| We’re covering the prospect of new peace talks in Afghanistan, the start of the holiday shopping season and a troubled government program to forgive student loans. | |  By Chris Stanford | | | President Trump addressed U.S. troops at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan on Thursday. Erin Schaff/The New York Times | | | Mr. Trump made the announcement during a Thanksgiving visit to American troops in Afghanistan, his first trip to the country as president. | | | White House officials offered few details, and the Taliban made no immediate comment. The Afghan government has demanded that the Taliban agree to a cease-fire, but there has been no evidence that the group is willing to grant one. | | | Background: In September, Mr. Trump canceled plans for a meeting at Camp David with Taliban leaders and Afghan officials after a Taliban attack killed an American soldier. | | | An increase of one star in a rating on Amazon correlates with a 26 percent increase in sales, according to one recent analysis. | | | Amazon said that last year it prevented more than 13 million bogus reviews and “took action” against more than five million accounts. | | | Related: With help from The Wirecutter, a Times site that reviews products, our reporters are covering the best Black Friday deals (and the ones to avoid). Here are the latest updates. | | | Mr. Buttigieg, who has little support among black voters and trails some rivals among young people, introduced a plan this week for long-term care, calling it his “Gray New Deal.” | | | “He reminds everyone of their favorite grandson,” said one Democratic official in Iowa, a predominantly white state that, along with New Hampshire, votes first for the party’s presidential nomination. | | | Another angle: After Kamala Harris fell out of the top tier of candidates in the 2020 race, The Times interviewed more than 50 current and former staff members and allies for a picture of her troubled campaign. | | | Kelly Finlaw, a teacher in New York, has nearly $90,000 in debt and a 7 percent interest rate. Sarah Blesener for The New York Times | | | Under a student loan forgiveness program created by Congress in 2007, borrowers who made their payments faithfully would, after a decade, have the remainder of their debt written off. | | | But under 1 percent of those who have applied for relief under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program have been deemed eligible, and more than 80,000 professionals have been denied relief through bureaucratic mix-ups, confusion over complex rules or poor management. | | | Quotable: “I am not the one that asked for this program,” said Kelly Finlaw, a teacher. “I didn’t dream it up. Someone promised it. All I did was believe it was real.” | | | Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times | | | The mention of the word Christmas in holiday greetings and decorations has become a measure of political divisiveness in the U.S. | | | In Charleston, W.Va., the mayor wanted her city to be more welcoming to all faiths and people, so she changed an annual celebration to the “Winter Parade.” That didn’t last long. | | | PAID POST: A MESSAGE FROM EMMA | | Here's one free month to see how email marketing can work for you. | | At Emma, we're email people, not math people. But $44 ROI for each $1 spent is something we can get on board with. You too? That's the magic of an email marketing platform that gives you all the tools you need to really connect with your subscribers at the right time, resulting in increased clicks, higher engagement, and more sales. | | | Get a free month | | | | Criticism from China: The government vowed retaliation after President Trump signed human rights legislation covering Hong Kong, a city rocked by months of pro-democracy protests. But ending the trade war still matters more for Beijing, our correspondents write in a news analysis. | | | Calla Kessler/The New York Times | | | Snapshot: Above, crew members reining in a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger, one of the 16 giant balloons that flew during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday despite the threat of high winds. | | | News quiz: Did you follow the headlines this week? Test yourself. | | | Modern Love: This week’s column is by a woman who finds that bereavement can complicate family math. | | | What we’re listening to: This Bloomberg podcast. Our Magazine writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner says, “I can’t stop listening to Joe Nocera’s investigation into a shrink with no boundaries — in a possibly criminal way.” | | | Rikki Snyder for The New York Times | | | Cook: You might not want to think about turkey right now, but you can use leftovers for a tikka masala, pictured above, or a pho. | | | Watch: “The Irishman,” starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, has arrived on Netflix. Here’s a guide to who’s who, which events are real and whether to believe its claim about Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance. | | | You might be feeling postprandial somnolence today. | | | Food coma — drowsiness and lethargy after a large meal — is a common experience after Thanksgiving. | | | But scientists have had a hard time pinning down exactly what it is. | | | Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times | | | But even without an exact understanding, researchers are hunting for treatments for after-meal dazes. A study in South Korea found that exposure to blue light might “disrupt the post-lunch dip.” Participants exposed to the light were quicker at completing an attention task. | | | That’s it for this briefing. See you next time. | | Thank you
Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford provided the break from the news. Nadav Gavrielov wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com. | | | Were you sent this briefing by a friend? Sign up here to get the Morning Briefing. | | |
