Your Weekend Briefing

North Korea, Donald Trump, Catalonia View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Sunday, October 29, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Weekend Briefing]( By MAYA SALAM, LOUIS LUCERO II AND LANCE BOOTH Here are the week’s top stories, and a look ahead. Tom Brenner/The New York Times 1. Fractures are deepening within the Republican Party, as [those uneasy with President Trump’s brand of hard-edge nationalism]( increasingly give in or give up. On the Senate floor, [Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona announced]( that he would not seek re-election in 2018 and challenged the president and his party’s leadership. [Republicans’ best hope for common ground]( their tax bill, which would allow for $1.5 trillion worth of cuts over a decade. [The budget blueprint now in place]( allows the tax bill to pass Congress without any Democratic votes, so Republican leaders aim to approve it in both houses by the end of November. ____ Yury Martyanov/Kommersant, via Reuters 2. The Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, above, who secured a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. with the promise of dirt on Hillary Clinton, has [denied acting on behalf of the Kremlin](. Records and interviews, however, suggest coordination with a top official. On our podcast “The New Washington,” a lawyer for President Trump, [Ty Cobb, speaks about the investigation into Russian meddling]( in the 2016 presidential election. Congressional committees will meet with leading tech companies starting Tuesday to talk about social media’s role in the meddling. Twitter said it would [ban ads from the Kremlin-supported news organizations RT and Sputnik](. ____ Associated Press 3. Despite new information, two mysteries that have gripped the nation — one new, the other decades old — continue to mystify. More than 2,800 documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy were [made public on President Trump’s order]( but thousands of others were withheld for six more months of review. [Our reporters are poring over the released material]( — including handwritten notes, C.I.A. surveillance photos and a memo from J. Edgar Hoover — in a [digital archive](. And new details that emerged about the ambush of an Army Special Forces team in Niger only raised more questions. Why were the four American soldiers who were killed, including Sgt. La David T. Johnson, [separated from their unit in the frantic first moments of the attack]( Increasingly frustrated members of Congress have ramped up their demands for answers. ____ Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 4. President Trump [declared the opioid crisis a “public health emergency”]( without releasing additional funding to address it. His aides said he would request funds soon. Had he declared it a “national emergency,” as promised, it would have led to a quick infusion of cash. Here is [a roundup of our best reporting on the epidemic]( — the deadliest drug crisis in American history — including [short answers]( to hard questions about it. ____ Yves Herman/Reuters 5. In Europe, all eyes are on Catalonia, whose regional lawmakers declared independence from Madrid only to have Spain’s prime minister [dissolve the Catalan parliament and formally assume direct control of the region](. How forcefully the central Spanish government asserts that control in the days ahead could determine the level of resistance it encounters. The ousted Catalan leader [urged peaceful defiance](. [Photographs]( from Barcelona, the Catalan capital, and from Madrid reveal the [intensity of feeling]( on both sides of the push for independence. ____ John Locher/Associated Press 6. “He took a part of me that I can’t get back.” Kim Gervais, 56, was paralyzed when she was shot by Stephen Paddock in Las Vegas three weeks ago. And there are at least 160 other survivors struck by his torrent of gunfire [trying to come to grips with reshaped lives](. [A missing hard drive]( is complicating the quest for Mr. Paddock’s motive. A Stanford [neuropathologist will scrutinize his brain]( for physical abnormalities. ____ Spencer Platt/Getty Images 7. Climate news: [Two of the world’s most critical glaciers]( in Antarctica, are shedding more and more ice. And the ice they’re holding back, if melted, could someday put many coastal cities underwater. Our video slide show takes you to Southern India, where researchers say an epidemic of suicide among farmers is being [worsened by hotter temperatures](. And in much of the U.S., where temperatures hit the high 70s this month, [it’s less autumn and more “hotumn.”]( ____  8. President Trump begins [a 12-day tour of Asia]( on Friday. He will meet with leaders in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. The nuclear threat from North Korea, which will be a dominant issue on the trip, is spurring [Japan and South Korea to consider]( their own nuclear arsenals. Mr. Trump has the power to unilaterally order a strike at any time — and the United States’ nuclear stockpile is so large that it could decimate populations around the globe. [Our Editorial Board translated the data visually](. [Defense Secretary Jim Mattis]( visited Korea’s heavily militarized demilitarized zone, offering a reminder that there is no military option to answer the North’s threats that wouldn’t put the sprawling city of Seoul and its 10 million residents in the cross hairs. ____ Adam Ferguson for The New York Times 9. Aisha was 15 when a Boko Haram fighter strapped a suicide bomb to her. But she didn’t want to kill anyone. “They said to me, ‘Are you going to sleep with us, or do you want to go on a mission?’” She and 18 other girls who were captured by the militants in Nigeria and sent into crowds to blow themselves up resisted — and survived. [They told us their stories](. ____ Christian Hansen for The New York Times 10. Open enrollment begins Wednesday for 2018 coverage from health insurance exchanges, which have been [thoroughly scrambled by the president’s recent actions](. If you need further evidence of the volatility in U.S. health care, consider this: [CVS is said to be in talks to buy Aetna](. The deal would be worth more than $60 billion, making it one of the largest in health care history. The move could partly be a reaction to the specter of competition from [Amazon entering the pharmacy market](. ____ Paulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York Times 11. Ireland wanted to forget, but the dead don’t always stay buried. Catherine Corless made it her mission to unearth the dark Irish secret of [the lost children of Tuam]( — where hundreds perished in a home for unwed mothers and their babies. Above, a shrine for the children. At first she wanted only to have a plaque erected in their memory, but then she felt that she owed them much more. “No one cared,” she said. “And that’s my driving force all the time.” ____ Ezra Shaw/Getty Images 12. The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Houston Astros on Saturday [to even the World Series at two games apiece](. The Dodgers were helped by two doubles from the rookie first baseman Cody Bellinger, above. Game 5 is tonight. The Series was marred on Friday night when [Yuli Gurriel of the Astros made a racist gesture](. He will serve a five-game suspension without pay, but not until next season. ____ Jonathan Hession/Showtime 13. Finally, if that eerie chill in your spine isn’t enough of a clue, check your calendar: It’s almost Halloween. It’s not too late to cobble together a [last-minute costume](. If you’d prefer to stay in, here’s a selection of books that delve into [the symbols, traditions and lore surrounding the holiday]( and [a guide]( to what to stream, including “Penny Dreadful,” above, on the year’s spookiest night. Have a great week. _____ Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a.m. Eastern. And don’t miss [Your Morning Briefing]( weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, and [Your Evening Briefing]( weeknights at 6 p.m. Eastern. Want to look back? 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