Syria, Brexit, Simone Biles: Your Monday Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/briefing/syria-brexit-simone-biles.html

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Good morning.

The U.S.’s former Kurdish allies in Syria struck a deal with the government in Damascus, a sworn enemy of Washington and an ally of Russia and Iran, as Turkey continued its ground and air assault. We also look ahead to a crucial week of Brexit negotiations and the fraught history of Columbus Day.

Kurdish forces in Syria on Sunday announced a new deal with the government in Damascus — a sworn enemy of Washington that is backed by Russia — after President Trump ordered the withdrawal of American forces from northern Syria.

It was a major turning point in Syria’s long war.

For five years, U.S. policy relied on collaborating with a Kurdish-led militia both to fight the Islamic State and to limit the influence of Iran and Russia. On Sunday, U.S. leverage appeared all but gone.

What’s next: The deal opens the door for the Syrian military to return to the country’s northeast for the first time in years to try to repel a Turkish invasion.

On the ground: Amid the chaos of the ground invasion and strikes, hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers escaped from a low-security detention camp in the region. And the fate of other prisoners is unclear. U.S. Special Forces officers told our reporters they felt ashamed to abandon allies, while Kurdish fighters described feeling betrayed.

Impact: The fighting has caused the deaths of dozens of civilians and has forced over 130,000 from their homes, according to the U.N. The U.S. is planning to impose economic sanctions on Turkey.

Big picture: Turkey’s invasion upended a fragile peace in northern Syria and has already begun to unleash sectarian bloodshed. It also risks enabling a resurgence of the Islamic State, undoing hard-won gains against the group.

Also in Syria: The Times found that Russia repeatedly violated one of the oldest laws of war, as it bombed four Syrian hospitals in the span of 12 hours. Watch our video investigation.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain has until Saturday to get E.U. leaders onboard with a plan to depart from the bloc that can then survive a vote in Parliament.

10 Downing has been tight-lipped, but Mr. Johnson and his Irish counterpart, Leo Varadkar, appeared (very) cautiously optimistic, saying they could see “a pathway to a possible deal,” in a joint statement released about their Irish border discussions last week.

As the negotiations in Brussels continue today, Queen Elizabeth II will give her queen’s speech, outlining a dense set of proposals for a new Parliament session. The package includes 22 bills touching on a host of topics, including, of course, Brexit. On Thursday, two days of crucial E.U. meetings begin.

Things to remember: Brexit is supposed to happen on Oct. 31 — two weeks from Thursday. The issue of how to manage customs on the Irish border is still unresolved. A looming general election could change the way the government handles Brexit.

The country’s populist ruling party appeared to have retained its hold power on Sunday, according to exit polls. Early results showed that the Law and Justice party had just over 43 percent of the vote; if the preliminary numbers hold, it will be able to form a government without a coalition.

The party rose to power by promoting a brand of aggrieved nationalism mixed with progressive economic policy. It has overhauled the courts in a way that critics say undermines the rule of law, and faces losing its E.U. voting status as a result. But civil society remains vibrant, and critical voices can still be heard.

In case you missed it: The Law and Justice party wields state media as its most powerful campaign tool and has imposed a crackdown on independent media. Its practices raised questions about the fairness of the elections and about press freedom.

From our Opinion section, a story that offers a window into changing racial hierarchies in the U.S.: Italian immigrants went from a pariah status in the 19th century to white Americans in good standing in the 20th century.

Columbus Day, the U.S. federal holiday celebrated today in honor of the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, was central to the process through which Italian-Americans were fully ratified as white. Its origin, steeped in myth about what Columbus did, was part of an attempt to quiet outrage among Italian-Americans after a lynching that took the lives of 11 Italians.

Trump administration: A video depicting a macabre scene of a fake President Trump shooting, stabbing and brutally assaulting members of the news media and his political opponents was shown at a conference for his supporters at his Miami resort last week, according to footage obtained by The Times.

