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November 20, 2024 
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Good morning. We’re covering the 1,000th day of war in Ukraine and the end of the Group of 20 summit in Brazil.
Plus: Ready yourself for “Glicked.”
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| A test of the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS. John Hamilton/White Sands Missile Range, via Associated Press |
Ukraine fired U.S.-made missiles into Russia
Early yesterday morning, Ukraine’s military launched a volley of American-made ballistic missiles into Russia for the first time. The attack came on the 1,000th day of the war and less than a week after President Biden gave the Ukrainians permission to do so in a major shift of American policy.
The strike targeted an ammunition depot in the Bryansk region of southwestern Russia, causing explosions, Ukrainian officials said. Russian officials claimed to have shot down five of the six missiles. The use of long-range American weapons was a show of force that demonstrated how continued Western support could help Ukraine more easily degrade Russian forces.
The attack came on the same day President Vladimir Putin lowered Russia’s threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. He declared that Russia could use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty is threatened, even against a nonnuclear state so long as that state is backed by a nuclear power. The timing of the long-planned move was clearly meant to send a message to Europe and the U.S.
The White House said it had observed “no changes to Russia’s nuclear posture” and played down Putin’s new doctrine. The reaction was telling, my colleague David Sanger wrote. Over nearly three years, the war in Ukraine has inured Washington and the world to the renewed use of nuclear weapons as the ultimate bargaining chip.
Related news:
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| Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney. Todd Heisler/The New York Times |
New York prosecutors suggested freezing Trump’s case
Prosecutors in Manhattan sent a letter yesterday to the judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s New York criminal case, seeking to oppose the president-elect’s push to dismiss his conviction. They said they were willing to freeze the case for four years, while Trump is president.
In the letter, the prosecutors said they were “mindful of the demands and obligations of the presidency,” but they emphasized that a jury convicted Trump of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal.
What’s next: Trump is now expected to move for a dismissal, a legal battle that could reach the Supreme Court. His sentencing, which was scheduled for next week, will almost certainly be delayed.
Related: Several state cases against Trump’s allies are in fragile shape after the election.
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| President Biden and Xi Jinping at a meeting in Peru last weekend. Eric Lee/The New York Times |
At the G20, world leaders sought stability with China
As the U.S. prepares to transition from President Biden to President-elect Donald Trump, leaders at the Group of 20 summit, which ended yesterday in Rio de Janeiro, were searching for stability, particularly when it comes to China.
Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, told Biden that he wanted to maintain a “stable, healthy and sustainable” relationship with the U.S. But potential clashes loom on human rights, the fate of Taiwan, the production of military technology, cyberattacks, aid to Russia and tariffs. There is deep uncertainty about the role the U.S. might play in heading off those conflicts under a second Trump administration.
Analysis: “European leaders are going to be looking to Xi with this kind of, ‘Now you have got to step up,’” John Delury, a historian of modern China, said. “Like, ‘This is not just talk anymore. We really want to elevate this relationship so that we can count on you.’”
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| Pool photo by Brandon Bell |
- SpaceX: In the latest test flight of its Starship vehicle, the company was unable to recover the enormous booster stage of the rocket.
- Elon Musk: The billionaire decided to move from California to Texas four years ago. Since then, he and his companies have spread across the state with accelerating speed.
- France: As the rape trial of her ex-husband and dozens of other men neared its end, Gisèle Pelicot made her final address to the court.
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| Neil Munns/PA Images, via Getty Images |
An all-male British society of magicians expelled a woman for tricking her way into the club in 1991. Now it wants to invite her back — but she seems to have pulled a disappearing act.
“I would love to look her in the eyes,” said Marvin Berglas, the president of the society, “and say, on behalf of the other magicians that we have, ‘You’re absolutely welcome.’”
Lives lived: Arthur Frommer, who helped popularize low-budget travel with his guidebook “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day” died at 95.
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| Universal Pictures |
Can ‘Glicked’ recapture the magic of ‘Barbenheimer’?
When “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” opened on the same day in the summer of 2023, crowds swarmed to movie theaters to be part of “Barbenheimer.” Now there’s a buzzy new movie face-off with its own catchy name: “Glicked.” (It rhymes with “wicked,” not “picked.”)
“Wicked,” the first installment of the adaptation of the Broadway musical, and “Gladiator II,” a swords-and-sandals epic directed by Ridley Scott, will both be widely available to international audiences by the end of this week.
