February 2, 2020

Your Weekend Briefing

By remy tumin and stephen reiss

Here are the week’s top stories, and a look ahead.

T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times

1. The impeachment trial of President Trump is in its final days.

After a vote on Friday to block new witnesses and evidence, a final vote on whether to convict the president is scheduled for Wednesday, after the Iowa caucuses and the State of the Union address. Acquittal is all but assured.

Mr. Trump will take his victory and grievance to the campaign trail, no longer worried about congressional constraint, our chief White House correspondent writes in an analysis. He will be the first president in U.S. history to face voters after an impeachment.

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Gary He/EPA, via Shutterstock

2. With the impeachment trial winding down, Democratic presidential hopefuls are sounding a rallying cry ahead of Monday’s Iowa caucus: I can beat President Trump.

What began as a debate over policy and ideology has given way to a fixation on electability. Candidates are on the ground this weekend recalibrating their final appeals to make the case that they represent the party’s best chance in November.

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The latest poll numbers show Bernie Sanders overtaking Joe Biden in Iowa, and nipping at his national lead. Here’s how Iowa caucus work. And here’s how much cash on hand each 2020 Democratic candidate has.

Noel Celis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

3. China initially put secrecy and order ahead of confronting the coronavirus. We reconstructed the crucial seven weeks when it grew into a crisis.

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In those weeks, the authorities silenced doctors and others for raising red flags and played down the danger. Their reluctance to go public was motivated, in part, by politics.

As a result, public health experts say, the Chinese government lost one of its best chances to keep the disease from becoming an epidemic. Now the virus has killed more than 300 people and infected more than 14,000 by Saturday. Above, Beijing Railway Station on Saturday.

Australia and Japan joined the U.S. in temporarily barring foreigners who have recently visited China, and other countries are stepping up travel restrictions. Here’s the latest.

Mary Turner for The New York Times

4. It’s the beginning of a new era for Britain.

The country formally withdrew from the European Union on Friday after nearly half a century of membership, drawing a mixed reaction of celebration, despair and relief. The country is remaking itself again; the shape of its society and economy and its place in the world are very much up for grabs.

The positive case for Brexit — one where Britain strides into a future of economic innovation and vigorous, cleareyed politics — will now be tested. The question is: What if it works?

Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

5. “I felt like I was in hell”: A Times investigation found a widespread culture of bullying and harassment of models and employees at Victoria’s Secret.

Interviews with more than 30 current and former employees and models, as well as court filings and other documents, show repeated complaints about inappropriate touching, demeaning comments and retaliation.

The atmosphere was set at the top by Leslie Wexner, the company’s billionaire founder, and Ed Razek, the chief marketing officer. The misogynistic culture adds to a picture that Victoria’s Secret is a troubled organization, an image that was already coming into focus last year after Mr. Wexner’s ties to the sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein became public.

USA Today Sports, via Reuters

6. Super Bowl LIV gets underway at 6:30 p.m. Eastern in Miami.

Our Sports desk picked the San Francisco 49ers over the Chiefs, 30 to 27. Here’s why. We’ll have live coverage and analysis of the game at nytimes.com. And if you’re hosting, don’t forget the snacks.

The halftime show will feature Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. The N.F.L. will also sponsor the broadcast of a public service video, one of a series that tells the stories of black men and boys killed by the police. Both were facilitated by Jay-Z and his company, Roc Nation.

In other sports news: Sofia Kenin won the Australian Open for her first Grand Slam title. Novak Djokovic won the men’s title early this morning.

Philip Cheung for The New York Times

7. “In the words of Kobe Bryant, Mamba out. But in the words of us, not forgotten. Live on, brother.”

That was LeBron James as the Lakers returned to the court for the first time since the death of Bryant and eight others in a helicopter crash, playing a game that was more reflection than sport.

Our basketball reporter looked at how the former Lakers guard shared a love of basketball with his daughter Gianna, who also died in the crash.

It may take months for federal investigators to determine what caused the helicopter to plummet into a Southern California hillside. Here’s what we know about the flight.

Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

8. Will the triple Lutzes of the future be on plastic?

As the world warms, a Swiss company called Glice is banking on the idea of synthetic ice rinks. It’s still slick, but Glice, made of polymer panels, has a bit more “give” than real ice, so it’s less punishing if you fall hard.

Over 300 American homes have these rinks in their garages, basements or backyards. And they’re growing more popular in tourist destinations around the world: Glice now has 1,800 rinks worldwide. Above, a rooftop in Brooklyn.

The Natural History Museum/Alamy

9. A new type of DNA analysis has turned up ancient secrets.

Researchers concluded that a wave of modern humans departed Africa far earlier than previously known: some 200,000 years ago. The study also revealed traces of the DNA of Neanderthals, like the fossil above, in all living humans, including Africans, who were thought to have little to no Neanderthal DNA.

“The legacy of gene flow with Neanderthals likely exists in all modern humans, highlighting our shared history,” the authors concluded.

Separately, when an asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago it wiped out nearly 75 percent of all species. Blue-green algae, however, managed to return quickly. A new study helps illuminate how life bounces back on Earth after cataclysmic events.

Erik Freeland for The New York Times

10. And finally, great reads from The Weekender.

This week we got a look at the most detailed view yet of the sun, described restoration challenges in the Everglades, above, sat down with the pop star turned fashion mogul Jessica Simpson, and more.

For more ideas on what to read, watch and listen to, may we suggest these 10 new books our editors liked, a glance at the latest small-screen recommendations from Watching and our music critics’ latest playlist.

Have you been keeping up with the headlines? Test your knowledge with our news quiz. And here’s the front page of our Sunday paper, the Sunday Review from Opinion and our crossword puzzles.

Today is Groundhog Day. Here’s hoping for an easy spring.

Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a.m. Eastern.

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