OPINION Nicholas Kristof took a road trip to speak to some of the millions of Americans who are barely getting by. The Trump administration’s cuts to social programs are making many of their lives worse, he writes. Are you looking to find inner peace? A silent retreat in a contemplative community could add some unexpected relief and perspective, one novelist writes. Deeply reported journalism needs your support. The Times relies on subscribers to help fund our mission. Become a subscriber today. MORNING READS Photo illustration by Margeaux Walter for The New York Times We’ve made these links free for you. Baby’s first A.I. surveillance: Start-ups that track sleep and other data for young children are becoming popular with young parents who are used to tracking and analyzing their own health metrics. Dry nation: Americans are drinking less. By objective measures of health, it’s a good change. But are we also losing important social rituals? Selling burritos: As Chipotle expands into Mexico, it must persuade Mexicans to buy an Americanized take on their own cuisine. Caveman couture: Olga Soffer’s experience at a department store inspired her later work as an archaeologist, which led to startling revelations about ice age wardrobes and the role of women. She died at 83. A MESSAGE FROM APPLE MacBook Air takes top spot. Fact: MacBook Air has risen to the top to become the world's most popular laptop in business. Get the facts SPORTS M.L.B.: One of this season’s most anticipated deals appears to be done. The superstar pitcher Tarik Skubal is headed to the Los Angeles Dodgers from the Detroit Tigers. W.N.B.A.: It’s trade season in women’s basketball, too. The Los Angeles Sparks will send the five-time All-Star Kelsey Plum to the Phoenix Mercury in exchange for Monique Akoa Makani and two draft picks, league sources said. BOOK OF THE WEEK By Elisabeth Egan “Dogs, Boys and Other Things I’ve Cried About” by Isabel Klee: Klee’s heartfelt memoir returned to the best-seller list after she announced on social media that Simon, the rescue dog who inspired it, had been diagnosed with cancer. He later died. Klee, also known as @SimonSits, writes about dropping out of Ithaca College, building a life in New York City, fostering dogs and looking for love. Her tale (sorry) is full of lessons learned from resilient and feisty canines, the flotsam of the animal world to whom she has been tirelessly dedicated. In helping these pups find forever homes, she eventually finds one of her own. More New York-y reads: Here’s a guide to planning a bookstore crawl through Midtown Manhattan. These novels illuminate overlooked bits of New York history. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Read this week’s magazine. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Watch this extraordinary video of a humpback whale giving birth off Australia’s east coast. Slap your watermelon to make sure it’s perfectly ripe. (Yes, really.) Search for your ideal BLT recipe. Admire the dreamy, Art Nouveau-inspired streetscapes of Helsinki, Finland. MEAL PLAN Andrew Bui for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Kaitlin Wayne. Here’s a utilitarian dinner philosophy: Cook dishes that make for excellent leftovers. And better yet, if you can pull it off, opt for ones that are excellent without the need for reheating. Mia Leimkuhler, an editor for NYT Cooking, put together a catalog of easy, quick dinners that make even easier lunches. Dig into these recipes for tofu scramble, broccoli-walnut pesto pasta, paprika chicken and more. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was brickbat. Can you put eight historical events — including Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” Benedict Arnold’s escape and Andy Warhol’s paintings — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Crossplay, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. P.S.: The Interview is off this weekend. 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 August 2 1990 Iraq invades Kuwait On August 2, 1990, at about 2 a.m. local time, Iraqi forces invade Kuwait, Iraq’s tiny, oil-rich neighbor. Kuwait’s defense forces were rapidly overwhelmed, and those that were not destroyed retreated to Saudi Arabia. The emir of Kuwait, his family, and other government leaders fled to Saudi Arabia, and within hours Kuwait City had been […] read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT American Revolution 1776 Delegates sign Declaration of Independence Civil War 1865 CSS Shenandoah learns the war is over Cold War 1945 Potsdam Conference concludes Crime 1876 Wild Bill Hickok is murdered 1942 Man murdered near L.A. reservoir European History 1934 Hitler becomes dictator of Germany Natural Disasters & Environment 1985 Sudden thunderstorm causes plane crash Sports 1992 Jackie Joyner-Kersee wins gold in heptathlon, again U.S. Presidents 1923 President Warren G. Harding dies before scandals break World War I 1918 American troops land at Archangel 1917 Mutiny breaks out on German battleship World War II 1943 PT-109 sinks; Lieutenant Kennedy is instrumental in saving crew

Photos show the scenes after the latest Israeli strikes in Gaza Intense Israeli strikes Friday night and Saturday in central and northern Gaza killed several people and wounded dozens more, according to local health officials. Read More.

