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| Good evening. Here's the latest. |
 Jamie McCarthy/WireImage, via Getty Images |
| 1. Trump lashes out. |
| President Trump widened his war on critics of color, denouncing the Rev. Al Sharpton as "a con man" who "Hates Whites & Cops!" Mr. Sharpton had come to the defense of Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland after Mr. Trump called the African-American congressman's district in Baltimore a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess." |
| Mr. Trump and Mr. Sharpton, together above in 2006, are longtime frenemies, with a long history of using each other for their own purposes, whether as foes or friends. And Baltimoreans say that even if their city has its struggles, the president has worn out his right to point them out. |
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 Doug Mills/The New York Times |
| 2. An intel nominee rattles Democrats. |
| Representative John Ratcliffe of Texas is known on Capitol Hill as a fierce political partisan with little intelligence experience. Democrats say that makes him unsuitable for the generally nonpartisan job of director of national intelligence. |
| Even some Republicans privately said they disagreed with President Trump's choice to replace Dan Coats, and early signals showed that Mr. Ratcliffe, above during the Mueller hearings, might face a steep road to confirmation. |
| "This is not a great position for on-the-job training," said Mark Lowenthal, a former senior C.I.A. official. "There is a very steep learning curve." |
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 Theo Stroomer for The New York Times |
| 3. Water, water … is nowhere, for Great Plains farmers. |
| First the trade wars threw the grain markets into chaos. Then early floods segued into an abnormally wet spring that delayed planting by weeks or months. |
| Now the collapse this month of a century-old tunnel, above, that carries irrigation water across Wyoming and Nebraska has left hundreds of farmers without water at the most critical point of the season. |
| "It's just been event after event after event," said Dave Kaufman, who farms outside of Gering, Neb. "And you would think that the last shoe had dropped, but it hasn't." |
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 Johannes Eisele/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
| 4. Brace for an interest rate cut. |
| The Federal Reserve will most likely trim rates on Wednesday to coax along the economy's record-setting expansion. It would be the first cut in more than a decade. |
| Analysts expect the central bank to reduce its benchmark rate by a mild one-quarter point, to 2.25 percent. President Trump, who has blasted the Fed for its rate increases, said in a tweet this morning that "a small rate cut is not enough." Above, the New York Stock Exchange today. |
| While the U.S. economy continues to chug along, cracks are beginning to show. Manufacturing statistics, a leading indicator for the broader economy, are slumping across the world. And business investment has suffered under Mr. Trump's trade war. |
| We're not there yet, but here are signs of an upcoming recession. |
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 Philip Cheung for The New York Times |
| 5. Joe Biden and the age question. |
| Recent interviews with scores of Democrats revealed one concern that many share: If elected, Mr. Biden, 76, would become the oldest president in history at his inauguration. |
| The former vice president, above on the campaign trail this month, will have a chance at Wednesday's debate to overcome an unsteady performance at the first presidential candidate showdown. Biden aides grumble that there are far fewer questions about the advanced age of rival candidates — including Donald Trump, 73. |
| Meanwhile, Senator Kamala Harris filled in some details of her health care plan with a proposal to provide Medicare for all Americans, but stopped short of the complete overhaul endorsed by other candidates. |
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 Sarahbeth Maney for The New York Times |
| 6. Two children were among the California shooting victims. |
| A 13-year-old girl, a man in his 20s and a 6-year-old boy playing in an inflatable bounce house, pictured above, were the people killed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, police said today. A dozen others were wounded in the attack by the 19-year-old assailant, who used a semiautomatic rifle that he had purchased legally this month. The motive was not known. |
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 Erin Schaff/The New York Times |
| 7. Washington and Beijing are talking again, but don't hold your breath. |
| Although trade talks resumed today, prospects are dimming for a transformative deal. Above, President Xi Jinping of China at the G20 summit last month. |
| The sides appear more focused on avoiding a breakdown in negotiations that could rattle stock markets — and hurt President Trump's chances of re-election. He suggested on Friday that China was trying to drag out the negotiations in the hope that someone else might occupy the Oval Office in 2021. |
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 Joshua Bessex/The Tacoma News Tribune, via Associated Press |
| 8. Megan Rapinoe returns to the pitch. |
| But only for a cameo. The Women's World Cup star, above right, did not play in the match for Reign F.C., a mid-tier squad in the National Women's Soccer League. She is nursing a tendon injury and said, "I'm exhausted." |
| In a New York Times Magazine interview, she has a lot to say about sports, politics and activism. |
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 Paul Zinken/DPA, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
| 9. This 16-year-old is on a mission. |
| Greta Thunberg, a Swedish climate activist, above in Berlin, is getting a carbon-free lift to New York for a U.N. summit meeting on global warming in September. |
| The teenager, who doesn't fly because of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with air travel, was offered a ride on a racing yacht that is outfitted with solar panels and underwater turbines to generate electricity. That should make the entire two-week trip fossil fuel-free. |
| "I will be there, even if the journey will be long and challenging," she said. "It is our future on the line, and we must at least have a say in it." |
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 Vincent Tullo for The New York Times |
| 10. And this 16-year-old made $3 million playing Fortnite. |
| Kyle Giersdorf of Pottsgrove, Pa., won first place in a large video game competition held in New York, above, at the same stadium where tennis players will soon compete in the U.S. Open. |
| "Everything I've done, the grind, it's all paid off," he said. "It's insane." |
| Forty million players competed online for a chance to play in the finals, and Epic Games, the publisher, offered $30 million in prizes. Kyle, known as Bugha, earned more than Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep earned for winning Wimbledon this month. |
| Have an enriching evening. |
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