President Trump requested the release of grand jury documents in Epstein case. The controversy over records from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation entered a new dimension Thursday as the Trump administration struggled to make good on its promises to release details on the sex trafficking case. The president promised a lawsuit after The Wall Street Journal described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper says bore his name and was included in a 2003 album for Mr. Epstein’s 50th birthday. – The Associated Press
Our coverage : We looked at why the Epstein case is such a big deal for the MAGA base.

CBS is canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” next May. The announcement followed Mr. Colbert’s criticism on Monday of a settlement between President Trump and Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, over a “60 Minutes” story. Network executives praised the comedian in a statement that noted the cancellation was “purely a financial decision.” – AP

The economy is doing better than expected. Despite some shoppers’ worries about tariffs and the state of the U.S. economy, retail sales rose 0.6% in June after two consecutive months of spending declines. The S&P 500 climbed 0.5% Thursday, beating the all-time high it set last week. – AP
Our coverage: The U.S. economy has been defying dire predictions, and a recession does not look inevitable .

El Salvador’s top human rights group is leaving the country. Cristosal, one of the most visible critics of President Nayib Bukele, announced Thursday it is suspending activities in El Salvador after harassment and legal threats by the government. The organization has been documenting abuses in the crackdown on gangs and the detention of hundreds of Venezuelan deportees from the United States. – AP

Israel is not renewing some U.N. visas. Israel has refused to renew visas for the heads of at least three United Nations agencies in Gaza, which the U.N. humanitarian chief blames on their work trying to protect Palestinian civilians in the war-torn territory. Meanwhile, Israel has demanded the U.N. Human Rights Council scrap a commission investigating rights violations in the Palestinian territories and Israel, accusing the body of bias. – AP and Reuters

Myanmar’s military recaptured a strategic town. It now controls Nawnghkio, a strategic gateway for trade, having wrested it from rebel forces after nearly a year, state media there reported Thursday. The shift is considered a rare turnaround in the country’s northeast, where an alliance of ethnic rebel militias seized a large swath of territory in an offensive that began in late 2023. – AP

Britain plans to lower its voting age. In an effort to expand democratic participation ahead of the next national election, the government intends to drop the voting age from 18 to 16. Turnout in the 2024 general election was less than 60%, the lowest since 2001. Some conservatives oppose the change, which is presumed to benefit the Labour Party. Supporters say it could help build trust in the democratic process from a younger age. – Staff

A hunk of Mars and a young dino made auction history. The largest piece of the red planet ever found on Earth – a 54-pound meteorite discovered in the Sahara in 2023 – sold for more than $5 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York. But the bones of a juvenile dinosaur – one of four known Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeletons – stole the show, fetching more than $30 million in a bidding war during Wednesday’s sale. – AP

White House budget director Russell Vought, who played a critical role in getting Republicans to pass the “One Big Beautiful Bill” earlier this month, told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor Breakfast that it is “very, very substantial” that the Trump administration is getting to claw back spending that Congress previously authorized.

This legislative tool, called rescission, which hasn’t been used since the 1990s, is helping the Trump administration reshape the executive branch while dramatically strengthening its hand vis-à-vis Congress. Mr. Vought, an architect of The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 for the new administration, says such tools are necessary “to change the paradigm” of how Washington has worked.

As the Israel-Hamas war grinds on with a potential ceasefire still only on the horizon, Palestinian residents of Gaza are facing a new challenge: armed local gangs. The armed groups are defining daily life for many Gazans, seizing the bulk of humanitarian aid, running racketeering schemes, and using lethal force to get their way, residents and aid workers say.

“Gangs continue to block aid trucks in Khan Yunis, stealing and hiding hundreds of tons of aid, and diverting it to markets, keeping the prices of flour and other basic commodities high,” says local journalist Osama al-Kahlout.

