The Evening: U.S. carries out strikes in Iraq and Syria

Also, the job market started 2024 with remarkable strength.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story February 2, 2024 By Matthew Cullen Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Friday. U.S. retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria A surprisingly strong job market Plus, what to expect at the Grammys The strikes hit more than 85 targets at different locations, U.S. officials said. Kent Nishimura for The New York Times The U.S. conducted retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria American forces today carried out a series of military strikes against Iranian forces and the militias that they back in half a dozen sites in Syria and Iraq. The assaults, targeting command centers, weapons facilities and bunkers used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force and affiliated militia groups, made good on President Biden's promise to respond to a drone attack in Jordan on Sunday that killed three American soldiers and injured at least 40 more service members. We have live updates. The U.S. military is seeking to use the strikes to send a message to Iran and its allied militias that continued attacks on U.S. troops in the region, and international ships in the Red Sea, will draw a response. Still, the Biden administration says it does not want the proxy war underway with Iran to become more significant than it already is. The New York Times The job market started 2024 with remarkable strength U.S. employers added a substantial 353,000 jobs last month, according to government data released today. The total was far more than experts had expected, a sign that economic growth remains vigorous after three years of expansion. The report also put extra shine on job growth for 2023, including revisions that added more than 100,000 to the figure previously tallied for December. In all, employers added 3.1 million jobs last year, defying predictions of a major slowdown. My colleague Ben Casselman, who covers the economy, told me that in some ways today's numbers were just a continuation of recent trends: The labor market again proved to be resilient, unemployment remained near historic lows and wage growth continued to outpace inflation. "But at a certain point, it's fair to ask whether the long-predicted slowdown might not just be delayed but rather not coming at all," Ben said. "It's not that nothing can go wrong — something can always go wrong — but right now, everything seems to be going right." The allegations have thrown the high-stakes case against Donald Trump off balance. Kenny Holston/The New York Times Fani Willis said she shouldn't be taken off the Trump case Fani Willis, the district attorney prosecuting the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump, publicly acknowledged for the first time today that she had a "personal relationship" with the prosecutor she hired to manage the case. However, she argued that it did not merit her disqualification. The admission, in a court filing, came almost a month after one of Trump's co-defendants sought to bar Willis and the lead prosecutor, Nathan Wade, for an "improper, clandestine personal relationship." The original motion accused Willis of hiring her "boyfriend" and granting him lucrative contracts even though he was underqualified. Willis's filing asserted that the personal relationship started only after Wade had been hired. An artist's rendering of the space-bound sunshade. Technion Israel Institute of Technology and Asher Space Research Institute Could a giant space parasol help solve global warming? Earth is at its hottest point on record, and experts say humans are not doing enough to stop its overheating. Now, a small but growing number of scientists are proposing a potential solution that could have leaped from the pages of science fiction: The equivalent of a giant beach umbrella, floating in outer space. The idea is to create a huge sunshade between the Earth and the sun to block a small but crucial amount of solar radiation — just enough, the scientists say, to keep Earth within manageable climate boundaries. More top news Trump: A judge scrapped the planned March 4 date for the former president's federal trial on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election. Gaza: Israel's defense minister has signaled that Israeli ground forces could advance on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Court: The man whose attacks on the police were widely seen as the tipping point in the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol was found guilty of assault. Ukraine: The top U.N. court said it would rule whether Ukraine committed genocide in its Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Cars: Tesla is recalling about 2.2 million vehicles because the font size on a warning lights panel was too small. Science: The U.S. is selling its helium reserves, despite calls to hold off. Politics: In an interview with The Times, Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, declined to call the surge in immigration a "crisis." Health: Ozempic, Wegovy and other popular weight-loss drugs have become difficult to obtain. Here's why. El Salvador: The country's strongman president has been accused of violating the constitution by running for re-election. He is expected to win by a landslide in Sunday's elections. Lives lived: Carl Weathers, the N.F.L. linebacker turned actor known for playing Apollo Creed in the first four "Rocky" movies, died at 76. TIME TO UNWIND SZA's "Kill Bill" is up for song of the year. Nina Westervelt for The New York Times Who will have the biggest night at the Grammys? At the 66th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, young women will be in