jtrent238 test blog: Evening Briefing: Ukraine uncovers a mass grave site

September 16, 2022

By Matthew Cullen

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

Investigators exhuming bodies in Izium, Ukraine, today.Nicole Tung for The New York Times

1. Ukraine uncovered a mass grave site in territory it reclaimed from Russia.

Investigators in the northeastern city of Izium, which had been occupied by Russian forces just a week ago, have begun exhuming bodies from about 445 individual graves and one mass grave where soldiers appeared to have been buried.

Among the bodies already exhumed were a family — a mother, a father, a daughter and two grandparents — killed in Russian bombardments in the spring, Ukrainian officials said. The identities of many of those buried and the causes of death remain unknown. Others had died more recently and bore signs of strangulation, said the lead investigator for the Kharkiv regional police force.

The scale of the grave site underscored the depth of the losses since Russia's invasion and recalled the atrocities carried out by Russian soldiers in towns like Bucha.

At a summit in Uzbekistan, Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, threatened to escalate the war , claiming that Ukraine was attempting to carry out "terrorist acts" inside Russia. Putin met with Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, who refrained from offering support for the invasion. "Today's era is not of war," Modi said.

FedEx said its profit was down 15 percent compared with the same period last year.Bing Guan/Reuters

2. Stocks fell again, ending one of the market's worst weeks of the year.

The S&P 500 closed out the week down nearly five percent as executives from bellwether companies like FedEx and General Electric warned of strained supply chains and declining profits. The 0.7 percent drop today added to sharp losses earlier in the week, when data showed consumer prices had risen more than expected last month.

Some of the most powerful trading houses in the world are warning that there is more pain to come.

Worried about your investments? Our columnist has some advice: Take a deep breath and get on with your life.

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A special master was asked to finish a review of the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago by Nov. 30.Emil Lippe for The New York Times

3. A judge rejected the government's request to resume a crucial part of its inquiry into Donald Trump's handling of government records.

The ruling barred the Justice Department from using documents seized from Mar-a-Lago in its investigation until a so-called special master reviewed them. The judge also appointed a special master suggested by Trump's legal team and agreed upon by the government: Raymond Dearie, a semiretired judge from the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

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The move is a blow to the Justice Department and will almost certainly delay its investigation into whether the former president unlawfully retained national defense records or obstructed repeated attempts by federal officials to retrieve them.

A new survey underscored how Republicans have been weakened by Trump's decision to play a vocal role in his party's primaries.Stephen Speranza for The New York Times

4. Polls show surprising strength from Democrats heading into the November midterm elections.

A new New York Times/Siena College poll found that 46 percent of voters said they would support the Democrat in their district, compared with 44 percent who said they would support the Republican. It also found that President Biden's approval rating has increased by nine percentage points, to 42 percent, in the past two months.

Democrats' rising popularity has been bolstered by falling gas prices, the passage of major legislation and the outcry after the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The start of New York City schools has allowed some parents to return to work.Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

5. Are New Yorkers finally returning to the office?

The white-collar workers of New York City, who have been slower to return to the office than in any other place in the country, appear to be heading back to their desks.

Offices in the New York City area were nearly half full this week, up from about 38 percent last week. And subway ridership this week surpassed 3.7 million riders in one day for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

However, a recent survey reported that just 9 percent of New York City workers were back to the once standard five-days-a-week schedule. And many workers are nostalgic for the silence at home — especially since in-office perks like slides, nap pods and ball pits, aimed at luring people back, can make it harder to concentrate.

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TikTok is the world's most downloaded app for people age 18 to 24.Annie Flanagan for The New York Times

6. For Gen Z, TikTok is a search engine.

The popular app is known for its viral dance videos and pop music. But an increasing number of young people are using TikTok's powerful algorithm to find tasty restaurants and films to watch. One user even used the app to learn how to ask for a recommendation letter from a teacher.

TikTok personalizes video content based on users' interactions with the app, and surfaces content that caters to their tastes. That tailoring is coupled with a sense that real people on the app, rather than faceless websites, are delivering them information.

Based in Singapore, Shou Zi Chew, TikTok's chief executive, has had to navigate presenting himself to the West as an autonomous leader while juggling the demands of the app's Chinese parent company.

Separately, a former chief executive of eBay and the company are being sued by the victims of a bizarre cyberstalking operation.

Rob McElhenney, left, and Ryan Reynolds in a scene from the docuseries "Welcome to Wrexham."Patrick Mcelhenney/FX, via Associated Press

7. Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds seem sincere about their investment, emotionally and financially, in a Welsh soccer team. But they are not mere observers.

Two years ago the actors bought Wrexham, a down-at-the-heels team, and documented the journey. The result, "Welcome To Wrexham," is heartwarming, funny and appealing, writes Rory Smith, our chief soccer correspondent in the On Soccer newsletter, but also difficult to categorize. It's not a traditional documentary; it is inherently interventionist.

Team decisions, such as contracts, are ultimately their responsibility. Already, the actors have affected the story of the team and, quite possibly, the town, Smith writes.

In other sports news, the Connecticut Sun defeated the Las Vegas Aces in Game 3 of the W.N.B.A. finals. Game 4 is Sunday at 4 p.m. Eastern.

Olivia Wilde, the director of the buzzy film "Don't Worry Darling."Elizabeth Weinberg for The New York Times

8. Will a series of publicity missteps harm the film "Don't Worry Darling" at the box office?

With an ascendant female director and a star-studded cast, the film was predicted to be a box-office powerhouse. But over the past three weeks, the movie has become a spectacle in all the wrong ways. Olivia Wilde, the director, has self-immolated on the publicity trail, and rumors of an on-set affair between Wilde and Harry Styles, the pop star, have led to an apparent clash between the director and the film's star, Florence Pugh.

Now the $35 million production — one of only three films Warner Bros. is releasing theatrically through the remainder of the year — is in jeopardy of falling flat.

In television news,"M*A*S*H," the acclaimed television "situation tragedy," turns 50 this year. The show's star, Alan Alda, reflected on its innovations, and our critic wrote that the show proved that great comedies could be more than just funny.

Casper Capers, left, and Michito, in June. Yael Malka for The New York Times

9. Is this the end of New York City's People's Beach?

The shoreline at Jacob Riis Park in Queens, known as the People's Beach, is sheltered by a derelict hospital and has been a queer haven for decades.

Timothy, a trans and nonbinary person, said they usually have their guard up in public spaces, but that dissipates at Riis. "I just feel protected," they said. Now, as the upcoming demolition of the hospital is threatening to ruin the beach, we talked to those who love it most.

Also in New York: After 35 years, "The Phantom of the Opera," the longest-running show in Broadway history, will close in February.

Michael French, a researcher, inspected the progress of chestnut trees at a former mine in eastern Ohio.Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times

10. And finally, the American chestnut is attempting a comeback.

In the hills of Appalachia, billions of American chestnut trees once dominated the landscape. Their hardy trunks were used to build log cabins, and families would store the trees' nuts in attics to eat during the holiday season. But a century ago, a blight-causing fungus nearly wiped them out.

Now, scientists and foresters are trying to to give the chestnuts a second chance by reintroducing a hybrid version of the tree that resists the fungus. They are planting the trees on land once occupied by coal mines, where they take to the soil better than other plants.

Have a healing weekend.

May-Ying Lam compiled photos for this briefing.

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