Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Friday.
The U.S. steps up attacks near the Strait of HormuzAmerican warplanes and attack helicopters are ramping up assaults against Iranian drones and naval vessels in an effort to clear the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil passage. Iran has maintained a de facto blockade in the strait since the start of the war three weeks ago, driving up energy prices worldwide. President Trump said this afternoon that the U.S. had already effectively won the war. “I don’t want to do a cease-fire,” he said. “You don’t do a cease-fire when you’re literally obliterating the other side.” Follow here for the latest updates. In Southeast Asia, the oil shock has upended the lives of many workers. In the U.S., the economy as a whole still appears resilient, but many Americans are struggling with the quick rise in prices. These charts show why the recent jump in gas prices feels more significant, and these maps show the strikes on energy targets. Congressional Republicans have given Trump wide latitude to wage war in Iran on his own terms. They have echoed his shifting rationales, declined to call for hearings or use their oversight authority. In related news:
Trump officials sue HarvardThe Trump administration today sued Harvard, the central target in the president’s campaign to remake America’s elite universities, accusing it of violating the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli students. The lawsuit followed a monthslong effort by the administration to pressure Harvard into paying an enormous financial penalty. The lawsuit, which you can read in full here, asks a court to declare that Harvard is “in material breach” of its responsibilities and strip the school of millions in federal grant funding. A Harvard spokeswoman criticized the suit as a “retaliatory” move “for refusing to turn over control of Harvard to the federal government.” In other education news:
U.S. prosecutors are investigating Colombia’s leaderGustavo Petro, the president of Colombia, is under criminal investigation by at least two U.S. federal prosecutors’ offices. The early-stage inquiries have explored, among other things, Petro’s possible meetings with drug traffickers and whether his campaign solicited donations from traffickers. Petro has denied wrongdoing and praised his own success in curbing the cultivation of coca, the base product for cocaine. However, Colombian news outlets have reported that people linked to traffickers have tried to channel funds to him. In other Trump administration news: The Justice Dept. asked a judge to drop charges against two police officers involved in drafting the warrant that led to the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.
These middle-class Americans sell their blood plasma to get byEvery day, an estimated 215,000 Americans spend roughly an hour with a needle in their arm, donating blood plasma to be used in medical therapies. They can earn around $70 per visit, up to twice a week. The practice is typically associated with low-income Americans. But increasingly, plasma centers are opening in wealthier areas as more people struggle with the high cost of housing, groceries and health care. For more: How safe is plasma donation? More top news
BTS is finally backThe streets of Seoul are buzzing with anticipation for the grand homecoming tomorrow of BTS, the boy band that turned K-pop into a global phenomenon. It will be their first performance in more than three years, after the group went on hiatus to complete their mandatory military service. Some 250,000 people are expected. Many fans are eager to see whether BTS can recapture its top-of-the-world standing as it returns to a transformed K-pop industry. In their first album back, “Arirang,” which was released today, the group leans into its Korean identity.
Remembering Chuck NorrisSome Hollywood action stars mow down their enemies with bullets. Others rely on their wits. Chuck Norris, who died yesterday at 86, saved the day with spinning back kicks and other techniques honed from his days as a martial arts black belt. (Steve McQueen, a celebrity student of Norris, suggested he try Hollywood after Norris’s karate schools went under: “If you can’t do anything else, there’s always acting.”) Norris’s work — including “The Delta Force” and “Walker, Texas Ranger” — never quite landed with critics. But he had millions of fans who savored his good-guy triumphs and fortune-cookie musings, which were the basis of one of the original internet memes: “Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a watch. He decides what time it is,” read one example.
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