Trump stands to profit off US policy announcements by selling fast access to his social media posts President Donald Trump knows the world hangs on his every word. Now he wants you to pay for it. Read More. Trump blasts Pirro after she refutes his claim that Reflecting Pool was damaged by vandals President Donald Trump on Saturday sharply criticized U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's assessment that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was the result of shoddy construction and not the work of vandals, as he claims. Read More. ps:I guess she'll be the next to be thrown under the bus!!

🍿 1 for the road: Mega movie weekend Image: Sony Pictures via AP This weekend's box office could be one of the biggest of all time, Axios' Nathan Bomey writes. With "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" poised to go gangbusters, and "The Odyssey" still going strong, Rentrak analyst Paul Dergarabedian says a top three showing is a serious possibility. Data: Rentrak. Chart: Nathan Bomey/Axios The biggest showing of all time was the weekend of April 26, 2019, led by the megahit "Avengers: Endgame," at $402 million. Box-office analysts expect $260 million to $280 million for "Spider-Man." (Variety) "Spider-Man" trailer ... "Odyssey" trailer.

✈️ 22-hour flight A first-class suite designed for Project Sunrise. Photo: Qantas Qantas, Australia's flagship airline, is planning to launch the world's longest commercial flight in October 2027, connecting Sydney and London on specially built Airbus jets. It's dubbed Project Sunrise. Flight time is expected to be 22 hours. Tickets go on sale in February. 🧘 Zoom in: The plane will have a "well-being zone" where passengers can get snacks and stretch, The New York Times reports (gift link). The airline is also looking at ways to reduce jet lag: caffeine and chili in breakfast meals, along with brighter lights to help the body wake up. The customized Airbus jets can fly such long distances without refueling due to an additional rear center fuel tank, The Times notes. Airbus says the modification allows the jet to carry an extra 5,300 gallons of fuel and pushes its range to 10,000 miles. Dig in.

🌊 Spain's new barrier Map: Danielle Alberti/Axios Spain said migrant crossings into its North African enclave of Ceuta stopped overnight. Today, police have been installing a 1,640-foot floating barrier off Spain's border with Morocco following a mass rush that killed at least 67 people, Reuters reports. Spanish authorities said about 50,000 people — most of them young Moroccan men looking for work — crossed into Ceuta by land and sea beginning Thursday, an unprecedented surge at one of the European Union's only land borders with Africa. More than 48,000 of them returned to Morocco within 48 hours without major incident. Get the latest.

⚡ Power grid under pressure Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios A series of dangerous heat waves this summer — including one that left 17 states under an emergency federal order — are putting the electric grid under an intense real-world stress test, Axios' Rebecca Falconer writes. Why it matters: Heat waves drive up electricity demand for air conditioning while making some power plants less efficient. As waves become longer and more frequent, utilities are rethinking how they prepare the grid for extreme stress. 🤖 What to watch: Rapid growth in electricity demand from AI data centers is creating a new challenge. This month, the Public Utility Commission of Texas — which has become a proving ground for grid modernization since the deadly 2021 winter storm exposed major weaknesses — approved standards requiring large data centers to disconnect during grid disturbances to help keep it running. Read on.

