The British government, battling a second wave of coronavirus cases, on Thursday announced a slew of new and extended economic measures to support jobs and businesses. But the centerpiece, a wage-support program, is less generous to workers and employers than the furlough program it is replacing, which expires next month. And that…
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Breonna Taylor, Coronavirus Vaccine, Belarus: Your Thursday Briefing
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good morning. We’re covering protests after a decision in the Breonna Taylor case, the final round of testing for a U.S.-made coronavirus vaccine and Finland’s canine front line against the pandemic. ImageJohnson & Johnson will recruit participants for its vaccine trial in…
U.S. Ambassador to Netherlands Faces Questions About Political Interference
BRUSSELS — One of President Trump’s most outspoken ambassadors has found himself in a new controversy after co-hosting a fund-raiser for a populist far-right Dutch political party in the American Embassy in the Netherlands. The act appears to breach diplomatic protocol because of its involvement with domestic politics in the host nation.…
Eiffel Tower Briefly Evacuated After Bomb Threat
PARIS — The Eiffel Tower was briefly evacuated on Wednesday after the police in Paris received a phone call suggesting there was a bomb at the monument, but officers inspecting the site did not find anything suspicious. The monument was “fully” evacuated shortly after midday as a precautionary measure after the police…
Poisoned Russian Opposition Leader Leaves Berlin Hospital
BERLIN — Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, has been released from a hospital in Germany and could make a full recovery after being poisoned with a highly toxic nerve agent, doctors said on Wednesday. “Based on the patient’s progress and current condition, the treating physicians believe that complete recovery…
Boris Johnson, United Nations, Climate Change: Your Wednesday Briefing
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good morning. We’re covering the U.S.-China rivalry at the U.N., the United Kingdom’s new virus restrictions and the certainty of decades of climate disasters. ImagePrime Minister Boris Johnson waited to wash his hands during a visit to a school in Bovingdon, England,…
Former Rebel Leader Is Elected President of Bougainville
SYDNEY — A former rebel military commander has been elected president of Bougainville, the autonomous region in the South Pacific, electoral officials said on Wednesday, and he is set to lead talks for the territory’s independence from Papua New Guinea. The victory by the former rebel leader, Ishmael Toroama, is a break…
A London Caper With a Car James Bond Would Never Drive
What the burglars lacked in panache, they made up for in their ability to stymie the London police after stealing a valuable collection of handguns brandished by James Bond himself in three movies. On Monday, the Metropolitan Police appealed to the public for help in finding the thieves, six months after the…
N.Y.P.D. Officer Is Accused of Spying on Tibetans for China
Federal prosecutors on Monday charged a New York City police officer with acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government, accusing him of providing intelligence about Tibetans living in the United States to officials at the Chinese consulate. The officer, Baimadajie Angwang, 33, was taken into custody on Monday, officials said.…
At the U.N., a General Assembly Like No Other
Here’s what you need to know: ImageFor the first time in the organization’s history, the General Assembly will be held virtually. The world leaders usually gather yearly at the United Nations headquarters in New York.Credit…Mary Altaffer/Associated Press Taking a moment to mark a milestone. The General Assembly will begin its annual speeches…
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Belarus, Aleksei Navalny: Your Monday Briefing
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good morning. We’re covering the effects of the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a weekend of protests in Belarus and Britain’s attempts to avoid a second national lockdown. ImageAmericans paid their respects to Justice Ginsburg at the Supreme Court in Washington. Credit…Michael A.…
Rough Play or Bad Intentions? Orca Encounters Off Iberia Baffle Experts
The dark shapes briefly surfaced near the boat sailing in the darkness off the coast of northern Spain, then there was a thud, followed by an expletive in Spanish. Orcas had rammed the hull of the Spanish boat, the Urki I, in the early hours of Monday, as the two-person crew tried…
Health Officials Tiptoe Around Trump’s Coronavirus Vaccine Timeline
ImageProtesters shouted slogans during a protest in the streets of Madrid on Sunday.Credit…Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images As Europe faces a second wave, new lockdowns in Madrid have been met with protests. Residents of Madrid took to the streets on Sunday to protest the renewed lockdown of dozens of areas across the Spanish…
Fire Lessons From Australia’s South Coast
The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email. By this time last year, I had already written my first bush fire story of the season — with a headline that called the destruction of the Binna Burra Lodge an omen of the…
Hundreds of Women Arrested at Protest in Belarus
MINSK, Belarus — In a show of might, security forces in Belarus on Saturday arrested hundreds of women taking part in a protest march against the re-election of the country’s strongman, President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko. Following a ruthless crackdown on the protests that followed the presidential election in August, women have emerged…
Violent Attacks Plague Afghanistan as Peace Talks in Doha Slow
DOHA, Qatar — Violence continued unabated across Afghanistan on Saturday, as negotiators from the warring sides remained bogged down by disagreements over a framework for talks a week after historic negotiations began in Doha. More than a dozen civilians were feared dead in one airstrike by Afghan forces in the North. The…
Stephen F. Cohen, Influential Historian of Russia, Dies at 81
Stephen F. Cohen, an eminent historian whose books and commentaries on Russia examined the rise and fall of Communism, Kremlin dictatorships and the emergence of a post-Soviet nation still struggling for identity in the 21st century, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 81. His wife, Katrina vanden Heuvel,…
Winter’s Coming. Will Canada’s Pandemic Bicycle Boom Last?
Since 1992, July for me has often meant spending three weeks driving thousands of kilometers to report on the cyclists competing in the Tour de France. ImagePrimoz Roglic of Slovenia leading the main group of riders on Thursday’s stage of the Tour de France.Credit…Christophe Petit Tesson/EPA, via Shutterstock So even though I’m…
‘It’s So Essential’: WeChat Ban Makes U.S.-China Standoff Personal
Every day for nearly five years, Juliet Shen’s 94-year-old grandmother in Shanghai has begun her day with a WeChat message to her 40 children and grandchildren scattered across the globe. “Good morning, everyone!” she writes. And each time, the diaspora of family members across China, the United States and Central America respond…
Coronavirus, China, Aleksei Navalny: Your Friday Briefing
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign- Good morning. We’re covering China’s troubled relationship with Europe, growing concerns about a virus uptick across the continent and new details on the poisoning of Aleksei Navalny. ImageA Covid-19 test center at the Brussels airport on Thursday.Credit…Francisco Seco/Associated Press A second wave…