Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.
Trump gives Iran more time to reopen the Strait of HormuzPresident Trump said this morning that he was giving Iran two choices: They could abandon their nuclear ambitions and negotiate an end to the war, or they could do nothing and the U.S. would “keep blowing them away — unimpeded, unstopped.” Hours later, the president said that peace talks were “going very well,” and announced that he was once again postponing the deadline for Iran to fully open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping or face devastating strikes on its power plants. The 10-day delay offered a modicum of after-hours relief for the stock market, which suffered its largest daily decline since the start of the war. At a cabinet meeting today, Trump’s go-to negotiator, Steve Witkoff, said that the U.S. had received “strong signs” from Iran that peace was possible after sending a 15-point plan to Tehran through Pakistani mediators. Earlier in the day, Israel said it had killed Iran’s naval commander, who had been leading the blockade of the strait. He is the latest in a series of top Iranian officials whom Israel has assassinated. But Iran continues to exhibit some military resilience, launching several missiles and drones today toward Israel and Gulf countries. Two people were killed in Abu Dhabi. For more:
Transgender athletes are barred from women’s Olympic eventsThe International Olympic Committee said today that it would bar transgender women from competing in women’s sports at the Olympics. Starting at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, eligibility will be determined by a genetic test of each athlete. Anyone without the typical female XX sex chromosomes will not be allowed to compete. “Even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat,” the Olympic Committee’s new president, Kirsty Coventry, said. “So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category.” Late last year, the committee presented the initial findings of a review that found that athletes born with male sexual markers retained physical advantages. The analysis was not made public, however, and the perspective remains contested.
Catholic churches see a surge of new convertsThe Times gathered data from two dozen Roman Catholic dioceses across the U.S. — in major cities like Los Angeles and smaller ones like Gallup, N.M. Each one reported a significant increase in converts. Bishops are buzzing about the surge, and confounded by what is behind it. “Of course we think the Holy Spirit is,” one cardinal said. “But we are kind of stymied.” One archbishop found the loneliest group of people entering the church to be those ages 18 to 35, a cohort several dioceses noted had experienced particular growth.
Chatbots are far from impartialNew research found that many leading A.I. chatbots are highly sycophantic. Using for comparison a Reddit community where people ask whether they are at fault in a situation, the bots took their users’ side 49 percent more often than humans did — including times when the user broke the law or hurt someone. Psychologists were also alarmed by another finding: The participants in the study were less willing to take responsibility for their behavior after interacting with a sycophantic chatbot. More top news
A new podcast about a crime that changed a familyFor decades, the Times Opinion writer M. Gessen saw their cousin Allen as a fool, a pompous “international businessman” who bragged about shady deals. But Allen was then accused of trying to put a hit out on his ex-wife. M. and the Gessen family couldn’t wrap their heads around the news. Allen’s just an idiot, right? Not a would-be murderer? That’s how the new podcast from Serial, “The Idiot,” begins. You can listen to the entire five-part series right now.
Reintroducing RaphaelFor centuries, the name of the Renaissance painter Raphael was a synonym for artistic genius alongside masters like da Vinci and Michelangelo. But his pre-eminence has faded. A new blockbuster exhibition at the Met hopes to fix that. It displays 33 of Raphael’s paintings, alongside more than 140 of his drawings and tapestries, showcasing a beauty so imposing that our critic Jason Farago said it makes us “look puny by contrast” The show, Jason writes, left him “awe-struck.” It opens on Sunday. Examine these three artworks to see Raphael’s brilliance up close.
Dinner table topics
Cook: This excellent shrimp scampi is brought together with a lemon and garlic butter sauce. Watch: The 1997 flick “Batman & Robin” is corny, wacky and widely panned. |
