Your Thursday Evening Briefing

July 16, 2020

Your Thursday Evening Briefing

By Remy Tumin and Marcus Payadue

Good evening. Here’s the latest.

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

1. That momentous Twitter hack came from inside.

Forensic investigators identified an account inside Twitter as the source of the breach that allowed hackers to push a Bitcoin scam out on the accounts of Bill Gates, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Kanye West and more.

But they’re still struggling to understand what happened — including whether an employee was willfully complicit or bribed, or was tricked into handing over login information. Also unknown: how many accounts were affected and whether the attackers had gained access to details and functions within the accounts, like direct messages.

The F.B.I. said it was looking into the hack. Twitter said in a statement, “We’ve taken steps to further secure our systems and will continue to share what we learn through our investigation.”

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Bing Guan/Reuters

2. Russian hackers are trying to steal coronavirus vaccine research, the American, British and Canadian governments said.

The National Security Agency said the hacking group — Cozy Bear, which is affiliated with the Russian government and was implicated in the break-ins into Democratic Party servers in 2016 — is using spear-phishing and malware to target health care organizations. Above, a vaccine laboratory in San Diego.

China, for its part, is testing unproven vaccines outside the normal regulatory process.

We’re keeping track of all vaccine developments here, and we’re also analyzing the promise of the most talked-about possible coronavirus treatments.

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Etienne Laurent/EPA, via Shutterstock

3. Target and CVS joined Walmart, Kroger and Kohl’s in requiring customers to wear face masks at all stores nationwide.

But elected leaders aren’t so unified. While Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, a Republican, and Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, a Democrat, each announced new orders requiring most people in their states to wear masks in certain public settings, Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, a Republican, forbade local officials to require people to do so.

He did extend an order that limits the size of public gatherings to 50.

The U.S. reported its second-highest single-day total of new cases this week, with 67,300 new infections on Wednesday. That’s about 1,000 cases shy of the national record set late last week, according to a Times database.

Nitashia Johnson for The New York Times

4. American consumers came back. For a while.

Retail sales climbed 7.5 percent in June, as shoppers shook off lockdown fatigue and the federal government pumped trillions of dollars into the economy. But state unemployment claims held steady last week at about 1.3 million claims, and more closures threaten any economic rebound. Above, a mall in Dallas, Texas.

China’s economy rebounded from its virus-induced nosedive, growing 3.2 percent after its first contraction in nearly half a century. But massive government infrastructure spending is still the driver. Retail sales numbers have been weak, leading Chinese markets to drop.

Erin Scott for The New York Times, Andrew Mangum for The New York Times, Erin Schaff/The New York Times

5. A high-profile club of elected Republicans is serving as what our longtime Washington reporter describes as “a kind of shadow conscience.”

Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland and Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming — descendants of sometimes rebellious or resolute Republicans — have emerged as dissenting voices on a president who has taken over their party.

On the presidential race, we’re looking closely at the promotion of Bill Stepien, a former Chris Christie operative, as President Trump’s campaign manager. He replaces Brad Parscale, who lost favor over the sparsely attended Trump rally in Tulsa, Okla., and the president’s falling poll numbers.

The polls were really off in the 2016 presidential election. Can we trust them now? Our Upshot reporter found that Joe Biden’s lead in the latest national polls is sufficient to cover a sizable error, even a repeat of 2016’s meltdown.

John Taggart for The New York Times

6. New York City shootings are soaring.

Gun violence typically rises in the summer, but the recent spike, including a baby killed by a stray bullet at a barbecue, is unlike anything the city has seen in more than two decades.

Some officials think officers are staging a slowdown because of protests over police brutality and systemic racism. The department says that it’s simply stretched thin and that the intense scrutiny isn’t helping.

“The truth about the cops is, they’re a little off balance, because they don’t know where the floor or the ceiling is anymore,” a senior police official said.

We’re also following the investigation into the dismemberment of a tech executive in Lower Manhattan that the authorities say “looks like professional job.”

Timothy D. Easley/Associated Press

7. After George Floyd’s killing, protests in Louisville, Ky., erupted, as they did in the rest of the country. But people were mostly chanting a different name: Breonna Taylor.

Ms. Taylor, 26, was shot and killed in March at her home in the city by the police, who entered using a no-knock warrant. No arrests have been made to date, and protests continue daily. Here’s a look at 45 days of marches.

Also, musicians have been gathering around the country in honor of Elijah McClain, 23, a violinist who died while being detained by the police in Colorado last summer.

And as Americans debate how far the country should go to make amends for racial injustices, Asheville, N.C., has taken the first step — it approved reparations for Black residents, in the form of funding to promote homeownership and business opportunities.

Josh Andrus

8. In any year but this one, outdoor theater is part of the rhythm of summertime.

Part of its allure is a fuller embrace of life (noises, smells and animals) and the fleeting nature of the experience. We asked theater artists and some of our critics to think back to their experiences with outdoor stages.

Jef Hall-Flavin remembered producing “The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer” in Provincetown, Mass., in 2015, above. “We were able to produce the play exactly where it is set: amid sand dunes near the beach, in view of a lighthouse, where you can see the ferry leaving for Boston as the sun goes down,” he writes. “It was glorious.”

One summer tradition that will go on: the sculpting of a Minnesota dairy princess out of a 90-pound block of Grade A salted butter.

Solar Orbiter/EUI Team (ESA & NASA)

9. The closest images of the sun ever taken.

Taken within 48 million miles of the sun’s surface, these images are the first captured by Solar Orbiter, a collaboration between Europe and NASA that will spend the next decade closely observing the sun.

The images reveal a ubiquitous burbling of miniature solar flares known as campfires, which may provide clues on how turbulence heats the sun’s atmosphere and drives the ebb and flow of solar wind. And the discoveries should get better: The spacecraft will eventually get 22 million miles closer.

Eager sky gazers are keeping an eye out for Comet NEOWISE, one of the brightest comets in a generation. It’s visible in the post-sunset sky — you can even watch it from your backyard, no telescope necessary.

Karen Osborn, Smithsonian

10. And finally, the black hole of fish.

Scientists report finding nearly invisible fish: 16 deep-sea types that absorb nearly all the light they encounter, like the common fangtooth, above. They might as well be permanent silhouettes.

These are the first documented ultra-black animals in the ocean, and some of the darkest creatures ever found.

Some birds of paradise, butterflies and spiders have ultra-black features, meaning they reflect less than 0.5 percent of the light that hits them. But these fish go much darker. One type of bioluminescent anglerfish, the scientists found, reflects as little as 0.044 to 0.051 percent of the deep-sea light it encounters.

Have a marvelous evening.

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