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Turkey, Trump, N. F. L.: Your Friday Evening Briefing

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Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
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Good evening. Here’s the latest.
1. An economic crisis in Turkey, stirred by President Trump:
The Turkish lira plunged to a record low on Friday, accelerated by internal political turmoil, soaring inflation and a burgeoning conflict with Mr. Trump over a jailed American pastor.
Mr. Trump announced plans to increase tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum, which increased the risk that Turkey’s problems could destabilize economies well beyond the region.
That’s not the only issue: There is also widespread fear among foreign investors that the populist, authoritarian government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pursuing irresponsible economic policies.
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2. Four people, including two police officers, were shot dead early Friday in the eastern Canadian city of Fredericton, New Brunswick.
One person was taken into custody, the authorities said.
Though New Brunswick has a relatively low gun-crime rate, the province was sent reeling in the summer of 2014 after a gunman killed three police officers.
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3. A diplomatic impasse with North Korea:
North Korea is insisting that the United States declare that the Korean War is over before it takes the first major step toward denuclearization.
President Trump called his meeting in June with the North Korean leader a success. But many national security officials disagree with Mr. Trump’s view that “there is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea.”
And there are fears about making further concessions to Pyongyang. Amid North Korea’s continued threats to strike the U. S., Washington has long refused to formally declare the end of the war, which was halted in 1953 with an armistice.
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4. Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former White House aide, wrote in her new memoir that President Trump used racial slurs during the “Celebrity Apprentice.” The claim is based on hearsay, but she said there were tapes that prove it.
“It had finally sunk in that the person I’d thought I’d known so well for so long was actually a racist,” she writes in “Unhinged.”
Ms. Manigault Newman met Mr. Trump as a contestant on “Celebrity Apprentice,” then was an adviser to his campaign.
Separately, Mr. Trump doubled down on his criticism of N. F. L. players as several resumed protests during the national anthem.
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5. Cables from 2002 describe waterboarding and other interrogation techniques carried out at a secret prison overseen by Gina Haspel, now the C. I. A.’s leader.
The documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, provide graphic details about the techniques the C. I. A. used to brutally interrogate Qaeda captives. Interrogators told one detainee that “he would suffer in ways he never thought possible.”
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6. Taliban insurgents said they had taken control of the southeastern Afghan city of Ghazni early Friday. If confirmed, the move would represent the militant group’s most important strategic gain in years.
Government officials denied that Ghazni, a provincial capital, had fallen, but conceded that the insurgents were close.
Ghazni sits on an important north-south highway. If the Taliban control the city, they would essentially cut off the south.
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7. Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, took a major step to deregulate for-profit colleges.
Those schools will no longer have to prove that the students they enroll are able to attain decent-paying jobs.
The for-profit sector has been marred by scandal, with mountains of complaints and lawsuits claiming the schools employed misleading and deceptive practices.
Ms. DeVos’s approach would undo nearly a decade of efforts to create a tough accountability system for the largely unregulated sector.
Above, Everest College, which was part of Corinthian Colleges, which was one of the biggest for-profit education companies in the U. S.
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8. The number of Catholic-affiliated hospitals in the U. S. is growing — and for a number of patients, that means the number of off-limits procedures may be on the rise, too.
Many Catholic health care institutions do not make clear up front that they have a religious affiliation, nor what procedures they won’t perform, a New York Times analysis found.
One patient, Jennafer Norris, above, was told after a dangerous and unplanned pregnancy that despite her wishes, a doctor wouldn’t tie her tubes to prevent another one. Ms. Norris was stunned.
“If we were informed, we would have had time to make an informed choice on the best medical care for our pregnancy and unborn baby,” Ms. Norris said.
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9. No one believed Eugene Parker’s ideas about the sun 60 years ago. Now, NASA has named a spacecraft for him.
Dr. Parker predicted the existence of solar wind — an idea that many at the time thought was ludicrous. But it turns out he was right.
On Saturday, NASA is scheduled to launch a spacecraft to dive into outer wisps of the sun’s atmosphere and gather information about how our star generates the solar wind.
It’s the first spacecraft named for a living person.
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10. Finally, this is your periodic reminder that it’s not all bad news out there.
Here is the Week in Good News, featuring a village in India known for its cleanliness, above; a medal of service for military dogs; and plastics that can break down on command.
Have a great weekend.
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