Thursday, July 11, 2019 | View in browser

Good morning.

We’re covering the resignation of Britain’s ambassador to the U.S., the mad dash to rule streaming TV and Hello Kitty’s woes in Europe.

By Alisha Haridasani Gupta

Sir Kim Darroch at the British ambassador's residence in Washington in 2016. Larry French/Getty Images

Britain’s ambassador to the U.S. resigns

Kim Darroch stepped down on Wednesday after a leak of his emails set off a diplomatic spat with President Trump.

Mr. Darroch described the Trump administration in the leaked emails as “clumsy and inept.” Mr. Trump responded by describing the ambassador as a “very stupid guy,” adding that the White House would no longer deal with him.

The bickering cast a shadow over the relationship between London and Washington at a crucial time when Britain was hoping to cultivate closer economic ties with the U.S. after Brexit.

Diplomatic corps: The reaction among other ambassadors in Washington to Mr. Darroch’s emails has been uniform. “It could have been any of us,” said a serving ambassador, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The winners of Trump’s trade wars?

American steel, aluminum, lumber, solar and washing-machine businesses have long complained about foreign competition — often from China — and sought tariffs.

While President Trump’s protectionist trade policies have boosted their confidence to expand production, it’s not clear if the new investments will pay off.

Case studies: Prices for U.S. steel continue to fall and, if the weakness continues, it could eat into profit margins.

In the solar market, companies from South Korea and China are building factories in the U.S. to avoid tariffs.

U.S.-China trade war: Mr. Trump said in June that China would begin buying American farm products in return for a trade truce but people familiar with the negotiations say China has denied making any explicit commitments.

People crossing a bridge from Mexico to the U.S. on Wednesday. Luis Antonio Rojas for The New York Times

A drastic drop in U.S. border crossings

Apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border dropped 28 percent in June.

A migrant shelter in San Diego that was immensely crowded earlier this year now sits eerily empty, while the Mexican city of Tijuana is full of migrants. One facility there has been packing in more than three times the number of people it’s designed to accommodate.

What’s going on? Immigration experts say the change stems from a combination of factors: the normal hot-weather downturn in migration, the expansion of a Trump administration program that forces migrants to wait in Mexico for court hearings, and a Mexican government crackdown.

Australia’s referendum on Indigenous recognition

Within three years, the country will hold a referendum on the question of formally recognizing Indigenous Australians in the Constitution, a government minister announced on Wednesday.

The government said it would commit more than $100 million to holding the referendum but didn’t provide details on what would be included in the proposal.

Background: In 2017, Indigenous leaders proposed a road map to formal recognition and representation that included forming a new government agency to serve as an advisory board. The plan was rejected by the prime minister at the time, Malcolm Turnbull.

Impact: The referendum marks a significant step for Indigenous Australians, who have been subjected to decades of discriminatory government policies that included internment, forced sterilization and the removal of children from their families.

Today, the community experiences higher rates of incarceration, youth suicide and illness than white Australians.

If you have a block of time, this is worth it

Racing to rule streaming TV

Illustration by Giacomo Gambineri

In the Netflix age, media companies and networks are in a mad dash to churn out a barrage of shows, often seeking quantity over quality. There is now more TV than ever before: More dramas, more comedies, more thrillers, more travel shows, more comedy specials — more, more, more.

As the Netflix boss Reed Hastings put it in 2017: “We actually compete with sleep. And we’re winning.” What does it all mean for us, the audience?

Here’s what else is happening

China: A group of 22 countries issued a statement urging the country to stop the mass detention of ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in its western Xinjiang region, the first concerted international challenge to a policy Beijing has vigorously defended at the United Nations.

Australia: In the past five years, the number of new H.I.V. infections has dropped by almost a quarter, according to a new report. The drop is, in part, a result of the rapid adoption of a drug regimen known as PrEP that — even without condoms — is close to 100 percent effective at preventing contraction of the virus, experts said.

Papua New Guinea: At least 20 people, mostly children and women, were killed in violence between two rival communities in the South Pacific island nation, according to news reports and the police, reflecting a recent surge in attacks amid tensions over politics and developing gas fields.

