The Evening: Some inflation relief for consumers

Also, Biden and Trump agreed to debate in June and September.

View in browser|nytimes.com May 15, 2024 By Matthew Cullen Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Wednesday. Some relief from inflation A first presidential debate in June Plus, a red portrait of King Charles The New York Times Inflation eased and markets hit new highs A new inflation report released today offered consumers and policymakers some relief: April prices, with volatile food and fuel prices stripped out, rose 3.6 percent over the previous year — the lowest annual increase in so-called core inflation since early 2021. The report, which showed a slight dip in overall inflation as well, was especially appreciated by economists who had become worried about the lack of progress after three straight months of uncomfortably rapid price increases. "This report was mostly good news in that it wasn't bad news," our economics reporter Ben Casselman told me. He said that the stubborn price increases in recent months "had begun to erode confidence in the 'soft landing' narrative that had taken hold last year. This report doesn't erase those concerns, but it does at least ease fears that inflation was re-accelerating." Today's data showed progress on several fronts. The prices of groceries decreased outright in April. So, too, did the prices of new and used cars and airline fares. And while gasoline prices ticked up, housing costs — which have proved to be among the most stubborn — showed hints of improvement. The news boosted the stock market's current rally: The S&P 500 rose 1.2 percent today and surpassed its previous high set in March. Bond yields also fell as investors appeared to dial back how long they expected interest rates to stay elevated. The first debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump during the 2020 campaign. Doug Mills/The New York Times Biden and Trump agreed to debate in June The two major-party candidates for president — Joe Biden and Donald Trump — announced separately today that they had agreed to debate twice before the November election. The first is set to happen on June 27 on CNN, and the second on Sept. 10 on ABC News. Biden agreed to the debates on the condition that they bypass the nonpartisan group that has long managed the events. His aides demanded that news outlets host without an audience or third-party candidates, and with microphones that shut off after the speaker's time elapses. It remains unclear whether the Trump campaign will agree to the proposed rules. The June debate would be the earliest general-election debate in modern history. Security officers moved Prime Minister Robert Fico in a car after the shooting in Handlova, Slovakia, today. Radovan Stoklasa/Reuters Slovakia's leader was shot and critically wounded The Slovakian prime minister, Robert Fico, was shot five times today by an attacker who had been waiting behind a barrier along with others hoping to greet the leader. The government said that a suspect had been detained, and that it appeared to be a politically motivated assassination attempt. Fico underwent hours of emergency surgery, which his deputy said appeared to have gone well. "I guess in the end he will survive," the deputy said. Here's the latest. Fico, who is serving his third term as prime minister, has aligned himself with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, in opposing aid to Ukraine. Kloxxado, a naloxone nasal spray. Erin Schaff/The New York Times Overdose deaths dropped for the first time in five years U.S. overdose deaths declined in 2023 by about 3 percent from the year prior, according to federal data released today. Last year's toll — 107,543 — was still horrific. But it was the first drop-off in drug fatalities since 2018, when the rates were two-thirds of their current height. The decrease was attributable mostly to a drop in deaths from synthetic opioids, but the report did not offer reasons for the drop. One possible factor is that naloxone, a drug that reverses opioid overdoses, has become more widely available. More top news War: Ukraine's troops were trying to hold off fierce Russian assaults in the northeast. Their battlefield position has