The Headlines - What the SpaceX I.P.O. Means for You, and a Giant Act of Vandalism in D.C.

Episode Date: June 12, 2026

Plus, the Friday news quiz. Here’s what we’re covering: SpaceX Is About to Be in Your 401(k) Whether You Like It or Not, by Mike Isaac and Maureen Farrell U.S. Plan Is Said to Pull a Third of Fighter Jets It Provides NATO for Europe, by Christopher F. Schuetze and Eric Schmitt Postal Service Seeks to Block Mail Ballots in States Resisting Trump Demands, by Adam Sella and Nick Corasaniti Grass on the National Mall Is Vandalized With ’86 47’ Stains, by Neil Vigdor Israel Set to Rapidly Expand West Bank Settlement, by Isabel Kershner Nearly Everyone, Everywhere, Veers Left When Walking, by Rachel Nuwer Listen to the end of the episode for an audio news quiz. If you want to take The Times’s weekly online news quiz, go here. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, June 12th. Here's what we're covering. This morning, SpaceX will make its debut on the stock market in what's poised to be the largest initial public offering in history. The IPO is expected to not just break the previous record, set by the oil giant Saudi Aramco, a few years ago,

but likely double it, valuing the company at $1.77 trillion. The stock's performance will be a broad. for how enthusiastic people are about Elon Musk and all the things he's promised the company will do, like putting data centers into space and even sending people to Mars. It will also test Wall Street's enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, since Musk rolled his AI company into SpaceX 2. So far, the hype has been high, with investors going all in. But a lot of other people are also about to own a piece of SpaceX, whether they wanted to or not.

That's because a lot of Americans' retirement plans, their 401Ks, include index funds that are going to automatically invest in SpaceX. In the past, you normally wouldn't get a newly public company in your index. There'd be a big lag time for a number of reasons. But one of them is that stocks are very volatile in the early days and weeks and even months of trading as the market is established for them. Essentially, they're just much riskier than older companies that have an established. history in the stock market as public companies. Maureen Farrell covers Wall Street for the Times. She says that earlier this year, according to two people familiar with the situation,

SpaceX told the world's largest stock indexes that once it went public, it didn't want to wait to be included, like normal. It wanted in ASAP. And some have now changed their rules to allow that. What we learned from our reporting is basically, in a lot of ways, the rules are being changed because of SpaceX. I mean, some of the index providers told us and have said that they didn't do it just for them. But it's been this idea that SpaceX is coming.

So is Anthropics. So it was Open AI. Some of the biggest companies ever. And there's a fear of missing out on these generational companies and missing out on that potential early gains there before they were in the index. We did talk to economists who said this decision was unprecedented and shocking in so many ways because they're exposing. investors to risks of a very newly traded company. Three updates on the Trump administration now, from a major change for NATO, to a giant act of vandalism on the national mall.

First, Look, NATO was taking advantage of our country. For years, President Trump has railed against NATO, saying the U.S. was contributing more than its fair share to the transatlantic military alliance, which was formed after World War II. Whether you like it or not, it's only as good as we're, we are. If NATO doesn't have us, NATO is not very strong. Now, the Times has learned that his administration is pulling back some key military resources, essentially scaling back the protections

the U.S. has offered its allies in Europe for decades. According to two senior European officials, the U.S. plans to significantly reduce the number of fighter jets, reconnaissance planes, and warships that it has previously committed for NATO operations there. The drawdown, which could happen very soon would limit NATO's ability to launch long-range strikes and to conduct surveillance on Russia, for example. Now, the blow will be softened somewhat by the fact that European leaders have already been stepping up efforts to arm their own countries in the wake of Trump's repeated threats. Also, the U.S. Postal Service is pushing forward with a new rule that could let it intervene in elections. The way the proposed rule would work is that the U.S.PS could

refuse to deliver ballots by mail in states that don't agree to turn over their voter rolls. The agency says it wants those lists to be able to screen ballots for eligibility. But that would amount to the unprecedented and potentially unconstitutional involvement of the federal government in elections, which are supposed to be run by individual states. The Postal Service didn't respond to questions about the rule, which is currently open for a 30-day public comment period. But the proposal is in line with attempts by. the Trump administration to take over critical parts of the electoral process in the run-up to the

midterms. Trump himself has said that a crackdown on mail-in voting could be a way for the GOP to hold its majority in Congress, given that more Democrats than Republicans vote by mail. And last update. You can probably see some of the grass down on the National Mall making out what looks to be a faint eight and then next to it potentially a seven. In D.C. yesterday morning, a giant set of stains were discovered on the lawn next to the water Washington Monument, spelling out 86-47. The phrase has been widely used by Trump critics, including online and on flags at protests. 86 is an old slang term meaning to dismiss, remove, kill, or eliminate, and Trump is the 47th president. It wasn't immediately clear how the brown patches

in the grass were made, the Park Service says it's investigating. But the high-profile act of vandalism comes just days before Trump is set to host an ultimate fighting championship at the White House just across the street from where the 8647 was found. In Israel, the Times has learned that the government is on the brink of expanding its highly controversial settlements in the West Bank. Much of the world views settlements there as a violation of international law, and Israel's been accused of carving up territory that was long envisioned as being part of a future Palestinian state. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has a long-stated goal of preventing that statehood and has authorized dozens of new settlements

since taking power in 2022. Now, according to an official familiar with the plan and a draft proposal reviewed by the Times, the Israeli government is rushing to fund around 60 more settlements in what would be one of the biggest expansions in years. It wants this all done quickly before elections in the fall, in the hopes that it would then be harder for any future government to reverse course and remove the settlers. The official told the times that Netanyahu's government has been trying to keep the new effort under the radar to avoid international attention. One Israeli activist group that opposes settlements called the move reckless, and many critics have characterized Israel's West Bank expansion strategy as a massive land grab.

