Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Friday.
White House vows to pay T.S.A. workers as shutdown continuesIn an effort to cool the anger about long lines and chaos at airports across the country, President Trump issued a memo today ordering his administration to pay T.S.A. workers. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees T.S.A., said the airport screeners should begin receiving paychecks as early as Monday. However, the partial shutdown that caused the funding lapse — already among the longest on record — appears likely to drag on. The Senate left for a two-week break after passing a bill at 2:20 a.m. to fund the homeland security agency, except for its immigration enforcement operations. But after House Republicans arrived on Capitol Hill today, they angrily dismissed the late-night deal as a “joke.” Some Republicans in the chamber criticized the deal for hewing too closely to the Democratic position by omitting funding for ICE. No new plan has emerged that seems likely to end the partial shutdown anytime in the immediate future. For more: This chart shows the current wait times at many major airports. Some of the shortest lines have been at airports that don’t use T.S.A.
Consumers are feeling the costs of war in IranThe Iran war has cut off the supply route for roughly a third of the world’s fertilizer and a significant amount of the natural gas that is used to produce fertilizer elsewhere. Farming costs have increased, threatening global food supplies. Most Americans have noticed that they are paying higher prices at the gas pump. A more substantial jump in the cost of diesel, which is used to produce and ship many products, could more subtly cause inflation to rise. One product to watch: raspberries, which can be a barometer for rising energy costs. For more:
Hegseth halts promotions of some Black and female officersIn a highly unusual move, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of four Army officers to be one-star generals. Two are Black and two are women, and some senior military officials have questioned whether they are being singled out because of their race or gender. In a disagreement about a separate promotion, Hegseth’s chief of staff, Ricky Buria, told Daniel Driscoll, the Army secretary, that Trump would not want to stand next to a Black female officer at military events. Driscoll was shocked, responding, “The president is not a racist or sexist,” officials told The Times. In other Trump administration news:
Scientists wonder if they just detected an exploding black holeUnderneath the Mediterranean Sea, scientists detected a subatomic particle that was traveling at virtually the speed of light and more than 100,000 times as energetic as any particle ever produced in colliders. Astrophysicists are trying to understand how something so energetic came to be. Some researchers have proposed a truly ambitious explanation: that the cosmic bullet came from an exploding black hole, a phenomenon that so far exists only in theory. The science writer Dennis Overbye explains how that might be possible. More top news
A best-selling author takes the reins in a Netflix adaptationThe Norwegian author Jo Nesbo has spent nearly three decades writing novels about an Oslo detective named Harry Hole (pronounced HAR-ee HOO-leh). The page-turners have sold over 50 million copies worldwide. But their first onscreen adaptation in 2017 was a major flop. This time, Nesbo isn’t letting someone else tell his story: He is the showrunner of a new Netflix series called “Jo Nesbo’s Detective Hole.” Tobias Santelmann, who plays the detective, said he was happy to have Nesbo around: “He has an idea of how Harry sits in a chair, how he looks at people, and if he smiles, how he smiles.”
The foundations of astrology were laid in the ancient worldHoroscopes are having something of a moment. A recent poll found that roughly 70 percent of Americans believe “somewhat” or “strongly” in astrology, and spending in the industry is expected to eclipse $20 billion in the next decade. A new exhibit in Berlin reminds us that astrology dates back thousands of years to Babylonia, Egypt and other ancient civilizations. One papyrus from between the first and third centuries predicted that any man born at a certain time “will quarrel with a woman, but when he grows older this will cease.” Related: Your zodiac sign is out of date.
Dinner table topics
Bake: Karpatka, also known as Polish Mountain cake, is a luscious dessert. Watch these movies — including most of the James Bond filmography — and shows before they leave Netflix next month. Read “The Renovation” with our Book Review Book Club. Garden: Some watering cans are better than others. These are Wirecutter’s favorites. Entertain your kids with these 29 fun things to do in New York City. |
