Inside the Race to Save a U.S. Airman in Iran, and Artemis II Heads Behind the Moon

I can finally play with other people.

“I'm pretty competitive, it's fun to beat friends and co-workers.”

I have a J for 10 points. I'm guessing Tenga is not a word, let's see. Tenga is a word. Oh! As an English as a second language speaker, I like to learn new words.

Crossplay, the first two-player word game from New York Times Games. Download it for free today. From New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford, today's Monday April 6th.

Here's what we're covering.

“We've been speaking to senior administration officials, military officers, and others,”

piecing together the story of how a US Air Force officer trapped behind enemy lines was rescued. Julian Barnes covers US intelligence for the Times. He says when Iran downed a US military jet on Friday, it set off an urgent race for the US to find the crew who had ejected before Iranian forces could.

The pilot was located quickly, but the second airman was missing, raising fears of a potential hostage situation. The airman hiked up a 7,000-foot ridge line, hiding in a mountain trevus. That made him hard for the Iranians to find, but also hard for American rescuers to spot.

“Julian says the CIA launched a deception campaign to try and throw Iran off while both sides kept searching.”

They spread false information that the airman had already been found, that was moving out of the country in a ground convoy. In the hope Iran would shift its focus to the roads.

The CIA ultimately located his hiding spot, brought that information to the Pentagon and White House,

who launched a rescue operation to extract him from Iran. This was a major event of the war and has solidified the will of both sides to fight. The Iranians in that they brought down a fighter jet, the Americans in that they executed a daring operation behind enemy lines. This could have big implications of how this war develops in the days ahead. The plane that was head in F-15E Strike Eagle was the first US fighter jet lost enemy fire in this war.

And for Iran, it's defiant proof that the country still has military capabilities. Meanwhile, President Trump also emerged in boldened from the incident, suggesting about the rescue mission and doubling down on his threats to strike Iran's infrastructure if it doesn't reopen the straight-of-war moves. In a social media post yesterday filled with explodives, Trump warned that Iran would be "living in hell, just watch, praise be to Allah."

He's given Iran until this evening to start letting ships pass through the straight, a deadline he's moved twice before. If it's not met, Trump has promised that attacks on power plants and bridges will start tomorrow. Deliberate strikes on civilian infrastructure would be a violation of international law. In Washington, the Times has uncovered new details about how the Trump administration has turned to a growing list of auto-crats, strongmen, and human rights abusers to help speed up its deportation effort.

I say this unapologetically, we are actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries. At a cabinet meeting last year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio talked about how the administration had come up with a plan for what to do with migrants. It couldn't legally deport back to their home countries for fear of persecution. We are working with other countries to say we want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries. Will you do that as a favor to us? The government's solution has been to cut deals with so-called third party countries to take them.

Under those agreements, the administration has already deported thousands of people. But in going through diplomatic cables, government documents, and interviewing U.S. officials, my colleagues have found that the White House is pushing for more deals at almost any cost. It's offered not just millions of dollars, but also things like easing visa restrictions and tariffs, or even reconsidering a country's placement on U.S. watch lists. Many of the deals have been coming together in Africa. The administration is in talks to send migrants to the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo to countries where government forces have been linked to torture and force disappearances.

The U.S. has already reached deals with the strong man leaders of Cameroon and Rwanda, and with South Sudan, which is teetering on the edge of Civil War.

Still, despite that, some have been sent back.

“Our flight operations team and our science team are ready for the first lunar fly by and more than 50 years.”

Today, NASA's Artemis 2 mission is starting its big swing around the moon. Using the moon's gravity, the plan is for the astronauts to slingshot around the far side of it.

The side you never see from Earth, and parts of which no humans have ever seen with their own eyes.

While they're behind the moon, starting around 7pm Eastern Tonight, they'll be completely cut off from all communications with Earth for about 20 minutes. Since radio waves won't be able to reach them back there. Today, also marks another milestone in the mission.

“The astronauts will reach a distance of 252,760 miles away from Earth, the farthest into space that any human beings have ever gone.”

You can follow live coverage of the Artemis 2 mission in the New York Times app or at nytimes.com.

In Russia, the government has long had a reputation for controlling the internet.

Here are my apps, but if I try to scroll, can't see anything. Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and others all blocked. Here's YouTube, just blinking. It's trying to load. But now, my colleague, Valerie Hopkins, who's been on the ground there, says the Kremlin is tightening its grip even more.

“What they're doing is slowing them down so much that nothing really loads of you don't want to go on them.”

Valerie says, in addition to blocking access to a lot of VPNs and trying to force people to only use a Kremlin approved messaging app, the Russian government is now temporarily cutting off mobile internet entirely in some places. For example, there was a day-long outage in the center of Moscow recently that created havoc. As ride sharing apps went dark, and people had to start paying for things in cash. The Russian government says the new restrictions are all about national security.

But experts say they are more evidence of growing repression in the country. The internet crackdown has spurred widespread public anger, and there have been plans for protests in nearly 30 cities across Russia. But those were all shut down by the authorities before they could happen.

And finally, yay, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West has been trying to mount a comeback after years of anti-Semitic and racist comments.

In Los Angeles, at so-fi stadium last week, he performed his first live show in the U.S. since 2021, tied to the release of his new album called "Bully." But his plan to headline a music festival in London this summer has come under fire. The festival booked him to lead the lineup, but this weekend Pepsi pulled out as a sponsor. And British Prime Minister Kear Starmer said he was deeply concerned by the planned appearance. He said, "Everyone has a responsibility to ensure Britain is a place where Jewish people feel safe."

Over the years, yay has posted statements attacking Jewish people, declared that he is a Nazi, and professed his love for Adolf Hitler. He also wore what appeared to be a black KKK robe in an interview. He has blamed his behavior on mental health issues and a brain injury from a car crash. And earlier this year he issued a public apology, taking out an ad in the Wall Street Journal saying he hoped to be forgiven by "those I've hurt." Still, at least one British politician has said yay should be banned from entering the UK.

Those are the headlines. Today on the daily, how Europe is getting pulled into the war with Iran, even as many of its leaders have tried to stay out. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford, we'll be back tomorrow.