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Why this matters:

• The president has been floating the idea of the name change in recent days as the U.S. announced it was imposing 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods over the weekend after talks between the countries broke down. Canadian officials dismissed Trump's move. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the move, invoking the lake’s Indigenous roots and noting that the name predates both the Canadian Confederation and the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

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POLITICS

Judge questions why Kennedy Center is moving so quickly to return Trump’s name to building

During a Thursday hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper asked why the center needed to begin inscribing the president’s name on the institution's facade as soon as Sept. 8. Read more.

Why this matters:

• President Donald Trump has spent much of his second term reshaping Washington to his liking. The Kennedy Center is a rare stumbling block in that effort after Cooper ruled in May that Trump’s name was added to the building illegally, ordering it to be removed. Trump and his allies, however, have refused to let that be the final word.

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• ICE officer’s release from Texas jail opens a new front in the escalating fight over extradition
• The Kremlin says the CIA director held talks in Moscow with his intelligence counterparts
• Exclusive: RFK Jr. said a Samoa trip had nothing to do with vaccines. New documents refute that

WORLD NEWS

Six months on, the Iran war has changed the Middle East, but not in the way its architects had hoped

When they attacked Iran on Feb. 28, the U.S. and Israel hoped to topple its clerical leadership and replace it with a pro-Western government. But the Islamic Republic survived the assassination of its top leaders and weeks of heavy bombing, and found a potent form of leverage in the Strait of Hormuz. Read more.

Why this matters:

• Iran is now determined to exert permanent control over the strait, to use it to ward off future attacks and secure other concessions, while giving no ground on its disputed nuclear program. Meanwhile Gulf Arab nations saw worrying gaps open up in the American security umbrella they have relied on for decades — and some are looking at alternatives. Israel has once again thrashed its enemies without defeating them, and is at risk of a generational rupture with the U.S., its closest ally.