Your Tuesday Evening Briefing

January 28, 2020

Your Tuesday Evening Briefing

By remy tumin and hiroko masuike

Good evening. Here’s the latest.

T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times

1. President Trump’s defense team wrapped up its oral arguments, urging the Senate to “end the era of impeachment” by declaring the president not guilty.

His lawyers, above, derided a new claim by Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, that Mr. Trump had tied the release of military aid to Ukraine to investigations into the Bidens as an “unsourced allegation” that should be “inadmissible” in the trial.

Over the past three days, the president’s team has focused less on defending Mr. Trump’s actions than on convincing senators that those actions did not rise to impeachable offenses.

Starting Wednesday, senators will spend up to 16 hours over two days questioning each side’s lawyers. A vote on whether to hear witnesses in the trial is expected on Friday. Senator Mitch McConnell is said to have told Republicans that he does not currently have the votes to block the measure.

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Doug Mills/The New York Times

2. President Trump unveiled his Middle East peace plan in Washington in the presence of only one party in the conflict, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

What Mr. Trump called a “win-win” proposal guarantees Israeli control of a unified Jerusalem, does not require it to uproot any West Bank settlements and creates a Palestinian state with limited sovereignty. Analysts saw the document as a distraction offered by a president under impeachment working with a prime minister under criminal indictment.

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The Palestinian leadership immediately rejected the proposal, which discards the idea of a full-fledged Palestinian state. Israel’s government plans a vote on Sunday that would apply Israeli sovereignty to West Bank settlements and the strategic Jordan Valley.

Toby Melville/Reuters

3. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson broke with President Trump over Huawei.

Despite pressure on Britain to bar the Chinese technology giant from its new 5G broadband network, Mr. Johnson decided to grant Huawei limited access. It is the latest sign that the U.S. campaign against Huawei is faltering.

The move also creates a possible rift between Mr. Johnson and Mr. Trump at the very moment that Britain is leaving the European Union, and before talks toward a trans-Atlantic trade deal.

EPA, via Shutterstock

4. The number of known cases of the coronavirus rose by nearly 60 percent overnight. Above, disinfection in Qingdao, China.

China said confirmed cases had increased to 4,515, and that 106 people had died. The youngest case is a 9-month-old girl in Beijing. Here’s the latest.

As infections skyrocketed, officials expanded travel restrictions and screenings. Hong Kong said the territory would strictly limit visitors from mainland China, and the U.S. will screen travelers arriving from Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, at 20 ports of entry, up from five.

Hilary Swift for The New York Times

5. In the 2020 race, we take a look at Pete Buttigieg’s struggle with minority voters — and his campaign staff.

Some staff members of color said working for a candidate with so little support from black and Hispanic voters had become demoralizing. One said that people of color felt they were employed in order to help the campaign meet its ambitious diversity targets.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, President Trump’s impeachment trial is keeping senators far from Iowa for the second week in a row, so their stand-ins have become the main attraction. Among them are Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the actress Ashley Judd and Jonathan Van Ness of “Queer Eye.”

Doug Young

6. Kobe Bryant’s impact was felt far beyond the basketball court.

We spoke to one of his high school English teachers about their friendship, which endured over more than two decades. “We managed to get through lots of years, and really were there for each other,” Jeanne Mastriano, pictured above with Bryant last year, told us.

His high school team is set to play tonight.

Our former deputy sports editor reflects on why Bryant’s death means so much to so many, and Talia Caldwell, a professional women’s basketball player, writes in Opinion about why the W.N.B.A. loved him.

Investigators said they would explore all possible causes of Sunday’s helicopter crash, including mechanical failure. They also said that all nine bodies had now been recovered. Here are the latest developments.

Scott Barbour/EPA, via Shutterstock

7. After a second nail-biting victory in the Australian Open, Roger Federer will face off against Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.

Federer saved seven match points against Tennys Sandgren in the fourth set of their quarterfinal, and will now play Djokovic for the 50th time early Thursday.

Ashleigh Barty is two wins away from winning a Grand Slam title in her home country, which no Australian woman has done since 1978. She is scheduled to play Sofia Kenin, an American who is seeded 14th, on Thursday for a spot in the final.

Allison V. Smith for The New York Times

8. Fort Worth is embracing its cowboy culture with an eye toward the future.

The Texas city of nearly 900,000 people is taking advantage of its longhorn heritage with hopes to become a major sports and entertainment center. Its new $540 million arena will host one of the world’s oldest indoor rodeos, and the city is reinvigorating its stockyards district.

Our architecture critic is thinking about city planning in a different way. For many, the word “density” conjures up overcrowding and congestion. But density is not the enemy, he says.

Colin Clark for The New York Times

9. Pop-ups were once seen by young chefs as a steppingstone to a restaurant. Now, they are using the temporary eateries as a way to explore their personal memories and culinary traditions.

“We want to recreate a Sunday night at my grandma’s place,” said Stephanie Bonnin, above, a Colombian-born chef.

On the beverage scene, we also looked at how mead went from a medieval honey wine to New York’s next cool drink, and went on a four-day coffee tasting journey in Costa Rica.

Clane Gessel

10. And finally, capturing the unexpected.

Wedding photographers usually have a shot list — a must-capture catalog of photos that each couple insists on — but there’s a certain delight in the spontaneous, like a snowy parking lot in Snoqualmie, Wash., above. We asked 12 photographers to share their most candid shots.

“You always look for these rare moments,” one longtime wedding photographer said. “They don’t always happen, but when they do, it’s magic.”

And if you think you have one that fits the bill, you can submit it here.

Have an unexpectedly lovely night.

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