the spotlight. SZA is the top nominee, with nine nods for her album "SOS." She is competing against Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo in three of the major all-genre categories. But the biggest winner of the night could actually turn out to be the musicians behind "Barbie." Here's how you can watch the awards show, which will include a performance by Joni Mitchell. But if you're more interested in the up-and-coming artists and their hits, our critic picked out a few to highlight. Larry David's character was simultaneously one of the world's most comfortable and uncomfortable men. John Johnson/HBO 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' made something out of nothing The comedian Larry David ended his 1999 HBO special by telling his audience that he had no more material — he had "run out of nothing." It was a joke about how his 1990s hit "Seinfeld" was supposedly a show about nothing. But the comedy of ill manners that emerged from the 1999 stand-up special, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," proved that he was fibbing. Sure, the series — which begins its 12th and final season on Sunday — never aimed at grand statements. But, our television critic James Poniewozik writes, its reflection of modern grievances was pretty, pretty good. This is Flaco. David Lei Dinner table topics Flaco's year of freedom: An owl named Flaco, who escaped from the Central Park Zoo last year, has made the rest of Manhattan his home. Here's what he's been up to. Live like a queen: An auction house is selling hundreds of props from "The Crown," including a horse-drawn carriage. Hub of scholarship: The origins of Black History Month can be traced back a century ago to an unassuming, three-story brick rowhouse in Washington. Cooper Flagg: The N.B.A. hasn't drafted a Maine native in 40 years. This high schooler could be the 2025 No. 1 pick. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT WHAT TO DO THIS WEEKEND Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Cook: This stir-fried lettuce is a simple meal with comforting flavors and textures. Watch: Here are three great documentaries to stream right now. Read: Our books editors recommend Emily Cockayne's new book about anonymous letters. Listen: Inon Barnatan is performing Rachmaninoff's "Symphonic Dances" on a single piano. Mend: Experts offered tips for people who think they might have a yeast infection. Resolve: February is the perfect time to reflect on what you want and how to get there. Compete: Take this week's news quiz. Play: Here are today's Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. Find all our games here. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ONE LAST THING Bruce Springsteen and his mother, Adele, in 2010. Diane Bondareff/MCT and Tribune News Service, via Getty Images Where Springsteen got his rock 'n' roll spirit Joy and despair, vitality and darkness course through Bruce Springsteen's songs. The joy, the rock star said, came from his mother, Adele Springsteen, who died this week at 98. Adele constantly listened to Top 40 radio when Springsteen was young, getting her son on his feet to dance with her. She scrimped to buy him his first electric guitar, encouraged him to be a musician and kept detailed scrapbooks of every small milestone. Anyone who has ever shouted along to a Springsteen chorus — which often break through the darker thoughts in the verses — owes Adele Springsteen some thanks. Have an inspiring evening. Thanks for reading. Jonathan Wolfe will write this newsletter on Monday. I'll be back on Tuesday. — Matthew We welcome your feedback. Write to us at evening@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Writer: Matthew Cullen Editorial Director: Adam Pasick Editors: Carole Landry, Whet Moser, Justin Porter, Jonathan Wolfe Photo Editor: Brent Lewis Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for The Evening from The New York Times. To stop receiving The Evening, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. 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Fareed: In the Middle East, the US Is Michael Corleone

Just when Washington thought it was out … Plus: Does UNRWA have a future?; has Germany 'woken up'?; and men and the far right …

View this email in your browser  Insights, analysis and must reads from CNN's Fareed Zakaria and the Global Public Square team, compiled by Global Briefing editor Chris Good   Seeing this newsletter as a forward? Sign up here.   February 2, 2024 Fareed: In the Middle East, the US Is Michael Corleone "It's perhaps fitting," Fareed writes in his latest Washington Post column, "that the line that best describes U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East over the past 15 years comes from the Godfather movies. In the third part of the series, the aging Michael Corleone has been trying to distance himself from his old mafia businesses and ties. But inevitably crises flare up that demand his attention. 'Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in,' he cries."   President Joe Biden may well be thinking the same today, Fareed writes. Since George W. Bush's second term, successive US presidential administrations have sought to disengage from the Middle East.   As was the case for Michael Corleone, the US has been drawn back in—this time by a drone strike that killed three US soldiers and injured more than 30 on a US base in Jordan last weekend. US officials have blamed an Iran-backed militia in Iraq. Today, the US launched retaliatory strikes on Iranian-linked militia targets in Iraq and Syria.   