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Good evening. Here’s the latest.
1. President Trump listed his environmental accomplishments in a speech from the White House that seemed aimed at voters dismayed by his record.
He said his priorities were “being a good steward of public land,” reducing carbon emissions and promoting the “cleanest air” and “crystal clean” water.
But Mr. Trump has withdrawn the U.S. from the international Paris climate change accord, sought to roll back or weaken more than 80 environmental regulations and ceded global environmental leadership, so critics were outspoken.
David Victor, director of the Laboratory on International Law and Regulation at the University of California, San Diego, called the speech “a true 1984 moment.”
2. Federal prosecutors are seeking to deny bail to Jeffrey Epstein, a Manhattan financier, saying he is a flight risk.
Mr. Epstein was charged today with paying girls, some as young as 14, to engage in sex acts. Investigators said they seized hundreds of nude or partially nude photographs of underage girls from his mansion in Manhattan.
Mr. Epstein, who faces a combined maximum sentence of up to 45 years in prison if convicted, also owns homes in Palm Beach, Fla., New Mexico and Paris, and on a private island in the Caribbean. His seven-story, $56 million Manhattan home is one of the largest in New York City.
3. Fund-raising? Elizabeth Warren has a plan for that, too.
The Massachusetts senator raised $19.1 million in the past three months, placing her in the top echelon of Democratic presidential campaigns and ahead of her main progressive rival, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Ms. Warren, pictured above campaigning in Reno, Nev., last week, raised just $6 million in her campaign’s first three months, before her strategy of eschewing high-dollar fund-raising and inundating voters with detailed policy proposals began to pay dividends.
More on 2020: Tom Steyer, the California billionaire who said in January that he would not run, has changed his mind and intends to enter the race on Tuesday, according to multiple people who have been told of his plans. And Eric Swalwell is expected to drop out anytime.
4. What happened to California’s earthquake app?
Los Angeles residents are wondering why the ShakeAlertLA app on their phones — introduced with fanfare on New Year’s Eve — didn’t warn them.
The answer: The epicenter was far enough away that the impact projected for Los Angeles County, the only place the app functions, was too low to meet the warning threshold. (The app will now be adjusted.)
Get prepared: Jacob Margolis, a California radio journalist who hosts a podcast called “The Big One,” shares advice on how to get ready for the next quake. (Get under a table, not a doorway; leave shoes by your bed; and prepare your will.)
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5. A tempest in U.S.-U.K. relations.
President Trump lashed out at Britain’s ambassador to the U.S. over leaked confidential cables in which the diplomat, Sir Kim Darroch, above, disparaged Mr. Trump’s administration as “clumsy and inept.”
“I do not know the Ambassador, but he is not liked or well thought of within the U.S.,” Mr. Trump said on Twitter. “We will no longer deal with him.” The statement came close to declaring Mr. Darroch persona non grata — an extraordinary breach with one of the closest American allies.
More controversy: Amid ongoing Brexit chaos and political dysfunction, the United Kingdom is struggling with an age-old fight. When pouring tea into a teacup, which should be poured first? The tea or the milk?
6. Can Newport be saved?
Architects, planners and engineers are devising novel ways to keep rising coastal waters from ruining the Rhode Island town’s trove of historic houses, including some built before the American Revolution.
The usual solutions — building sea walls, raising buildings on stilts, or even moving them to higher ground — would destroy the historic characteristics that patrons are trying to preserve.
So in Newport and other historic areas, including Colonial Annapolis and the island of Nantucket, preservationists are considering bolder approaches: allowing water to flow through basements, installing building-size flotation systems or re-plumbing entire neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, New York and California are racing to become carbon-neutral. Here’s where they stand.
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7. Facial recognition technology is being used on a large scale by U.S. law enforcement agencies.
The F.B.I. routinely scans photos from driver’s license databases, and newly released records show that immigration officials have done the same in at least three states that issue licenses to undocumented immigrants.
The concerns emerging aren’t just about privacy. The software is known to be highly inaccurate for African-Americans — a point of particular frustration in Detroit, a majority-black city where thousands of cameras in stores, restaurants, churches and schools stream videos directly to the Police Department’s downtown headquarters.
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8. A magical Wimbledon run ends.
Coco Gauff, a 15-year-old American wild card, lost her fourth-round match to Romania’s Simona Halep, ending a crowd-pleasing string of upset victories.
Australia’s top-seeded favorite, Ashleigh Barty, lost to U.S. veteran Alison Riske.
Whoever the victor, Wimbledon offers equal paychecks to men and women — in stark contrast to soccer. Despite the chants of “Equal Pay” that accompanied the U.S. women’s World Cup victory on Sunday, the sport’s financial inequity will hardly be wiped clean by the flurry of American goals.
The team’s collective bargaining agreement, which sets the players’ salaries and working conditions, runs through the end of 2021.
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9. “Con Altura,” a celebration of style and attitude by the Catalonian singer Rosalía, is one of this summer’s most popular songs.
In the latest episode of the Times video series “Diary of a Song,” Rosalía and her collaborators discuss their old-school homage to reggaeton, the Caribbean and Latin American rap style, and break down a special moment for music en español:
Language is no barrier, cross-cultural collaboration is common and hip-hop influence seeps in from all sides.
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10. And finally, to the moon.
It took humans a long time to get there, and we didn’t stay long. The 12 U.S. astronauts who walked on the lunar surface (starting with Neil Armstrong almost exactly 50 years ago) logged a total of just 80 hours.
The U.S. and China are both talking about getting boots back on the moon, but there are challenging problems of longer-term residency, including lunar dust that cuts like glass and toxic flashes of cosmic radiation that you can see with your eyes closed.
Have a down-to-earth evening.
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Source : Nytimes
