Deported asylum applicants — As a federal judge heard arguments Thursday seeking to halt the deportations of several Central American women requesting asylum, he learned that a woman and her daughter at the center of the case had been put on a plane to El Salvador. The judge ordered the government to bring the two back immediately. The judge, Emmet Sullivan of the District of Columbia, criticized the government for deporting the pair just as they were seeking justice in court. He threatened to hold government officials, from Attorney General Jeff Sessions on down, in contempt, said a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

Military force in space — Vice President Mike Pence promoted a proposed Space Command on Thursday as “an idea whose time has come” in comments at the Pentagon to unveil a few more details about President Donald Trump’s plan to create another military force, this one for outer space, and for it to be in operation by 2020. Trump’s space dreams still have to go through a divided Congress to come true, but initially reluctant Pentagon officials have lined up behind the proposal. Pence called for Congress to allocate an additional $8 billion for space security systems over the next five years.

New Mexico child abuse — Investigators in New Mexico on Thursday continued to look into whether five adults, including a Georgia man whose father runs a mosque in New York City, had been mistreating a group of children living with them in a rural compound in the desert north of Taos, possibly training them to carry out school shootings. The imam at the Masjid at-Taqwa, Siraj Wahhaj, said Thursday that the decomposing body of a child found at the compound had been identified as his grandson. The iman’s son, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 40, and four of his relatives were charged with child abuse this week.

War on Andrew Cuomo — When the National Rifle Association brought its Carry Guard insurance program to New York last year, it marketed it as the solution to a pressing concern: legal fees that could arise from firing a weapon in self-defense. It is now the latest fodder in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s long-running clash with the NRA, as he seeks to ban Carry Guard not only in New York but across the nation. The gun-rights group has sued New York state, arguing that if Cuomo prevails, the NRA could be left “unable to exist.” That lamentation created a political opportunity — and Cuomo seized it, going on the morning news shows and using campaign ads to make his case.

Kansas governor primary — The Republican primary for governor in Kansas was already too close to call, with just 191 votes separating Gov. Jeff Colyer from the first-place candidate, Kris Kobach. But a discrepancy emerged Thursday that reduced Kobach’s lead by 100 votes, demonstrating how in flux the race remains as mail-in ballots continue to arrive and as the state’s counties prepare to review thousands of provisional ballots. Officials in rural Thomas County noticed the state had recorded 422 votes for Colyer when he had actually received 522. The change moved him within 91 votes of Kobach in the statewide tally.

Manafort trial — After three days of dramatic and sometimes salacious testimony in the trial of Paul Manafort, prosecutors returned to the nuts and bolts of their case against the former Trump campaign chairman as they sought to show he obtained millions of dollars in bank loans under false pretenses. Attorneys for special counsel Robert Mueller also got a rare, and narrow, acknowledgment from U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III that he likely erred when he angrily confronted them a day earlier over whether he had allowed a witness to watch the trial. The judge’s comments and testimony about Manafort’s loans came Thursday, during the eighth day of his trial, as prosecutors began presenting the bulk of their bank fraud case after spending days largely on tax evasion allegations. Prosecutors say they expect to rest their case Friday.

A scorching 2018 — This summer of fire and swelter looks a lot like the future that scientists have been warning about in the era of climate change, and it is revealing in real time how unprepared much of the world remains for life on a hotter planet. The disruptions to everyday life have been devastating. In California, firefighters are racing to control what has become the largest fire in state history. Harvests of staple grains like wheat and corn are expected to dip this year, in some cases sharply, in countries as different as Sweden and El Salvador.

NATO deal — Senior U.S. national security officials, seeking to prevent President Donald Trump from upending a formal policy agreement at last month’s NATO meeting, pushed the military alliance’s ambassadors to complete it before the forum even began. The work to preserve the North Atlantic Treaty Organization agreement came just weeks after Trump refused to sign off on a communique from the June meeting of the Group of 7 in Canada.

Abortion bill in Argentina — They narrowly lost the vote. But as supporters of a bill to legalize abortion in Argentina began to shake off a stinging defeat in the Senate on Thursday, they took consolation in having galvanized a reproductive-rights movement across Latin America and began to consider how to redirect their activism. A coalition of young female lawmakers who stunned the political establishment by putting abortion rights at the top of the legislative agenda this year seemed to be on the verge of a historic victory.

North and South Korea discussions — Senior officials from North and South Korea will meet next week to discuss the possibility of a third summit between their countries’ leaders, the South said Thursday. The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, and President Moon Jae-in of the South have already met twice this year. South Korean officials have recently expressed interest in holding a third meeting soon, in hopes of breaking an impasse between North Korea and the United States over the dismantling of the North’s nuclear arms program. Moon has accepted an invitation from Kim to visit Pyongyang in the fall. But no date has been set.