The Evening: Record Homelessness in the U.S.

Plus, how to get fitter in 2025.

The number of people experiencing homelessness topped 770,000, an increase of more than 18 percent over last year and the largest annual increase since the count began in 2007, the federal government reported today.

Nearly every category of unhoused people grew, with the rise especially steep among children and people in families. The report listed the national housing crisis and the end of pandemic-era supports as reasons, but federal officials told reporters that asylum-seeking migrants had overwhelmed the shelter systems and made for much of the increase.

Veterans were the lone group among whom homelessness declined last year, and the number of homeless veterans is down more than half since 2009. That trend has been driven by bipartisan support for services and housing that is at odds with the rancor of the broader homelessness debate.

The new numbers may widen that partisan divide. Democrats often blame soaring housing costs, flagging government rental subsidies and extremes in economic inequality, and tend to support an expanded safety net.

Many Republicans blame liberal permissiveness and want to require unhoused people to seek aid for mental illness or substance abuse as a condition of receiving aid. President-elect Donald Trump has called for clearing cities of encampments and placing unhoused people into camps.

The E.P.A. promotes fertilizer it was warned was toxic

The Environmental Protection Agency has continued to encourage the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer, even though it was told that it contained high levels of toxic “forever chemicals,” a Times investigation found.

In 2000, scientists at the chemicals giant 3M discovered high levels of PFAS — the virtually indestructible chemicals used in nonstick pans, stain-resistant carpets and many other products — in the nation’s sewage. 3M never published its research, but shared its findings with the E.P.A. in 2003, according to documents reviewed by The Times.

Today, the E.P.A. still promotes the use of sludge as fertilizer. It doesn’t require testing for PFAS, despite the fact that whistle-blowers, academics, state officials and the agency’s internal studies over the years have also raised contamination concerns.

South Korea impeached its acting president

Less than two weeks after the nation impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol for briefly declaring martial law, lawmakers voted to impeach the acting president. The news rattled the economy and sent South Korea’s currency, the won, plunging.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was impeached by opposition lawmakers after he refused to appoint three judges to fill vacancies in the Constitutional Court, which will be deciding whether to reinstate or formally remove Yoon. The lawmakers described Han’s refusal as a delaying tactic.

What a century of human stuff looks like

It took roughly four billion years for the first protozoa to grow into the 1.1 trillion tons of biomass that inhabit Earth today. It took us about a hundred years to make enough roads, skyscrapers, cars, cellphones, bricks, plastic bottles, bobblehead dolls and whatever else to outweigh everything living on Earth.

That’s the main conclusion from a meticulous global inventory of stuff, compiled in 2018 by a geophysicist and his colleagues. A physicist and a graphic artist recently turned their inventory into helpful visual aids. Take a look (they don’t weigh much).

More top news

• Gaza: The Israeli military forced patients and staff members to leave one of the last functioning hospitals in the Palestinian enclave’s north.
• Iran: Cecilia Sala, a prominent Italian journalist who had been reporting from Tehran, was arrested and jailed in the infamous Evin prison.
• Health: Bird flu samples from a very ill patient had “concerning” mutations, but there is no sign that they are widespread in nature.
• Africa: Many of the continent’s leaders are optimistic that Trump’s return to the White House will bring more investment and less pressure to uphold democracy.
• Finance: Everyone from JPMorgan’s chief executive to the International Monetary Fund has been ringing alarms about the shadowy world of private credit.

• Media: Republicans have tried to defund NPR and PBS for decades. Now Elon Musk is gunning for them.
• Cuba: The island is in its worst economic crisis since Fidel Castro took power 66 years ago.
• New York: A video released by the state attorney general shows prison officers fatally assaulting an inmate at the Marcy Correctional Facility.

TIME TO UNWIND

Are your eyes sharper than A.I. tricks?

Artificial intelligence can fabricate entire videos and photos, and those can be hard enough to spot. But now A.I. can also make minute but important alterations in genuine still and moving images, further blurring the lines between real and fake.

Think you can’t be fooled? In this quiz, we’ve taken photographs shot by Times reporters and edited them with A.I. tools. Your job: Point to the part of the photograph that is A.I.-generated.

Related: OpenAI said it would be restructured as a for-profit corporation. The nonprofit that controls the organization would receive shares in the new company.

Twelve ways to get fitter in 2025

At its core, the secret to a healthy fitness routine is simple: Find ways to move. There are limitless options, but the best exercise is whatever you enjoy enough to keep doing it.

Here is a selection of our favorite workouts from the year, whether you’re looking to get your butt in shape or to boost your mood. Let’s start simple, with a walk.

Your holiday traditions

We asked readers about the traditions they are most looking forward to this year. We’re featuring their responses this week.

Every year my mom and I spend a day baking over 10 different kinds of treats from recipes passed down in our family. We assemble boxes and deliver them to our neighbors. It’s a tradition we’ve done since I was a kid with my grandmother and will pass on to the next generations. — Tess Murphy, San Francisco

Also: Tell us about your New Year’s resolutions.

Dinner table topics

• Judged by its cover: Elaborately designed books with patterned edges and other effects are spreading throughout the publishing industry.
• But you can’t hide: She had an affair with a married man and ran a marathon to purge her sins. It didn’t work.
• Put a ring on it: The bald eagle has long been the official emblem of the United States. A new law finally made it the national bird.
• Last call: The sun may be setting on craft beers. More breweries closed this year than opened.

WHAT TO DO TONIGHT

Cook: Pai huang gua, a Chinese dish of smashed cucumbers with sesame oil and garlic, can beat hot weather and hot food.

Plan: Is a safari on your bucket list? Make sure you pick the right one.

Resolve: If you’re planning to quit drinking in 2025, or make other health changes, we can help.

Watch: Here are seven new movies our critics are talking about this week.

Protect: Flooded homeowners face a hard choice: Raise or raze?

Download: Don’t miss these five small but mighty video games.

Play: Today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. For more, find all our games here.

ONE LAST THING

Celebrating the holidays very, very far from home

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore left Earth in June on what was supposed to be an eight-day trip. On Wednesday — about six months and several spacecraft malfunctions later — they donned Santa Claus hats and wished their families the best from 250 miles up. They held a zero-gravity cookie-decorating contest and built a reindeer from storage bags. Their tenure is likely to keep them in Earth’s orbit for at least two more months.

Have a stellar evening.

Thanks for reading. Jonathan Wolfe will be writing on Monday. — Justin

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