Evening Briefing: Biden warns Putin

July 9, 2021

By Remy Tumin

Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Friday.

President Biden and President Vladimir Putin greeted each other last month in Geneva.Doug Mills/The New York Times

1. President Biden put Vladimir Putin on notice: Act against Russian hackers, or the U.S. will strike back.

In a phone call on Friday, Biden urged the Russian president to "take action to disrupt" online criminal organizations in his country that were responsible for recent ransomware attacks. While Biden did not specify what actions he might take, it was his most pointed warning to Putin yet.

"We expect him to act, and we give him enough information to act on who that is," Biden told reporters at the White House. Asked if Russia would face consequences for the spate of recent hacks, Biden simply replied "yes."

His call came amid an acceleration of advanced ransomware attacks that the administration fears could, if left unaddressed, cripple key sectors of the U.S. economy.

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A protest on Thursday near the police station in the Pétionville suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.Richard Pierrin/Getty Image

2. The Haitian authorities called on the U.S. to send troops to protect key infrastructure as the country descended into turmoil.

The remarkable request for military intervention from the U.S. was a measure of how deeply shaken the nation has been since the brazen assassination of President Jovenel Moïse early Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the State Department said she could not confirm the request. The White House said it would send law enforcement to assess the situation.

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The police have identified more than two dozen people involved in the assassination, including 26 Colombians and two Americans of Haitian descent. The detained Americans claim to have been interpreters for the hit squad, according to a judge who interviewed them.

Cargo ships at the Port of Los Angeles in February.Coley Brown for The New York Times

3. President Biden ramped up scrutiny of big business.

The president signed a sweeping executive order aimed at spurring competition across the economy, including encouraging federal agencies to scrutinize the tech industry, crack down on high fees charged by sea shippers and make hearing aids more accessible.

The order reflects the administration's embrace of warnings by some economists that declining competition is hobbling the economy's vitality.

In other news out of Washington, the F.D.A. chief called for a federal inquiry into the agency's own approval of a new Alzheimer's drug following criticism by lawmakers and medical experts.

Witchcraft Heights Elementary School in Salem, Mass., returned to in-person learning in April.Cody O'Loughlin for The New York Times

4. The C.D.C. urged schools to fully reopen in the fall and to use local virus data to guide prevention measures like mask wearing.

Officials said they were confident this is the correct approach, even with the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, and the fact that children under 12 are not yet eligible for vaccination. The C.D.C. still recommends masks for unvaccinated students, teachers and staff members. The sharp departure in recommendations acknowledges that many students have suffered from months of virtual learning.

In other coronavirus news:

A group of scientists is making a case against the theory that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they were developing a version of their vaccine that targets Delta.

A vaccine site in Johannesburg in May.Gulshan Khan for The New York Times

5. The I.M.F. approved a plan to issue $650 billion in reserve funds for poor countries to pay for vaccines, finance health care and reduce debt.

The pandemic has drained the fiscal resources of poor countries over the past year, and the I.M.F. projects that faster access to vaccinations for high-risk populations could save 500,000 lives in the next six months. The new allocation, which is expected to win final approval by the fund's board of governors, would be the largest such expansion of currency reserves in the I.M.F.'s history.

The announcement was made in Venice, where the world's finance chiefs are gathered to hash out details of what would be the largest overhaul of the international tax system in a century. The Group of 20 nations plans to put an end to global tax havens and set a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15 percent.

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Anti-abortion protesters outside the Texas State Capitol in Austin in May.Sergio Flores/Getty Images

6. Any American may soon be able to sue clinics, doctors and anyone helping a woman get an abortion in Texas under a new state law.

The measure, which takes effect on Sept. 1, bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Many states have passed such bans, but the law in Texas is different: It effectively deputizes ordinary citizens to sue those who violate it. A lawyer for Planned Parenthood said there could be a flood of suits across Texas' 254 counties. Lawyers for abortion clinics are deciding how to respond.

Separately, the U.S. will end detentions and arrests for most undocumented people who are pregnant, postpartum or nursing, according to a draft of the plan shared with The Times.

Dead mussels near Suicide Bend Park in West Vancouver, British Columbia.Christopher Harley/University of British Columbia

7. The extreme heat and drought that hit the Western U.S. and Canada over the past two weeks killed hundreds of millions of marine animals, preliminary estimates show.

"It just feels like one of those postapocalyptic movies," said one marine biologist who estimated the deaths of sea stars, mussels, barnacles, hermit crabs and other creatures at easily over a billion. The extreme weather conditions continue to threaten untold species in freshwater, scientists said. More heat is on the way this weekend.

Warming waters are also a problem in Turkey, where sea snot is coating the Sea of Marmara, fabled for its sapphire blue waters. The mucilage choked its waters and suffocated marine life.

Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic playing in her semifinal match against Aryna Sabalenka.Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

8. The Wimbledon finals are set: Ashleigh Barty versus Karolina Pliskova and Novak Djokovic versus Matteo Berrettini.

Barty, the women's world No. 1, is aiming for her first Wimbledon singles title and will take on a former No. 1 who is chasing her first Grand Slam title. They play Saturday at 9 a.m. Eastern. Djokovic will vie for his 20th major singles title, which would tie him at long last with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. But don't count out Berrettini's aggressive style. They will face each other on Sunday.

It's also a big soccer weekend. Saturday's Copa América final between Argentina and Brazil may be Lionel Messi's best chance to deliver a title he and Argentina have chased for a generation.

And on Sunday, Italy and England will face off for the Euro 2020 championship. Kickoff is at 3 p.m. Eastern.

A common cuttlefish at a dive site near Vis Island in Croatia.NHPA/Photoshot, via Science Source

9. Cuttlefish are ready for their close-up.

Octopuses and squid are full of character. But more scientists are making the case that cuttlefish, cousins of those sea creatures, hold the key to unlocking evolutionary secrets about intelligence. Studies suggest that the creatures, which have some of the largest brains of any invertebrate, are capable of self-control and of remembering their own experiences.

The next step will be tests of whether they are aware of how they will feel in the future, and can plan for it.

In other aquatic discoveries, the metabolism of sea otters works at a rate three times what might normally be expected from creatures their size to stay warm in frigid seas.

Zaila Avant-garde, the winner of the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee.Scott McIntyre for The New York Times

10. And finally, murraya for the win.

Even before Zaila Avant-garde, 14, correctly spelled the winning word at the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night (murraya, by the way, is a kind of citrus plant from Asia), she had an impressive résumé: Zaila set three Guinness world records for dribbling, bouncing and juggling basketballs. That list of remarkable achievements continues to grow.

Zaila, who began spelling competitively only two years ago, is the first Black American to win spelling's biggest competition. While she was happy to make history, Zaila said she wanted to see more Black students competing in the bee.

"To finally have it," Zaila said, "like the best possible outcome, it was really good."

Hope you achieve greatness this weekend.

Shelby Knowles compiled photos for this briefing.

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