U.S. Service Members Killed as War Expands, and Federal Cases Against Protesters Crumble

0:00This podcast is supported by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all-in-one website platform designed to help you stand out and succeed online. They give you everything you need to offer services and get paid all in one place. And with their collection of cutting-edge design tools, anyone can build a beautiful professional online presence that perfectly fits their brand or business. Head to squarespace.com slash NYT for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code NYT to save 10 % off your first purchase of a website or domain. From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford.

0:39Today's Monday, July 20th. Here's what we're covering.

0:45In the Middle East, the death toll is rising as the war between the U.S. and Iran escalates. In Jordan on Friday, two U.S. soldiers were killed in an Iranian missile barrage, according to the Pentagon. A U.S. official told the Times that remains recovered at the scene are believed to be those of a third soldier who's been missing since the strike. And on Saturday, another American soldier was killed in northern Iraq during the detonation of a downed Iranian drone. That marked the 17th confirmed death of a U.S. service member since the war began. As of last month, Iranian officials said about 3 ,500 people there had been killed, and that was before the latest surge in fighting.

1:30In the past few days, both the U.S. and Iran have carried out widespread strikes, including some on water and desalination plants across the Gulf region in attacks that risk cutting critical utilities during the hottest part of the year. Beyond that, the U.S. has been heavily bombing roads and other infrastructure in southern Iran, and the Times has learned that the U.S. is flying in more F-16 and F-35 fighter jets to the region from bases in Europe. Still, Iran's strikes on U.S. targets have caused heavy damage and show that Tehran continues to be able to outmaneuver the far more powerful U.S.

2:08military. For example, even before the service members were killed this weekend, dozens of U.S. troops in Jordan had been injured in Iranian attacks in the past week or so, according to several U.S. officials who spoke to the Times on the condition of anonymity. The Pentagon had not disclosed those earlier attacks or casualties, as it continues to provide limited public information about U.S. military strategy in the Middle East. The last major Pentagon briefing on the war was in early May.

2:48When the Trump administration launched its nationwide immigration crackdown last year, it also began charging people with impeding or assaulting immigration officers. In all, the Justice Department charged hundreds of protesters and immigrants, with President Trump and members of his administration branding them as insurrectionists or terrorists. Now, a New Times investigation into those charges has found that federal law enforcement engaged in extensive misconduct, and many of those cases have fallen apart. Am I able to safely get to a nearby police station? They're literally following me, so every time I get to a spotlight or something, they're trying to get in front of me.

3:31They're intimidating us. In one case, in November in Charlotte, North Carolina, two women who had been part of a crowd yelling at federal agents called 911 to report that they were being followed by unmarked cars after leaving the scene. The cars eventually blocked them in on a dead-end street, and footage recorded by a nearby resident showed an agent getting out of his car and smashing the driver's side window with the barrel of his rifle, which was pointed towards one of the women.

4:01The women were then detained and charged with violating a once-obscure statute, 18 U.S.C. 111, that makes it a federal crime to assault or forcibly impede a government officer. Punishments range from a fine to 20 years in prison. But the charges against the women were so weak they were eventually withdrawn. In all, the Times found that in more than 400 cases of people being charged under that same statute, nearly half have unraveled. What we found is that in dozens of these cases where the government was accusing people of assaulting or forcibly impeding an officer, actually if you looked at the video or studied court records, it was the officers who were initiating physical contact.

4:47My colleague Danny Hakem is part of a team of reporters at The Times who obtained court filings for these cases. They interviewed witnesses and federal officials and reviewed videos of the encounters. So what we would see in a lot of these records and videos is officers shoving, tackling, pepper spraying defendants, sometimes when they didn't really appear to be doing anything. And there were over a dozen times where judges specifically criticized prosecutors for the way evidence was mishandled. You know, there was one instance where someone was told to erase videos she had taken on the phone.

5:23And judges specifically called out the government about these tactics. Danny says that the number of cases that have fallen apart is particularly striking because the Department of Justice doesn't usually lose criminal cases. Typically, more than 90 % of defendants plead guilty or are convicted. This really points to a collapse in the federal government's traditional prosecutorial standards. And former federal prosecutors see it as an attempt by the Justice Department to use federal charges to silence protesters. In response to questions from The Times, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on specific incidents, but said, quote, there's been a massive increase in violence and threats against law enforcement.

6:09And a Justice Department spokesman said prosecutors sometimes downgraded or dropped charges based on, mitigating factors in a case. For the full investigation, go to nytimes.com.

6:27I will be a leader for the North, the South, the East and the West. for Scotland, Wales, and for Northern Ireland. Today in the UK, Andy Burnham will become the new prime minister. People are looking for us to deliver, and we will. He'll be the country's seventh leader in just a decade, a sign of how tumultuous Britain's politics have become since the Brexit vote. He's taking over from his fellow Labour Party member Keir Starmer, who lasted a little over two years before losing support. Burnham, who has had a long political career, is entering the job with a reputation for being plain-spoken and condemning what he's called London-centric politics.

7:11He most recently served as mayor of Greater Manchester, where he got credit for dramatically improving public transportation. Now, as prime minister, he will face many of the same potentially paralyzing challenges that have taken down the last few British leaders. That includes a struggling economy and the rising cost of welfare, as well as how to tackle a thorny debate over immigration. There's also the question of foreign policy. There's been pressure to boost defense spending because of the war in Ukraine and because the U.K.'s relationship with its most important security partner, the U.S., has been fraying since President Trump returned to the White House.

7:51Burnham has not spoken with Trump before, but is expected to have a call with him soon after taking office. Burnham told one interviewer that he'd deal with Trump very upfront and that, quote, I like to think I've got some personality myself.

8:08Now, one last politics story about a challenge candidates around the world are facing. Increasingly, people are turning to AI to get answers about elections or figure out who to vote for. But that can come with some big risks. For example, researchers found that ahead of elections in Scotland this spring, more than a third of AI-generated answers were wrong, and that multiple chatbots were misstating candidates' positions, making up financial scandals, or inventing candidates that did not exist. To try and solve for that, political campaigns are now turning to the growing Answer Engine Optimization Industry, or AEO, which is basically search engine optimization's younger sibling.

8:54Well-financed candidates can try and publish a wide array of content online designed to be slurped up and parroted by AI. But even something as simple as tweaking a Wikipedia page can be effective. According to research from one AEO company, it took about 12 minutes for content published on Wikipedia to end up in a chatbot's answer, suggesting that candidates can quickly modify their own search results. Though that obviously raises concerns about how easy it would be to spread disinformation, too. The Times talked with one candidate, Dustin Lloyd, a Democrat running for Missouri's state legislature, who turned to AEO after realizing that Chat, GPT, and Gemini were recommending voting for his opponent, citing her focus on small businesses.

9:40He tweaked his website to play up his pro-business position, added in a Q &A about himself, and when he asked one of the chatbots again, the chatbot was now recommending him.

9:58And finally...

10:03The largest World Cup in history came down to a nail-biting end yesterday, with Spain triumphing over Argentina.

10:15Taking full stock, this year's tournament not only had the most teams ever, it was also the most profitable ever for FIFA, thanks in part to record-high ticket prices. Tickets for last night's final were selling for up to$100 ,000. And FIFA's expected to make at least$13 billion total, double what it made at the previous World Cup. Each round also set new viewership records, so even if many fans were priced out of attending the games, they still tuned in. Another big number from the World Cup.

10:5252 seconds. That is the longest goal call from the whole tournament, according to my colleagues at The Athletic. It was made by Andres Cantor for Telemundo, who is often credited with making long goal calls a thing to start with. He hit the 52-second mark when announcing a goal by Curacao. It was that team's first-ever point scored in any World Cup match, so Cantor said he gave it the oomph it deserved. By the way, my colleagues were able to calculate this because they listened to and added up every single goal call for the whole World Cup. Together, it came in at more than 90 minutes. Those are the headlines.

11:36Today on The Daily, Trump's trade representative on why he believes the administration's tariff policy is working. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.