Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Wednesday.
The U.S. is accelerating its attacks on IranTop U.S. military leaders projected confidence after five days of war with Iran. They claimed to have devastated Iran’s navy and its ballistic missile program, and they promised no letup in the American attacks. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said today that U.S. and Israeli warplanes would soon gain control of Iran’s airspace, allowing them to deliver “death and destruction all day long.” For the first time since World War II, a U.S. torpedo struck a vessel in combat today, sending an Iranian ship with a crew of 180 to the bottom of the Indian Ocean. Sri Lankan officials said they had rescued 32 Iranian sailors. Dozens of others on board were believed to be dead. Hegseth also said that a U.S. strike had killed an Iranian who had been plotting to assassinate President Trump. Elsewhere, the war continued to expand into a wider international crisis. Several European nations deployed military assets to the region, and NATO air defenses shot down an Iranian ballistic missile headed toward Turkey. The State Department extended its directive for employees to leave their posts at embassies and consulates to four more Middle East countries. And videos showed damage to homes and businesses across the region. In related news:
Sea levels may be higher than we thoughtNew research indicates that scientists have routinely underestimated how high coastal sea levels are: On average, they are eight inches to a foot higher than many maps and models of the world’s coastlines show. This means that hundreds of millions of people may be closer to peril from the rising oceans than previously thought. This map shows where the discrepancies are largest.
Kennedy is trying to revamp medical schoolsHealth Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spent months pressuring medical schools to teach America’s future doctors more about nutrition. He has threatened funding cuts for schools that don’t cooperate and promised to celebrate the ones that do. Dozens have agreed to rework their curriculums. Many experts agree with Kennedy that doctors should spend more time learning about nutrition. But his tactics, and some of his ideas, have raised alarm among medical leaders. In other Trump administration news:
What we learned from the first day of primary electionsDemocrats turned out in huge numbers yesterday in Texas, where James Talarico, a 36-year-old state legislator who was virtually unknown only months ago, won the party’s nomination for Senate. His victory indicated that calls for love, not just rage, appeal to voters. Or, as my colleague Lisa Lerer put it: “Nice guys can finish first.” We don’t yet know who Talarico’s Republican opponent will be. Senator John Cornyn outperformed expectations to reach a runoff against Ken Paxton, the state attorney general favored by the party’s right wing. Trump promised today to endorse one of them before voters return to the polls in May. Follow here for more updates. Related: One Republican in North Carolina is leading his race by just two votes. More top news
This question comes from a recent edition of the newsletter. Click an answer to see if you’re right. (The link is free.) Which city saw the most sales of ultraluxury homes last year?
Did you know these movie stars started on reality TV?It seemed like a novelty when Ariana DeBose won an Academy Award in 2022 for “West Side Story,” 13 years after she competed on “So You Think You Can Dance.” Now, though, it feels like a trend. Three of this year’s Oscar nominees — Jessie Buckley, Teyana Taylor and Emma Stone — got their starts in reality television. Cameras followed a young Taylor celebrating her 16th birthday, while a 15-year-old Stone sang pop songs onstage with a delightfully dorky gusto. Where they are now: The director Chloé Zhao walked us through a scene from Buckley’s Oscar-nominated “Hamnet” performance.
‘Outlander’ is still bringing the world to ScotlandThe cast and crew of “Outlander” was emotional as they finished filming for its eighth and final season. But the legacy of the hit show, which follows a nurse from 1940s England who is transported back to 1744, appears likely to live on in Scotland, where it is primarily set. The show’s popularity has proved to be a boon for the country’s television and tourism industries. More than a fifth of Scotland’s visitors from outside Europe cited a TV show as a draw — none more so than “Outlander.”
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