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Donald Trump, AlphaBay, Linkin Park: Your Friday Briefing

Plastic on a beach in Indonesia. A new study suggests that staggering amounts of the near-eternal material is in the environment and the numbers are likely to increase.Credit...Guillermo Cervera

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Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Investigating the investigators.

President Trump’s lawyers and aides are scouring the backgrounds of investigators hired by the special counsel Robert Mueller, looking for conflicts of interest, people with knowledge of the effort said.

Mr. Trump, during a Times interview in which he made several misleading statements, said he would make the information available “at some point.”

On Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he would remain in the job “as long as that is appropriate” after Mr. Trump criticized him for recusing himself in the Russia investigation.

Separately, the president is expected to name a new communications director: Anthony Scaramucci, a major Republican donor and investor.

• Against Obamacare. Now against its repeal.

We spoke to voters in Pennsylvania about their evolving views of the Affordable Care Act. Increasing support for the existing health law may not denote newfound love so much as dread of what might replace it.

Senate Republican leaders are determined to begin debating health care next week, although they’re unable to agree on which bill to adopt. The confusion has contributed to a cruel summer for the party, our congressional correspondent writes.

• U.S. to bar its citizens from North Korea.

The tourism ban is to be announced next week, a major operator of tours to the country said today.

It comes after the death of an American college student who was held in a North Korean prison for more than a year before being returned to the U.S. in a coma last month.

• A hint of hope in Syria.

Israel has been sending supplies and treating thousands of civilians, denting its reputation in Syria as “the devil who wants to kill us.”

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Medics with the Israeli military in the Golan Heights helped wounded Syrians in April.Credit...Dusan Vranic/Associated Press

• O. J. Simpson wins parole.

The former football star is to be released in October after spending nine years in prison on charges stemming from an armed robbery.

He told a Nevada parole board, implausibly, “I basically have spent a conflict-free life.” News of his parole drew a swift, and divided, reaction.

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O.J. Simpson at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada on Thursday.Credit...Pool photo by Jason Bean

• “The Daily,” your audio news report.

In today’s show, we talk with two Times journalists who encountered a group of women in Mosul, Iraq. The women, enslaved by the Islamic State for years, believed the militant group had taken over the world.

Listen on a computer, an iOS device or an Android device.

• Two of the largest online black markets, AlphaBay and Hansa Market, were shut down on Thursday, U.S. and European authorities said.

Drugs, including synthetic opioids, were available on the sites. We looked at how Reddit, the discussion website, facilitated access to the drugs fueling an American epidemic.

• The value of the dollar has fallen steadily this year. That isn’t necessarily bad for Americans.

• A landmark tax overhaul enacted under President Ronald Reagan seems impossible today, our business columnist writes.

• U.S. stocks were mixed on Thursday. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

• Dare yourself to find out where your time goes.

• If you like foods with acidity and bite, make deviled chicken thighs.

• A summer of swords.

In today’s 360 video, children from across New York City learn fencing alongside Olympic champions.

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Children from across New York learn fencing alongside Olympic champions at the Peter Westbrook Foundation, where building community is as much a part of practice as the fencing. Several of the foundation’s top students are competing at the FIE World Fencing Championships, which start this week.CreditCredit...Mike Gittens for The New York Times. Technology by Samsung.

• Partisan writing you shouldn’t miss.

Writers from across the political spectrum react to the week’s news.

• One word: plastics.

Since the 1950s, 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic have been produced, about half of it since 2004.

A new study analyzes the material, most of which doesn’t naturally degrade.

• In memoriam.

As lead singer for the hard rock band Linkin Park, Chester Bennington was known for his piercing scream and free-flowing anguish. He was 41. He could sing any way he wanted, our music critic writes.

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Chester Bennington in Las Vegas in 2012. He was found dead on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles in what is being investigated as a possible suicide, the authorities said.Credit...Steve Marcus/Reuters

• Ready for the weekend.

At the movies, we review Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” and Luc Besson’s “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” the most expensive French film ever made. There’s also a look at the marketing efforts at Comic-Con.

On TV, we suggest three shows to stream and discuss the outcry over “Confederate,” HBO’s planned alternate-history drama involving modern-day slavery, by the creators of “Game of Thrones.”

Looking for a new book? Here are 10 recommendations and a look at coming political tell-alls and new “Harry Potter” titles.

The Muppets are taking Queens, where “The Jim Henson Exhibition” will be on permanent display at the Museum of the Moving Image. We have a review.

Finally, if you’re headed to a party this weekend, it could be a wedding.

• Best of late-night TV.

The comedy hosts turned their attention to O. J. Simpson’s parole hearing.

• Quotation of the day.

“If the condition doesn’t kill you, the stress of having it does, in this country.”

Jennifer Bell had to leave a full-time job after suffering disabling injuries in a car accident. She now relies on Medicaid.

More than 70 countries have elected women as their leaders, not counting figureheads or royalty. Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon, broke the barrier on this date in 1960 when Sirimavo Bandaranaike became prime minister.

In 1966, Indira Gandhi was the first woman elected to lead India, the world’s largest democracy. Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan became the first female leader of a Muslim-majority country in 1988.

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Indira Gandhi, former prime minister of India, speaking in Washington in 1982.Credit...Associated Press

As of March, there were 15 women serving as heads of state or government, more than twice the number in 2000, but representing less than 8 percent of the 193 members of the United Nations. Eight of the 15 were their country’s first female leader.

In Europe, Margaret Thatcher of Britain became the first elected female leader in 1979. Today, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, after 11 years in power, is often called the world’s most powerful woman.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became Africa’s first elected female head of state when she won the Liberian presidency in 2005. Before she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, The Times asked her if female leaders would “acquire the negative traits that power breeds.”

“It would take a very long term of women absolutely in power to get to the place where they became men,” she said.

Charles McDermid contributed reporting.

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Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help.

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