Hawkish voices in Washington have urged Biden to respond forcefully—including by striking Iran directly—but Fareed advises heeding the Godfather's words. "The most effective response to this broader Iran-backed push against U.S. interests in the region would be to show not that Washington can escalate militarily … but that it can de-escalate politically," Fareed writes. "That means using the crisis in Gaza to create conditions for longer-term stability by addressing Israel's need for security and Palestinian aspirations for a state. … That kind of political and diplomatic response would not appease the war hawks in Washington, but it would be the most effective counter to America's foes. As Michael Corleone says in that same movie, 'Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.'" Does the UN's Palestinian Agency Have a Future? A major scandal has shaken global funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, known as UNRWA (pronounced "un-ruh"). Israel alleges 13 UNRWA employees were associated with Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians; as a result, countries including the US have suspended funding for the agency.   At The New York Times, columnist Bret Stephens, a former editor in chief of The Jerusalem Post, writes that UNRWA "may be the only agency in the U.N. system whose central purpose is to perpetuate grievance and conflict. It should be abolished." (UNRWA has long faced allegations that hateful and inciting content is taught to Palestinian children in schools it runs.)   At CNN Opinion, Michael Bociurkiw, a former spokesperson for UNICEF in Gaza and the West Bank, points out that UNRWA functions as "an omnipresent municipal service provider" in the Palestinian territories, performing tasks like sanitation and managing refugee camps. As Israel has waged war on Hamas, it has distributed vital food and medical aid. In short, through UNRWA's controversial history, no one has found an alternative solution for serving Palestinians' needs. It may be time for one, Bociurkiw writes—perhaps with wealthy Gulf states chipping in to fund an expanded UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to carry out UNRWA's myriad tasks. Has Germany 'Finally Woken Up'? It has, according to a New York Times guest opinion essay by German journalist Anna Sauerbrey.   In recent years, the main political story in Germany has been the rise of the far-right, nativist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Surging in polls and performing well in elections, the AfD has stoked and ridden anti-immigration sentiment to become a force in Germany, just as far-right populists have elsewhere in Europe and in the US.   Last month, that story took a turn, with a report by the investigative media outlet Correctiv of a "secret meeting" (held in the German city of Potstdam, outside Berlin) at which AfD representatives reportedly met with "radical right-wing activists and neo-Nazis" and entertained plans to deport immigrants and "non-assimilated" German citizens because of their ethnic backgrounds. The AfD denies having any such plans.   After Correctiv published its report, protests against the AfD arose across Germany. At the Times, Sauerbrey writes: "The strange thing was that the Correctiv report told us nothing we couldn't have guessed already. The far right, we know, is built on racist fantasies of ethnic homogeneity, and the AfD has long been deemed extreme. Yet for years, many Germans viewed the rise of the far right with something like wary detachment: Even as the AfD climbed to around 20 percent in the polls, there remained some complacency about the threat it posed. Not anymore. Germany, at last, has woken up."   At Der Spiegel, a 17-bylined feature casts mainstream, pro-democracy Germans as having stirred from passivity in the face of the extreme right: "The revelations about the Potsdam meeting made many people realize just how radical the purity fantasies of the extreme right have become. And how concrete. At that moment, they apparently realized just who the AfD and their like-minded comrades would like to drive out of the country. It could be their neighbors or their work colleagues. Their friends. Or they themselves." The question now, the Der Spiegel authors suggest, is whether this anti-far-right energy can be maintained, organized, and directed. Men and the Far Right Far-right politics are largely a male impulse, Rachel Kleinfeld of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace writes for Persuasion, noting that "(i)n the past fifteen years, men across the globe have voted for radical right-wing parties at much higher rates."   As for why, Kleinfeld argues: "The problem is not that men are natural crusaders for authoritarian populists. In fact, American men are much more likely to be politically apathetic, and most young men are better characterized as confused and drifting. The problem is that anti-democratic and violent forces are trying to weaponize that aimlessness. Politics is coming into most men's lives subtly. They look for belonging, purpose, and advice, and find a mix of grifters, political hacks, and violent extremists who lead them down an ugly road. And few people are fighting back. ... Americans spent decades building a path for empowered women and girls, without any accompanying effort to craft a broader and more secure sense of masculinity for the men who needed to stand alongside them. Now we are reaping the backlash." What did you think of today's newsletter? Send ideas, questions and feedback to  globalbriefing@cnn.com   You are receiving this newsletter because you signed up for Fareed's Global Briefing. To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or sign up to manage your CNN account   Learn more about the CNN app |  Get CNN web alerts  |  Sign up for a free CNN account   ® © 2024 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. 1050 Techwood Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30318