Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Monday.
Trump halts five offshore wind farmsIn a move that essentially guts the country’s nascent offshore wind industry, the Trump administration said it would halt construction on five wind farms off the East Coast. Together, the projects were to cost $25 billion and power more than 2.5 million homes and businesses. At a moment when demand for electricity has spiked because of the growth of data centers, the wind farms were expected to save consumers money. One of the projects, Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts, is already partially running, with about half of the project’s 62 turbines sending power to the electric grid. The Interior Department cited what it called classified Pentagon reports that declared that the wind farms posed national security risks. There is also a public report from the Energy Department finding that wind farms can interfere with radar systems. Trump has disparaged wind farms ever since he failed 14 years ago to stop one near his golf course in Scotland, calling the turbines ugly, costly and inefficient. In other administration news:
How Trump donors benefit from his presidencySince the 2024 election, Trump and his allies have raised nearly $2 billion for his favored political causes and passion projects. The identities of the donors have not been publicly disclosed, and are not required to be. A Times investigation sheds light on them. Reporters traced half a billion dollars’ worth of the haul to 346 people who each gave at least $250,000. More than half have benefited from, or are in industries that have benefited from, actions taken by the president and his administration, including regulatory changes, pardons and dropped legal cases.
In Moscow, Bashar al-Assad lives a luxurious exileA few weeks after the fall of the dictatorship that controlled his country, a Syrian expatriate in Moscow noticed a surprising V.I.P. at a fancy restaurant: the just-deposed Bashar al-Assad. From witnesses and family friends, and digital clues left on social media accounts, Times reporters have uncovered glimpses into the Assad family’s life of luxury and impunity: the Four Seasons, a penthouse, a birthday party on a yacht.
R.I.P., MetroCardIn 1994, New Yorkers were asked to give up their subway tokens for a flimsy piece of plastic the size of a credit card. 3.2 billion MetroCards later, the last ones will be sold on Dec. 31. Their replacement, the OMNY tap-and-pay system, rolled out in 2019 and 94 percent of subway trips use it. Though there will be no more new MetroCards, a limited edition like the Mets-Yankees “First Subway Series” card, the Supreme collaboration and the Notorious B.I.G. card will remain in the memories of subway riders — and the binders of collectors. More top news
Eternal words of wisdomThe artistic luminaries we lost in 2025 will always have plenty to tell us, and not just through their work. Here’s a bit of insight from the heavy metal pioneer Ozzy Osbourne, who died in July at age 76: “I’m a lunatic by nature, and lunatics don’t need training — they just are.” Other observations are a bit more universal, like that of the spoken-word master Andrea Gibson, who succumbed at 49 after a four-year fight with cancer: “We were born astonished. We should never grow out of our astonishment.” Remember them in their own words. Also: 2025 was a year of extremes, captured in the Styles section’s favorite photos.
Pandoro pushes bakers to the limitOver the past three decades, Americans have developed a taste for panettone, the voluptuous Italian sweet holiday bread. Much lesser known is its cousin, pandoro, in part because it’s even more difficult to make. One baker likened the process to “diving into the abyss” and said: “It shouldn’t work.” “It took us years to get panettone right,” another baker told us. “It’s the most difficult thing we’ve ever made — until pandoro.” But if you get it right — which takes lots of butter — the bread disappears in the mouth. Dinner table topics
Cook: For Christmas, consider a tamales-making party. Watch: The Korean television shows “The Price of Confession” and “Nine Puzzles” are thrillers with complicated plots and complicated protagonists. Listen: Elisabeth Egan of The Book Review explains why she has started listening to books instead of reading them. Cope: “Functional freeze” is a state of numbness and low motivation. Here’s how to break out of it. Cringe: Wirecutter picked out a bunch of gross gifts and tested them on S.N.L.’s Sarah Sherman. Exercise: Learn how to master the treadmill. Beware: Can you spot a health scam? Take our quiz. Play: Today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and the Mini Crossword. For more, find all our games here. |
