Your Wednesday Briefing – The New York Instances

Europe is trying to avoid major lockdowns

With coronavirus cases rising across the continent, European countries have sought targeted closings and travel restrictions to avoid the large-scale lockdowns that crippled economies this spring. Members of the European Union will now use a color-coded system to indicate the extent of the outbreaks: green at the lower end of the risk, orange in the middle and red at the high end.

However, the measures are not mandatory and individual EU countries wanted to reserve the right to take unilateral action, including tightening restrictions or changing the risk category for regions based on their own assessments.

Developments came amid a spate of tightened policies and clear warnings from national leaders, including a four-week partial lockdown in the Netherlands and school closings in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Italy announced Tuesday that it would ban parties and recommended that indoor gatherings be limited to six people.

In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has brushed aside the advice of an influential group of scholars to temporarily block the economy in an attempt to halt a surge in new cases.

The battle at the US Supreme Court is going to be hot

On the second day of her Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Judge Amy Coney Barrett refused to undertake to withdraw from litigation in the November 3 election after being questioned by the deeply divided Senate Judiciary Committee.

Judge Barrett insisted that she could be trusted to act as a fair arbitrator on all matters before the court and said she would not allow me to be used as a farmer to decide this election for the American people. Follow our live briefing.

Here are some of the notable moments of the day:

• Judge Barrett declined to portray the Democrats as a right-wing activist chosen to undermine certain issues: “Judges can’t just wake up one day and say, ‘I have an agenda – I like guns, I hate guns, I like abortion ‘I hate abortion’ and go in like a royal queen and do her will on the world. ‘

• Appealing to her predecessors, she refused to say how she would decide about abortion, election and same-sex marriage in potential cases. She quoted the late judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg and said: “No information, no prognoses, no previews.”

• Although she pushed back her characterization as “female Scalia” and referred to her mentor, the late Judge Antonin Scalia, the two share a point of view: Judge Barrett is a strict textualist who, as she said, the “Constitution as a law. “

War in a Caucasus region where coexistence is “impossible”

For most of the Soviet Union’s existence, Armenians and Azerbaijanis lived side by side in relative peace. In the late 1980s, the conflict over the disputed mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh exploded into unrest, displacement and years of war, leaving behind festering wounds.

In the past two weeks, those unhealed scars have erupted into a modern blaze of trench warfare, drone strikes, and artillery bombardment that has killed hundreds of soldiers and civilians. A ceasefire brokered in Moscow over the weekend did not take place, and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has threatened further escalation.

In both Azerbaijan and Armenia, each other’s views as enemies have intensified as a generation has grown up with no memory of friendly coexistence.

Quote: “Coexistence is simply impossible,” said Shahen Babayants, the village chief of Shgharjik in Armenia.

The newest: The conflict has the potential to lead to a major crisis with far-reaching consequences. It is already attracting Azerbaijan’s allies and a NATO member to Turkey; Russia, which has a defense treaty with Armenia; and Iran, which is in the south.

If you have some time, it’s worth it

She chases viral rumors about real viruses

The aforementioned Heidi Larson is arguably the world’s leading rumor manager. London’s Vaccine Confidence Project founder spent two decades in war-torn, poor and unstable countries around the world, as well as in rich and developed countries, trying to understand why people are reluctant to take vaccines.

In this profile, our reporter deals with Dr. Larson’s obsession with the origin and development of rumors – and how to deal with skeptical members of the community. “We have no problem with misinformation,” she says. “We have a trust problem.”

The following also happens

Climate change: About a quarter of the Pantanal wetlands in Brazil, one of the most biodiverse and breathtaking areas on earth, was burned this year in forest fires made worse by climate change. Our climate reporters have captured the devastation caused by this year’s unprecedented fires.

Global outlook: The International Monetary Fund said the world economy is gradually starting to recover from its worst downturn since the Great Depression. But a painful process could lie ahead, the IMF’s chief economist warned: “The rise out of this calamity will likely be long, uneven and highly uncertain.”

IPhone 12: Apple has released four new iPhone designs that come with 5G speeds, tougher touchscreens, and smooth, flat edges. Our tech columnist can help you decide if you need an upgrade.

Macchu Picchu: After waiting seven months, Jesse Katayama, a Japanese tourist, received special permission from the authorities in Peru to visit the sprawling Inca citadel high in the Andes – alone, with the exception of a few guides – and complete the journey of a lifetime.

Snapshot: Above, protesters in Lagos, Nigeria on Tuesday called for the end of a police command known to brutalize young people. The country’s president promised to dismantle the Special Anti-Robbery Squad known as SARS, but many doubt his word.

Lived life: Margaret Nolan, a stage and film actress whose gold-painted body was used as a screen for the opening credits of the James Bond film “Goldfinger” and who played the character Dink in the film, died last week in London at the age of 76.

What we read: This Mother Jones article of a reporter who made nearly 2,000 calls to people listed in Jeffrey Epstein’s Little Black Book. It’s a phenomenal reporting performance and a gripping psychological portrait.

Now a break from the news

Cook: These snickerdoodles taste like sweet butter and cinnamon and have a secret ingredient: tartar.

Listen: When it comes to horror, no CGI monstrosity is as terrifying as what your mind can conjure up. We’ve put together four of the scariest and most entertaining podcasts for your auditory scintillation.

Go: Take a virtual tour of the small islands in the waters of Great Britain and meet the caretakers who spend their lives there in quiet solitude.

More discoveries await you in our collection of home ideas what to read, cook, see and do while staying home safe.

And now for the background story about …

The outcome of a theater critic

After 27 years and more than 2,500 reviews, Ben Brantley, the Times co-chief theater critic, is leaving his post. His departure comes at one of the strangest times he can imagine for the theater. Ben spoke to our colleague Jesse Green about his tenure.

How quickly did you become familiar with – and how long did it take you to make peace – the setback that often resulted from honestly writing about a show?

I was expecting the recoil and it came pretty quickly. Interestingly, in my case, the attacks almost always came from white men, including Alec Baldwin (“Orphans” – he said I was “not a good writer”) and Josh Brolin (“True West” – he just said he hated me supercharged Language, although we invented later by email).

How do you add up the pros and cons that you’ve seen in the hot seat writing 2,500 reviews in 27 years?

The list of shows in the season interrupted by the pandemic showed a breadth of variety and sophistication in form and content that I found incredibly encouraging. I’ve complained many times during my tenure about the Las Vegasization of Broadway, but in recent years I’ve seen new signs of life there. Of course, when the theater comes back it will inevitably lag.

Even if you don’t write reviews, will you still see as many shows as ever?

I will go as much as I can afford.

And you will not miss out on the benefits and paraphernalia of the job? When I enter a theater without a notebook, I feel naked. Let alone the seats! Can you even sit in one that isn’t J-101?

There’s a part of me that looks forward to being a civilian, even if he lives in the peanut gallery. But once a critic, always a critic. There’s always a Phantom notebook in my lap.

That’s it for this briefing. Have a great day.

– 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 installment is about US pandemic aid policy
• Here is our mini crossword puzzle and a clue: “Largest Greek Island” (five letters) You can find all of our puzzles here.
• The word “landscaper” first appeared in the Times on Tuesday, according to the Twitter bot @NYT_first_said.
• The Times received the Edward R. Murrow Award for Continuous Reporting from the Radio Television Digital News Association. This honored the work of “The Daily”, which dealt with China’s actions against Uighur Muslims.