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| Millions of Americans went to the polls yesterday. Desiree Rios for The New York Times |
Super Tuesday primaries suggested a presidential rematch
Super Tuesday, during which millions of U.S. voters went to the polls for primaries in 15 states, indicated that Americans will likely face a presidential rematch between two deeply unpopular candidates in 2024: Donald Trump vs. President Biden.
By late Tuesday night, Biden had swept all of the states that held Democratic contests, and Trump had won by decisive margins in nearly all of the Republican ones. Here’s the latest news.
Trump’s dominance at the polls made a realistic path to victory for his challenger, Nikki Haley, very unlikely. But there was one bright spot for Haley: The Associated Press said that she had won Vermont, her first state primary win. She had earlier prevailed in Washington, D.C.
Haley has weathered defeat after defeat, but vowed to stay in the race at least through Super Tuesday. Winning even one state “would definitely help Nikki Haley’s argument that she’s a viable alternative to Trump,” my colleague Kellen Browning said before Tuesday’s primaries. “But she would still be at a significant mathematical disadvantage.”
Biden did not face any major opponents for the Democratic presidential nomination. But he did face another challenge: the possibility that primary voters would select “uncommitted” as a way to protest the administration’s stance on Israel, as more than 100,000 did in Michigan. The protests in Super Tuesday states were more fragmented, and organized in far less time than Michigan’s had been, but in Minnesota enough voters chose “uncommitted” to win delegates.
Background: These primaries do not ultimately decide who will become president, or even directly pick candidates for the elections in November. Instead, primaries award delegates, who will vote for the winning candidate at each party’s nominating convention this summer.
Other big races: Other important down-ballot primaries included a governor’s race in North Carolina, several key House races and a Senate race in California.
More on U.S. politics:
| Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, an independent, said she would not seek re-election.Trump, in search of a cash infusion, met with the billionaire Elon Musk. |
| The White House is trying a new strategy: let Joe be Joe. |
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| A Ukrainian antiaircraft gun near Bakhmut. Anatolii Stepanov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
Russia takes to the skies for gains in Ukraine
Russia’s air force has taken on a greater role as it pushes into Ukraine, using guided bombs to help clear a path for infantry. The shift in tactics comes after the war has mostly been fought on the ground for two years, with troops locked in back-and-forth battles with artillery and drone support.
The air assault has yielded good results for Moscow, including helping Russia capture the strategically important city of Avdiivka last month. But it comes with risks — Ukraine has shot down several Russian planes in the past weeks.
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| China’s annual legislative meeting. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images |
China set a lofty economic goal
China’s economy has been battered by a property crisis and the loss of consumer confidence. Despite those and other problems, Communist Party leaders there set an ambitious growth goal of 5 percent for the coming year at their annual legislative meeting.
The sizable growth goal was not paired with a commensurate increase in government spending, and some experts were skeptical that China could pull off that much growth.
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Around the World
| China and India have undertaken competing construction projects in the Maldives, a tiny, fledgling democracy and part of a broader struggle between the two superpowers.No British newspapers published paparazzi photographs claiming to show Catherine, Princess of Wales, for the first time since her abdominal surgery in January, a sign that even public figures in Britain are generally entitled to privacy in matters of health. |
Middle East
| Israelis welcomed a U.N. report that supported allegations of sexual violence during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack, even as a top Israeli official accused the U.N. of not doing enough in response to the report.The plunging value of Egyptian currency has pushed more people there to buy gold. |
Business
| Bitcoin hit a record high of more than $69,000 yesterday, capping a remarkable comeback for the volatile cryptocurrency. It later fell in price.A cyberattack that paralyzed the largest billing and payment system in the U.S. is threatening all manner of medical care providers. |
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| NASA |
Science
| Scientists determined that the oceans under the icy crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa contain low levels of oxygen, meaning they are less likely to harbor life.Toddlers who stare at screens longer have fewer conversations with grown-ups, a study found. |
Culture
| All six of Taylor Swift’s sold-out shows in Southeast Asia are in Singapore. The rest of the region is not happy.A clearer international agreement governing the return of Nazi-looted art was presented yesterday.The National Holocaust Museum opens in Amsterdam next week.A Massachusetts library now accepts cat pictures in lieu of fees for damaged books. |
A Morning Read
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| Hulton Archive, via Getty Images |
Is it time to mark humankind’s transformation of the planet with its own era, the “Anthropocene,” or the “human” age? Not yet, scientists have decided.
The Anthropocene would have to be defined in a very particular way to qualify as a geologic time scale, meeting a standard perhaps stricter than those of anthropologists, artists and others who might use the term.
Lives lived: Juli Lynne Charlot created the poodle skirt, which became a 1950s fashion staple. She died at 101.
| SPORTS NEWS |
Super 6: Alan Shearer on England’s attacking riches.
Points and prize money restored: Andrey Rublev wins his ATP appeal.
‘Full Swing’ review: Netflix’s golf series gets the big moments right.
| ARTS AND IDEAS |
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| Tomio Ohashi/The Pritzker Architecture Prize |
The Pritzker Prize goes to an architect of community
Riken Yamamoto, a Japanese architect whose understated buildings quietly emphasize community and connectivity, has been awarded this year’s Pritzker Prize, architecture’s highest honor.
Yamamoto’s projects, which include a country house without exterior walls, so it is open to the surrounding environment, and a fire station made largely of glass that lets pedestrians see firefighters train, strive to eliminate the barrier between the private and public realms. “My architecture is a strong message,” Yamamoto said, “to make something in relation to other people.”
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| David Malosh for The New York Times |
Cook: Rooti farmaajo is a soft-cheese-stuffed bread that is a Ramadan staple in many Somali households.
