Your Wednesday Day Evening Briefing

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October 23, 2019

Your Wednesday Evening Briefing

By victoria shannon and elizabeth pierson

Good evening. Here's the latest.

Erin Schaff/The New York Times

1. Two dozen Republicans disrupted the impeachment proceedings on Capitol Hill, storming a secure House Intelligence Committee suite. They refused to leave for five hours.

The demonstrators, above, most of whom are not on the committees conducting the inquiry, chanted, "Let us in! Let us in!" as they argued that the sessions were unfair and should be open. The sergeant-at-arms, the top law enforcement officer in the Capitol, was called in to handle the situation.

After a delay, Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, began her testimony in the late afternoon.

In other developments, interviews and documents indicate that Ukraine was aware the U.S. was holding up its military aid earlier than acknowledged, undercutting a chief argument President Trump has used to deny any quid pro quo.

Khalil Ashawi/Reuters

2. "Let someone else fight over this long bloodstained sand."

President Trump claimed credit for a permanent cease-fire in northeast Syria agreed to by Turkey and Russia, and he lifted U.S. sanctions against Turkey imposed this month.

But even many leading Republicans have decried the American retreat from Syria — which allowed a Turkish invasion — as a foreign policy debacle. Above, a convoy of Turkish military vehicles in Syria on Wednesday.

Etienne Laurent/EPA, via Shutterstock

3. Another Trump salvo against California's environmental policies.

The Justice Department sued over the state's carbon dioxide reduction program, saying that because its cap-and-trade system included Quebec it had violated the constitutional prohibition on states making their own treaties with foreign governments. Above, Los Angeles.

The Trump administration is also preparing the formal withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change, a procedural move that still would take a year to complete.

Abandoning the landmark 2015 agreement, in which nearly 200 nations vowed to reduce planet-warming emissions, was one of President Trump's key campaign promises.

Doug Mills/The New York Times

4. Judges seemed skeptical of shielding President Trump's tax returns.

A federal appeals panel peppered a lawyer for Mr. Trump with questions about why they should stop state prosecutors in Manhattan from enforcing a subpoena for eight years of the president's returns.

Addressing Mr. Trump's argument that he was immune from criminal investigation, the judges even turned to his claim that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue without consequence.

"Nothing could be done? That's your position?" one of the judges asked William Consovoy, a lawyer for Mr. Trump. Mr. Consovoy replied: "That is correct."

The panel did not indicate when it would rule, though one judge conceded, "This case seems bound for the Supreme Court."

Alastair Grant/Associated Press

5. Retracing the fatal journey of 39 people found dead in a truck.

British law enforcement officials warned of a long and complex investigation after the bodies were discovered in a parked truck about 25 miles east of London.

Much about the case remained a mystery, including the identities of the victims, their nationalities, why they were inside and where the vehicle had traveled. It seemed certain that one line of inquiry would be about human trafficking, similar to other cases in Europe.

The driver, a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland, was arrested on suspicion of murder. The police believe the container came from Belgium and arrived in Britain today.

Google

6. Earlier this week, we told you about Google's possible quantum computing breakthrough. Now it's here.

The company said today that it had achieved "quantum supremacy," a milestone technologists had been working toward since the 1980s. Scientists likened the development to the Wright brothers' first flight in 1903.

The announcement puts a spotlight on a field with powerful potential: Someday, these computers could power advances in artificial intelligence. But they could also overwhelm the encryption that protects national security.

Here's what you need to know about the state of quantum computing.

Pete Marovich for The New York Times

7. Mark Zuckerberg gets grilled.

The Facebook C.E.O., on Capitol Hill for a hearing on cryptocurrency, presented a rosy view of how his company's digital currency, Libra, would provide a safe way to exchange money affordably.

But questioning from lawmakers left him defensive on a range of other issues, from political advertising to child pornography. They also took issue with Libra and its potential to enable illicit activity and weaken national security.

Concept by Pablo Delcan. Photo illustration by Justin Metz.

8. Can you really be addicted to video games?

The World Health Organization's decision to add "gaming disorder" to its list of addictive behaviors has received a lot of pushback, and not just from the video game industry.

A sizable faction of scientists disputes the idea that video games are addictive, and others object that someone can be addicted to a behavior, as opposed to a substance.

At the center of the debate is a shifting scientific understanding of addiction itself. The Times Magazine took a deep dive into the subject.

Daniel Rodrigues for The New York Times

9. It's not a journey. It's "transformational."

Transformational travel, offered by a new breed of tour operator, is supposed to engage you so meaningfully that the trip actually changes you. It can involve adventure, wellness, fellowship or even surprise.

One of our travel writers swallowed her skepticism and took a rigorously planned trip to Portugal to see the world "through new eyes." It almost worked.

Barton Silverman/The New York Times

10. And finally, your movement is as unique as your fingerprint.

A new study of people and their muscles concludes that each of us appears to have a particular way of moving, a physical "signature" that is ours alone.

The study could have implications for understanding health, physical performance, personalized medicine and whether and why people can respond so differently to the same exercise.

Have a one-of-a-kind night.

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