AI's race to zero Data: Axios research. Chart: Sara Wise/Axios Chinese AI lab DeepSeek released a powerful new coding model yesterday that charges pennies for vast amounts of code — the latest sign that some of the smartest software on Earth is rapidly becoming a commodity. Why it matters: Tech giants are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into the computing infrastructure powering the AI revolution. Yet the intelligence that infrastructure produces is getting cheaper by the week, Axios' Zachary Basu and Madison Mills report. DeepSeek is the Chinese startup that ignited a market meltdown last year by showing it could build a world-class AI model with far fewer resources than its U.S. rivals. The newest model, V4 Flash, performs close to the level of Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8, one of the industry's most capable systems, on tests of complex coding and autonomous software tasks. On Arena.ai's crowdsourced leaderboard for front-end coding, V4 Flash debuted ahead of Opus 4.8 — while delivering the best performance for its price among any model in its class. The price gap is staggering: DeepSeek charges about 28 cents for the same amount of output that costs $25 on Opus 4.8 — a 99% discount. Zoom out: With Chinese models like Kimi K3 bearing down on the U.S. market, July ushered in a full-scale price war across the AI landscape. OpenAI slashed the price of GPT-5.6 Luna — its fastest, cheapest model for high-volume tasks — by 80% on Thursday, only three weeks after its launch. Google released three new Gemini "flash" models, all focused on efficiency. SpaceXAI released Grok 4.5, Elon Musk's most capable model yet for coding, research and autonomous tasks, at the same price OpenAI charged for Luna before this week's cut. Meta quietly reversed course on its longtime embrace of open weights with Muse Spark 1.1, a closed-source model priced aggressively for developers. The other side: Anthropic remains the clearest holdout, keeping its top-tier Claude models at premium pricing and betting that developers will pay extra for safety and precision. 💡 Between the lines: When a product becomes a commodity, buyers care less about who made it and more about what it costs. Think electricity or gasoline. AI is heading that way fast. As the performance gap between top-tier models shrinks, buyers will have leverage to shop on price. "At some point, the next model doesn't matter to you," says Zack Kass, OpenAI's former head of go-to-market and a global AI adviser. He calls the phenomenon "diminishing model returns." What to watch: That could create a lucrative market for "intelligent routers," Vinesh Sukumar, Qualcomm's vice president of AI product management, told Axios. Those systems would automatically choose the best model for each task based on capability, speed and price. For frontier AI labs, that could pose an existential challenge: Spending tens of billions to build a slightly smarter model may buy only a temporary lead, without creating lasting pricing power. 🥊 Reality check: OpenAI is betting that companies will use its models so extensively that enormous volume can compensate for thinner margins. CEO Sam Altman said on the Invest Like the Best podcast: "We will have so much usage of our models that we do not need to be a gigantically high-margin business to be able to afford model training."

No ruling on Amendment 3 tax initiative challenges as primary inches closer The fate of Amendment 3 — a far-reaching property tax cut proposal that could cost cities and counties as much as $12 billion annually in the coming years — will soon be decided by a circuit court judge in Leon County. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/07/29/no-ruling-on-amendment-3-challenges-as-primary-inches-closer/? Florida executes two men in one day UPDATE: The state of Florida executed 80-year-old Dominick Anthony Occhicone Tuesday evening, making him the oldest prisoner executed in Florida’s modern history. He was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents in 1986. https://floridaphoenix.com/briefs/james-aren-duckett-is-executed-on-1987-conviction-for-killing-11-year-old-girl/? Judge won’t order state to implement expanded access to KidCare A state judge has refused to order Florida health care officials to implement a 2023 law that would allow as many as 68,000 uninsured children to access subsidized health insurance coverage through the Florida KidCare program. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/07/28/judge-wont-order-state-to-implement-expanded-access-to-kidcare/?

Humiliated Trump Goon Abandons Reflecting Pool Prosecution Jeanine Pirro admitted “flawed installation” was behind the pool’s problems. Donald Trump’s top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. has abandoned the prosecution of an Olympic medalist accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Jeanine Pirro, in a motion late Friday, moved to dismiss the charges against David Hearn, 67, a former Olympic canoeist who competed in the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Olympics. Heard pleaded not guilty to a single count of destruction of property. In a devastating blow to the 80-year-old president’s claims that damages to the newly renovated pool were caused by “radical” vandals, Pirro cited the “flawed installation by the contractor” tasked with renovating the pool, as well as the Department of Interior’s “failure to fully and accurately provide information” to Pirro’s prosecutors. The news comes a week after Pirro, 75, had been warned by Judge Todd Edelman that the Trump administration was “operating at its own peril” in the case. The Daily Beast has reached out to Pirro’s office for comment. In a statement, Hearn’s lawyers said Pirro never had a case. “The Trump administration’s case against Davey Hearn should have never been brought,” said Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Fund, Mary Dohrmann of the Washington Litigation Group, and Steve Levin of Steptoe LLP. “Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong. The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology.” Hearn previously told NBC that, while on a June 19 bike ride, he stopped at the pool and touched a piece of coating that was already detached. Pirro’s office had argued that Hearn was seen “forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner.” But during grand jury proceedings, one of the government’s witnesses “could not quantify any loss” due to Hearn, and said that repairs were already necessary “before the defendant interacted with the pool.” “Simply put, the government’s witness could not identify any additional cost caused by Mr. Hearn’s alleged conduct,” the filing from Hearn’s lawyers said. “Indeed, the witness did not even say or suggest that the alleged conduct had compromised the liner at all.” This is a breaking news story and will be updated. https://www.thedailybeast.com/humiliated-trump-goon-jeanine-pirro-abandons-reflecting-pool-prosecution/?

