Tuesday, Sep 17, 2019 | View in browser

Good morning.

Developments in the Saudi Arabia attack remain front and center of the news cycle. We’re also looking at a tight election race in Israel and the high-profile auction of another Banksy painting.

By Alisha Haridasani Gupta

The fog of the attack on Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia and the U.S. are moving closer to blaming Iran for the weekend attack on Saudi oil facilities.

On Monday, the Saudis said that Iranian weapons had been used, but went no further and refrained for calling for retaliation. They also said the strikes had not been launched from Yemen, home of the Houthi rebels who claimed responsibility for what they said were drone strikes.

The U.S. said cruise missiles might have been involved, and President Trump said the possibility of Iranian involvement was being assessed.

The Houthis have threatened more drone attacks. Iran has denied responsibility.

Impact: Oil prices jumped faster than at any time in over a decade. The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq plant, which accounts for 5 percent of global oil supplies, and a nearby facility took 5.7 million barrels a day of production off line for at least a few days.

It also revealed the significant danger drones pose to the Persian Gulf’s sprawling processing plants, pipelines and refineries.

A billboard of the Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz in Tel Aviv this month. Oded Balilty/Associated Press

Israelis head to the polls

Voting begins today in the country’s second election in five months.

The first ended inconclusively, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to stitch together a coalition government — a first for Israel.

Mr. Netanyahu is facing possible indictment on accusations of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, so it may be surprising that polls indicate a tight race between his conservative Likud party and the Blue and White party, led by a former military chief, Benny Gantz.

What’s at stake? Aside from Mr. Netanyahu’s political career, and the perennial importance of the direction of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a central issue is Israel’s secular-religious divide. Another deadlock is possible, and some Israelis are already predicting a third election.

Go deeper: Mr. Netanyahu failed to form a government in the last election because his longtime ally Avigdor Liberman refused to join forces with him in what has become an ugly breakup of an odd political couple.

A protestor in Hong Kong throwing a trash can at police officers in June 1967. Keystone/Gamma-Rapho, via Getty Images

Shadows of past unrest loom over Hong Kong

As antigovernment demonstrations in the semiautonomous city become increasingly violent, some residents see echoes of the bloodier summer of 1967.

Back then, a labor dispute at a plastic flower factory led to months of protests that left 50 people dead.

The main difference? The city was a British colony in 1967 and protesters were railing against British authorities, with support from the Chinese Communist Party. This time, the equation has flipped against Beijing.

The latest: Hundreds of students marched though Hong Kong Baptist University on Monday to protest the arrest of a journalism student during a rally over the weekend. The police said that he had been in possession of a weapon, but his friends said it was a butter knife he’d used to eat cake to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

If you have 5 minutes, this is worth it

‘Only God is my help’

Kiana Hayeri for The New York Times

Many Afghans urgently want an end to nearly two decades of war, but they remain skeptical of a peace deal between the U.S. and the Taliban.

The Times talked to some of the victims of the conflict whose stories we have reported over the years to hear their views, including Masih Ur-Rahman Mubarez, above, who lost his wife, seven children and four other relatives in an American airstrike last September.

Here’s what else is happening

Airbus: The World Trade Organization will grant the U.S. permission to impose tariffs on the plane manufacturer as part of a 15-year-old case over European subsidies, officials said on Monday, opening a new front in President Trump’s trade war.

Thailand: Eighty-six of the 147 tigers seized three years ago from a Buddhist compound over concerns of maltreatment have died in the government’s care, officials said. The main cause was laryngeal paralysis, according to the Department of National Parks. Activists said the deaths could have been prevented.

Taiwan: The Solomon Islands has reportedly decided to break 36 years of diplomatic relations with the government of Taiwan in order to establish official ties with China, a setback for Taipei and the U.S.

Purdue Pharma: The maker of OxyContin, the drug widely seen as causing the opioid crisis in the U.S., has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in an effort to shield itself and its owners, the Sackler family, from more than 2,600 lawsuits.

Brexit: Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s first meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, to discuss potential plans for Britain’s withdrawal from the E.U. on Oct. 31 ended — surprise, surprise — with no breakthrough. Mr. Johnson was later booed by protesters and didn’t show up for a scheduled news conference.

via Sotheby's

Snapshot: Above, “Devolved Parliament” by Banksy. The painting will be offered at Sotheby’s in London on Oct. 3 with a valuation of about $1.9 million to $2.5 million, a year after one of his iconic “Girl With Balloon” paintings shredded itself moments after Sotheby’s auctioned it, the artistic prank of the century.

Art fortress: As the high-end art market has grown, special storage facilities have been built around the world with exacting conservation standards and immense security to house tens of billion of dollars worth of work. We took a peek inside one in New York.

‘Seinfeld’: Netflix has acquired the global streaming rights for the hit comedy and will begin to offer the series on its platform in 2021, a move that heats up the frenzied battle between media companies to snap up beloved vintage sitcoms.

What we’re reading: This essay from The Cut, by Tavi Gevinson, arguably one of the original influencers. Kevin Roose, our culture/tech columnist, writes: “This is good, and it’s very revealing that the winners of social media’s engagement sweepstakes are the ones speaking out against it now.”

Now, a break from the news

Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

Cook: Creamy lemon pasta is delicious and surprisingly easy to make. (Our Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter has more recommendations.)

Read: Benjamin Moser’s new biography of Susan Sontag explores the life and work of the formidable writer and public intellectual, including her long-term relationship with the photographer Annie Leibovitz.

Listen: “Eye in the Wall” is a disorienting, mesmerizing nine-minute excursion from Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas) and the choreographer Kate Wallich, writes our critic.

Watch: It takes the American artist Kathleen Ryan eight weeks to construct her giant, bejeweled and beaded fruit sculptures. Our video captures the process in 30 seconds.

Smarter Living: There may be more to video games than meets the eye. Skeptics may see them as violent drains on young men’s brains — and maybe even their humanity, as Eve Peyser writes in an Op-Ed. But joining her boyfriend to fight alien invaders changed her mind: “I was playing a video game with somebody who loved me, who wanted to teach me how it all worked. All so we could have more fun together.”

And if you’re feeling wrung-out from saving the world, here are five methods of cheap(ish) self-care that will only take 15 minutes a day.

And now for the Back Story on …

The ‘Stump’

If you’re following the U.S. presidential election, you’ve probably stumbled repeatedly over the word “stump.”

Campaigning politicians go out “stumping” and deliver “stump speeches,” or standard addresses that they repeat over and over. The state of South Carolina has a 143-year tradition, the Gallivant Ferry Stump, that is inviting Democratic presidential candidates for the first time this year.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke stumping on a stump in Iowa in April. Brian Powers/The Des Moines Register, via Associated Press

The term goes back to frontier days, when candidates headed out to the hinterlands and addressed crowds from atop an actual tree stump.

There would have been an awful lot to choose from. The U.S. Forest Service says the U.S. was massively deforested between 1630, at the start of European settlement, and 1907.

Trees once covered an estimated 46 percent of the land area of what is now the U.S., versus just 34 percent now. While there are large-scale tree-planting campaigns in the country — as there are around the world — the current global leader in reforestation is China.

That’s it for this briefing.

Update from the Gordon Bennett Cup, the gas balloon race we told you about yesterday: Seven of the 20 teams are still flying, and Team Swiss-1 leads, logging nearly 1,300 kilometers. See you next time.

— Alisha

Thank you
To Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Andrea Kannapell, the Briefings editor, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is about the extraction of a C.I.A. spy inside the Kremlin.
• Here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: President after J.F.K. (three letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• J. Kenji López-Alt is joining The Times as a monthly columnist for the Food department, exploring the intersection of home cooking and science. (Here’s his recipe for vodka pie crust.)