Tuesday, Oct 29, 2019 | View in browser

Good morning.

We’re covering another defeat for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, growing dissent inside Facebook and a chef’s journey through northern India.

By Alisha Haridasani Gupta

E.U. agrees to Brexit extension, again

European leaders accepted Britain’s request to delay the country’s withdrawal to Jan. 31, said Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council. He termed it a ‘flextension,’ which allows Britain to leave before that date if Parliament passes legislation sooner.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson then tried to rally lawmakers to back a general election in December but was defeated as the opposition Labour Party — which has been divided over the merits of a quick election — denied him the two-thirds majority needed to call a vote.

What’s next? The defeat didn’t dissuade Mr. Johnson from his quest to toss Brexit back to the electorate. He intends to introduce a bill to circumvent the 2011 law that requires a two-thirds majority to call an election.

With the support of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Scottish National Party, that motion is likely to pass, opening the door to a vote in December.

Youths in Najaf, Iraq, watching news on Sunday about the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters

After ISIS leader’s death, relief and uncertainty

The death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi represents a setback for the terrorist group, but analysts believe that the organization that relies on franchises and sympathizers around the world still poses a threat.

“ISIS has created a new structure that is less centralized, and it will continue, even without al-Baghdadi,” one expert said.

Reaction: Those who suffered under the Islamic State greeted the news of Mr. al-Baghdadi’s death with grim satisfaction at best. “He deserves a worse and more abhorrent death than this one,” said one man in Mosul, Iraq.

Analysis: The nighttime raid that resulted in Mr. al-Baghdadi’s death underscored the importance of three factors: robust alliances, faith in intelligence agencies and the projection of military power around the world — all of which President Trump has derided.

Closer look: See the raid site and learn more about the quick process used to identify Mr. al-Baghdadi’s remains.

Related: A withdrawal by the U.S. military, a Turkish invasion and a newly strengthened Syrian leader have reshaped this week’s peace talks in Geneva, which for the first time in years have brought together the Syrian government and opposition forces.

President Xi Jinping in Beijing last week. Jason Lee/Reuters

China’s leader reinforces a political firewall

The Communist Party’s Central Committee is meeting in Beijing this week amid a range of mounting troubles: slowing economic growth, protesters in Hong Kong and a swine fever epidemic.

President Xi Jinping has focused on solidifying the party’s authoritarian rule as a way to weather such challenges — the latest step in his yearslong campaign for change that included removing his own term limits.

According to two retired officials in Beijing and a businessman who talks to senior officials, there are jitters in the party elite about Mr. Xi’s policies though far from the level of concerted opposition.

Quotable: “From ancient times to the present, whenever great powers have collapsed or decayed, a common cause has been the loss of central authority,” Mr. Xi said in a speech last year that was published only this month.

Related: Lawmakers and Trump administration officials have been warning Wall Street against investing in Chinese companies that could undermine American national security and are considering increasing scrutiny of Chinese firms on American stock exchanges.

Dissent inside Facebook grows

More than 250 employees have signed a letter aimed at the company’s top executives, decrying their recent decision to let politicians use the platform to advertise any claims they want — even false ones.

“Free speech and paid speech are not the same thing,” the letter reads. “Misinformation affects us all.”

Though the number is a fraction of Facebook’s 35,000-plus work force, the signatures are a sign of internal resistance that is in line with criticism from presidential candidates, lawmakers and civil rights groups.

Reaction: Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, has defended the policy by citing freedom of expression and the policies of other social and broadcast networks. “We remain committed to not censoring political speech,” a spokeswoman said in response to the letter.

If you have 14 minutes, this is worth it

Savoring the tastes of Northern India

Poras Chaudhary for The New York Times

The Indian-born British chef Romy Gill has long been intrigued by the different ways of living, speaking and eating in the state of Himachal Pradesh, which straddles the Western Himalayas.

This is her account of journeying through the region, relishing its striking landscapes and the local cuisine that reminded her of her childhood.

Here’s what else is happening

Britain: A 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland who drove the truck in which 39 bodies were found in southeastern England last week made his first court appearance by video link to face charges of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people. The investigation has stretched to China and Vietnam.

Myanmar: Separatist rebels known as the Arakan Army abducted dozens of soldiers and government workers from a ferry at gunpoint over the weekend, prompting the army to attempt a risky helicopter rescue.

Tiffany & Co.: The company’s shares surged on Monday after LVMH confirmed that it is interested in buying the American luxury jewelry designer and, according to Tiffany, has offered $120 a share in cash.

Saudi Aramco: The initial public offering for the state-owned oil giant is likely to be announced soon, but in a smaller, humbler form than promised — with its valuation expected to drop to $1.5 trillion from $2 trillion.

BBC: Samira Ahmed, a presenter on the British network, is suing the company for unequal pay: she was paid around $598 an episode while a male presenter on a similar show received over $3,000 per episode.

Kyle Grillot for The New York Times

Snapshot: Above, the Getty Fire near the 405 freeway in Los Angeles on Monday, which forced the emergency evacuations of residents including the Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James. In Northern California’s Sonoma County, the Kincade fire doubled in size in 24 hours and now measures twice the size of San Francisco.

What we’re reading: This from New York Magazine. “Olivia Nuzzi’s so-close-you-can-feel-his-hot-breath profile of Joe Biden is beautiful, intimate, empathetic, brutal, honest and revelatory,” says our magazine writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner. “And she never even got an interview with him.”

Now, a break from the news

David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.

Cook: Shower lemon chicken breasts in herbs, and serve with orzo and the delicious pan sauce. (Our Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter has more recommendations.)

Watch: The director Robert Eggers discusses how he achieved a dreamlike sensibility in “The Lighthouse” using a collage of bright and dark images.

Listen: On her debut album, “Cheap Queen,” King Princess — the 20-year-old songwriter Mikaela Straus — crafts candid songs that are grounded, but not stuck, in past pop. Read our review.

Read: This fall a group of new thrillers from established and debut authors present women and girls who refuse the roles of passive victim, staid detective or standard-issue femme fatale.

Smarter Living: Friends are an essential antidote to the burdens of daily life, but they can take time to nurture. Our guide to being a better friend has lots of helpful ideas, including the reassurance that five minutes of real attention can keep a friendship going, and that when life gets busy, creating a tradition — even if it’s infrequent — can be sustaining.

And our Social Q’s column takes on a knotty problem: when you can’t stand one half of a couple who want to be friends.

And now for the Back Story on …

A secret spaceplane

An unmanned U.S. spacecraft landed on Sunday after a record-breaking 780 days in orbit — but possibly only the Pentagon is really sure what it’s been up to.

The Boeing-built X-37B resembles a small version of NASA’s retired space shuttles. It was launched via a SpaceX rocket on Sept. 7, 2017, but flew back to the Kennedy Space Center like a plane.

The secret X-37B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida following a record-breaking two-year mission. U.S. Air Force, via Associated Press

Reporting on a prior flight, Quartz’s Tim Fernholz described the X-37B as one of the “weirdest open secrets in space,” reminding Russia and China that the U.S. “has a maneuverable spacecraft capable of hanging out quietly in orbit, shadowing their space assets, and doing, well, who knows what?”

This flight’s mission was to “test experimental electronics and oscillating heat pipe technologies,” a U.S. Air Force official told NPR, adding that it also provided “a ride for small satellites.”

That alarmed Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who noted that the U.S. had not registered any satellite deployments as required by U.N. convention.

“This would be the first time that either the USA or Russia has blatantly flouted the Convention,” he tweeted.

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. Adam Pasick, on the Briefings team, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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