Catalonia, Donald Trump, World Cup: Your Tuesday Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/briefing/catalonia-spain-trump-world-cup.html

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Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Catalonia’s leader, Carles Puigdemont, will address the region’s Parliament today, possibly to declare independence from Spain.

The independence movement remains a shaky alliance that includes anarchists, free marketeers and social democrats. They are united in their quest for sovereignty but agree on little else, our correspondents in Barcelona write.

France, among other European countries, said it would not recognize the independent state.

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• Voters in Liberia are choosing today who will succeed Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first democratically elected female president in Africa.

Women in the country are worried that their newfound gains will be lost, as a man will almost certainly become the country’s next leader.

In Monrovia, the capital, candidates have been handing out cash, food and gifts to woo voters. Our correspondent, who left Liberia as a 13-year-old refugee, met some voters who have learned to game the system, extracting as much as possible out of politicians.

“They used to fool us, so now we fool them,” a motorcycle driver told her.

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• The Trump administration announced plans to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature clean power initiative, which will make it nearly impossible for the U.S. to fulfill its commitments under the Paris climate accord.

Separately, the hard-line immigration demands that Mr. Trump said he needs to back protections for young undocumented immigrants triggered a furious response from immigration activists. We profiled the man behind the proposal — a 32-year-old presidential adviser, Stephen Miller.

Plus, Melania Trump took Mr. Trump’s first wife to task for referring to herself as the first lady.

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• Google has found evidence that Russian agents bought ads on its wide-ranging networks in an effort to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The election was the first time Google allowed ads targeting political affinities, but it offered just two categories — left-leaning and right-leaning.

Separately, we looked at why the material Russian operatives used on Facebook was often so effective: A review of hundreds of such posts showed that they often contained recycled content created by Americans. “This is cultural hacking,” one observer said.

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• Iceland has become the least-populous nation to ever qualify for a berth in soccer’s World Cup. Here’s a look at who else advanced in qualifiers for next year’s tournament in Russia.

The state of soccer in Qatar, the World Cup host country in 2022, is still very much a work in progress. The man leading preparations told us that he expected about 1.2 million visitors and that everyone, including gay soccer fans, would be welcome.

• France’s major unions remained split at a meeting over how to respond to President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to overhaul the labor law. Unions representing public workers have called on their members to go on a nationwide strike today. Here’s a look at what to expect.

• China’s car market is now bigger than those of the U.S. and Japan combined. With that clout, Beijing is taking steps to dominate in electric vehicles and technology.

• The Nobel in economic science went to Richard Thaler for his work on behavioral economics. Here are some of his notable Times columns. He said he would try to spend the prize money “as irrationally as possible.”

• Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

• Fast-moving wildfires across Northern California have killed at least 10 people and forced the evacuation of up to 20,000. [The New York Times]

• Yemen is facing a humanitarian crisis in which a growing number of young children are sold into marriage or used as child soldiers. [The New York Times]

• The U.S. and Turkey sought to ease tensions after the two countries ceased issuing new nonimmigrant visas to each other’s citizens. [The New York Times]

• In the Netherlands, four political parties have reached an agreement to form a new government after lengthy coalition talks. It will again be led by Mark Rutte as prime minister. [Politico]

• Our correspondent looked at the many — often illegal — schemes with which North Korea’s diplomats have made money in Europe and elsewhere. [The New York Times]

• The police in Sweden said that they would test the DNA of Peter Madsen, the Danish inventor accused of killing the journalist Kim Wall, against earlier unsolved murders. [Associated Press]

• “Do not let me be fired,” Harvey Weinstein asked Hollywood studio executives as he contended with sexual harassment allegations stretching back decades. His pleas were for naught. [The New York Times]

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

• Recipe of the day: For classic, diner-style hamburgers, smash the patties flat.

• Sustainable travel can be budget friendly.

• Opioids aren’t the only pain drugs to worry about.

• The author Gretchen Rubin’s division of people into Upholders, Obligers, Questioners and Rebels has earned her a devoted following. Some remain skeptical.

• A backgammon competition and a music festival are signs that a growing number of Israelis and Palestinians are seeking new ways of overcome political divisions.

• In Austria, a man dressed in a shark costume was fined for violating a new law meant to ban burqas. The police said that he refused several requests to take off his shark head.

• Natural wines have taken off in Copenhagen, where they are a perfect fit for a vibrant food scene that shuns pesticides and additives.

“People from Paris come here to drink, which is weird,” a sommelier said.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week in a case that could reshape American politics: whether political gerrymandering violates the Constitution.

The practice of redrawing voting districts to gain political advantage is named after Elbridge Gerry, who as governor of Massachusetts signed a bill in 1812 creating a long, thin district designed to undermine Federalist candidates. An illustrator at a Boston dinner party is said to have drawn a picture of the district that looked like a salamander, and a political term was born.

Critics say the drawing of districts should be assigned to an independent or bipartisan commission, which some states and Australia, Britain, Canada and most of Europe have already done. (One exception is France, where the constitutionality of a 2010 redistricting committee was contested by lawmakers.)

A bill introduced in Congress this summer would create such a commission and would allow voters to rank lists of House candidates in order of preference instead of vote for only one.

One obstacle in the fight against gerrymandering is finding a way to measure it. The Supreme Court’s ruling could invalidate maps in more than 20 states, as well as expose at least a dozen House districts to court challenges.

Jennifer Jett contributed reporting.

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