The plan for the new settlements comes as there's been a surge of violence in the West Bank by Israeli settlers against Palestinians. Extremists there have uprooted their farms, stolen their livestock, torched their cars and homes, and beaten and killed Palestinians, often with impunity. And finally, I was at Audi Field watching a soccer game, and I found one on my head. In big cities along the East Coast, there has been an uptick in ticks. If any of y'all have seen the thing about New York City having ticks. Experts say the tiny arachnids are no longer just an out-in-the-woods kind of problem.

They are now an urban issue, too. For example, a Pennsylvania lab that tests ticks pulled from. from people says submissions were up 50% this year, with most coming from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. One explanation is that as cities have made an effort to have more green spaces, birds, mice, and even deer have moved in, bringing ticks with them. But also, ticks are just becoming more and more of a problem nationwide, raising concerns about tick-borne diseases, like Lyme disease and alpha-gal syndrome, where people become allergic to red meat and dairy. The issue may only get worse from here because of climate change and warmer weather.

One epidemiologist told the times that's because ticks that would normally die out in the winter can increasingly make it through. She said that come spring, quote, they are ready to feed. Turns out wearing socks with your sandals. It's not just a fashion choice, it's a safety choice. Those are the headlines. If you'd like to play the Friday News Quiz, stick around. It's just after these credits.

This show is made by Will Jarvis, Margaret Cedifa, Jake Lucas, Jan Stewart, and me, Tracy Mumford. Original theme by Dan Powell. Special thanks to Isabella Anderson, Sam Dolnik, Miles McKinley, and Zoe Murphy. Now, time for the quiz. Every week, we ask you a few questions about stories the Times has been covering. Can you get them all? First up? Madam President, I would ask unanimous consent to have an opportunity to speak here,

to acknowledge a very important landmark here in the United States Senate. This month, during a series of tangled votes around funding for President Trump's immigration agenda, the Senate paused to mark a record. It is such an honor, and I am so grateful for the support of my colleagues. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine has now officially cast more votes in a row than any other senator in American history. Your question, how many consecutive votes are we talking about here? Is it 500 in a row, a thousand or 10,000? Again, 500, a thousand, or 10,000 consecutive votes? The answer?

10,000 consecutive votes here in the United States Senate. 10,000. Susan Collins has actually not missed a single roll call since she first entered the Senate in 1997. She told the times that after she didn't miss any votes, her first year in office, her constituents loved it, so she just made it a point to keep going and going and going. At one point, she even chipped a bone in her ankle,

racing through the halls of the Capitol to get her vote in in time. Whether Collins will be able to continue her streak is an open question, since she's currently facing one of the fiercest fights of the midterms, as Democrats try to flip her seat in Maine, blue. Second question. Across the country, orchestras have been struggling, facing rough financials and the challenge of how to get younger Americans interested in classical music. So, more and more of them have been turning to film scores as a solution,

having the musicians perform live while a huge screen overhead plays the movie. It used to be a once-in-a-season kind of thing, but now for many orchestras, it's a regular event. For example, the Pittsburgh Symphony has five of them lined up. We are going to play you a couple little snippets here of orchestras playing some of the most beloved film scores. See if you can name the movie. Ready? First one. That was from the first Harry Potter movie.

Next one. That is Jurassic Park. Number three. It was a quick one, but it's the Indiana Jones theme. And last one. Would it help if I said, Come on? That is Home Alone.

Now, the Times talk to some of the professional musicians who find themselves playing these pieces a lot these days. They said in some cases the scores can be more challenging than traditional classical repertoire because they haven't spent years training for them. But it does seem to be worth it. For the Minnesota Orchestra, for example, more than a third of the audience coming to the movie events has never been to a symphony concert before. And final question here.

In London, there is a prestigious century-old club of magicians called The Magic Circle, whose members include huge names like David Copperfield. The group is famously exclusive. You have to wow a panel of members with your magic to get in, among other requirements. Now, the Magic Circle is in the news this month because it just turned down an unconventional applicant. Your question. The applicant was a what? A hint?

Concentrate on the champagne. The answer? Hello, everybody. My name is Darrell. Would you like to see some magic? A robot named Darrell. Thank you, everybody. Daryl regularly performs alongside a human magician who is in the club. But the president of the Magic Circle told the times that while technology can enhance magic, they rejected Darrell because, quote, wonder is emotional, not just mechanical.

And the Magic Circle is not alone on this. The Society of American Magicians also sees. says robots are not allowed. You know who is in the magic circle, though? Here's a bonus fact. King Charles. Yeah, King Charles. Apparently, back when he was in his 20s,

he did a mean cups and balls routine that won him a spot. That is it for this week's news quiz. If you want to tell us how you did, you can always email us at the headlines at nyatimes.com. I'm Tracy Mumford. The show will be back on Monday. And Darrell, please, just leave some jobs for the rest of us. Thank you.