We Are Breaking Heat Records Around the World

An astonishing surge of heat across the globe has shattered temperature records from North America to Antarctica. Scientists say the past three days were quite likely the hottest in Earth’s modern history.

Forecasters warn that the Earth could be entering a multiyear period of exceptional warmth driven by two main factors: continued emissions of heat-trapping gases, mainly caused by humans’ burning of fossil fuels; and the return of El Niño, a cyclical weather pattern. Some projections expect next year to be even hotter.

But already, the effects of the warming have been striking and far-reaching: In areas where summers are often scorching, including Texas and India, recent triple-digit heat waves have turned deadly. Off Antarctica’s coasts, sea ice levels this year have plummeted to record lows.

The photographer Cesar Rodriguez traveled to Hermosillo, Mexico, to see how people there were reacting to some of the most intense heat on the planet. On a recent day when temperatures hit 121 degrees, one resident described it as “being thrown balls of fire.”

Prigozhin is in Russia, despite an agreement to leave

As of this morning, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mercenary leader who just two weeks ago led a brief yet stunning revolt against Moscow’s military leadership, was back home in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, according to President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus.

A Pentagon official later said that Prigozhin had remained in Russia during most of the period since the mutiny. It was unclear, the official added, whether Prigozhin had ever actually set foot inside Belarus, as was reported by the state media there last week. He apparently uses body doubles, which make his movements more difficult to track.

Under a deal reached with the Kremlin, Prigozhin had agreed to be exiled to Belarus in exchange for amnesty, but Lukashenko said he was “a free man.” Lukashenko’s remarks added to the confusion surrounding the aftermath of the most dramatic challenge to Vladimir Putin’s authority in his 23 years in power.

An Alzheimer’s drug will soon be widely available

The F.D.A. gave full approval today to the Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi. The drug may be able to modestly slow cognitive decline in the early stages of the disease, but it also carries some significant safety risks. It is the first time in two decades that a drug for Alzheimer’s disease has received the agency’s full approval, which means that the F.D.A. found solid evidence of potential benefit.

It will cost about $26,500 annually, but Medicare said it would cover about 80 percent of the cost.

Did New York’s mayor fake a photo?

Last year, after the killing of two N.Y.P.D. officers, New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, shared a moving personal story as he coped with a crisis. In 1987, he said, a friend died while on duty, and Adams kept a picture of him in his wallet. He repeated the story several times and posed for a portrait with a wallet-size photo.

But that photo had not actually spent decades in the mayor’s wallet, my colleague Emma Fitzsimmons reported. It had been created by employees in the mayor’s office in the days after Adams claimed to have been carrying it. They even used coffee stains to make the image appear older.

More top news

• Trump documents case: Walt Nauta, the former president’s personal aide, pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring with Donald Trump to obstruct efforts to retrieve national security documents.

• The economy: The “great resignation,” during which tens of millions of Americans changed jobs over the past two years, appears to be ending.

• New Jersey: Two firefighters died after they were trapped in a raging fire aboard an Italian cargo ship loaded with vehicles at Port Newark.

• Health: Laws in 20 states have restricted or banned transition-related medical care for transgender youths, upending the lives of families and medical providers.

• China: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in Beijing today for a four-day visit aimed at easing distrust between the U.S. and China.

• Defense: The last remaining stockpile of chemical weapons in the U.S. will be destroyed in the coming days, decades behind schedule, at a cost close to $42 billion.

• History: Pieces of Munich’s main synagogue, which was demolished on direct orders from Hitler, were discovered in a river five miles from where the building once stood.

• Music: The Eagles announced the Long Goodbye tour, the group’s final series of concerts.

Instagram’s ‘Twitter killer’ has arrived

In the months since Elon Musk bought Twitter and started tinkering with its features, developers have been racing to build a replacement. The most anticipated of the competitors was released last night: Threads, launched by Meta, is a companion app to Instagram. It has already been downloaded more than 30 million times in its first 16 hours.

In many ways, Threads looks nearly identical to Twitter. Users can post mostly text-based messages to a scrolling feed, where people who follow them or whom they follow can reply. Here’s everything else you need to know about the new social network.

Tough times for Georgia peaches

In Georgia, eating a peach over the kitchen sink is a birthright, cobbler recipes are passed down through the generations and dozens of streets in Atlanta are named Peachtree. A summer without peaches is unfathomable. But this year it is close to a reality.

After a warm winter and hard freezes in March, some hopeful state officials estimated that 10 percent of the peach crop survived, but farmers fear that it’s even worse. The shortage has left many residents scrambling and some shipping in the fruit from California (which my colleague Kim Severson compared to playing “Sweet Caroline” at Yankee Stadium).

Dinner table topics

Where 9-year-olds do 60 miles per hour

At a racetrack outside Houston this spring, vehicles sped around corners and down straightaways, maneuvering around each other and competing for a top prize. But it wasn’t just any race; the drivers were all children, some as young as 6.

For these kids, many of whom have ambitions to become professional racecar drivers, go-kart races are their first opportunity to get behind the wheel. We talked to them about why they do it.

Have a thrilling evening.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew

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