iTunes, Britain, Jeopardy: Your Monday Evening Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/briefing/itunes-britain-jeopardy.html

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Good evening. Here’s the latest.

1. Investors crushed Big Tech, pushing the Nasdaq market index into correction territory.

Shares of Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook all fell following reports that they are targets of heightened government scrutiny, the first two from the Justice Department and the second two from the Federal Trade Commission.

Only a hint from the Federal Reserve that interest rates might drop saved the market from a broader drop.

The new scrutiny doesn’t mean official federal investigations are underway. But it’s clear regulators are growing ever more uneasy with the clout of big tech companies. Some presidential candidates are making it a campaign issue.

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2. President Trump started his state visit to Britain.

Mr. Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, had tea with the Prince of Wales and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, laid a wreath at Westminster Abbey, and sat at a formal dinner at Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth II.

But first, the president carried on an ugly dispute with the mayor of London, calling him a “stone cold loser.”

Demonstrations are expected Tuesday as Mr. Trump meets with Prime Minister Theresa May. He will visit France later in the week for D-Day commemorations.

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3. A U.S. fiscal crisis is lurking around the corner.

Lawmakers say they need to act now, before the summer recess starts, to avert a budget disaster in the fall. Senator Mitch McConnell, pictured above in the Capitol last month, offered hope for a deal with Democrats.

Analysts say the Treasury will run out of room by October or November to borrow money to keep the government operating, potentially forcing the government to default on its debt.

That’s about the time budget deals expire and strict spending caps come into force, automatically cutting military and domestic spending across the board by $125 billion.

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4. The boost from tax cuts may not last.

President Trump’s plans to increase tariffs on Mexico and China would wipe out the benefits of his signature tax cuts for the poorest Americans, analyses by the Tax Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania say. Above, a scene in Ciudad Juárez.

Higher earners would fare only slightly better, with their tax gains significantly eroded but not entirely washed away.

The potential for tariffs to nullify the impact shows how the trade war could undermine a prime re-election issue for Mr. Trump, a strong economy.

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5. John Dean, a central Watergate-era figure, is returning to Capitol Hill.

House Democrats said Mr. Dean, President Richard Nixon’s White House counsel, would be their first star witness in a series of hearings focused on Robert Mueller’s findings. He is pictured above testifying against Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court last year.

Scheduled for June 10 in the House Judiciary Committee, the initial hearing is not expected to be the showcase Democrats had hoped for, since Mr. Mueller himself will not be testifying, at least for now.

But it will allow lawmakers on the panel — which is traditionally charged with carrying out impeachment proceedings — to air Mr. Mueller’s findings for the first time.

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6. iTunes, the software that upended the music industry, is being retired from desktop computers, its last digital home.

Apple said separate apps for music, video and podcasts would replace iTunes on computers, just as they have already on mobile devices. It’s another way for the company to drive its software and services as iPhone sales retreat.

At its software developer conference, pictured above, Apple also unveiled map and messaging improvements, smartwatch and video software upgrades, a high-end Mac Pro desktop, and new privacy and health-monitoring features.

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7. The motive is still unknown in Friday’s mass shooting in Virginia. What is clear is that many lives were cut short.

Eleven Virginia Beach workers were killed in the rampage, along with a contractor visiting for a permit. The employees had collectively worked for the city for more than 150 years.

It was one of the deadliest episodes of workplace violence in the U.S. in recent years. The gunman, a city engineer who also died in the shooting, sent an email in the morning saying he was resigning, just hours before opening fire on his colleagues.

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8. “Tank Man” is still a mystery, 30 years later.

Decades of cyber-sleuthing have cast little light on the identity of the man captured in the image above, standing boldly in front of a convoy of Chinese tanks in Beijing after its deadly effort to clear Tiananmen Square.

The government has tried to eliminate the memory of Tank Man, censoring images of him and punishing those who have evoked him. Many younger Chinese do not recognize the iconic photo.

Some believe Tank Man was executed. Others argue he might have been saved and could be in hiding.

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9. There are fewer secrets in the age of consumer DNA testing.

Increasing numbers of parents who used anonymous artificial insemination have been discovering years later through genetic tests that the sperm they purchased is not from the donor they chose.

The legal remedies are slight, and the parents say sperm banks and fertility clinics ought to be better regulated.

“I didn’t choose someone who has a history of brain cancer in the family,” said one mother of two boys whose DNA results were not what anyone expected. “I would never have chosen this donor.”

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10. “Who is James Holzhauer?”

That’s the question that may get an answer for the ages on “Jeopardy” tonight. But we’re not going to spoil it for you. We’re not even going to show you a current image.

You can click through if you want to know the latest. (The show has already aired in some areas.)

Otherwise, we’ll just say have a gracious evening.

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