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Blanche Was Once Seen as Tempering Trump’s Tactics. Now He’s All In.

The ascendancy of Todd Blanche shows how the practices that were initially deemed out of bounds even in President Trump’s Justice Department seem to be the order of the day.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, during a cabinet meeting at the White House in May.
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House Passes G.O.P.’s $70 Billion Immigration Bill

The vote gave final passage to Republicans’ megabill to fund immigration enforcement through the remainder of President Trump’s term, clearing it for his signature.

© Ashley Wu/The New York Times

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Meta A.I. Bug Allowed Hackers to Take Over Instagram Accounts

The flaw, which Meta said it had fixed, allowed anyone to take over accounts using a bug in the company’s new artificial intelligence software.

© Jason Henry for The New York Times

Of the 34,000 accounts, 20,000 were breached, giving hackers access to the account holders’ email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and other personal data.
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Social Security Benefits Could Be Cut in 6 Years Unless Congress Acts

The trust fund for the program, which supports roughly 68 million Americans, is on schedule to be depleted in the next six years. Benefits could be cut on average by 22 percent.

© Dave Sanders for The New York Times

To avoid a benefit reduction, lawmakers would need to raise taxes or reduce checks.
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Paramount CEO David Ellison Pledges Editorial Independence for ‘60 Minutes’

David Ellison told Ms. Stahl, one of three remaining correspondents for the news program, that he would respect the show’s editorial decisions after a tumultuous stretch.

© Caroline Brehman/Reuters

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Meet the NASA Astronauts in the Artemis III 4-Person Crew

NASA’s next mission in its effort to return humans to the moon will be led by an all-male crew. Three of them have extensive experience in space, while the other was a backup on Artemis II.

© Ronaldo Schemidt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The crew of Artemis III, from left: Commander Randy Bresnik; pilot Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency; mission specialist Frank Rubio; and mission specialist Andre Douglas.
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Can NASA Really Land Astronauts on the Moon by 2028?

Experts have been hopeful, but say the agency’s lunar aspirations are largely at the whims of two billionaires, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

© Blue Origin

An artist’s concept released by Blue Origin of its large, crew-carrying Mark 2 moon lander. Neither Blue Origin nor SpaceX, contracted by NASA, have completed development of a lunar lander.
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U.S. and Iran Zero In on Four Nuclear Issues in Talks

With the cease-fire proving tenuous, negotiations between the two nations are in flux, but have advanced to outline potential paths forward on difficult questions about Iran’s nuclear program.

© Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York Times

Tehran this week. Hard-liners in Iran could derail what American officials have described as the hazy outlines of an accord.
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Anthropic Releases ‘Safe’ Version of Its Mythos A.I. Technology

Called Claude Fable 5, it is twice as expensive as the company’s previous flagship system.

© Jason Henry for The New York Times

Anthropic’s logo at a company event. The start-up’s Mythos artificial intelligence system caused worries about the security of computer networks.
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She’s Set to Swim the Entire 900-Mile California Coast — Sharks Permitting

Swimming 900 miles won’t be “the worst way to spend four months,” Catherine Breed says — as long as the great whites, jellyfish and elephant seals leave her alone.

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Bill Gates Said to Have Hired Ex-House Oversight Chief to Advise on Epstein Testimony

Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, has retained Jake Greenberg, the former top investigative counsel to the House Oversight Committee.

© Calla Kessler for The New York Times

Bill Gates has been preparing to testify privately in the House Oversight Committee’s investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.
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Israel Strikes Lebanese City of Tyre as U.S.-Brokered Truce Falters

The bombardment followed Israeli evacuation warning for the entire city, a day after Iran threatened to attack Israel again if it kept up its offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
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Netanyahu’s Bow to Trump’s Iran Pressure Spurs New Criticism

Opponents attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for halting strikes against Iran after a call with President Trump, saying that he was letting the United States make Israel’s decisions.

© Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, last week.
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Inside a World Cup Nerve Center Monitoring Fans, Drones and Heat

Officials in North Texas will watch for potential threats from a new $40 million emergency operations center, one of many new security precautions in place across North America.

© Desiree Rios for The New York Times

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Somali Referee Says His World Cup Dream Is Dashed After U.S. Denies Entry

“I had the right papers and everything,” Omar Abdulkadir Artan said in his first interview since he was turned back. He would have been the first Somali to referee a game in the tournament.

© Khaled Desouki/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Omar Abdulkadir Artan, right, during an Africa Cup of Nations match in Morocco last year.
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