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Russia in Libya, China Trade, Trump Inquiry: Your Wednesday Briefing

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Good morning.

We’re covering Russia’s advance on Libya, China’s endorsement of free trade and a key reversal in the U.S. impeachment inquiry.


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Fighters in Ain Zara, Libya, in April, defending the country’s internationally recognized government.Credit...Fadel Senna/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

About 200 Russian fighters have arrived in Libya in the last six weeks as part of a broad campaign by the Kremlin to reassert its influence across the Middle East and Africa.

After years of providing behind-the-scenes support for a would-be Libyan strongman, Moscow is now pushing much more directly to shape the outcome of the country’s messy civil war, bringing in advanced Sukhoi jets, coordinated missile strikes, precision-guided artillery and skilled snipers.

It’s the same playbook that made Russia the biggest foreign influence in Syria’s war.

What Russia wants: The Kremlin has intervened on behalf of the militia leader Khalifa Hifter, who is also backed by the U.A.E., Egypt, Saudi Arabia and, at times, France. He is at war with a coalition of pro-government militias from western Libya that is nominally supported by the U.S. and other Western powers, though Turkey is its only real patron.

Two-tiered war: Turkey and the U.A.E. have turned Libya into the first war fought primarily by clashing fleets of armed drones. But on the ground, small militias clash in a handful of deserted districts on the southern outskirts of Tripoli.


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Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, speaking during the opening ceremony of the second annual China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Tuesday.Credit...Aly Song/Reuters

President Xi Jinping endorsed free trade in a speech in Shanghai on Tuesday, even as his government’s attempts to end the punishing trade war with the U.S. and to open up new markets seemed to be faltering.

“Economic globalization is a historical trend,” he declared at the opening of the second annual China International Import Expo. He also promised to welcome more foreign investment.

Behind the scenes: Although the Trump administration and China came to a temporary cease-fire last month in a conflict that has begun to weigh on the global economy, negotiators are still at work trying to reach an interim trade deal.

But China’s hopes of securing a free-trade agreement with more than a dozen countries in Asia hit a setback after India — wary of a flood of Chinese goods entering its market — pulled out on Monday.

In the U.S.: The overall trade deficit continued to widen in the first nine months of 2019, a sign that the Trump administration’s approach to trade has so far done little to make a dent in the imbalance.


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Gordon D. Sondland contradicted his October testimony.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

A crucial witness in the House investigation of President Trump reversed himself and confirmed his role in laying out a quid pro quo to Ukraine.

The disclosure from Gordon Sondland, an ally of Mr. Trump who is the United States ambassador to the European Union, provided Democrats with a valuable piece of evidence to fill out the picture of their abuse-of-power case against the president.

Republican reaction: Although Mr. Trump’s supporters now say a quid pro quo from a foreign government for political benefit is not — in the words of the president himself — “an impeachable event,” Mr. Sondland’s new account complicates their defense.

U.S. election results: Public support for Mr. Trump will be measured in part by how Republicans performed in Tuesday’s elections. Democratic voters in Virginia took the state legislature from Republicans, and Democrats claimed a narrow victory in the Kentucky governor’s race. The results could be a signal of waning support for Trump among suburban voters. We’ll have the latest results on nytimes.com.

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Credit...Fazry Ismail/EPA, via Shutterstock

Around the world, such as in Hong Kong, above, the streets are filled with demonstrations. Wherever they take place, they all claim a failed 17th-century British insurgent as their symbolic confederate. Sara Barrett, a photo editor in our Opinion section, takes us on a pictorial tour of people wearing Guy Fawkes masks in service of a cause.

Britain: Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative who leads the House of Commons and is an ally of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, apologized amid an uproar over his comments suggesting that the victims of the fatal Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 died because they lacked the “common sense” to defy firefighters’ orders and flee.

Mexico: At least nine members of a Mormon family, including six children, were killed by gunmen believed to be tied to organized crime, relatives said. Mexico has already been reeling from record violence this year, including a string of attacks in the last month.

Iraq protests: At least 13 protesters were killed on Monday and Tuesday, as Iraqi security forces abandoned weeks of relative restraint. The protesters, who have taken to the streets in the hundreds of thousands, are marching against Iran’s growing influence.

Hong Kong: The Chinese leader gave a public endorsement of Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, his most direct comments yet on the 22-week-long protest movement in the territory. At the same time, he reminded her of Beijing’s support for a stern approach to the increasingly violent protests.

Italy: Public schools will soon require students in every grade to study climate change and sustainability, a step the education minister said would put Italy at the forefront of environmental learning worldwide.

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Credit...Joann Pai for The New York Times

Snapshot: Above, the Pont Alexandre III over the Seine in Paris. The city’s 37 steel, stone and wood bridges offer lessons in history, architecture — and romance.

Flying taxis: The German start-up Lilium is among at least 20 companies around the world testing machinery, laying the groundwork and starting discussions with government officials in a high-stakes race to roll out flying taxis. But engineering and technical challenges persist.

“Museum diplomacy”: The Pompidou Center, the renowned modern art museum in Paris, unveiled an outpost in China with French President Emmanuel Macron in attendance. The 27,000-square-foot exhibition space in Shanghai is likely to come up against the same censorship issues that other art institutions in China face.

Holocaust reunion: A 92-year-old Greek woman, Melpomeni Dina, was reunited with two surviving members of a Jewish family she helped save from the Nazis during World War II. The reunion might be the last of its kind.

What we’re reading: This essay in GQ-UK, by a reporter for The Times of London. The journalist, Anthony Lloyd, found a British girl in Syria who was an ISIS bride from the age of 15. He reflects on “how his interview wrecked what was left of her life,” writes our national correspondent Ellen Barry.

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Credit...David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

Cook: In need of something outrageously good? Turn to this French onion macaroni and cheese.

Listen: The New York Police Department has created a podcast that delves into its most interesting cases.

Read: In some ways, Edith Wharton’s classic novel “The Age of Innocence” feels more current than ever. The writer Elif Batuman explains.

Smarter Living: Here’s a step-by-step guide to cleaning your scuffed-up white sneakers.

College football is wildly popular in the U.S., generating billions of dollars each year (though it doesn’t pay its athletes). At its start 150 years ago, the game looked almost nothing like it does today.

Rutgers and Princeton, two New Jersey colleges, faced off in the first-ever match on Nov. 6, 1869, before about 100 spectators. Each team had 25 men on the field, and the ball couldn’t be carried or thrown — players advanced by kicking or batting it with their hands and feet.

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On the field in 1869.Credit...Rutgers University

The rules had been established a few years earlier by the London Football Association — meaning they were a lot closer to what the rest of the world would call “football” and Americans would call soccer. The game also featured elements of rugby.

The play was frantic and rough, and the men wore no padding or helmets. At one point, a distressed professor waved his umbrella and shouted, “You will come to no Christian end!”

Princeton had more muscle, but Rutgers was faster and better organized, according to an account in Rutgers’s student newspaper. Rutgers won, 6-4.


That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Victoria


Thank you
To Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Tom Wright-Piersanti 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 how Democratic presidential candidates might fare in the 2020 election.
• Here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: Thanksgiving vegetable (three letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• The New York Times Book Review, working with the New York Public Library, chose the 10 Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2019.

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