Texas shooting: A woman was playing a video game with her nephew when she was shot and killed in her home by the police. A neighbor had reported two doors left ajar. The police killing devastated many residents, who compared the events to another recent shooting in the state, the killing of Botham Jean, a black accountant who was shot to death by a white off-duty police officer in his Dallas apartment last year.

Women’s marathon record: Brigid Kosgei of Kenya blew away the field in winning the Chicago Marathon in a world record of 2:14:04.

Typhoon Hagibis: Hundreds of thousands of people abandoned their homes as Japan was lashed by Typhoon Hagibis, the most powerful storm to strike the country in decades. We have photos of the destruction.

Snapshot: Simone Biles, above in Stuttgart, Germany, won the gold in the balance beam and the floor exercise to become the most decorated gymnast in world championship history, with a total of 25 medals.

Coco Gauff: The 15-year-old won her first singles title at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz, making her the youngest WTA singles champion in 15 years. She now has one more tournament remaining in her season, the Luxembourg Open.

From Opinion: A century ago this month, an opera, “Die Frau ohne Schatten,” tried to heal a broken Europe. It imagined an enlightened, Democratic empire. It marked the end of an epoch in which emperors and empresses were politically important on the Continent.

What we’re reading: This deep dive into “The End of Silence,” in The Atlantic. “If you have any kind of sound sensitivity, or live near a data center, or just want to track another element of our strange modern life, you’re likely to find it fascinating,” writes Andrea Kannapell, the Briefings editor. “And there’s a great passage about my borough, Brooklyn.”

Cook: The spicy, fragrant peanut sauce for our baked tofu and coconut-lime rice recalls the groundnut stews popular across West Africa.

Watch: Our critics spent 48 hours in the strange and beautiful world of TikTok, a platform for short and often funny videos. Here’s what they saw when they went down the rabbit hole.

Read: In new books from Elisha Cooper, Oge Mora, Joo Hee Yoon and more, children, adults and creatures blow off steam and let it all hang out.

Listen: Nashville has long marginalized female performers, songwriters and producers, but a wave of artists is fighting back. Our critics discuss on the latest episode of the Popcast podcast.

Smarter Living: Not every new mother bonds immediately with her baby. If that’s you, it may help to know that doctors say it’s normal. Despite societal pressure for instant adoration, you and the baby may need time to fall in love. It can help to make eye and skin-to-skin contact as often as possible, and to carry the newborn close, in a sling. For some, the baby’s first smile solves it all.

And our Parenting team put together a guide on what to know about surrogacy.

Childlike, informal to the point of frivolity: Comic Sans turns 25 this month.

Its designer, Vincent Connare, says he was helping develop an easy-to-use operating system for Microsoft in 1994 when he sketched a talk bubble for a “cute little yellow dog” — and had to invent a typeface suitable for dog talk.

There were haters from the start.

Twitter once said that its most reliable sources of traffic were complaints about airlines and Comic Sans. Designers call the font the “punch line” of the artistic community. A couple in Indiana, Holly and David Combs, started a “Ban Comic Sans” movement.

Still, it keeps showing up in surprising places. In 2010, the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers used it to reassure fans when LeBron James left the team, and in 2012 CERN used it for the landmark announcement of the Higgs boson particle.

Last week, it got another 15 minutes of fame. A lawyer representing two of Rudy Giuliani’s associates told Congress that his clients wouldn’t comply with impeachment inquiry demands — in a letter printed in Comic Sans.

That’s it for this briefing.

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See you next time.

— Melina

Thank youTo Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Emma Goldberg, a researcher for the Times editorial board, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.• We’re listening to Part 2 of the fifth episode of the audio series for “The 1619 Project,” on discriminatory lending practices that have robbed black farmers of their land. • We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is about China’s dispute with the N.B.A. • Here’s today’s Mini Crossword puzzle, and a clue: Sea, to the French (three letters). You can find all our puzzles here.