Trump Whisperer Places Blame for Iran Disaster on Vance The vice president is to blame for the continuing conflict, Marc Thiessen claims. President Donald Trump would be doing great in Iran if it weren’t for his own vice president getting in the way and stuffing things up, a MAGA commentator has declared. That’s the assessment of Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen, who reportedly has Trump’s ear on foreign policy. “The ceasefire and memorandum of understanding negotiated by Vice President JD Vance— which have driven Trump into a strategic cul-de-sac of negotiations, Iranian violations and U.S. retaliatory strikes, followed by more negotiations," Thiessen wrote in a column published late Thursday. Likening a permanent end to war to the running gag in the Peanuts cartoons where Lucy keeps taking the football away as Charlie Brown is about to kick it, Thiessen says Vance’s counsel on Iran sets Trump up to fail. “Indeed, by elevating a deal as the definition of victory, Vance has given Iran a veto over America’s ability to declare victory. All it has to do is refuse to agree — which it is doing," he continued. And he claims that Vance, who is broadly opposed to the U.S. getting bogged down in overseas conflicts, is actively undermining Trump’s position on Iran. “Vance continues to publicly contradict the president’s positions,” he wrote. “In a recent interview, he suggested that Trump might simply walk away, declaring, ‘If [the Iranians] don’t comply with the deal, the straits are still open, we’ve still done incredible damage to their nuclear program, and we can get on with our lives as a country.’ That is not Trump’s position. His position is: They’ll comply or they will get blown up.” Thiessen pointed to recent media appearances where Vance said things that seemed to directly contradict Trump’s position. Trump’s war in Iran caught the American public by surprise when he launched it in February, and has only become more and more unpopular as time has dragged on with no solution in sight. The president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have been the subject of intense criticism over the war and how it is being handled. Congress never approved the offensive, the Pentagon has been caught fudging the numbers on injuries and fatalities, and there is little evidence that Iran is as badly crippled as Hegseth and Trump have claimed. Finding someone else to blame for the issue would presumably help to ameliorate the damage to the president’s own approval rating. Thiessen has found his man. “The vice president doesn’t get his own foreign policy,” he argued. “Perhaps it’s time for the president to take the advice of those who have delivered him success in Iran — not those like Vance who have failed him," he said. The White House and the vice president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-whisperer-places-blame-for-iran-disaster-on-vance/? ps:You knew that was going to happen!!

Trump’s Soccer Suck-Up Humiliated as Cash Grab Collapses The proposed deal involving a firm led by Jared Kushner’s younger brother unraveled after fierce backlash and boycott threats from soccer’s regional governing bodies. FIFA has abandoned a widely criticized plan to sell a stake in the World Cup’s commercial operations after worldwide outrage over a proposal tied to President Donald Trump’s inner circle. Trump pal and FIFA president Gianni Infantino revealed earlier this week that the organization planned to sell a 21 percent stake to private investors in a newly created entity—FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE)—to manage the commercial operations of top events, including the World Cup. He claimed FFE was worth $20 billion. The FFE investor group was reportedly set to be headed by a firm run by New York venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, younger brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. But the scheme was so controversial among soccer organizations, officials, and fans that it has officially been killed, sources told The New York Post. “Kushner will figure out another way to get involved in this space. This is becoming a brand nightmare,” a source told the newspaper. After the Post report, Infantino confirmed to Sky News that the deal is no more. It “has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place,” he said. “As a result, this proposal will not proceed.” Trump told reporters he was unaware of FIFA’s private investor plan. The deal began to cave when UEFA, the governing body of European soccer’s 55-member organization, voted unanimously on Thursday to boycott all games organized by FIFA, including the World Cup, if the scheme went ahead. “The World Cup is not for sale,” UEFA said in a statement after the vote. “The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product. It is one of football’s greatest sporting legacies. It has been built over generations by players, national teams, and supporters across every continent. No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors.” Infantino aimed to hammer out the arrangement by October, reportedly speeding up the process to dodge the mounting attacks, Sports Illustrated reported. He gave member associations only 53 days to approve the scheme. The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) also threatened to boycott the World Cup. CONCACAF has a long history of corruption and links to Trump. The organization operated out of Trump Tower in Manhattan when the Department of Justice indicted dozens of CONCACAF and FIFA officials in 2015 on conspiracy and corruption charges stemming from an extensive international bribery scheme tied to sports equipment contracts and World Cup venue choices. The men were nabbed after their conversations were captured on a wire worn by CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer, who was pressed into service by the FBI over a massive unpaid tax bill. Blazer was a friend of Trump’s, lived in Trump Tower, and frequently attended Trump’s beauty pageants. Trump’s sole TV ad for his scandal-plagued Trump University was filmed in Blazer’s apartment. The president later paid a $25 million settlement to students who filed lawsuits accusing the “university” of fraud. Ties between Trump and the current FIFA president remain close. Infantino was widely lambasted after he presented Trump with the organization’s first “peace prize” last year, months before the president ordered the abduction of Venezuela’s president and invaded Iran. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-soccer-suck-up-gianni-infantino-humiliated-as-cash-grab-collapses/? ps:Oh so pathetic!!!!!!!!!!

