Trump Holds Off on Major War Escalation Against Iran as Advisers Raise Concerns

Among the worries is that expanded hostilities could dangerously drain the diminished stockpile of air defense munitions in the Middle East.President Trump departed for Dover Air Force Base on Wednesday to attend a dignified transfer ceremony for American service members killed in the war in Iran.

E Eric Schmitt and Jonathan Swan

Inside the Rushed Effort to Get Trump His New Air Force One

A New York Times investigation found that President Trump’s push to speed delivery of the aircraft led to ballooning costs and trade-offs in safety features.President Trump walked off the new Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews on July 9 after attending a NATO summit in Turkey. A security threat was

E Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Maggie Haberman

Hundreds of Thousands Flee Fires in France and Spain as Help Pours In

Nearly 300,000 have been told to evacuate or take shelter as major fires edged closer to Madrid and Bordeaux.Firefighters on Friday trying to extinguish a wildfire near Saumos and Sainte-Hélène, France. Fires were about 20 miles from Bordeaux.

C Claire Moses, Carlos Barragán and Alan Yuhas

Conditions for European Wildfires Created by Summer of Extremes

The wildfires are scorching parts of France and Spain that had already faced unusually hot and dry summers.Firefighters outside El Tiemblo, Spain, on Friday. The areas of France and Spain with active wildfires suffered heat waves and dry conditions for weeks before the outbreaks.

C Chico Harlan

Wildfire Smoke Chokes Skies in Spain and France

Hundreds of thousands of people, residents as well as vacationers, were forced to evacuate or told to remain indoors.Beachgoers on Friday in Moutchic, in southwestern France, watching plumes of smoke from a wildfire.

T The New York Times

After Democratic Shake-Up, Susan Collins Holds Enormous Cash Edge in Maine

Republicans are pouring huge sums behind the Maine senator through a web of billionaire-funded super PACs. Troy Jackson, picked as the new Democratic nominee, has a lot of catching up to do.Senator Susan Collins’s campaign and its Republican allies have reserved about $60 million in airtime through

B Bayliss Wagner, Lisa Lerer and Theodore Schleifer

Silicon Valley Splits Over Closing the Borders to Chinese A.I.

Anthropic and OpenAI are clashing with the rest of the tech industry over whether “open-source” models from China should be freely available or restricted.In the last few weeks, the Chinese start-ups Z.ai and Moonshot AI released artificial intelligence models that rival those from American labs.

M Mike Isaac, Kate Conger, Ana Swanson and Meaghan Tobin

Berlin Pride Event Cut Short After Car Hits Crowds

The police said a hunt for suspects was underway after the episode at one of Europe’s biggest gay-themed festivals.Emergency responders after a car crashed into the crowd on Saturday at Tiergarten Park in Berlin.

P Pranav Baskar

Why Vance Still Trumps Rubio

There’s no evidence that the president regards his vice president more skeptically because of his initial opposition to the war.

R Ross Douthat