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Good evening. Here’s the latest.
1. U.S. tariffs are set to go into effect at midnight on metals imported from the country’s closest allies: the European Union, Canada and Mexico.
Retaliatory trade moves have already been announced, and diplomatic ties are certain to be strained. Combined with similar measures being prepared by earlier tariff targets — China, Russia and Turkey — the impact of retaliation could be severe. Above, steel coils in Germany.
3. Dinesh D’Souza, the conservative commentator who pleaded guilty in 2014 to making illegal campaign contributions, received a presidential pardon.
President Trump said he was also considering commuting the sentence of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, who was imprisoned on corruption charges, and pardoning Martha Stewart, who served a prison sentence for lying to investigators about a stock sale.
All three cases involve prosecutors Mr. Trump now considers enemies.
Separately, the TBS late-night host Samantha Bee apologized for using a slur against Ivanka Trump during a segment on immigration.
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4. Candidates across the country are sidestepping the news media and taking their message straight to voters.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, above, is live-streaming town hall meetings. Other politicians are doing podcasts, running local news sites and using Facebook Live and other social media.
The method has obvious appeal: Politicians can appear accessible, but remain insulated from the press.
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5. We’ve been hearing a lot about reform in Saudi Arabia, like opening movie theaters and letting women drive.
Turns out those measures are part of a plan the parent company of Cambridge Analytica helped the Saudi royal family craft. (That’s the firm that had worked for the Trump campaign and closed after revelations that it mishandled Facebook data.)
Their purpose: to manage a young and restive population as oil prices fell. One consultant described the effort as “Machiavellian.” Above, the kingdom’s powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
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Nearly a million Rohingya fled horrific violence in Myanmar last year and settled in what has become the world’s largest refugee settlement. It’s a makeshift jumble of rickety homes at high risk of flooding, landslides and disease.
Our video journalist went to the areas at greatest danger of being swept away and created this report to show you how people are trying to fortify before the rains.
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7. After a seesaw week that unnerved financial markets, Italy’s president gave a coalition of populist parties the green light to form a government.
That puts Europe’s fourth-largest economy in the hands of leaders who are deeply antagonistic to the European Union, its currency and illegal migrants. Above, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, left, with the president, Sergio Mattarella.
European leaders in Brussels, already worried about Poland and Hungary, now fear a threat to European unity from within its core.
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8. It’s the Hooters model in the N.F.L.
The Houston Texans, the New England Patriots, the New Orleans Saints and the Washington Redskins are among the teams that deploy alternate cheerleaders — ones who don’t actually cheer — to charm male fans in the stands.
We talked to a dozen women who’ve done it, including Jackie Chambers, above. They described low wages, demeaning conditions and harassment.
“We were just low-paid, underappreciated, exploited moneymakers in a huge moneymaking scheme,” one said.
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9. The Golden State Warriors meet the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight in Game 1 of the N.B.A. championship. Our experts weigh in on what’s at stake.
“The reason this series will be different is that it’ll be less competitive,” our reporter posits. “The talent just isn’t there for the Cavaliers, even with LeBron.”
You can see if he’s right at 9 p.m. Eastern on ABC, and we’ll have live coverage.
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10. Finally, for the first time in at least two decades, the majority of the nation’s top colleges are featuring women as commencement speakers.
In honor of the milestone, our gender editor, Jessica Bennett, put together snippets from a few of her favorite graduation speeches by notable women, including the one Shonda Rimes gave at Dartmouth in 2014.
“Dreams are lovely. But they are just dreams,” she said.
“Fleeting, ephemeral, pretty. But dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s hard work that creates change.”
Have a great night.
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