Thursday, Oct 17, 2019 | View in browser

Good morning.

We’re covering down-to-the-wire Brexit talks and the patterns that have emerged from private testimonies related to the impeachment inquiry. And we take a look at an extraordinary fox-marmot encounter.

By Alisha Haridasani Gupta

Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain leaving 10 Downing Street in London on Wednesday. Tolga Akmen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Mixed signals abound for a Brexit deal

E.U. officials in Brussels — including the European Council president, Donald Tusk — declared on Wednesday that the foundations of a withdrawal agreement with Britain were “ready.”

But London projected a different image of the Brexit talks, with Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, describing the goal as being “shrouded in mist.”

The conflicting signals reflected the complexity and sensitivity of the negotiations, and the fact that neither side wants to be blamed should the talks collapse … again.

Mr. Johnson spent much of Wednesday trying to rally 10 lawmakers from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, who worry about what a post-Brexit border with Ireland would look like.

What’s next? E.U. leaders will gather at a summit today. If they approve some kind of a deal, Mr. Johnson will then try to ram it through Britain’s Parliament on Saturday — a deadline imposed by British law that, if missed, would require the prime minister to push Brexit beyond Oct. 31.

A pattern emerges in the impeachment inquiry

Top diplomats’ testimony behind closed doors on Capitol Hill this week seems to have a common thread: that President Trump sidelined experts in the State Department to pursue his own agenda on Ukraine.

Taken together, the interviews have corroborated many aspects of the intelligence whistle-blower complaint at the center of the impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump’s efforts to press Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate Democratic rivals.

A closer look: Michael McKinley, a former top aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, told investigators on Wednesday that he resigned because he was upset that the Trump administration had wrestled Ukraine policy away from career diplomats. Here’s the latest from the investigation.

Trump distances himself from Turkey-Kurd conflict

On Wednesday, President Trump said the fighting that has erupted in northern Syria between Turkey and America’s Kurdish allies has “nothing to do with us.”

“The Kurds know how to fight, and, as I said, they’re not angels,” he said, defending his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the region.

Turkey: Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were planning to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara today to try to persuade him to halt his offensive.

But the operation has strengthened Mr. Erdogan’s domestic standing, while widespread criticism has bolstered his narrative that he and Turkey are the victims of an international conspiracy.

Congress: Republicans and Democrats in the House condemned Mr. Trump’s decision to pull out of Syria, which cleared the way for Turkey’s assault on Kurds who had been U.S. foot soldiers.

Residents of Tulagi, an island of a little over 1,000 people in the Solomon Islands. Leon Schadeberg/Shutterstock

Why is China leasing an entire Pacific island?

A Chinese company with close ties to the Communist Party signed a secretive deal last month that gives it exclusive development rights for the entire island of Tulagi and its surroundings — to the shock of its population of a little over 1,000.

The island served as a South Pacific headquarters for Britain and then Japan before it was won back by Allied forces in World War II. Now, critics worry that Beijing could use it to establish a military foothold in the region.

Details: The renewable 75-year lease Tulagi’s provincial government granted to China Sam Enterprise Group includes provisions for a fishery base and “the building or enhancement of the airport.”

But the document also allows for “a special economic zone or any other industry that is suitable for any development.”

If you have some time, this is worth it

In the Philippines, a journalist versus a president

Hannah Reyes Morales for The New York Times

President Rodrigo Duterte refers to journalists as “spies,” “vultures” and “lowlifes.” His wish, he has said, is to “kill journalism” in the Philippines. Maria Ressa, above, the editor of the independent news site Rappler, has incurred much of the president’s wrath, becoming the target of almost a dozen civil and criminal cases in the past year and a half.

“It’s a strange time,” she said. “It’s definitely existential.”

Here’s what else is happening

Hong Kong: Pro-democracy lawmakers heckled Carrie Lam, the city’s leader, and drove her from the legislative chamber on Wednesday as she attempted to outline policy ideas for dealing with the monthslong protests. Mrs. Lam later delivered the speech by video from a protected location, offering a slate of economic policy ideas but completely sidestepping demonstrators’ political demands.