August 1, 2026 Good morning. Errands get us out of our homes and into the world, on missions providing both serendipity and satisfaction. María Jesús Contreras Making rounds By Melissa Kirsch Weekends are the province of the errand, the little voyages we take to pick up things and get things done. Contrast the errand with the chore: Chores are domestic obligations, performed at home. The errand is an excursion with a purpose. In Old English, an “aerend” was a message or mission; an angel was an aerendgast, or messenger-ghost, divinely sent to perform a sacred duty. Running errands is satisfying in a way so much else in our lives isn’t. We wander out into the world with a map to follow — stop here to drop off the dry cleaning, now, to replace the watch battery, to the supermarket, the pet food store — and when we complete the route, our work is done. The metrics for success are clear and achievable. Each episode of the social-media show “Errands” accompanies someone on their angel’s mission. My colleague Alex Vadukul recently tagged along with the show’s creator, Noah Blau, as he filmed an episode featuring the comedian Ivy Wolk, on a mission to buy an air-conditioner window unit and install it in her apartment. Wolk distilled why a show so apparently mundane has become popular. “Beauty is found in the minutiae, and the things that are banal are often the most interesting,” she said. “It’s those in-between moments of life where growth and realization happen.” The genius of “Errands” (I watched every episode in one feverish gulp) is how it provides a window into the personalities and preoccupations of its subjects. A stranger appears and announces today’s errand. Then we’re privy to their internal monologues as they carry out the mission, the serendipitous run-ins and pit stops they make along the way. The episodes are just a couple of minutes long and waste no time on introductions or establishing scenes. We’re passengers for typically private expeditions, instantly thrust into someone’s personal life. Even when his subjects don’t accomplish the errand, Blau told Alex, the concept still works. “The show is about: I set out to do something, and did I accomplish it? So as mundane as the errand might be, everyone understands that feeling.” When visiting friends, it’s a treat to see the highlights of their hometown, but I always find it more interesting to run errands with them, to see how they live when I’m not around. What do they listen to in the car, what’s their hardware store like, who do they run into in the produce aisle? Other people’s errands are revealing of their actual day-to-day lives, not the performed existence — our best restaurant! — that gets presented for company. You might, if you’re running your own errands today, enlist someone to join you. In a recent piece in The Times, experts told my colleague Dana G. Smith that running errands with a friend might help increase longevity. “The reality of midlife is that it can be hard to carve out time for yourself,” Dana writes, “let alone coordinate schedules with another busy friend.” Regardless of which stage of life you’re in, why not make your first stop picking up a friend you haven’t caught up with in a while? On the other hand, I have a friend who loves errands because they’re “excuses to not be with other people,” a rare break from family duties. She praises the “soft-touch socialization” you get while out and about: the salesperson you chat with before going on your way, the neighbor you catch up with when you run into them at the dump. I cherish the connective tissue of errands, when you’re between stops, driving or walking. Bursts of activity followed by respites of solitude, each stop its own tidy episode. Errands get us out of our own homes and out into the world. It’s tempting to hibernate on weekends, to stay in and recharge. But the errand allows us to, as Virginia Woolf wrote, “become part of that vast republican army of anonymous trampers, whose society is so agreeable after the solitude of one’s own room.” THE LATEST NEWS Trump Administration The Reflecting Pool earlier this week. Andrew Leyden for The New York Times Federal prosecutors said they would drop charges against a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the renovated Reflecting Pool in Washington. And they acknowledged that contractors hired by the Trump administration had “botched” the job. President Trump’s Board of Peace released a 15-point plan detailing the deal to disarm Hamas. But it remains unclear whether Hamas and Israel will carry out the agreement. Trump, without offering evidence, blamed Minnesota and its Democratic governor for the recent cyberattack on municipal water systems in the state. U.S. officials have said Iran was likely behind the attack. More Politics Republicans in Congress have quietly blocked an expansion of military health coverage for in vitro fertilization treatment. The State Department will issue thousands of additional commemorative passports featuring Trump’s portrait. Around the World Abdel Majid Bziouat/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Tens of thousands of migrants rushed into the small Spanish territory of Ceuta from Morocco. Spain’s pro-immigration prime minister mobilized the military to respond, and by night most of the migrants had left. Trump backtracked on his promise to let Ukraine make Patriot missiles, which he had announced earlier this month. FIFA scrapped its plan to allow private investment in the World Cup, after soccer federations around the world criticized the move. Mexico’s premier public university