Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Friday.
Second weak jobs report in two monthsThis morning’s jobs report confirmed it: The labor market is sputtering. The U.S. added 22,000 jobs in August, well below the number forecasters expected. Revised estimates also now show the economy lost jobs in June, the first negative number since December 2020, when Covid was still raging. After last month’s poor jobs data, President Trump dismissed the numbers as “rigged” and fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But today’s results were no less disappointing, undercutting the president’s claims that the economy is booming. Many analysts believe that Trump’s tariff and immigration policies are largely to blame for the lackluster numbers. Since January, employers have added fewer jobs than in any year since 2010, when the U.S. was emerging from a financial crisis. The slowdown all but assures that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates, as Trump has been demanding, when it meets later this month. The president did not respond substantively to the jobs report but wrote on Truth Social: “Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell should have lowered rates long ago.” Watch: In this video, our economics reporter Lydia DePillis puts the new numbers in context.
Israel strikes Gaza City landmarkIn a dramatic attack, Israel destroyed a landmark high-rise in Gaza City ahead of a promised full-scale assault on the area. The military warned residents of the tower to evacuate before blowing it up, but the building was surrounded by a tent encampment of displaced people. It was unclear how many were killed or injured. Israeli officials said Hamas used the tower for military and intelligence activities; Hamas denied this. The military said it now controls half of Gaza City. “The gates of hell are being unlocked in Gaza City,” the defense minister said.
Major immigration raid in GeorgiaImmigration authorities arrested 475 people at a construction site for a car factory owned by two South Korean companies in what they described as the largest-ever operation at a single location. Most of those arrested were citizens of South Korea, creating diplomatic tension with a close U.S. ally. The $7.6 billion plant is co-owned by LG Energy Solution, which makes batteries for electric vehicles, and Hyundai Motor Group. It is supposed to open next year and is the kind of foreign investment that Trump has pushed for. Georgia’s Republican governor has touted it as the largest economic development project in state history. In other Trump administration news:
A secret spy mission to North Korea went awryThe Times has learned that during the first Trump administration, the elite Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden was dispatched to plant a listening device on the rocky shores of North Korea. It was a dangerous mission — and it went horribly wrong. As the SEALs reached the shore, they spotted a North Korean boat. They shot dead the men on board who, it turned out, were civilians diving for shellfish, and then punctured their lungs to ensure their bodies would sink. They retreated without planting the device, and the failed mission was never reported to key members of Congress who oversee intelligence operations. The White House has declined to comment. Read the full exclusive story. More top news
Naomi Osaka’s bedazzled LabubusBillie Jean Bling, Arthur Flashe, Althea Glitterson, Andre Swagassi, John McEnglow. After each match of her thrilling run at the U.S. Open, Naomi Osaka has introduced a custom-made Labubu-style doll punnily named in homage to a tennis legend. Osaka’s versions of the summer’s it-accessory have 14 components and take five hours to 3-D print and assemble, followed by up to seven hours of hand-gluing thousands of crystals. Their creator, Kerin Rose Gold, calls them “Lablingbling” and sells similar ones online for $495. Osaka lost to American Amanda Anisimova in last night’s semifinal. Anisimova faces the tournament’s top seed, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, for the championship tomorrow. Follow The Athletic’s live U.S. Open coverage here.
A millennial saintCarlo Acutis loved sports and video games. He attended Mass, volunteered in Catholic soup kitchens and created a website listing Eucharistic miracles, earning him the nickname “God’s influencer.” Carlo died of leukemia in 2006, when he was 15. He was buried near Pope Francis in Assisi, Italy, and pilgrims flock to his transparent tomb. Chapels and schools bear his name from Illinois to India. On Sunday, he is slated to be canonized a saint, the first of the millennial generation. Carlo embodied the “holiness of our next-door neighbor,” one official said, adding that today’s saints don’t have to build schools or hospitals or found religious orders.
Dinner table topics
Cook: Maida Heatter, the legendary dessert-cookbook author, tested this chocolate mousse torte 20 times. Watch: “The Paper,” the not-quite-sequel to “The Office,” dropped on Peacock. Our critic says, “There’s good news and there’s bad news.” Listen: E. Jean Carroll wants her pre-Trump sex life back. Get up: Sitting all day can cause “dead butt syndrome.” (No, that’s not the technical term.) Don’t wax: Use this laser hair-removal device instead. Plan: Our critics picked 45 albums and concerts worth checking out this fall. Test yourself: Take this week’s news quiz. Play: Here are today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. Find all our games here. |
