U.S. Vice-Presidential Debate, New Zealand, Vladimir Putin: Your Thursday Briefing
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U.S. Vice-Presidential Debate, New Zealand, Vladimir Putin: Your Thursday Briefing

By Nancy Carrillo

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Good Morning.

We cover that US Vice Presidential Debate, New Zealand second elimination of the coronavirus and the golden age of newsletters.

Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris of California met on Wednesday evening for their only debate on the 2020 US election, which was flanked by controversial Plexiglas barriers. Their encounter was more courteous than the unruly presidential event last week, but the vice-presidential candidates still had intense exchanges on the virus, foreign policy, and health care. Mr Pence tried to reformulate President Trump’s report on the pandemic and other issues, often in disregard of the facts.

Earlier that day, in a video taped outside the White House, Mr. Trump called his coronavirus infection “a blessing from God” and presented the unproven therapeutic drug he received after testing positive last week as a miracle cure. He promised to make the drug available to Americans free of charge, without giving any details.

White House Outbreak: Mr Trump told White House medical staff that he felt “great”. He is symptom-free and, according to his doctor, does not need any additional oxygen. The White House has instructed employees to follow new safety protocols, including surgical masks and protective eye covers.

Last call: For many very old, sick, and frail Americans knowing this is the last time they will attend, this election is an opportunity to vote for their children and grandchildren – one final heartfelt, empowering act as American citizens.

Two months ago, New Zealand celebrated 100 days of no coronavirus spreading to the community – until a major new outbreak forced a withdrawal. Now, after a second round of lockdowns, the country hopes it has suppressed the virus for good.

On Wednesday, the country lifted recent restrictions in Auckland, its largest city, after 10 days with no new cases linked to a cluster that surfaced there in August. People no longer have to wear masks in public, but continue to keep records of the places they visit, maintain good hygiene, and stay home and get tested for the virus if they feel unwell. The border remains closed to almost all foreign travelers.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who faces an October 17 election, said there was a 95 percent chance New Zealand had eliminated local transmission of the virus.

The strategy: Ms. Ardern called it the “go hard and go early” approach, which combines lockdown measures with a flash of testing, contact tracing and quarantine.

Here are our latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other virus developments:

  • The World Bank warned on Wednesday that the pandemic could drive more than 100 million people into extreme poverty this year, raising the global poverty rate for the first time in more than two decades.

  • More than 40 percent of patients in intensive care units in the Paris region suffer from Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. They warned that local hospitals are coming under increasing pressure due to the influx of new cases.

  • Scotland will continue to tighten restrictions on its hospitality sector, closing pubs and canceling events around Glasgow to avoid a second lockdown.

  • The German governors agreed on Wednesday to prevent domestic travelers from booking rooms at hotels or resorts if they came from a virus hotspot unless they can present a negative test result.

Simultaneous crises across Eastern Europe and Central Asia are destabilizing the longstanding regional influence of Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as his carefully curated image of a master tactician on the world stage. Once considered safe in foreign affairs, he seems to have lost touch.

“There is nothing good about these conflicts for Moscow,” said Konstantin Zatulin, a senior Russian lawmaker and Putin ally who specializes in relations with what Russians refer to as “near abroad.”

The flood of new challenges to Russian influence in countries like Belarus and Kyrgyzstan threatens Putin’s years of efforts to identify himself as the leader restoring the great power status lost with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Even when the Kremlin denied Russia’s interference in the 2016 American presidential election, state television gleefully reported the American allegations as a sign that Moscow was being reckoned on the world stage.

Nobel: The Chemistry Prize was given to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna for their work on developing the Crispr tool, a method for altering the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms. It was the first time that two women had been awarded a Nobel Prize in Science.

Islamic State: Two UK detainees – half of a team of four referred to by some of their victims as the “Beatles” – were brought to the US on Wednesday on charges of imprisonment and a role in the torture and beheading of Played dozens of western hostages, including journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

Snapshot: Above, Greek riot police clashed with protesters in Athens on Wednesday after a court found the neo-fascist Golden Dawn party guilty of leading a criminal organization systematically targeting migrants and left-wing critics during the financial crisis.

Lived life: Unabashedly elitist British journalist Peregrine Worsthorne, an ultra-conservative newspaper editor, contrarian columnist and defender of empire and aristocracy, died on Sunday at the age of 96.

What we read: This Anchorage Daily News article about the 2020 Fat Bear contest winner. His name is 747, and we rooted for him all along, writes Carole Landry of the Briefings Team.

Cook: Tunisian shrimp shakshuka is poached eggs in a light, peppery tomato sauce. It is a staple of Tunisian home cooking.

Listen: Eddie Van Halen, the rock guitarist who died on Tuesday, was also a gifted songwriter. Here are 12 of his greatest songs.

To do: Have you been exercising more or less since the pandemic started? A new study in the UK found that some people appear to be doing the same or more exercise than before, and a high percentage of these particularly active people are over 65 years of age.

With our collection of home ideas on what to read, cook, see and do while staying safe at home, it’s easier to catch up on the latest trends.

If your inbox is cluttered with analytics, briefings, and carefully curated personal messages, you will be forgiven for reaching the highest newsletter.

During the pandemic, more than 30,000 journalists were laid off, on leave, or their salaries were lowered. Many have since found their niche with Substack, a newsletter service that allows individuals to create and send out newsletters. The most successful of them – like Sinocism from China expert Bill Bishop or Popular Information from liberal political writer Judd Legum – earn their authors six-figure salaries.

But as writer Michael Waters examines this Wired story, journalists have long since fled the constraints of traditional media in order to gain the unrestricted freedom of their own newsletters.

“In the 1930s, as now, the switch to newsletters arose amid a crisis of confidence in the newspaper industry and was made possible by the spread of new technologies,” he writes. “Now ordinary people could become their own publishers for a one-time cost of as little as $ 50 to $ 100 – that’s roughly the equivalent of $ 500 to $ 1,000 in today’s dollars.”

And it wasn’t just journalists. In the 1970s, conservative activists like Ayn Rand and Phyllis Schlafly produced their own successful magazines. More recently, writers like Daniel M. Lavery, who writes The Shatner Chatner, or essayist Charlotte Lane of cult hit Prostitute Laundry have used the format to tell stories you would never find on a broadsheet.

In any case, the content is on behalf of the author and those who are willing to pay for it. “It’s mostly personal journalism – a place where the individual can be their own boss without worrying about advertisers or money-managing publishers,” a newsletter editor said in 1979. “Some of us call it the fourth and a half Estate.” ”

Thank you for starting your morning with The Times.

– Natasha

Thank you very much
To Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the break from the news. You can reach the team at [email protected].

PS
• We listen to “The Daily”. Our latest episode is about the state of the coronavirus in the United States
• Here is our mini crossword puzzle and a hint: “Seed of an Idea” (four letters). You can find all of our puzzles here.
• According to the Twitter bot @NYT_first_said, the word “rebunkering” first appeared in the Times on Wednesday.
• Genevieve Ko, the Los Angeles Times Cooking Editor, is joining the New York Times Grocery Department as Senior Editor and the NYT Cooking team.

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