Congress is moving on major cryptocurrency legislation for the first time, passing one bill Thursday and looking at two more during what it’s calling Crypto Week. If enacted, the set of three would set up rules for the digital money, encouraging more private-sector engagement. Passage might even bring a new level of consumer acceptance to bitcoin – now trading at record levels – and to the crypto industry in general. We look at what each legislative move means, where crypto support comes from, and why these otherwise unregulated assets remain a risky investment, not the next currency.

It began with a BBC TV report from Ethiopia in 1984. The images of people in dire need touched millions – among them an Irish pop star named Bob Geldof. The Live Aid benefit concert he would organize in July 1985 presented 16 hours of music, by a who’s who of artists, in London’s Wembley Stadium and in John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. It would raise around $170 million, a third of that from phone calls on the day. But the event’s real strength was in the human connection it awakened. Today, our columnist writes, many governments’ priorities seem to be moving in the opposite way. Citizens worldwide will help determine whether the global mood shifts again.

Eva Victor’s remarkable writing-directing debut feature, “Sorry, Baby,” deals with the sexual assault of Agnes, played by Victor, a young English lit grad student in a leafy New England college town. The assault is never shown, only discussed. In a very real sense, the movie isn’t about the assault at all. It’s about how Agnes, in fits and starts, opens up a new life for herself. It’s about restoration, not victimization. Our critic describes the film as “a diary of personal reclamation.”

The Tanzania-Zambia railway, which is decades old and known as the Tazara, was built to connect central and southern African states to the Indian Ocean.

The train has a reputation for extreme unreliability. Unannounced delays are to be expected, extending one’s journey by 72 hours or more. My companions and I consider ourselves fortunate: Our journey ended up being a mere 13 hours behind schedule. This is not a ride for an impatient traveler. But even with these drawbacks, the cars fill up.

Now, Beijing has pledged at least $1 billion to revitalize the decades-old rail line.

As continued conflict and repression roil their home countries, members of Europe’s Middle Eastern and North African diaspora are also confronting harsh rhetoric and violence in their host countries. But an expanding cohort of musicians and DJs in exile is helping foster connections and joy among fellow immigrants and a broader audience through a vibrant musical nightlife and online presence.

Recurrent Arab “club music” parties and festivals – such as the monthly Hishek Bishek in London and Sahra in Berlin or the annual Nawafiz in the Netherlands – are becoming anticipated cultural fixtures. Showcasing a hybrid of local and folk traditions melded with popular global genres and electronic beats, these events embody what’s been called “glocalization.” The lyrics – and the fans – are multilingual, flowing seamlessly between Arabic and smatterings of French, English, German, and Spanish.

Audience appreciation for such music is soaring and diversifying, partly thanks to streaming services and social media. This has led to new record labels starting up, such as Habibi Funk in Germany. Lebanese musician Charif Megarbane, who issues songs under the label and has performed at London’s Jazz Cafe, told Time magazine he was delighted at having “such a varied audience.” An English fan who confessed to being “obsessed” with his music found her way to it via Spotify and a Turkish music festival in France.

As New Lines journalist Oumeïma Nechi wrote this week, music festivals and club events are hubs where “Diaspora musicians are blending tradition and rebellion” – and also where “Music meets activism.” The spaces give voice to the community’s optimism and worry about political change back home. They also evoke a nostalgic love and pride in homelands and cultures left behind.

“Before ... there was a tendency to hide one’s identity a bit,” Tunisian-born DJ Haroun Ben Hmida told Ms. Nechi. But now, Arab artists and their audiences have “reclaimed their identity and have started uniting together, seeing each other, working on projects together.”

One example of “seeing each other” is the musical duo Shkoon, which pairs a Syrian refugee, who was part of the large wave of migration to Europe a decade ago, with a classically trained German musician. Shkoon’s eclectic approach aims to counter Islamophobia and dissolve cultural barriers, group member Ameen Khayer told Middle East Eye. “When we ... perform our music,” he said, the audience is “not only Arabs, or not only Germans, ... multiple nationalities are joining.”

Through its shared melodies and memories, the appeal of Arab diaspora music among immigrants and host communities in Europe is enlarging perceptions of blending and belonging.