Good evening, and happy Friday. Here’s what we're covering:
Russia is holding stage-managed elections. Some fear what’s next.Russians began voting today in the country’s first parliamentary elections since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But as my colleague Ivan Nechepurenko walked through Moscow in recent weeks, he was struck by the utter lack of campaigning. It was yet another sign, Ivan said, that the elections were by no means free or fair. In his latest article, he explains how the Kremlin gets the vote it wants. Even by Russian standards, this weekend’s vote is shaping up to be unsurprising. The only antiwar party, Yabloko, was barred from the ballot. And hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country, including most of Russia’s vocal opposition leaders and activists. You may be asking, what’s the point? Why would an autocrat even bother to hold an election? Analysts say it’s largely because Vladimir Putin can use the results as a source of legitimacy for himself and his policies. That has many Russians worried about what might come next. Rumors of a military mobilization have filled online information spaces and are discussed in cafes, on trains and in smoking areas near offices. Related: Classified U.S. intelligence assessments determined that the Kremlin is, once again, seeking to undermine confidence in the upcoming U.S. elections.
F.B.I. director sought to punish Canada over a 9/11 memoEarly this month, the F.B.I. temporarily halted some cooperation with its northern counterpart, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, after Canada’s public broadcaster reminded its journalists not to refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as “terrorism” without attributing it to experts, under a longstanding policy about the word. The move by Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, appears to have been short-lived. The two agencies, which typically work closely together on issues like terrorism and cybersecurity, resumed cooperation about a week ago. The Canadian broadcaster, which is editorially independent from the government, also reversed its stance. In other administration news:
The White House is still debating what to do about A.I.The president made clear this week that he is an A.I. optimist: He described the fear that A.I. could lead to mass extinction as a “HOAX,” and criticized the large portion of Americans who oppose data centers. Inside the White House, as my colleagues reported today, the debate is far more complex. People who have discussed the issue with him say the president fears that if the A.I. boom slows, a recession could follow. But some voices in the president’s ear urge caution, some of whom — particularly in the National Security Council and the Energy Department — share the growing concern that it could be dangerous to continue charging ahead with A.I. development without limits. For more:
A new kind of cat was found for the first time in 103 yearsScientists announced this week that they had identified a new feline species, called tilcayo, living in the cloud forests of Bolivia’s section of the Andes Mountains. They have leopardlike spots and are smaller than most house cats. The discovery came after a family took in an adorable three-pound wildcat named Tigrino, which they brought to a wildlife sanctuary after realizing it was ill-suited for domestic life. His diminutive size raised the curiosity of a researcher, resulting in the first species added to the cat family tree since the pampas cat was described in 1923. More top news
A masterpiece to read this weekendOur newest list of recommendations from my colleagues at the Book Review includes China Miéville’s 1,246-page novel, “The Rouse.” After reading our review by the author Jeff VanderMeer, it’s not hard to see why. VanderMeer describes “The Rouse” as an intimate epic and a maturation of the fantasy novel. “I felt it in my bones, the undeniable power of a jagged masterpiece,” he wrote.
Celebrate 175 years with usOn this day in 1851, the New-York Daily Times published its first issue, by candlelight. To mark the anniversary, we are looking back at the history that this paper has chronicled. Today, I want to direct your attention to a moving story about Samuel Wilkeson Jr., a Times reporter who, in 1863, filed a report from the battlefield at Gettysburg, then went looking for a Union officer, his son. (We made the article free for all Evening readers.) For more: Take our quiz to see how well you know The Times, and try our special anniversary-edition crossword.
Dinner table topics
Bake this elegant Earl Grey pear and almond cake. Watch the 1986 film “True Stories,” or one of our other free-to-stream picks. Plan a trip to Toronto. We mapped out a food lover’s tour. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