U.S. Markets: The S&P 500 index traded above 3,000 for the first time, after the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated that an interest rate cut may come soon.

Sanrio: The Japanese company behind the feline character Hello Kitty and others was fined by European antitrust regulators for restricting where licensed toys, bags and other products can be sold.

Brazil: A state judge ruled that the mining giant Vale was financially liable for damages caused by a dam breach in January that released a river of toxic mud through the miners’ cafeteria and into the countryside, killing at least 247 people.

France: Seven top former executives at France Télécom are on trial for charges of “moral harassment,” accused of making the workplace so unbearable that at least 35 employees killed themselves. The case, which wraps on Friday, has become a searing demonstration of the country’s continuing struggle to balance social welfare and capitalism.

Angela Merkel: The German chancellor was seen shaking uncontrollably in public for the third time in less than a month, reviving concerns about her health. She attributed the shaking to the psychological trauma of experiencing the first episode, for which her aides blamed dehydration.

Adrian Dennis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Snapshot: Above, Roger Federer winning his 100th Wimbledon match on Wednesday. Tomorrow, he will face Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, their first match at the tournament in 11 years. The other semifinal will feature Novak Djokovic and Roberto Bautista Agut.

Fishless fish? Impossible Foods, the start-up company behind meat alternatives, is working on developing seafood alternatives using plant-based recipes or techniques to grow fish from cells. It aims to create replacements for every animal-based food by 2035.

‘Friends’: The popular comedy series will leave Netflix, where it was the second-most-watched show in 2018, and migrate to HBO Max in 2020. No one told you life was gonna be this way.

What we’re reading: This short piece in The Verge. Adam Pasick, our newsletter editorial director, recommends its look at Japan, “where on-demand car rentals are so cheap that people use them for naps, short-term luggage storage, lunch eating and even smartphone charging.”

Now, a break from the news

Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.

Cook: This one-pan shrimp scampi takes the garlicky, buttery pan sauce and uses it to cook orzo.

Listen: The video for Miley Cyrus’s “Mother’s Daughter” offers assorted fetish wear, a determinedly inclusive cast of extras and slogans. Suddenly it’s an anthem to share.

Watch: The writer and director Ari Aster narrates a scene from his film “Midsommar,” featuring Florence Pugh and some powerful mushroom tea.

Smarter Living: Strategic packing can streamline travel and minimize emergency forays for forgotten necessities. The first rule is not to bring too much, so give yourself a hard limit, with a hard-sided suitcase. (If it’s no more than 22 inches tall, it can work as a carry-on.) Lay out what you think you’ll need, then edit ruthlessly. And keep your toiletries together in an accessible mesh bag, so you don’t have to paw through everything to brush your teeth.

And we look at why women might have prenatal and postpartum night sweats — and what to do about them.

And now for the Back Story on …

Weather records

Climate reports often say that a particular period was the warmest (or coldest) or wettest (or driest) “on record.” We asked Henry Fountain, a reporter on the Climate desk, to explain.

In this era of global warming, there’s always a record of one kind or another to write about, from record low sea ice in the Arctic to record rainfall in Houston.

Last week, a European weather forecasting agency reported that we had just had the hottest June on record. But what does that mean, exactly?

The New York Station of the United States Weather Bureau in 1895. Museum of the City of New York/Byron Collection/Getty Images

People have been measuring temperatures for centuries. But as science and technology boomed in the 19th century, weather station networks began proliferating in the U.S., Britain, the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe.

The arrival of the telegraph enabled data to be shared across long distances, and networks followed in many other places. That fueled the new science of forecasting, which enabled the shipping industry to navigate storms.

By the latter part of the 19th century, there were enough weather stations covering enough parts of the world to provide readings that could be reliably used to analyze worldwide temperature trends.

So most scientists say global temperature records “began” in 1880, the year of the establishment of an international Meteorological Organization.

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

— Alisha

Thank you
To Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is on American Republicans’ efforts to elect women.
• Here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: Site of a recent Trump/Kim meeting, for short (3 letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• @NYT_first_said is a Twitter bot that, beginning in 2017, has logged the first appearance of words in The New York Times. It was created by Max Bittker, a 24-year-old Google software engineer.