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Good morning,
We start with the latest news about the partial government shutdown, a crucial vote in Britain’s Parliament and today’s confirmation hearing for the attorney general nominee.
President Trump rejects a plan to pause the shutdown
The president said on Monday that he had turned down a proposal by Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to reopen the government for about three weeks to jump-start talks with Democrats.
Mr. Trump also said he didn’t want the impasse over $5.7 billion that he has demanded for a wall on the southwestern border to continue, but it wasn’t clear what he saw as an alternative.
Reaction: Polls show that a majority of Americans blame Mr. Trump and his party for the partial government shutdown, now in its fourth week. But among Republican voters, support for a wall is growing.
The effects: The number of transportation security officers who aren’t showing up to work without pay keeps rising, leading to the closing of some airport checkpoints and longer wait times for travelers on Monday.
British Parliament is set to vote on Brexit deal
Lawmakers are widely expected today to reject Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to lead the country out of the European Union. A particularly severe loss could threaten Mrs. May’s government or even, she warned on Monday, the entire project.
Britain is scheduled to leave the bloc on March 29, and most experts predict that a “no-deal” departure would be chaotic and economically damaging. We have live coverage leading up to the vote tonight in London.
What’s next: If the measure fails, Mrs. May will face a range of possibilities, including quickly devising a backup plan or calling a second referendum.
Reaction: “There’s an idea that we’ll all be all right in the end,” a political-science professor said. “Well, we may not.”
Lawmaker is condemned for remark on white supremacy
Representative Steve King, Republican of Iowa, was stripped of two House committee seats on Monday, after he questioned why white supremacy is considered offensive.
In an interview with The Times published last week, Mr. King said: “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?”
Mr. King has a long history of making racist remarks and insults about immigrants, and, with furor building, Republican leaders denounced him on Monday. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, suggested that Mr. King find “another line of work.”
Response: Mr. King released a statement saying his comments had been misunderstood and that he would serve his district for “at least the next two years.”
If you have 20 minutes, this is worth it
Redefining representation
Just over a century ago, Jeannette Rankin of Montana won a seat in the House of Representatives, becoming the first American woman elected to federal office.
One has become 131 — the number of women serving in both chambers of Congress as of this month. The Times photographed nearly all of them.
Here’s what else is happening
Attorney general nominee: Confirmation hearings are being held for William Barr, President Trump’s nominee for attorney general. Follow our live coverage. On Monday, Mr. Barr said he would allow the special counsel to continue his investigation into Russian election interference.
President Trump and NATO: Mr. Trump privately said several times last year that he wanted to withdraw the U.S. from the 70-year-old military alliance with Europe and Canada.
Wisconsin kidnapping plot: The suspect who has been charged with killing a couple and abducting their 13-year-old daughter, Jayme Closs, in October began planning the crime after a chance encounter, according to court documents.
Inauguration spending: Private donors gave more than $100 million for President Trump’s inauguration two years ago, including $10,000 for makeup. Previously unreported details of the spending come as the inauguration committee faces legal scrutiny.
Snapshot: Above, President Trump welcomed college football’s national champions, the Clemson Tigers, to the White House on Monday with a range of fast-food offerings. The press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, attributed the menu to the shutdown, as some White House employees have been furloughed.
In memoriam: Carol Channing, a larger-than-life Broadway star, was known for her performances in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “Hello, Dolly!” She died today at 97.
Late-night comedy: The comedy hosts were unsurprised by the news that the F.B.I. was worried that President Trump might be secretly working for Russia. “I think that’s ridiculous,” Stephen Colbert said. “There’s nothing secret about it.”
What we’re listening to: This episode of “This American Life.” Remy Tumin, who writes our Evening Briefing, says it captured the magic of libraries. As one librarian notes, “It’s one of the last places you can go that you don’t have to buy or believe in anything to come in.”
Now, a break from the news
Go: The Infinite Love Party in Brooklyn is billed as a sex-positive celebration of queer people, people of color and their allies.
Smarter Living: You can train your memory by connecting numbers to letters that can transform to sounds, sentences and images. (Memorization champions use such systems to break world records.) But remembering names simply requires paying attention and then using the name immediately. “The most useful trick isn’t a trick at all,” observed a memory champion. “It’s focus.”
And our Smarter Living editor, Tim Herrera, had a relevant conversation about focusing with the author Cal Newport.
And now for the Back Story on …
Aviation saves
Today is the 10th anniversary of a miracle.
On Jan. 15, 2009, Capt. Chesley Sullenberger safely ditched his US Airways Airbus A320 in the Hudson River after striking a flock of geese while taking off from New York City.
But the so-called Miracle on the Hudson hardly stands alone.
In 1982, a British Airways crew glided its Boeing 747 down when volcanic ash clogged all four engines.
A Taca pilot landed near New Orleans when his Boeing 737’s engines flamed out in a storm in 1988.
And a DHL crew survived a missile strike.
Soon after taking off on a cargo flight from Baghdad to Bahrain on Nov. 22, 2003, their Airbus A300 was hit by a surface-to-air missile launched by Iraqi insurgents. The damage made its flight controls inoperable.
Using only the engines to control the plane’s direction and altitude, the crew headed back to the airport and landed their aircraft (mostly) on the runway.
Where’s their Tom Hanks movie?
That’s it for this briefing.
(By the way, the egg now has more Instagram likes than the population of Canada.)
See you next time.
— Chris
Thank you
To Eleanor Stanford for the wide-ranging cultural guidance and James K. Williamson for the scientific Smarter Living tips. Zach Wichter wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.
P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” In today’s episode, a Times reporter who covers the Justice Department discusses William Barr.
• The Times is introducing several audio features for devices enabled with Amazon’s Alexa, including a news briefing hosted by Michael Barbaro of “The Daily.”
• Here’s today’s mini crossword puzzle, and a clue: Vegan protein source (4 letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
Source : Nytimes
