Your Wednesday Briefing - The New York Times
News

Your Wednesday Briefing – The New York Occasions

By Nancy Carrillo

Leading companies across the continent are putting restrictions in place to contain a rapidly growing wave of new coronavirus cases. They also want to avoid a return to the sweeping deadlocks that devastated economies in the spring.

A targeted warning came from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said she was concerned about cases “in almost all parts of Europe,” Reuters reported. “We must not throw away what we have achieved through restrictions in recent months,” she said at a meeting with EU officials on Tuesday.

Details: The European Union is trying to standardize the procedures for quarantines and tests between the countries in the bloc. The Czech Republic has announced it will close schools and theaters and limit restaurants to only take orders. Neighboring Slovakia is closing high schools and is considering restricting travel to the Czech Republic. In Italy, parties have been banned and indoor gatherings are limited to six people.

Confirmation hearings for President Trump’s Supreme Court candidate, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, continued on Tuesday with some fierce talks. Judge Barrett was interviewed by the deeply divided Senate Judiciary Committee. Follow our live briefing.

Here are some of the notable moments of the day:

  • Judge Barrett pushed back the portrayal of 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 I go in like a royal queen and do her will on the world.

  • She refused to say if confirmed to the Supreme Court it would deter herself from considering an upcoming case in which Republican states are trying to get the court to knock down the Affordable Care Act – or out of one Case that could result from litigation Dispute over next month’s presidential election.

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

  • Although she withdrew her description as “female Scalia” and referred to her mentor and former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, they share a similar line of thought. She is a strict textualist who interprets the “constitution as law”.

The new war in Nagorno-Karabakh is a continuation of more than a century of strife. The days of the Soviet Union, when Azerbaijani and Armenians lived together in peace, feel like a lost world.

In both Azerbaijan and Armenia, the views of the other as the enemy that has hardened as a generation have grown up without being able to remember living together on friendly terms. Our correspondent visited villages in Armenia where the conflict has left unhealed scars.

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 borders in the south.

About a quarter of the Pantanal wetlands in Brazil, one of the most biodiverse places on earth, was burned this year in forest fires made worse by climate change. It is home to breathtaking wildlife: jaguars, tapirs, endangered giant otters, and light blue hyacinth macaws. The swamps and lagoons purify the water and store carbon.

Our climate reporters have recorded the devastation caused by the unprecedented fires this year and spoken to people who live in communities where water, air and food supplies are affected. “I couldn’t help but think: Our Pantanal is dead,” said Eunice Morais de Amorim, a member of the Guató people, an indigenous group.

Macchu Picchu: Jesse Katayama, a Japanese tourist, didn’t let Peru’s lockdown to contain the coronavirus stop him from ending the journey of his life. After seven months of waiting, he received special permission to be the first to visit the sprawling Inca citadel high in the Andes.

Snapshot: Above, protesters in Lagos, Nigeria, on Tuesday called for the end of a police command known to brutalize young Nigerians. The country’s president promised to dismantle the unit known as SARS for Special Anti-Robbery Squad, but many are skeptical of that promise and have vowed to keep the pressure going.

What we read: This article by Mother Jones of a reporter who made 2,000 calls to people listed in Jeffrey Epstein’s Little Black Book. “It’s a phenomenal reporting performance and a gripping psychological portrait,” says Natasha Frost, who writes the Europe Briefing.

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

See: In “Evil Eye”, Sarita Choudhury plays an Indian mother who is scandalized by her daughter’s romance. The directors, twin brothers Elan and Rajeev Dassani, keep the tension going before they come to terms with a definitive confrontation that is truly on view, writes our reviewer.

Go: Take a virtual tour of the small islands off the coast 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.

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. He spoke to his 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. I think celebrity star public defeats are to be enjoyed. Interestingly, in my case, the attacks almost always came from white men: Alec Baldwin (“Orphans” – he said I was “not a good writer”), Josh Brolin (“True West” – he just said he hated me very calculated language although we invented it 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. Until next time.

– Melina

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 hint: Russian “No” (four letters). You can find all of our puzzles here.
• 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 the Uighur Muslims.

Nancy Carrillo 5192 posts 0 comments
You might also like More from author

Comments are closed.