Thursday, Oct 17, 2019 | View in browser

Good morning.

We’re covering an extraordinary day in Washington, today’s testimony by a key figure in the U.S. influence campaign in Ukraine, and an agreement in the Brexit negotiations.

By Chris Stanford

Breaking

Representative Elijah Cummings, one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress and a key figure in the impeachment investigation of President Trump, has died. He was 68.

President Trump faced a bipartisan backlash on Wednesday, the 1,000th day of his presidency. T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times

U.S. to pressure Turkey on cease-fire

A group led by Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today in an effort to persuade him to end the military incursion in Syria.

The meeting comes a day after President Trump said the conflict “has nothing to do with us” and the House voted 354 to 60 to condemn his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Kurdish-controlled Syria.

Mr. Trump also held a combative meeting with Democratic leaders in which he called Speaker Nancy Pelosi a “third-rate” (or “third-grade,” depending on the account) politician.

Related: The president again denied giving Mr. Erdogan a green light for the incursion, citing a letter in which he told the Turkish leader: “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!”

Another angle: Our correspondent in Istanbul reports that, despite global criticism, Mr. Erdogan is close to fulfilling one of his most important foreign policy goals: “Breaking the stranglehold of a hostile Kurdish militia on a vast stretch of the border, and the fracturing of the United States’ alliance with a group that Mr. Erdogan considers an existential threat to the Turkish state.”

The Daily: Today’s episode is about the effects of the U.S. withdrawal.

Blockade of impeachment inquiry crumbles

Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, is scheduled to speak with House investigators today, the latest in a parade of Trump administration officials to defy White House orders not to cooperate.

Mr. Sondland is expected to testify that President Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate political rivals before he would agree to any Oval Office meeting. Such testimony would bolster the inquiry’s central allegation.

Background: Mr. Sondland is a wealthy Republican donor who became an ambassador. A former White House foreign policy aide told investigators this week that she viewed Mr. Sondland as a potential national security risk because of his inexperience.

Yesterday: Michael McKinley told Congress that he resigned as a top aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after becoming frustrated by the sidelining of career diplomats on Ukraine policy.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain, center, in Parliament this week. Pool photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas

A breakthrough on Brexit

Britain and the European Union agreed on the draft text of a withdrawal agreement today, a step forward in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s effort to settle his country’s yearslong debate over its departure from the bloc.

The deal must still be approved by Europe’s leaders and, most crucially, by Britain’s Parliament. The support of the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, which was seen as vital to the passage of the agreement, was not assured.

What’s next: Mr. Johnson said that Parliament would be clear to vote on the agreement on Saturday.

Drug giants close in on opioid settlement

Three major drug distributors and two manufacturers would pay nearly $50 billion in cash and addiction treatments to resolve thousands of opioid cases under the terms of a yet-to-be-finalized agreement. People familiar with the negotiations described the deal to The Times.

The agreement with multiple states hasn’t been fully approved by cities and counties that are also party to more than 2,300 lawsuits.

What’s next: The parties are working to complete a deal by Monday, when the first federal trial to determine responsibility for the opioid epidemic is scheduled to begin.

Go deeper: Fentanyl is quickly becoming America’s deadliest drug. The Times Magazine tells how one Drug Enforcement Administration agent cracked a global fentanyl ring.

If you have 10 minutes, this is worth it

The changing trade of a private eye

Jose R. Lopez/The New York Times

In 1995, when The Times first profiled Marie Schembri, a New York-based investigator, the industry was still a boys’ club that clung to noir stereotypes, and most of her clients were men.

Now, her referrals skew more toward blossoming relationships. She’s pictured above in 1995, in disguises that are now rarely used.

Here’s what else is happening

Chicago strike: Classes are canceled today for about 300,000 students after teachers in the nation’s third-largest school system went on strike.

General Motors deal: The automaker and its union reached a tentative agreement that could end the longest walkout at the company in half a century.

Grieving Britons stunned: President Trump offered to introduce the parents of a British teenager killed in a car crash to the American woman they want to hold accountable for his death. She was in a nearby room.

Closing Rikers Island: The New York City Council is expected to approve an $8 billion plan today that would shut down the notorious correctional facility and remake the jail system by 2026.

Yongqing Bao/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Snapshot: Above, a Tibetan fox hunting a marmot in the Qilian Mountains in China. The image won the wildlife photographer of the year award at the Natural History Museum in London, which said it captured the “humor and horror” of nature. The marmot did not survive the encounter.

52 Places traveler: In his latest dispatch, our columnist fulfills a dream of visiting Dakar, the Senegalese capital, and reaffirms his belief that “low season” is a state of mind.

Late-night comedy: After Hunter Biden acknowledged that his family ties had probably helped his business interests, Trevor Noah said: “The only reason I got to where I am today is probably because my great-great-grandfather built the ark.”

What we’re listening to: This episode of the podcast “The Cut on Tuesdays,” about a late-night Lyft ride that went horribly wrong. “Our lives feel more convenient and polished with apps like Uber, Lyft and Seamless,” writes Jenna Wortham, co-host of our “Still Processing” podcast. “But they can also make us susceptible to harm in more ways than we can imagine.”

Now, a break from the news

Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich.

Cook: Make burritos in the style of San Francisco’s Mission District.

Listen: The actresses Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, from “The Office,” are rewatching every episode of the show for a new podcast.

Watch: She’s creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky. And with a new animated film about her family in theaters, we looked at portrayals of Wednesday Addams over the years.

Read: “Letters From an Astrophysicist,” a collection of letters by Neil deGrasse Tyson, is new this week on our hardcover nonfiction and combined print and e-book nonfiction best-seller lists.

Smarter Living: Cancer treatments have advanced, but many have physical costs. Guidelines published this week suggest a little exercise — brisk walks and moderate weight lifting — can help. Exercising during and after treatment is associated with longer life spans, researchers found, and also seems to decrease anxiety and depression.

And we have five tips for living as a digital nomad.

And now for the Back Story on …

North Korea’s media arm

The Korean Central News Agency is North Korea’s media producer, controller and disseminator.

One of its main roles is letting the country’s 25 million people know exactly what the totalitarian leadership wants them to.

It portrays the North as powerful, well regarded and prosperous, while insulting and threatening perceived enemies in sometimes bizarre wording involving boiled pumpkins and seas of fire.

And it showcases no end of heroic images of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, like the one of him on horseback released on Wednesday.

According to the state news media, Mr. Kim's eyes "were full of noble glitters" as he rode up Mount Baekdu, considered the mythical birthplace of Koreans. Korean Central News Agency

KCNA was founded in 1946, the year after Korea was divided along the 38th parallel at the end of World War II. U.S. forces occupied what became South Korea, and Soviet forces moved into what became the North.

The Soviet propaganda machine, well practiced at lionizing Stalin, polished up the image of the leader installed in the North: Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of Kim Jong-un.

KCNA followed the model and has been instrumental in creating a cult of personality around the Kim dynasty leaders.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Chris

Thank you
Melina Delkic helped compile today’s briefing. Mark Josephson, Eleanor Stanford and Chris Harcum provided the break from the news. Andrea Kannapell, the briefings editor, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Today’s episode is about the situation in Syria.
• Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Woman “with the good hair” on Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” (five letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• “I actually hate the word content,” A.G. Sulzberger, The Times’s publisher, said in a profile in Time magazine. “What we do is journalism.”