In a Contentious Lawmaking Season, Red States Got Redder and Blue Ones Bluer

With single-party statehouse control at its highest level in decades, legislators across much of the country leaned into cultural issues and bulldozed the opposition.

India’s Worst Rail Disaster in Decades Convulses Country Dependent on Trains

The disaster killed at least 288 people, and a preliminary government report described it as a “three-way accident” involving two passenger trains and an idled cargo train. Officials were investigating possible signal failure.

Raw Meat and Moon Signs: Inuit Lessons for Soldiers in the Arctic

Humbled by centuries of fatal colonial expeditions, Canada’s military is learning Arctic survival strategies from the austere area’s only inhabitants.

In Russian Schools, It’s Recite Your ABC’s and ‘Love Your Army’

The curriculum for young Russians is increasingly emphasizing patriotism and the heroism of Moscow’s army, while demonizing the West as “gangsters.” One school features a “sniper”-themed math class.

The Debt-Limit Deal Suggests Debt Will Keep Growing, Fast

Negotiations to prevent a government default reaffirmed that the big drivers of future deficits are all off the table in a divided Washington.

This Nonprofit Health System Cuts Off Patients With Medical Debt

Doctors at the Allina Health System, a wealthy nonprofit in the Midwest, aren’t allowed to see poor patients or children with too many unpaid medical bills.

She Lost Her Career, Family and Freedom. She’s Still Fighting to Change Iran.

Fighting for change has cost Narges Mohammadi her career, separated her from family and deprived her of liberty. But a jail cell has not succeeded in silencing her.

Saudi Soccer League Creates Huge Fund to Sign Global Stars

A coordinated effort financed by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund is offering huge paydays to some of the sport’s biggest stars if they join Saudi Arabia’s best teams.

Arizona Limits Construction Around Phoenix as Its Water Supply Dwindles

In what could be a glimpse of the future as climate change batters the West, officials ruled there’s not enough groundwater for projects already approved.

NEWS ANALYSIS

McCarthy Emerges From the Debt Limit Fight With Victories, and Some Wounds

The speaker defied expectations and delivered a debt limit agreement that few thought he could manage, but left some of his Republican colleagues feeling betrayed.

Talk of Racism Proves Thorny for G.O.P. Candidates of Color

As candidates like Tim Scott and Nikki Haley bolster their biographies with stories of discrimination, they have often denied the existence of systemic racism in America while describing situations that sound just like it.

Mayor Adams Loves a Good Tale. Some of Them May Be Tall.

The New York City mayor has made an art form of telling stories about himself that are nearly impossible to verify, adding fresh details to often-told anecdotes.