will require all students who passed its entrance exam to retake the test, after an investigation suggested that there was widespread cheating. Other Big Stories Law enforcement officials in Arizona released two ransom notes addressed to Savannah Guthrie in the days after her mother, Nancy, vanished. The first demanded millions of dollars; the second said that Nancy had died. The head of the U.S. Coast Guard promised “decisive action” to prevent, recognize and treat the brain injuries suffered by crews slamming through rough seas. (Read the Times investigation that prompted the change.) Plug-in solar power systems, smaller and cheaper than their rooftop counterparts, are becoming popular as more states legalize their use. Forecasters expect blistering heat across the western United States this weekend. Temperatures could rise to 105 in Salt Lake City, 115 in Las Vegas and 117 in Palm Springs. THE WEEK IN CULTURE Film and TV Tom Holland in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” Sony Pictures via AP “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is smaller and more intimate than its predecessors. (And it’s unfortunately not as fun, our critic writes. Read her review.) “Game of Thrones” is getting a stage adaptation at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Music Ariana Grande’s new album, “Petal,” finds her dissatisfied with fame, but offers few details on exactly why. Read the review. Boy George’s manager pulled him from a production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” after the singer’s pro-Israel reggae song about Oct. 7 drew criticism. What’s the song of the summer? Our critics examined eight of the top contenders. Listen to their conversation on “Popcast.” More Culture Archaeologists have discovered hundreds of monumental designs carved into the Amazon rainforest. At the Guggenheim Museum, a new survey of Pop Art asks: What exactly did the movement give us? Bam! Just like that, a new generation has fallen in love with vintage clips of Emeril Lagasse. Deeply reported journalism needs your support. The Times relies on subscribers to help fund our mission. Become a subscriber today. RECIPE OF THE WEEK Joseph De Leo for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. By Melissa Clark Fruit Crumble Burbling with sweet, syrupy juices and topped with a nutty, chai spice-flavored streusel (that happens to be gluten-free), Genevieve Ko’s fruit crumble can be made with any fresh fruit you have in abundance: summer’s berries and stone fruit, or fall's apples and pears. Or feel free to use frozen berries all year long. It’s a lovely, crowd-pleasing dessert no matter when you bake it. REAL ESTATE We’ve made these links free for you. Juan Diego Devia and Hayley Milam Devia. Scott McIntyre for The New York Times The Hunt: After their rent ballooned, a young couple searched some of Miami’s walkable neighborhoods for a single-family house or townhome where they could start a family. What did they choose? Play our game. What you get for $1 million in Costa Rica: A Bali-inspired villa with expansive sea views, a four-bedroom overlooking the Pacific Ocean and a contemporary home in the rainforest canopy. Pick your favorite: These homes in Oregon City, Ore., St. Louis and Birmingham, Ala., are on the market for $575,000. Which would you choose? LIVING Bianca Beamer Scan here: More couples are incorporating QR codes into their weddings to make it easier for guests to R.S.V.P., find seat assignments and share photos and videos. The wet look: Hairstylists give tips on how to wear the style, which plays well across a range of lengths and textures. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER It’s time to give up on the nonstick pan You might want to consider quitting nonstick pans altogether. Traditional nonstick pans are slick and easy to clean, but are coated with PFAS — also known as forever chemicals — which have been linked to a host of environmental and health concerns. (We have some tips for how to limit your exposure to PFAS.) And ceramic nonstick pans, which have cropped up as a “clean” alternative to traditional nonstick, lose their slickness quickly and are relatively expensive. Both types of nonstick pans will need to be discarded eventually. We recommend durable cookware made from stainless steel, cast iron or carbon steel, which don’t rely on forever chemicals and should last for life. — Mace Dent Johnson NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was optimal. 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 August 1 1943 Operation Tidal Wave: U.S. forces attempt risky air raid on Axis oil refineries During WWII, U.S. forces attempt a risky air raid on Axis oil refineries in Romania. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 1960s 1961 The first Six Flags opens in Texas Arts & Entertainment 1996 George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” debuts 1981 MTV launches Black History 1943 The Harlem Riot of 1943 begins Cold War 1975 Helsinki Final Act signed Crime 1966 An ex-Marine goes on a killing spree at the University of Texas European History 1936 Hitler oversees Berlin Olympics opening ceremony Exploration 1498 Columbus first sets eyes on South America, thinks it’s an island Holocaust 1944 Anne Frank writes her last diary entry Inventions & Science 1786 Caroline Herschel becomes first woman credited with discovering a comet 1861 World’s first weather forecast published Sports 1996 Michael Johnson earns third gold medal World War I 1914 First World War begins to escalate World War II 1944 Warsaw Uprising begins