seriously worsened in recent days, officials said. Court: Opening statements began in the corruption trial of Senator Robert Menendez. Weather: Parts of East Texas are facing a "nightmare scenario" of rain this week. 2024: Disinformation videos from Russia are trying to appeal to right-wing voters with fake messages about Biden. Politics: Big Wall Street donors are warming up to Trump. Media: The billionaire Frank McCourt, a critic of how tech companies use data, mounted a bid to buy TikTok. Speech: The free-expression group PEN America has canceled events while it is roiled by controversy over its response to the war in Gaza. Boston: A woman was accused of murdering her police officer boyfriend. The city is transfixed by the trial. TIME TO UNWIND King Charles III at the unveiling of his portrait on Tuesday. Aaron Chown/Pool photo, via Associated Press Even King Charles was surprised by his portrait Royal portraits tend to be fairly staid, with symbols of state, of office, of pomp and lineage. That's why the new official portrait of King Charles III, painted by Jonathan Yeo, has created such a controversy. It shows the king's body bathed in a sea of crimson — his face seems to float. Some said he looked as if he were "burning in hell" or "bathing in blood." Others compared it to a possessed portrait in "Ghostbusters II." It was not, however, the first polarizing royal portrait. We took a look at some of the others. Latyr Sy, Gakuto Chiba, Neddiel Elcie Muñoz Millalonco, Aleksandar Arabadjiev Why do people make music? For at least 150 years, scientists have debated whether our love of music is evolutionary or incidental. Charles Darwin declared music to be "amongst the most mysterious" of human abilities, favoring a theory that it evolved to arouse "ardent passions." A new study published today offered a partial explanation. In it, 75 researchers sang and examined songs from their own cultures. They found that the songs share certain features not found in speech, suggesting that music might have evolved in our distant ancestors. Kei Kobayashi at one of his new Tokyo restaurants. Noriko Hayashi for The New York Times Dinner table topics A star chef: Kei Kobayashi earned three Michelin stars in France. Then he went home to build an empire. The reading room: Inside OpenAI's office is an ornate, old-fashioned library. Take charge: We chatted with a psychologist who has ideas for how to avoid kneejerk decisions. Not just weeds: Some native plants offer a natural solution for pest control. ADVERTISEMENT WHAT TO DO TONIGHT Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Sue Li. Prop Stylist: Sophia Eleni Pappas. Cook: A regal and splendid strawberry cake is worthy of any high celebration. Listen: This year is the 50th anniversary of Cass Elliot's death. This playlist highlights her range as a vocalist. Read: In "Henry Henry," Shakespeare's Henriad is given a modern queer makeover. Check: We put together a guide for meat expiration dates. Style: These bright yellow bags enliven any outfit. Glow: Not all pimple patches work. But some are worth trying. Upgrade: You can do better than the flashlight on your phone. Play: Here are today's Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. Find all of our games here. ADVERTISEMENT ONE LAST THING Matthew Barney in his 1994 film "Cremaster 4." © Matthew Barney, courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery. Photo: Michael James O'Brien An artist whose influence is everywhere For his first solo show in 1991, Matthew Barney hung from a ceiling naked and displayed an exercise bench cast in petroleum jelly inside a walk-in cooler. The forward-looking artist's influence has since permeated the broader art world. Goo, the translucent fluid featured in Barney's work, has reached luxury fashion, inspiring Balenciaga's slime printed hoodies. And full-frontal male nudity — a taboo Barney defied — has found its way into the mainstream, like the blockbuster "Oppenheimer." Have a trendsetting evening. Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow. — Matthew We welcome your feedback. Write to us at evening@nytimes.com. 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. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018

