The Downfall of Trump’s Ambassador to Greece, and the Pope’s Cancer Diagnosis

From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracey Mumford. Today is Wednesday, October 14th. Here's what we're covering. To start, two updates on the Trump administration. One arrival and one departure. First. Good morning. Katie Zachariah held her first briefing yesterday as the new White House press secretary. I want to thank President Trump for his trust that he has placed in me. I have wanted to work for him for a very long time. The conservative commentator who used to appear on Fox News and Newsmax is taking over for Caroline Leavitt, who left the job this summer. This is a president, an administration that is looking out for you, the American people, and I'm thrilled to officially be part of this incredible journey. And with that, I will take your questions. Zachariah spent most of her time yesterday reading from a script and only called on three reporters, from Fox News, The Daily Mail, and Breitbart. Has the U.S. stopped sharing intel with Ukraine? I'll have to get back to you on that. In all, the whole thing was very short, just 14 minutes, during which Zachariah said the president was his own best spokesperson, and that reporters could ask him their questions directly. Since Zachariah was announced as press secretary, there have been questions about her background. Trump has called her an attorney. She identifies herself as a lawyer and has a law degree. But when The Times asked which state she had passed the bar exam in, she replied, quote, When I moved to China. Asked later for clarification, White House officials would not say whether or where she'd passed the bar. Now, when it comes to the departure from the administration, We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well. Zachariah did break one piece of news in her first briefing, announcing that Trump had effectively fired Kimberly Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece. Guilfoyle's resignation comes after a string of damaging reports, including one from The Wall Street Journal that she had asked a Republican donor to pay off her $100,000 credit card bill last summer, right before she was confirmed by the Senate. According to messages the donor provided to The Times, Guilfoyle asked him, quote, Honey, please, I need you to get this done for me today, and promised that she would serve as his ride-or-die in Trump world if he sent her the money. The Journal also reported on her potential conflicts of interest over energy deals. Yesterday, President Trump said, quote, She was doing a good job, but we didn't like what we were reading. He also tried to downplay his connection to Guilfoyle, who is a former Fox News host and former prosecutor. Trump nominated her as one of his first ambassadors when he returned to office, and she was once engaged to his son, Donald Trump Jr. But the president said, quote, During her brief time as ambassador in Greece, Guilfoyle made a splash, appearing on the cover of Vogue Greece, joking with the Greek president that she was there to find a new husband, and staying out late at Athens nightclubs, as she said her active social life showed her commitment to the job. In a social media post confirming her resignation, Guilfoyle wrote that she plans to, quote, Vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity. At the Vatican, officials announced that Pope Leo has been diagnosed with lung cancer after surgeons removed a lower lobe of his right lung. The official diagnosis is lung adenocarcinoma, a common form of the disease. The Vatican declined to comment on whether Leo was ever a smoker. But according to one medical expert the Times spoke with, the information the Vatican has released so far seems to indicate its early stage, which is typically treated with surgery and tends to have a very high survival rate. Di recente, durante. alcuni controlli, i medici mi hanno trovato un nodulo circoscritto al polmone. The Pope, who is 71, had announced on Sunday he was about to have the surgery, sharing the news with thousands of people who had gathered in St. Peter's Square to hear his weekly prayer. He said at that point doctors had identified a small growth in his lung. His cancer diagnosis raises questions about how he'll handle his demanding role moving forward, leading the world's. 1.4 billion Catholics. He just recently traveled to Spain and France, and for now he has said he will keep his plan to travel to Latin America next month. At Cornell University, administrators have now banned frat parties for the rest of the school year and say they will add experienced sexual assault investigators to work with the campus police force. The updates come. as the university is trying to reassure students, faculty, and alumni that it is addressing the concerns highlighted in a student's recent lawsuit in which she said she was raped by multiple frat brothers in the fall of 2024. At the time, the local prosecutor did not bring charges, but the case has since been reopened after she sued the school and seven men she accused of being involved, all of whom have denied wrongdoing. The president of Cornell said in a letter announcing the changes that. "We must meet this moment by acknowledging where we have fallen short." In an interview with The Times, the president said he was personally sorry for how the university handled the accusations. He said he'd learned about Jane Doe's allegations when she first came forward, but in the months after, he did not follow up with her or know that she ended up withdrawing from the school. He also didn't seek to find out what happened with the case or whether any of the accused men had been punished. In France this week, business leaders say hackers carried out an unprecedented cyber attack that targeted systems many people may not even realize are connected to the internet. Supermarket refrigerators. The attack hit more than 400 grocery stores across the country, which had been using software that allowed the supermarkets to remotely control the fridges. A French television network reported that the hackers had been using software that allowed the supermarkets to remotely control the fridges. A French television network reported that the hackers took over those systems, and in some cases, jacked up the temperatures to more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit, forcing workers to throw out tons of fresh and frozen food. In a radio interview, one executive of a French supermarket chain said he'd never seen anything like it, calling it an attack on the country's food supply. "Dans un petit magasin, c'est quelques dizaines de milliers d'euros, et effectivement, dans un hypermarché, c'est quelques dizaines de milliers d'euros." The executive said the costs could be huge, explaining that a failing refrigeration system could put a small grocery store out tens of thousands of dollars, and for a big one, he said the losses could reach more than $200,000. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, and prosecutors in Paris say they're working to identify the culprits and establish the full extent of the damage. Finally, it is apple season, and everybody's got an opinion. Maybe you're team Honeycrisp, or a pink lady lover. Or maybe, somehow, you're out there defending Red Delicious. Whatever your pick, chances are you've only ever tasted a fraction of what's actually out there. "The apple is red on the inside. That's crazy. This is called a mountain rose apple." "Mountain rose apple." "What?" That's because in the U.S. today, just five varieties, the usual suspects, account for more than half of the apple production in the United States. for more than half of the apple production headed for grocery store shelves, according to an industry group. But 100-plus years ago, the USDA cataloged something like 14,000 varieties that had been growing in the country. I got two heritage apples. This one's an Esspitzberg, and this one's an Ashmietz Kernel. And recently, some of these heirloom apple varieties have been making a comeback. This apple is called the Cornish Gillyflower, and it's known for rich, sweet, sharp, perfumed flavors with honeyed and floral nuances. Orchards in Connecticut, Wisconsin, Vermont, and elsewhere are planting Ribston Pippins and Black Oxfords, the first being a juicy variety Charles Dickens apparently liked, the second, a 1700s specimen with deep purple skin that apparently makes beautiful applesauce. Just a side note here, they really knew how to name an apple back in the day. Who doesn't want a Hubbardston Nonesuch? These varieties are making a comeback thanks to 50 years of work by apple detectives around the country who pored over old property maps, vintage nursery catalogs, and county fair records, all in a quest to identify antique apples and prevent them from disappearing. One thing to know, if you are interested in antique apples, their looks are decidedly more homely than the pristine, or if you are more interested in the taste. But what they lack in beauty, they often make up for in taste. mixing in a hint of clove or champagne. Consider the knobbed russet, for example, a rare British heirloom variety. As one orchard manager in Vermont told The Times, it might look a little bit like a shrunken head, but her son thinks it tastes like banana bread. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, behind the scenes of President Trump's decision to strike a deal with Russia over diesel. And what it says about this administration's approach to Russia's war in Ukraine. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you are not a Times subscriber yet, you can get a full month of free access to all of the journalism we publish when you download the Times app now. I'm Tracey Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.