U.S. Hiring Slows, but Remains Solid

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/04/briefing/us-jobs-gop-climate-plan-ukraine-drone.html

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Employers across the U.S. added 187,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate sank to a near record low of 3.5 percent, new data showed today. Most people who want to work can find jobs, according to the report.

But the pace of hiring has slowed over the last two months, a sign that the economy is cooling as the Federal Reserve battles inflation.

Health care and leisure and hospitality added many of the new jobs, while most other industries — including manufacturing, transportation and warehousing — were flat to negative on job growth.

“While we never want to read too much into any one jobs report, the trend over the past few months is pretty clear: We’re getting back to something approaching normal,” our colleague Lydia DePillis said.

Even as business slows, it appears that corporate leaders are avoiding cutting payrolls drastically: Layoffs are remaining low, and the number of total hours worked has decreased slightly. Overall, economic growth has remained vigorous, and each sign of weakness so far has seemed to find a counterbalance.

“Economists are feeling better and better,” Lydia said. “They’ve gone from almost uniformly predicting a recession this year to pretty much betting we won’t have to go through one at all.”

Conservatives are laying the groundwork for a 2024 Republican administration that would dismantle President Biden’s efforts to slow global warming. The move is part of a sweeping strategy called Project 2025 that Paul Dans of the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank organizing the effort, has called a “battle plan” for the first 180 days of a future Republican presidency.

The plan calls for shredding regulations to curb greenhouse gas pollution from cars, oil and gas wells and power plants, dismantling almost every clean energy program in the federal government and throws open the door to more drilling for fossil fuels. If enacted, the climate and energy provisions would be among the most severe swings away from current federal policies.

In the Republican primary race, Donald Trump’s appeal among likely voters is less dominant in Iowa than it is nationwide, though he still leads his nearest rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, by double digits, according to a new New York Times/Siena College poll.

A Ukrainian maritime drone damaged a Russian warship on the Black Sea hundreds of miles from the nearest Ukrainian-controlled territory. The attack struck near the Russian port of Novorossiysk.

It was the most serious strike on Moscow’s Navy since last year, demonstrating both the escalating conflict at sea and the growing range and capability of Ukraine’s drone force.

The coup leaders said that they had cut military ties with France, Niger’s former colonial ruler, throwing into uncertainty the future of 1,500 French troops based there. Niger’s president, Mohamed Bazoum, who has been detained by his own guards for over a week, called on the U.S. and other allies to help restore order.

His appeal came ahead of a Sunday deadline set by Nigeria, Senegal and other West African countries for the coup leaders to hand back power to Bazoum or face a military intervention.

Crime: A skull found in 2011 near Gilgo Beach on Long Island has been identified as that of a 34-year-old woman who vanished in 1996.

Russia: Aleksei Navalny, the imprisoned opposition leader, received a new, 19-year sentence for supporting “extremism.”

Technology: A federal judge narrowed the scope of an antitrust lawsuit against Google in the most significant federal monopoly trial against a tech giant in decades.

Arts: The opera star David Daniels pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a young singer who attended one of his performances in 2010.

Climate: President Biden is expected as early as next week to announce a block on uranium mining around the Grand Canyon.

India: The Supreme Court cleared the way for the opposition leader Rahul Gandhi to return to Parliament and run in next spring’s elections against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

TV: Mark Margolis, the prolific actor who played a former drug lord in “Breaking Bad,” died at 83.

There’s a refreshing sense of nostalgia in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” which opened in theaters this week, our critic Maya Phillips writes. The familiar playfulness has kept the franchise popular over the years.

This time, the four shelled martial artists are trying to stop Superfly (voiced by Ice Cube), from taking over the human world. The action shines, the music is on point and the casting boasts the talented voices of Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and Jackie Chan.

If the kids would rather stay home, here are five movies to stream right now, including the newest “Guardians of the Galaxy” adventure.

Striking television and movie actors fear that Hollywood studios could use digital replicas of performers without compensating them. The technology for morphing flesh-and-blood performers into virtual avatars has been improving for years and is already being employed by some in the industry.

The Apple TV+ comedy “Ted Lasso” has used a technique known as crowd tiling when groups of extras are filmed in various alignments for scenes of filled soccer stadiums. In “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” the character Grand Moff Tarkin was portrayed by a composite of the actor Peter Cushing, who died decades earlier, and another actor who performed motion capture work.

Our concert summer: Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Drake and others are playing sold-out stadiums and providing a reminder of just how good it feels to be in the presence of one another once again.

Mortgage-rate envy: Homeowners now stand on two sides of a divide, between those who have the good fortune of enjoying low monthly interest payments and everyone else.

Justin Trudeau’s separation: A stable marriage (publicly at least) used to be a cornerstone of any world leader’s résumé. But does anyone care in 2023?

Minor mode: China may require app developers and device makers to adopt controls that limit screen time and content for young people.

Cook: Eggplant Parmesan is a labor of love.

Watch: Sigourney Weaver stars in the thriller “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart” on Amazon Prime Video.

Listen: The final episode of “The Retrievals” podcast is about how women traumatized by their experiences at a fertility clinic lost trust in the medical system.

Read: We recommend these six new paperbacks.

Decide: Are you ready to buy a home or should you rent? Take our quiz.

Plan: Some wedding vendors are more welcoming to all couples. Experts shared advice on how to find them.

Cope: Feeling cranky during the carefree days of summer? There are things you can do to manage.

Compete: Take our weekly news quiz, and see how you stack up with other Times readers.

Play: Today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword.

About 4,000 beagles bred for research at a facility in Virginia have been rescued after a nearly 60-day operation that began last summer. The dogs’ plight even inspired Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry to adopt a beagle named Momma Mia. The last one to find a forever home was a 2-year-old beagle who was renamed Sir Biscuit of Barkingham.

Now many of the dogs are thriving with their new families. They roll on the grass, enjoy long walks and lick birthday cake to celebrate the anniversary of their rescue.

Have a heartwarming weekend.

Thanks for reading. We’ll be back Monday. — Jonathan and Justin