Taiwan as West Berlin

Today's epicenter of superpower tension, plus: the other case against AI; seeking an 'endgame' in Gaza; and rethinking old age …

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.   May 15, 2024 Taiwan as West Berlin How dangerous are tensions across the Taiwan Strait? In 2021, The Economist called it "the most dangerous place on earth," as mainland China's territorial claims on Taiwan, Taiwan's resistance to those claims, and an ambiguous US alliance with the latter could collide to produce a superpower war.   At the Brookings Institution, Ryan Hass argues things will likely stay calm (if precarious) for a few years, at least. The center-left, pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party retained Taiwan's presidency in this year's election—to Beijing's chagrin—but Hass writes that political pressures (and a legislative minority) will keep incoming DPP president William Lai from making any drastic moves.   In a Foreign Affairs essay, Dmitri Alperovitch casts Taiwan as a modern-day West Berlin. "The United States' competition with China is a sprawling, multifaceted struggle that bears remarkable similarities to the Cold War," Alperovitch writes: "it is a race for diplomatic and economic influence, a conventional and nuclear arms race, a space race, a scramble to establish military bases in Africa and East Asia, an ideological struggle between authoritarianism and democracy, a tech and economic war, and an espionage war. Taiwan, like West Berlin, is small, but it is the only place in the world where that competition risks sparking a hot conflict and, indeed, the only place where both countries are actively preparing for war."   Practically, Alperovitch offers a lesson: Taiwan is more important to Beijing than West Berlin was to Moscow, but Washington's resolute defense of West Berlin maintained a status quo that eventually saw the USSR back off and seek détente. Today, Alperovitch writes, the US should similarly highlight the preferability of an uneasy status quo to a calamitous war—and bide its time while China's aging population weakens its economy and thus its hostility. The Other Case Against AI The fears of artificial-intelligence doomsayers are well known. For instance: Last year, Fareed heard from AI "godfather" Geoffrey Hinton, who left his job at Google to discuss AI's dangers. Hinton warned that AI may soon surpass human intelligence—and could turn against us—and that there's no easy way to keep the technology safe. Killer drone swarms and human job losses loom as less-existential dangers.   That's one set of reasons to be skeptical of AI. But there's another, nearly opposite reason: the notion that AI simply isn't capable of doing anything so meaningful as its hype suggests.   That may be a minority view, as hope, fear, and fascination still pervade the discussion of AI. But two recent columns advance the case for being unimpressed. Crypto and blockchain skeptic Molly White wrote last month in her newsletter, which goes by the name of "[citation needed]": "[T]here is a yawning gap between 'AI tools can be handy for some things' and the kinds of stories AI companies are telling (and the media is uncritically reprinting). … When I boil it down, I find my feelings about AI are actually pretty similar to my feelings about blockchains: they do a poor job of much of what people try to do with them, they can't do the things their creators claim they one day might, and many of the things they are well suited to do may not be altogether that beneficial." In writing and coding, White argues, AI can help, but it can't do the full job. It can handle some rote, repetitive coding tasks, but it can't replace an experience software developer.   Picking up on White's observations, New York Times opinion writer Julia Angwin offers: "Companies that can get by with Roomba-quality work will, of course, still try to replace workers. But in workplaces where quality matters—and where workforces such as screenwriters and nurses are unionized—A.I. may not make significant inroads. … We can't abandon work on improving A.I. … But we should reckon with the possibility that we are investing in an ideal future that may not materialize." Seeking an 'Endgame' in Gaza More than seven months since Hamas's Oct. 7 massacres instigated the devastating Israel–Hamas war in Gaza, there is no consensus on who will govern Gaza after the war ends. As US President Joe Biden feuds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, threatening to suspend some weapons shipments if Israel proceeds to invade the Gazan border city of Rafah, on Sunday's GPS Fareed heard from former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni that crafting a workable "endgame" for Gaza is the "master key" to solving various disputes over the war. Rethinking Old Age People are living much longer these days. At the Financial Times, columnist Martin Wolf reviews a book on what that means for our lives and for the economy: Andrew Scott's "The Longevity Imperative," which argues we should reconsider the experience of old age and the potential productivity of old people, rather than merely fretting over the economic burden on the relatively smaller share of working-age adults.   Wolf describes the possibilities Scott envisions: "A big question is how people will age. Will they enjoy a vigorous old age and then drop dead suddenly or will we live on 'sans eyes, sans teeth, sans everything' for many helpless, hopeless years? Scott imagines four scenarios. The first is Jonathan Swift's Struldbruggs, immortal but ageing, eternally. The second is Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, who lives young and then suddenly dies old. The third is Peter Pan, who is forever young. The fourth is Marvel Comics' Wolverine, who is able to regenerate." The first scenario is undesirable, Wolf writes, but that "seems to be where we are"; Scott argues we should focus on improving diet and exercise and preventing serious ailments—and that people will need to work longer into their lives. 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