| We’re covering newly revealed testimony in the war-crimes case involving a Navy SEAL leader, an election victory for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and a deadly plane crash in Kazakhstan. | |  By Chris Stanford | | | Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher leaving court in July, when he was acquitted of most of the charges against him. John Gastaldo/Zuma Wire | | | In tearful, anguished testimony to Navy investigators, members of Alpha platoon, SEAL Team 7, described their leader, Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, as “toxic” and “freaking evil.” | | | The interviews broke an unwritten code of silence among members of one of the nation’s most elite commando forces. In them, three SEAL members said they had seen Chief Gallagher shoot civilians in Iraq and fatally stab a wounded captive. | | | The details: Seven members of the 22-person platoon testified at Chief Gallagher’s trial that they had seen him commit war crimes. Two said they hadn’t seen any evidence of crimes, and others did not cooperate. Crucially, one SEAL member who had accused the chief during the investigation later changed his story on the witness stand. | | | Response: Chief Gallagher has insisted that the charges against him were concocted by team members who couldn’t meet his high standards. His lawyer said the interviews with the SEALs contained inconsistencies and falsehoods that created “a clear road map to the acquittal.” | | | Watch: The videos are featured in the latest episode of “The Weekly,” The Times’s TV show. It’s available to stream now on Hulu and will air on Sunday at 10 p.m. Eastern on FX. | | | The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has stepped up talks with rebels in Yemen and even engaged in indirect negotiations with Iran, the kingdom’s regional archnemesis that U.S. and Saudi officials say was behind the September attacks. | | | Background: For decades, the U.S. has kept open the possibility of using force to ensure the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf. | | | The proposed border wall would divide Richard Drawe's home in Texas, right, from his lake and his property to the south. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times | | | The administration has built 93 miles of the new wall, nearly all of it on federal land, according to Customs and Border Protection. While the wall’s final path is not set, most of the section in southern Texas would be on land that is privately owned, according to the agency. | | | Mr. Trump has suggested using the government’s power of eminent domain to “take the land,” and the law appears to be on the administration’s side, according to lawyers and scholars. | | | Quotable: The construction isn’t on the border, which follows the Rio Grande, but to the north, well on the American side. “If the wall goes up, it will be the new border,” said Richard Drawe, a landowner in Texas. | | | At a Bernie Sanders rally in Iowa this month. Jordan Gale for The New York Times | | | Months after a heart attack threatened his Democratic presidential campaign, the Vermont senator is at or near the top of polls in Iowa and other early voting states, driven in no small part by the enthusiasm of his supporters. | | | His progressive message, buoyed by the coveted endorsement of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has resonated with working-class voters and young people who say that a revolution is needed to fix a corrupt system. | | | Mr. Sanders’s fans are unwavering: A recent poll from The Des Moines Register showed that among likely Democratic caucusgoers who said Mr. Sanders was their top choice, 57 percent said their minds were made up; no other candidate registered above 30 percent. | | | Quotable: “From my conversations, it appears that people are not ambivalent about Sanders,” said a Democratic Party official in Iowa. “They are either behind him or he is not on their list of potential candidates.” | | | Another angle: Financial firms are creating bundles of investments that are tailored to different outcomes in November. “Market participants agree that the U.S. election is the big event for 2020,” said a saleswoman at Goldman Sachs. | | | Andrew Seng for The New York Times | | | In New York City, a shadow economy has sprouted up around recyclable bottles and cans. Dionisia Rivera, above, sells the items she collects on the Upper East Side. | | | PAID POST: A Message From XBrand | | Renewable Energy in Today's Age | | Look around you...All of the things that you love about this planet can be used to power it. the sun, rain, wind, tides and waves. We are creating renewable enery that benefits you and our planet, more efficiently and inexpensively. Recharge today with something different. | | | | Learn More | | | | Israel’s leader wins vote: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu easily defeated a challenger for the leadership of the conservative Likud party, but his victory is likely to perpetuate the country’s political deadlock. | | | Electric bikes rejected: Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York vetoed a bill that would have legalized electric bikes and scooters, citing safety concerns. | | | Rifka Majjid/Associated Press | | | Snapshot: Above, an annular solar eclipse, in which the moon passes in front of the sun, leaving a “ring of fire” around its edge. The eclipse on Thursday was most visible from Asia and the Middle East. | | | Modern Love: In this week’s column, a New Year’s Eve eviction leads to confusion, courage and grace for a mother and daughter. | | | What we’re reading: This Twitter thread started by Jeff Loveness, a writer and actor. “It’s the kind of wild ride that you wish more Twitter would be — self-revelation, irony upon irony, sprinklings of sincere compassion,” says our briefings editor, Andrea Kannapell. “Though if you just revealed something grave to your adult child over the holidays, maybe skip.” | | | David Malosh for The New York Times | | | Smarter Living: Toaster ovens keep getting smarter and more powerful — but what really works for you? Our tech columnist’s trial runs might help you narrow the options. | | | If you traveled for the holidays, you may be grumbling about the hours on the road. | | | You’ve got nothing on the gray whale. | | | About 20,000 of them have begun their 5,000-mile southern migration from the icy waters off Alaska, where they’ve been fattening up for months on a diet of invertebrates sucked up from sea mud and strained out by the bristly baleen in their huge mouths. | | | The whales pass within a few miles of shore, so spectators and volunteer counters have gathered for decades to count their telltale plumes. Oregon’s Whale Watch Week, for example, begins today. | | | A pair of gray whales off the coast of California. Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register, via Associated Press | | | The whales are bound for Baja California, where higher temperatures are more suitable for giving birth. The calves have only a thin layer of the blubber that protects adult whales. | | | But the Baja mud offers little sustenance, so the whales return north within months, babies in tow. | | | The 10,000-mile round trip ranks as one of the longest of any mammal, rivaled only by another baleen whale, the humpback. | | | That’s it for this briefing. See you next time. | | Thank you
Mark Josephson and Raillan Brooks provided the break from the news. Andrea Kannapell, the briefings editor, 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. | | |
