The New York Times-The Evening Newsletter
"U.S. attacks missile sites in Iran" and "Death toll nears 1,000 in Venezuela."
Views expressed in this geopolitical news and analysis are those of the reporters and correspondents. Accessed on 26 June 2026, 2218 UTC.
Content and Source: "The New York Times-The Evening Newsletter."
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Russ Roberts (https://trendsingeopolitics.blogspot.com).
 June 26, 2026 |
Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Friday.
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| Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York Times |
U.S. forces attack Iran
The U.S. military launched a new wave of strikes on Iran this afternoon in retaliation for an Iranian attack on a container ship that had been transiting the Strait of Hormuz yesterday. The American strikes targeted missile and drone storage locations, as well as coastal radar sites, the military said. Follow here for the latest updates.
A U.S. defense official told my colleague Helene Cooper that the attacks were not intended to renew major combat operations.
Earlier today, President Trump had called the ship attack a “foolish violation” of the fragile cease-fire between the two countries. His comments came after Iran asserted that it was a central authority in managing the waterway.
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| The ruins of a residential building in La Guaira yesterday. Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times |
Rescuers head to Venezuela as quake death toll keeps rising
Survivors along Venezuela’s earthquake-shattered northern coast clawed through mountains of brick and concrete with their bare hands today, praying to reach people still trapped under the ruins.
The catastrophic quakes, which arrived on Wednesday as a pair, have killed at least 920 people in Venezuela, injured at least 3,300 more and damaged at least 1,400 buildings, officials said. The toll could still rise as many people remained missing or trapped. Follow the latest updates from reporters on the ground there.
President Delcy RodrÃguez announced today that she would “militarize” La Guaira, the hardest-hit state. There, video showed the moment one woman was pulled from a flattened building. Elsewhere in the state, Juan David Arsia, who is 17 years old, described spending 21 hours under rubble with a fractured tibia and fibula. “I was there with my mom, and I could hear her screaming,” he said. “I would yell to her, ‘Don’t give up, Mom, have faith — don’t give up!’” His mother was also rescued.
Search teams from at least 10 countries, including the U.S., were racing to aid in recovery efforts, but they faced stark hurdles even reaching the disaster zone. The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes damaged the international airport, split open roads and overwhelmed Venezuela’s already hollowed-out emergency services.
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| An image from Sunday, provided by the company Vantor, shows damage to a bridge linking Crimea to the rest of Ukraine. Vantor, via Reuters |
Ukraine escalates its attacks on Crimea
Weeks of intense Ukrainian airstrikes have rattled Crimea, the Russian-controlled peninsula that had long been insulated from the worst of the fighting. Summer vacations were cut short, camps were canceled and gas stations ran out of fuel. The authorities there declared a state of emergency today after Russia said it had intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Officials in Kyiv hope that the strikes will rattle the Russian public and force Vladimir Putin to come to the negotiating table. The Russian president has kept a low profile since the Ukrainian attacks intensified, and a recent survey found his approval at its lowest level since the 2022 invasion.
In related news: Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, ratcheted up his threats against Belarus for aiding Russian drone attacks.
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| John Bolton at Federal District Court in Greenbelt, Md. today. Allison Robbert for The New York Times |
A former Trump adviser pleads guilty
John Bolton, who was national security adviser to President Trump during his first term, pleaded guilty today to mishandling classified information in the form of notes he compiled for a book. Under the terms of the plea deal, Bolton faces up to five years in prison. He must also pay a fine of $2.25 million and will forfeit his federal pension.
“I’m sorry for it,” said Bolton, who has since become an outspoken critic of the president.
In other Trump administration news:
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More top news
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TIME TO UNWIND |
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| Caroline Tompkins for The New York Times |
Gracie Abrams confronts her seemingly charmed life
On paper, Gracie Abrams has had the kind of early life that anyone seeking a career in entertainment might want: Her father is the filmmaker J.J. Abrams, and by her early 20s, she was opening for Taylor Swift. But those associations come with expectations, and Abrams has sometimes avoided sharing details about her inner life.
But she is changing that with her third album, “Daughter From Hell,” out next month. In it, Abrams, now 26, reckons with her relationship with her mother and what it’s like to grow up in a famous family. She talked to my colleagues on “Popcast” about why she made it. Listen here.
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| Warner Bros. Pictures, via Warner Bros. Pictures, via Associated Press |
Are you up for another superhero film?
With “Supergirl,” a new movie out this weekend from the universe of DC Comics, the filmmakers seem to acknowledge the fatigue of similar stories that have flooded theaters for years. They try to set this new hero apart by leaning into irreverence and emphasizing that it is not another Superman movie (even though it is).
Our critic Manohla Dargis said in her review that the movie was “derivative if altogether watchable.” In particular, she was impressed by the star, Milly Alcock.
For more: We talked to Alcock, 26, about deciding to join her second big franchise.
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| The launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule at Kennedy Space Center in 2021. Md/Florida Today, via Associated Press |
Dinner table topics
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WHAT TO DO THIS WEEKEND |
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| Chris Simpson for The New York Times |
Cook: These buttery almond cookies are truly luxurious.
Read “Lifeguard.” It’s among our Book Review’s top picks of the week.
Watch the movies that got our critics talking.
Do not send checks through the mail.
Do send handwritten notes on high-quality paper.
Take this week’s news quiz.
Play today’s Connections, Spelling Bee and Mini Crossword. Find all our games here.
ONE LAST THING |
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| Dr. David Witzel, left, and Paolo Valore. Carla Perez |
This time, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ has a happy ending
Nearly every day for the last month, Central Park’s famous Delacorte Theater has hosted a free production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” This version, however, veers off script a bit: At the end of the show, the actor playing Friar Lawrence welcomes a couple onstage and invites them to marry in front of an audience of nearly 2,000. They’ve done it some 30 times.
Couple No. 16 was David Witzel and Paolo Valore. Witzel unintentionally proposed last year when a friend asked him what his goals were going forward. They wed in tuxedos as the crowd cheered them on. “I welled up during their ceremony,” the actor playing the friar said.
Have a blissful weekend.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back on Monday — Matthew
Keith Bedford was our photo editor.
We welcome your feedback. Reach us at evening@nytimes.com.
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Writer: Matthew Cullen Editor: Whet Moser |
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