Tuesday: Saudi Arabia is changing its story

Saudi Arabia, Paul Allen, Meghan Markle | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, October 16, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( Europe Edition [Your Tuesday Briefing]( By PENN BULLOCK Good morning. Saudi Arabia changes its story, little progress on Brexit, and a new British royal on the way. Here’s the latest: Tom Brenner for The New York Times • A dramatic Saudi admission on Jamal Khashoggi. A person familiar with Saudi Arabia’s plans told us that the kingdom [is preparing to reverse itself]( on the fate of a dissident journalist. The country had previously denied any part in his disappearance. But in the new story, Mr. Khashoggi died at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago in an interrogation gone wrong. Earlier, President Trump, after speaking with the king of Saudi Arabia, spoke to reporters at the White House, above, and seemed to preview the new take, saying that “rogue killers” might be behind Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance. Neither Turkey nor Saudi Arabia have shared evidence so far. Here’s what else [we know and don’t know](. Mr. Trump is sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with King Salman. And, as of now, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is still planning to attend an investor conference in Riyadh this month — despite many heavyweights [pulling out](. _____ Tomas Munita for The New York Times • Weaponizing Facebook. For about half a decade, Myanmar’s military exploited Facebook’s vast reach to unleash [a toxic propaganda campaign]( stirring up hatred against Rohingya Muslims, said former military officials, researchers and civilian officials. Hundreds of military personnel were involved, creating sham accounts and celebrity pages and then flooding them with incendiary posts, the sources told us. Facebook confirmed the military’s involvement, and it took down the accounts in August. But by then the damage was done: More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims, pictured above, had fled the country in what U.N. officials called “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” _____ Andrew Testa for The New York Times • A dicier outlook for Brexit. Ahead of her summit meeting with European counterparts on Wednesday, Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain tried to put a brave face [on what has become an impasse on Brexit](. “I do not believe the U.K. and the E.U. are far apart,” she said. But deadlock threatened to become crisis at the coming meeting. One of the biggest sticking points: avoiding the creation of a physical border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. We surveyed their winding open frontier, [where signs of the island’s s]( strife]( still visible]( like the mural above, in Londonberry, Northern Ireland, which nationalists refer to as Derry. That strife, many fear, could return if there is no Brexit deal and a hard border falls. _____ Daniel Leal-Olivas/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • “As embedded as it is shocking.” A scathing new report paints Britain’s House of Commons as a virtual den of cruelty and sexual harassment, with complaints of mistreatment muffled by a culture of “subservience, acquiescence and silence.” The inquiry had been commissioned by the House after a BBC investigation showed complaints being batted away by employees trained to protect superiors. Drawing on accounts from 200 people, mostly current staff members, it describes unwanted touching, sexual propositions and bullying by members of Parliament accorded, in one person’s account, “almost godlike status.” The report says that change would probably require a change in leadership. _____ Pascal Mora for The New York Times • In May, Kerfalla Sissoko lay unconscious on a soccer field as a referee issued him a red card. He and two teammates had been beaten by opposing players and fans during an amateur game in France, in what Sissoko, above left, and others say was a racist attack. But he was blamed. That episode has shined a light on the [racism and discrimination that still mar French soccer]( at the amateur level, critics say. “We call it the beautiful game,” said Francis Mante, a referee who said he had experienced racist abuse. “But it’s set up in a very cruel world.” Business Joshua Bright for The New York Times • Paul G. Allen, above, who founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, [has died at 65]( from complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. “Personal computing would not have existed without him,” Mr. Gates said. Mr. Allen, a billionaire, channeled much of his fortune into transforming Seattle into a cultural destination. • China’s anti-corruption campaign swept up another target: [Lai Xiaomin]( a former Communist Party secretary and former chairman of one of the country’s most powerful lenders. He’s accused of taking bribes and trading influence for sex. • Super-long-haul travel is making a comeback. Here’s what some airlines are doing [to make the journeys a little more bearable](. • Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Andrew Renneisen for The New York Times • At Chinese companies in Kenya, workers describe segregated bathrooms, physical abuse from managers and harsh punishments, reviving the specter of colonial-era labor practices. Above, an employee at a Chinese motorcycle company who filmed his boss’s racist rant. [[The New York Times]( • But good news from Belgium: Pierre Kompany, 71, was elected the country’s first black mayor. [[The New York Times]( • The results of a state election in Bavaria may worry Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, but analysts say they signal a healthy democracy. [[The New York Times]( • At least 11 people died in flash floods in southwestern France. [[The New York Times]( • Italy’s far-right interior minister, Matteo Salvini, withdrew his support for a school policy that resulted in children of immigrants paying more for lunch than Italian children. [[The Guardian]( • Another royal baby: Five months after their widely celebrated wedding, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced that they are expecting a child next spring. [[The New York Times]( • In a step toward one of the most serious schisms in Christianity in centuries, the Russian Orthodox Church moved to sever all ties with the Constantinople Patriarchate, the Orthodox mother church, protesting its efforts to create an independent church in Ukraine. [[The New York Times]( Smarter Living Tips for a more fulfilling life. Sarah MacReading/Wirecutter • Sensible tools for [yard work](. • 5 cheap(ish) things for a [long commute](. • Recipe of the day: Comforting [beef barley soup](. Noteworthy Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times • Rungis, a wholesale market bigger than Monaco, is [beloved in culinary circles]( but the “working-class place” is unknown to most visitors to Paris. • Gucci was starting to lose some of its relevance — until [Alessandro Michele]( became creative director in 2015, reimagining the old rules around gender, sexual identity, race and nationality. “Beauty doesn’t have limits,” he told The Times. • GEDmatch, a free genealogy site, has [helped crack 15 murder and sexual assault cases]( since April — and no one is more surprised than the men who created it. Back Story Carlos Osorio/Associated Press The N.B.A. season opens tonight with a matchup between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics, a storied rivalry. But it’s far from the league’s fiercest beef. That honor could belong to Robin Lopez and … mascots. Lopez, a 7-foot center for the Chicago Bulls, has playfully quarreled with the furry cheerleaders for years. The confrontations tend to follow a pattern: The home team’s mascot will insult Lopez or bait him into [making a fool of himself](. He then retaliates, often by [pushing the mascot to the ground]( or [beating it with its own props](. It’s all in good fun. Lopez avoids earnest talk about the joke, though he [told Live Wire Radio]( in 2014 that he liked to goof off before games to ease his nerves. In interviews, he’s more likely to work up a back story. “I feel like my earliest encounters with mascots, they were never too receptive of me,” Lopez [told Bleacher Report in 2015](. “I was a taller child. I always looked a little older than I was. I don’t think I ever got proper attention from those mascots.” The Bulls start their season on Thursday in Philadelphia, where [Franklin the dog]( has [frequently trolled Lopez](. Daniel Victor wrote today’s Back Story. _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online. 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