| We’re covering a planned House vote on the impeachment process, the California wildfires and the first World Series title for the Washington Nationals. | |  By Claire Moses | | | The vote today is on a resolution that would set rules for the public phase of an inquiry that has begun behind closed doors. Although not a formal vote to open impeachment proceedings, it is all but certain to be seen as a test of approval for the process. Here’s what to expect. | | | Democrats who long resisted a formal floor vote on the impeachment inquiry are now solidly behind the idea. The turnabout reflects their growing confidence that the public supports their fact-finding mission on President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. | | | Yesterday: Impeachment investigators summoned John Bolton, the former national security adviser, and two White House lawyers to testify next week. Mr. Bolton, who left the White House in September, was said to have been deeply alarmed about the efforts to pressure Ukraine, but his lawyer said he was “not willing to appear voluntarily.” | | | The last home of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, now a pile of rubble, was in an unlikely part of Syria near the Turkish border. Omar Haj Kadour/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images | | | The rival group kept his secret, but Mr. al-Baghdadi was betrayed by one of the few people he trusted, two American officials said, leading to his death in a Special Forces raid. | | | Background: The informer’s identity remains a secret. But one individual with knowledge of the events described him as “a very, very close, trusted confidant” of the ISIS leader. | | | The details: Six other people were killed in the compound, the Pentagon said, in addition to Mr. al-Baghdadi and the children he took with him when he detonated a suicide vest. American forces recovered laptops, cellphones and thumb drives that could provide a window into the organization. | | | Fire crews working to contain the Easy fire in Simi Valley, Calif., on Wednesday. Kyle Grillot for The New York Times | | | Gusts above 70 miles per hour sent burning embers through the air, igniting new blazes. Thousands of people have been forced to flee. | | | Background: With multiple fires, weather forecasts increased a sense of foreboding: Predictions indicated some of the strongest winds in a decade. | | | The Federal Reserve is hoping that cutting interest rates — which it did yesterday for the third time this year — will help the U.S. economy stay safely at cruising altitude. But few economists expect the housing market to take off. | | | When the central bank cuts interest rates, houses are meant to become more attractive to buy (because mortgages are cheaper) and to build (because those cheaper mortgages increase demand). | | | But interest rates don’t matter if no one will give you a loan. And even those who can get a mortgage often have trouble finding a house they can afford. | | | Related: The continuing strength of the labor market has been a remarkable economic achievement. But many workers say they cannot find jobs that provide a steady middle-class income. | | | Atul Loke for The New York Times | | | Thirteen weeks after India unilaterally revoked the autonomy of the part of Kashmir it controls, education is one of the biggest casualties of the crisis. Almost all private schools are closed, as are most government schools. At least 1.5 million students are affected. | | | The Indian government wants students to return, but parents say they are terrified of sending their children out with soldiers and militants on the streets. “What if the school or a bus carrying children is attacked?” a worried father asked. “What if there are protests and their faces get shot by pellets?” | | | PAID POST: A MESSAGE FROM CAMPAIGN MONITOR | | Email Marketing 102: Work smarter, not harder. | | Working smarter means running beautiful, results-driven email marketing campaigns–without sacrificing any bandwidth along the way. And with Campaign Monitor, you'll have access to a drag-and-drop email builder, a gallery of templates, and personalized customer journeys–all the tools you need to replace ‘harder’ with smarter'. | | | Learn More | | | | Online advertising: Twitter plans to ban all political ads, its chief executive said, a contrast to Facebook’s policy of not policing candidates’ speech. | | | Automakers team up: Fiat Chrysler and PSA, the maker of Peugeot, announced a merger deal that would create one of the world’s largest carmakers. | | | Lower reading scores: Two of three American children in a national test of fourth and eighth graders did not meet standards for reading proficiency. | | | Train fire in Pakistan: At least 65 people were killed when a cooking stove exploded inside a passenger car, officials said. Witnesses said some passengers jumped from the train while it was still moving. | | | Epstein’s death questioned: A forensic pathologist hired by Jeffrey Epstein’s brother disputed the official finding of the autopsy, saying it “points to homicide rather than suicide.” | | | Erik Williams/USA Today Sports, via Reuters | | | Late-night comedy: “You don’t have to go all the way to Ukraine to get embarrassing tape of Joe Biden,” Stephen Colbert said. “Turn on a camera — he delivers.” | | | What we’re listening to: The podcast “Dolly Parton’s America,” from WNYC Studios. “I’ve only listened to the first episode,” Dan Saltzstein, senior editor for Special Projects, writes, “but it’s already grabbed me in a deep way. Dolly is a national treasure, and also a brilliant prism through which to see where we are as a country and where we’ve been.” | | | Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott for The New York Times. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks. | | | Watch: In its final season, “Silicon Valley” asks big questions: Can good and greed coexist? Does money ruin everything? And how much does that matter, if we’re talking billions? | | | Listen: The soprano Julia Bullock, who brought “Zauberland” to Lincoln Center this week, is “moving the whole art form into a new relevance,” the director Peter Sellars says. | | | Smarter Living: Wedding thank-you notes do not need to be a chore. Etiquette experts suggest spouses share the writing, and complete them within two months of the wedding. But writing them as gifts arrive captures more gratitude. | | | For more than 3,000 years, archaeologists believed, Arab treasuries were filled with profits from pearls of the Persian Gulf. | | | But now we know Gulf pearl-diving goes back even further. A pearl uncovered near Abu Dhabi in 2017 was carbon-dated back 8,000 years. It’s faintly pink, and it’s being shown in an exhibition that opened this week at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. | | | An 8,000-year-old pearl, unearthed off the coast of Abu Dhabi in 2017. Abu Dhabi Department of Culture, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images | | | By the 1800s, the small supply of pearls, large demand and astronomical prices led to a search for ways to cultivate them in live oysters. | | | Don’t cry for Arab treasuries, though. The 1920s was also roughly when their oil money started coming in. | | | That’s it for this briefing. Happy Halloween, if that’s your thing. See you next time. | | Thank you
Melina Delkic helped compile today’s briefing. Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford provided the break from the news. Victoria Shannon of the briefings team wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach us at briefing@nytimes.com. | | | Were you sent this briefing by a friend? Sign up here to get the Morning Briefing. | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment