Your Friday Evening Briefing

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October 18, 2019

Your Friday Evening Briefing

By victoria shannon and elizabeth pierson

Good evening. Here's the latest.

Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times

1. Being presidential is easy, President Trump said: "All you have to do is act like a stiff."

So instead, at his latest campaign rally in Dallas, above, Mr. Trump called the speaker of the House "crazy," a rival candidate "very dumb," a House committee chairman a "fraud" and the governor of another state a "crackpot."

After 1,000 days as president, our chief White House correspondent writes, Mr. Trump's capacity for surprise has long diminished. Comments or actions that would have sparked howls from Capitol Hill now barely register.

But some Republicans did speak out with concern about Mr. Trump's acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, who effectively confirmed the main premise of the impeachment inquiry — that military aid had been put on hold in order to pressure Ukraine — and then denied it.

Burak Kara/Getty Images

2. A cease-fire in Syria appeared to be holding.

Gunfire died down and Kurdish forces began pulling out of a 20-mile buffer zone in northern Syria, U.S. and Turkish officials said, a day after Vice President Mike Pence announced the pause in fighting.

Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hailed the withdrawal as a victory over a "terrorist organization," but said the onus remained on the U.S. to ensure the militias withdrew within five days. Above, Turkish tanks moved toward the border.

The agreement may well stop the killing in the Kurdish enclave in northern Syria, according to our news analysis. But Pentagon officials said the deal left many questions unanswered, including where the tens of thousands of displaced Kurds would go.

Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

3. Could Brexit end in a disunited U.K.?

In the 2016 Brexit referendum, a majority of voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland opted to stay in the European Union, while those in England voted to leave. Now, some analysts say, the latest exit plan could accentuate forces that were already pulling the United Kingdom apart.

In Scotland, above, nationalists said it would galvanize them to seek another referendum on Scottish independence. Irish nationalists, who have long fought for a unified Ireland, saw it as a boon to their efforts. There is even evidence of a budding independence movement in Wales.

To win approval for his deal from Parliament tomorrow, Prime Minister Boris Johnson needs around 30 lawmakers to change sides, according to one analysis. But the numbers are fluid. We walk you through the three critical blocs.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

4. J&J is recalling a shipment of baby powder after the F.D.A. discovered evidence of asbestos in one of the bottles.

The recall of 33,000 bottles seems to undercut Johnson & Johnson's defense against thousands of lawsuits that claim its talc products contained the potent carcinogen.

The drug company repeated its long-running defense against the claims, saying, "Thousands of tests over the past 40 years repeatedly confirm that our consumer talc products do not contain asbestos." Its stock price dropped 6 percent today.

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

5. A Boeing pilot complained about a 737 Max system long before the crashes.

The chief technical pilot for the plane, Mark Forkner, told a colleague in 2016 that a new system was making the plane difficult to control in flight simulators, more than two years before two 737 Max crashes killed 346 people.

In a transcript of the exchange, provided to lawmakers on Capitol Hill this morning, Mr. Forkner described the system's problems as "egregious." In both fatal accidents, the automated system malfunctioned, sending the planes into unrecoverable nose dives.

"This is the smoking gun," Representative Peter DeFazio of Oregon said. "This is no longer just a regulatory failure and a culture failure. It's starting to look like criminal misconduct."

NASA, via Associated Press

6. A historic day for NASA.

The astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch, above, completed the first all-female spacewalk, venturing outside the International Space Station to replace a power controller.

Originally scheduled for March, the walk was postponed because NASA did not have the right sized spacesuits. That sparked an outcry — and a "Saturday Night Live" spoof — about the legacy of sexism in the space program.

Sean D. Elliot/The Day, via Associated Press

7. Bomb cyclones, Diablo winds, 60-degree temperature swings.

The strikingly volatile weather in many parts of the U.S. can tell us something about the future of the climate — but it probably won't help us predict what kind of winter we are in for. Above, a flooded street in Connecticut this week.

In a different act of nature, the Los Angeles area was struck early this morning by a magnitude 3.7 earthquake — a day after the state marked the 30th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake, which killed 63 people and injured thousands.

Ben Solomon for The New York Times

8. The World Series is almost set.

The Houston Astros, up 3-1, could lock up the American League Championship Series against the Yankees tonight. If they win, they'll face the Washington Nationals in the World Series.

This weekend's N.F.L. slate offers a matchup between the quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson, and a chance for both the 49ers and the Patriots to stay undefeated. Here's a look at our Week 7 picks.

And Major League Soccer playoffs start with six matches this weekend. Format changes could have a big effect on who lifts the M.L.S. Cup in early November.

Mark Hill/HBO

9. Great Krypton!

The Man of Steel will go through changes in December that will ripple through the DC universe. Brian Michael Bendis, who is deep into writing the new era of Superman, gives us some spoilers.

And this weekend, HBO will debut "The Watchmen," above, a superhero story delving into America's legacy of white supremacy. Our reviewer, James Poniewozik, calls it "first-class entertainment" that succeeds in "immediately creating a sad and wondrous retro-futuristic world."

Talia Herman for The New York Times

10. And finally, psychedelics for seniors.

Used for centuries in sacred healing traditions throughout Central and South America, the mind-altering brew ayahuasca is gaining popularity around the world.

It seems to know no age limit: "It changed my life completely," said the 74-year-old venture capitalist George Sarlo, above, who first tried the hallucinogen six years ago.

Have a trippy weekend.

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