F.B.I., Albuquerque, Serena Williams: Your Tuesday Evening Briefing - 6 minutes read




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Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Tuesday.


It came after federal agents — including a Justice Department counterintelligence official — visited Mar-a-Lago this spring to discuss materials that Trump had improperly taken, including classified documents. Presidential materials must be preserved and sent to the National Archives when a president leaves office. But what specific materials agents might now be seeking remained unclear.


Trump is facing several inquiries as he weighs another bid for the White House. The Justice Department has recently stepped up its inquiry into Trump’s efforts to remain in office after his defeat in the 2020 election, and he faces an accelerating criminal inquiry in Georgia and civil actions in New York.
Reaction: Top Republicans expressed outrage, and the far right employed the language of violence to rally opposition.


2. Ukraine claimed a rare attack on a Russian air base in Crimea.
As Russian and occupation officials scrambled to determine the cause of a series of explosions at the key air base, a senior Ukrainian military official said that Ukrainian forces were behind the blast.


A Ukrainian attack in the Crimean Peninsula would represent a significant expansion of Ukraine’s offensive efforts, which have been largely limited to pushing Russian troops back from Ukrainian territory.
In Washington, President Biden signed a measure giving U.S. approval to Sweden and Finland’s bid to join NATO. All 30 current members of NATO must approve the two additions, and more than 20 have done so.
Online, Russia has seized the internet in Ukrainian territory it controls.


3. Voters went to the polls in Connecticut, Vermont, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
In Minnesota, the death of Representative Jim Hagedorn, a Republican, has given voters in his district the chance to fill the seat in a special election that could narrow the Democratic margin of control in the House to just four votes in the event of a Republican victory.


And in Wisconsin, Republicans are fighting to stop the re-election of the state’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers. Tim Michels, with the endorsement of former President Trump, and Rebecca Kleefisch, the choice of former Vice President Mike Pence, have the best shot.


4. Police detained a primary suspect in the killings of four Muslim men in New Mexico.
Albuquerque’s police chief said that the man had been driving a car that the police believed was linked to the shootings, a photo of which was released over the weekend in a plea for help from the public.
The shootings of the four Muslim men since November — the most recent of which took place on Friday — may be connected, the police have said, raising fears in a place where many immigrants had felt at home. Hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan have settled in the city over the past year since the withdrawal of the U.S. military presence in that country.


5. Kenya’s presidential election was a fierce contest and remained too close to call.
Most of the country’s 22 million registered voters were likely to choose between William Ruto, 55, the current vice president and a self-declared champion of the “hustler nation,” and Raila Odinga, a 77-year-old leftist in his fifth bid for the presidency.
Both are products of Kenya’s corruption-ridden political system, yet claim they can transform it if elected.
The polls are closed and results are expected to start coming in later in the week with, almost inevitably, claims of rigging from the loser.
In other international news, Seoul was struck overnight by some of its heaviest rainfall in decades; at least nine people were killed. And the southern half of England and parts of Wales braced for more scorching temperatures.


6. Serena Williams suggested she would retire from tennis after the U.S. Open.
In a cover story for Vogue, Williams said she had “never liked the word retirement,” and that she was instead “evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me,” including working with her venture capital firm and growing her family.
She was not explicit about when she might stop playing, but hinted on Instagram that the U.S. Open, which begins later this month, could be her last tournament. “The countdown has begun,” she said, adding, “I’m gonna relish these next few weeks.”
She won her first singles Grand Slam title there, in 1999 — 23 years ago, a number that matches her career Grand Slam total. Since then, she has become the face of tennis, and a dominant cultural figure who transcended the sport.


8. Olivia Newton-John, pop singer and “Grease” star, died at 73.
Newton-John amassed No. 1 hits and four records that sold more than two million copies each. She also starred in one of the most popular movie musicals of its era, “Grease,” in a role that mirrored her career turn from the virginal girl next door to a spandex-clad bombshell.
But more than anything else, she was likable, even beloved.
Wesley Morris, reflecting on her career, writes that even though Newton-John’s hit machine was still going by 1985, she was already becoming a memory of a kind of innocence, and one place pop music had been trying to get back to forever.
Issey Miyake, the Japanese fashion designer famed for his pleated style of clothing and cult perfumes, died on Friday in Tokyo at 84.


9. Lawyers for “Hamilton” protested an unauthorized Texas church production.
The Door, a church in McAllen, Texas, changed lyrics and introduced Christian themes that were not part of the original Broadway musical. A pastor claimed that “the Hamilton team” had given the church a license to perform its version of the musical, but a spokesman for “Hamilton” said that it does not grant amateur or professional licenses. Lawyers sent a cease-and-desist notice, the spokesman said.
The team was further troubled by a sermon in which a man said that God could help people with their struggles, listing homosexuality as one of them. Other lyrics were altered to put the production on a more church-friendly footing. The opening line, which refers to Hamilton as a “bastard, orphan, son of a whore,” was changed to “scoundrel, orphan, son of a harlot.”


10. And finally, the quest for the perfect s’more.
A s’more is best known for its simple recipe: a roasted marshmallow and a piece of chocolate bar sandwiched between graham crackers. But the potential for customization is endless.


For some, that can be a roasted Peep with a Reese’s cup tucked into two gingersnap cookies. Consider saltines or a Ritz crackers to counter the sweetness with a touch of saltiness. Kena Peay, a cook who shares hiking and camping recipes, offers this suggestion: Cut a Rice Krispies Treat into two thinner planks for even more flavor and crunch.

Source: New York Times

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