Your Tuesday Evening Briefing

February 18, 2020

Your Tuesday Evening Briefing

By remy tumin and hiroko masuike

Good evening. Here’s the latest.

Doug Mills/The New York Times

1. President Trump granted clemency to 11 people convicted of white-collar crimes, including those involved in major scandals.

Drawing on what the White House said was advice from his own friends and business associates, Mr. Trump commuted the 14-year prison sentence of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, the Democrat who was convicted of trying to essentially sell Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat for personal gain.

He also pardoned the financier Michael Milken; Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner; and Edward DeBartolo Jr., a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers. Here’s a complete list of the 11, covering who they are and what they did.

In conversations with advisers, Mr. Trump has also raised the prospect of commuting whatever sentence gets handed down to his friend Roger Stone, but his only action on that front today was to continue publicly attacking the case.

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Shawn Poynter for The New York Times

2. Michael Bloomberg will appear with his Democratic presidential rivals for the first time on the debate stage on Wednesday night. That’s making his campaign nervous.

For months, he has been muscling his way into the race, using deep coffers and an all-consuming blob of campaign infrastructure. But the 78-year-old billionaire won’t have that armor with him onstage, our reporter writes in an analysis, and could be a near-perfect foil for several of his competitors.

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Elizabeth Warren, for her part, is trying to reverse course after a bad month. Her staff members and supporters believe the media is ignoring her. “We’re taking our case directly to voters,” an email from the campaign read.

Xiao Yijiu/Xinhua, via Associated Press

3. The economic fallout from the coronavirus epidemic continued to spread. Above, patients at a temporary hospital in Wuhan, China.

HSBC, one of the most important banks in Hong Kong, said it plans to cut 35,000 jobs and $4.5 billion in costs as it faces headwinds from the outbreak (on top of the territory’s political strife).

And U.S. stocks declined on Tuesday, a day after Apple warned that it would miss its sales forecasts because of disruption in China. Here’s the latest on the virus.

An analysis of figures by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that the death rate in China has risen to 2.3 percent, higher than that of the flu. But, as a mathematics professor points out in our Opinion section, it’s still too early to get the numbers we really need.

Muhammed Said/Anadolu Agency, via Getty Images

4. “A humanitarian calamity is unfolding.”

Our reporter is on the Turkish border with Syria, where some 900,000 people are fleeing a Syrian assault. People are living in the streets or under trees in freezing temperatures. There is no food.

The Syrian government, backed by Russian forces, has accelerated its monthslong offensive to seize control of Idlib, the last province held by the opposition.

But Turkey closed its border in 2015, so the displaced people of Idlib are trapped between advancing Syrian and Russian troops and the Turkish border.

Allison V. Smith for The New York Times

5. The Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy filing sets up what may be one of the most complex and uncertain financial restructurings in American history.

At stake are thousands of claims by people who have come forward with allegations that they were abused as scouts. Many more are expected to do so.

Under bankruptcy protection, the Boy Scouts gain the opportunity to have a judge approve a compensation plan. The group’s national chairman said the organization was still committed to compensating victims through a trust. A lawyer for the victims said he finds it “difficult to impossible” to envision the organization operating in a restructured form.

Andrew Seng for The New York Times

6. Workers at Kickstarter voted to unionize. It’s the first well-known technology company to move toward being represented by organized labor.

The vote was narrow, 46 to 37. The debate over unionizing — and whether such representation is appropriate for highly paid tech workers — has been a source of tension at the company for months.

The pro-union vote is significant for the tech industry. Tech workers have become increasingly activist in recent years, but large-scale unionization efforts have faltered.

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

7. Ryan Newman was positioned to win the Daytona 500 on the race’s final turn Monday. Then everything went wrong.

His car edged into the lead on the final turn, crashed, flipped onto its roof and then was hit broadside by another car, sending Newman’s car skidding down the track in a shower of sparks and flames. He’s hospitalized, with injuries reported as serious but not life-threatening.

We broke down what happened moment by moment.

In other racing news, Jackie Heinricher assembled the most accomplished team of female drivers, which finished in the International Motor Sports Association’s top 10 for the GT Daytona Class. Since then, things haven’t gone the way she’d hoped.

Lauren Fleishman for The New York Times

8. What do you wear to the end of days — or at least the end of the European experiment?

That question led some designers “not to the depths of despair, but somewhere else entirely,” writes Vanessa Friedman, our chief fashion critic, at the close of London Fashion Week, three weeks after Brexit was finally completed. “To a world after doomsday. To renewal, and reinvention.”

Above, Burberry’s first looks.

British chefs are also wrapping their heads around the impact of Brexit. You may have never heard of Margot and Fergus Henderson, but the couple’s cooking, grounded in technique and tradition, helped put London on the map as a culinary destination.

Our Food reporter explores what Britain’s departure from the bloc will mean for their legacy.

Oliver Parini for The New York Times

9. The (next) best thing since sliced bread.

Bakers around the country have joined forces with Washington State University to make a soft, sliced, affordable bread with whole wheat. Each member of the school’s Bread Lab Collective makes a slightly different version, informed by local tastes and local grains.

The loaf is something of a Trojan horse, a way to sneak healthy ingredients onto the taste buds of a younger generation.

And don’t forget your carrots, says our columnist Yotam Ottolenghi. The vegetable is anything but humble.

Amrita Marino

10. And finally, a healthy-habits challenge.

Our Well team has developed a new, 28-day challenge for a more balanced life. Each day you’ll get an email with an easy task to incorporate into your routine, including recommendations for fitness, building relationships, beefing up your salad game, and more.

First up: Using your daily coffee or tea habit as an opportunity to practice mindfulness. Why? You’re more likely to form a new habit when you connect it with a habit you already have. Your reward: Day 28 comes with a chocolate meditation practice.

Have a robust yet peaceful night.

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