Shutdown, Markets, Facebook: Your Thursday Evening Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/27/briefing/shutdown-markets-facebook.html

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Good evening. Here’s the latest.

1. The partial shutdown of the federal government will run into the new year.

Outgoing House Republicans informed lawmakers there will be no votes Friday or Monday, and no relief for the 800,000 federal workers who are either furloughed or working without pay.

House Democrats, who assume control next Thursday, are weighing three approaches to getting federal funds flowing, none of which would include $5 billion for President Trump’s demand for a wall on the southern border. Above, near Santa Teresa, N.M.

Here’s how the shutdown affects federal departments.

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2. President Trump’s $1.5 trillion in tax cuts went into effect one year ago. What happened?

Our reporter covering economic and tax policy takes stock of what companies promised, and what has come to pass.

Some workers reaped rewards from the law, he found, as companies followed through on promises to raise wages and pay bonuses. Above, Walmart employees in Houston.

But other firms announced layoffs, despite reporting higher profits and billions of dollars in tax savings.

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3. There was a shake-up in Saudi Arabia’s government.

The nation’s ruler, King Salman, right, named new ministers and security chiefs. But power remains firmly in the hands of his son and designated heir, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, left.

Saudi Arabia and the crown prince have been under international scrutiny since October, when Saudi agents killed and dismembered the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi inside the country’s consulate in Istanbul.

Western intelligence agencies have concluded that Prince Mohammed knew about and most likely ordered the plot to kill Mr. Khashoggi. And the crown prince has directed the Saudi military campaign in Yemen that has contributed to a humanitarian crisis and drawn growing opposition in the West.

Separately, rioters stormed an Ebola triage center in eastern Congo in a new wave of violent protests, aggravated by delays in an election scheduled for Sunday.

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4. Wall Street’s roller-coaster ride continued, with stocks staging a late-day recovery after an earlier decline.

There were mixed signals about the U.S. economy’s health: Weekly jobless claims were lower, a positive sign, but the monthly consumer confidence index hit a five-month low. Above, outside the New York Stock Exchange.

Trading volume was lower than normal as a result of the holiday week, but one expert cautioned against playing down this week’s swings.

“This is driven by rising uncertainty about the fundamentals: earnings, the economy and interest rates,” he said.

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5. How does Facebook monitor billions of posts per day?

The company, which makes about $5 billion in profit per quarter, says it is doing everything it can to get rid of posts that sow social division and even violence.

But it must also continue to attract more users from more countries and try to keep them on the site longer to maintain the endless expansion that is core to its business.

The company’s solution: a network of low-skilled moderators using a maze of PowerPoint slides spelling out what’s forbidden. Above, in Berlin.

Our review of the company’s rule books revealed gaps, biases and outright errors. As Facebook employees search for the right answers, we found, they have allowed extremist language to flourish in some countries while censoring mainstream speech in others.

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6. Cosmetology students are tangled up in debt.

For-profit cosmetology schools use state governments to keep training requirements high — then benefit from students’ uncompensated work in their salons.

In visits to a dozen salons and in conversations with former cosmetology students, we heard a variety of opinions about how much training the profession requires and the financial returns it offers.

And we heard again and again how the dream of becoming a professional hairstylist, or someday owning a salon, can be stymied by debt. Above, Tracy Lozano still owes more than $8,000, 13 years after graduating.

“I’ll be paying it off for the rest of my life,” said one graduate, whose student debt has ballooned to $29,000.

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7. Only one house was left on its block.

The devastating Camp Fire last month was the worst wildfire in California’s history and nearly consumed the entire town of Paradise, population 26,000.

One resident’s home, above, narrowly escaped the fire, and now it’s one of the few structures left standing as residents return, after weeks of waiting, to assess what remains.

In maps and images, our journalists survey the swath of devastation and the daunting task of recovery.

“Paradise deserves to be rebuilt and maybe even better than it was before,” one resident told us.

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8. “It’s not Mayberry, but there’s a lot of opportunity.”

The mayor of Fergus Falls, Minn., was among residents upset by an article in a respected German newsmagazine that portrayed the city as a backward, racist place whose residents blindly supported President Trump.

In a damning point-by-point rebuttal, residents proved that the article was a fabrication. And before long the reporter was exposed and fired for fabricating the story — and many others, on multiple continents.

Another Der Spiegel reporter visited Minnesota in recent days to set the record straight. He found that residents seemed unwilling to hold a grudge. Fergus Falls, he said, might be “the most forgiving city in the Western Hemisphere.”

“We’re taking the high road,” the mayor said. “We’ve moved on.”

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9. A celebrity duck. Yanny vs. Laurel. The outsize steer named Knickers.

Outrage, arguing, depressing news and other bad things were easy to find on the internet this year. Our writer decided to celebrate some of the exceptions.

Here five shining internet moments (and some runners-up) of 2018.

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10. Finally, a 71-year-old Frenchman who has crossed the Atlantic four times in a sailboat has found a new way to try to conquer the ocean: in a barrel, above.

He describes his venture, which is predicted to take three months, as a “crossing during which man isn’t captain of his ship, but a passenger of the ocean.”

Have a buoyant evening.

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