Vibrant Festivities Kick Off The Year Of The Dog

This article is part of The D. C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. Two years ago this week, Georgia Republicans nominated a former NFL star with a dodgy history in the state’s immensely ripe Senate race. Pretty soon, every utterance and each discrepancy became its own new scandal for Herschel Walker, until it was almost impossible to figure out where one started and another ended.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The top United Nations court ordered Israel on Friday to immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah — but stopped short of ordering a cease-fire for the enclave. While Israel is unlikely to comply with the order, it will ratchet up the pressure on the increasingly isolated country. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza has been growing, particularly once it turned its focus to Rafah.

A British-born teenager who died of leukemia at age 15 in 2006 is set to be recognized as the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint, the Vatican announced Thursday. Nicknamed “God’s Influencer,” Carlo Acutis was known for his computer prowess and spreading Roman Catholic teachings online. Acutis was born in London in 1991, before his Italian parents Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano relocated to Milan.

When Michael Crichton and his wife Sherri first started dating, all they did was hike. Every weekend there they were, taking in the scenery from the coasts of California to the mountains of Hawaii. The island of Kauai was their favorite place, its rivers carving through volcanic rock and steep, jagged cliffs cutting the sky.

Wake me when it’s over—summer, that is. I know, I know, you just love it: the long days, the warm evenings, the trips to the beach, the afternoons at the ballpark when your favorite team is playing and the pennant race is tightening—and the temperature is skyrocketing, and your skin is blistering, and the beer is $6, and the drive home will be in 88° heat, which is fine if you don’t mind running the air conditioner, except that you’re burning through $4–a-gallon gas, because it’s summer-driving season and the giant oil companies didn’t get to be the giant oil companies without knowing the right time of year to hike their prices.

LONDON — A British neonatal nurse who was convicted of murdering seven babies and the attempted murder of six others has lost her bid to appeal. Lucy Letby, 34, had asked for permission to challenge the verdict after she was convicted and sentenced to life in prison last year. A three-judge panel of Britain’s Court of Appeal heard the case in April and released its decision on Friday. “Having heard her application, we have decided to refuse leave to appeal on all grounds and refuse all associated applications,″ Judge Victoria Sharp said.