Colorado River Cutbacks Arizona, California, and Nevada must cut Colorado River water use by roughly 20% over the next two years under a federal plan proposed yesterday, as the nation's two largest reservoirs near record lows. See a map of the Colorado River Basin here. Lake Mead and Lake Powell fell this month to their lowest combined level since 1957, at 27% and 23% capacity, respectively. The plan is the first phase of a 10-year framework that allows cuts of up to 40% and imposes no mandatory reductions on the upper-basin states—Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The lower basin used 6.5 million of the river's 13.1 million acre-feet annually from 2020 to 2024, versus the upper basin's 3.8 million. Lake Mead is about 146 feet above "dead pool," where water can no longer flow through a dam by gravity. Lake Powell is about 152 feet above the threshold. Some 40 million people across the US and northwestern Mexico depend on the river. See real-time reservoir levels and track storage across hundreds of US reservoirs.

Iran strikes tankers under US escort in Hormuz strait as Trump gathers cabinet to discuss war Energy prices have soared again since fighting between US and Iran resumed two weeks ago as conflict spreads across Middle East https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/31/iran-strikes-tankers-us-escort-hormuz-strait-trump-gathers-cabinet? Trump considering new Iran bombing campaign President Trump is seriously considering launching attacks against energy targets in Iran in the next few days, but hasn't given final orders, a U.S. official told Axios' Barak Ravid yesterday. Why it matters: A new U.S. bombing campaign in Iran against energy and infrastructure targets would aim to pressure the Iranians into accepting U.S. terms in ongoing ceasefire negotiations. 🔎 Zoom in: The strikes could also involve the Israeli military for the first time in many weeks, and such an escalation would likely lead to Iranian missile attacks on Israel. CBS News and The Wall Street Journal first reported about the potential strikes. Between the lines: A U.S. official said the Iranians have been "very aggressive" in recent days. Some U.S. officials were stunned by how much the Iranians were willing to escalate. After their surprise missile attack against a U.S. base in Jordan on Wednesday, the Iranians launched additional attacks against U.S. forces in the region, a U.S. official said, declining to give more details. Read on. Trump says Mideast allies have reached outlines of deal to end Iran war, says US to stop new strikes WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump in a Saturday evening social media post claimed that Mideast allies have reached the parameters of a deal to end the Iran war and said that he would hold off on ordering new strikes in the five-month old conflict for now. https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-trump-saudi-crown-prince-call-814164417aa284dc8a6d34ac22ea1a8e?

ECB official warns climate crisis poses growing threat to ‘core financial stability’ A senior policymaker at the European Central Bank has said the climate emergency and the breakdown of nature poses a dramatically growing risk to the global economy. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/01/ecb-climate-wildfires-global-economy-stability?