Australia: Two of the country’s biggest online booksellers suspended sales of Ronan Farrow’s new book about his investigation into the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. The decisions came after Dylan Howard, the former editor of The National Enquirer who features prominently in the book, threatened legal action.

Japan: Typhoon Hagibis unleashed unexpected destruction last week, despite the country’s investment of billions of dollars in cutting-edge infrastructure designed to withstand nature’s extremes. That raised difficult questions of how prepared any country can be in the face of climate change.

Myanmar cover-up: Our reporter Hannah Beech visited Rakhine State to see the government’s plans for resettling the Rohingya Muslims, two years after a vicious ethnic cleansing displaced hundreds of thousands them. Officials showed off maps, diagrams and slideshows, but she found that all of them were fictitious and that only a handful of refugees have returned, if that.

Huawei: The Chinese technology giant announced that its sales had risen 27 percent in the latest quarter, suggesting that it has been weathering the Trump administration’s efforts to stymie its business around the world.

Yongqing Bao/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Snapshot: Above, Yongqing Bao’s photograph of a Tibetan fox and a marmot in the Qilian Mountains in China, which won the grand title at this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest. Unfortunately, the marmot didn’t survive the encounter.

Germany: Curly-tailed, short-legged pugs, called “Mops” in German, have developed a cultlike status in the country, where their owners gather regularly to swap stories and let the dogs compete to see who’s fastest — or slowest.

What we’re listening to: This episode of “The Cut on Tuesday” podcast, about a young women’s late-night Lyft ride that went horribly, mysteriously wrong. “Our lives feel more convenient and polished with apps like Uber, Lyft and Seamless,” writes Jenna Wortham, a co-host of our “Still Processing” podcast. “But they can also make us susceptible to harm in more ways than we can imagine.”

Now, a break from the news

Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich.

Cook: Make burritos in the style of San Francisco’s Mission District in the comfort of your home.

Watch: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is making a mini-Hollywood in Utah. There isn’t an R-rating in sight.

Listen: “Lights Up,” Harry Styles’s first new song in two years, is a soft-touch re-entry into the pop slipstream, our critic writes.

Smarter Living: Cancer treatments have advanced, but many still take a serious toll on patients. New studies published this week suggest a little exercise — brisk walks and moderate weight-lifting — can go a long way to helping people feel better. Exercising during and after treatment was associated with longer life spans, researchers found, and also seemed to lessen anxiety and depression.

And we have five tips on keeping it together as a digital nomad.

And now for the Back Story on …

North Korea’s media arm

The Korean Central News Agency is North Korea’s media producer, controller and disseminator.

One of its main roles is keeping the country’s 25 million people informed of exactly what the totalitarian leadership wants them to know.

It also portrays the North as powerful, well-regarded and prosperous, while insulting and threatening perceived enemies in sometimes bizarre wording involving boiled pumpkins and seas of fire.

And it showcases no end of heroic images of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, like the one of him on horseback released Wednesday.

KCNA released this image of Kim Jong-un riding up Mount Baekdu, the mythical home of the Korean people, saying his eyes "were full of noble glitters." Korean Central News Agency

KCNA was founded in 1946, the year after Korea was divided along the 38th parallel at the end of World War II. U.S. forces occupied what became South Korea, and Soviet forces in what became the North.

The Soviets’ propaganda machine, well practiced at lionizing Joseph Stalin, polished up the image of the leader installed in the North: Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of Kim Jong-un.

KCNA followed the model and has been instrumental in creating a cult of personality around each of the leaders from the Kim dynasty.

That’s it for this briefing. We hope your day is full of “noble glitters.”

— 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 on the Democratic presidential debate.
• Here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: Wasabi-coated snack (three letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• “I actually hate the word content,” A.G. Sulzberger, The Times’s publisher, said in a profile in Time magazine. “What we do is journalism.”