Your Friday Evening Briefing

Shutdown, Mattis, Markets | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, December 21, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Friday Evening Briefing]( By JEAN RUTTER AND MARCUS PAYADUE Good evening. The Evening Briefing is taking a couple of days off next week. We’ll return on Wednesday. Now, back to the news. Here’s the latest.  1. What’s going on in Washington? Senators and White House officials were scrambling to cut a deal to avert a partial government shutdown as a midnight deadline approached. Last week, President Trump proudly took ownership of a shutdown, saying that any spending bill must include $5 billion for a wall on the southern border. But he reversed his rhetoric today, blaming Democrats and [warning that a shutdown “will last for a very long time.”]( The deadline for lawmakers is imminent: At midnight, funding runs out for several federal agencies, including the Agriculture, Commerce and Homeland Security Departments. [Here’s where things stand]( and how we got here. Above, the Capitol. At the heart of this battle is the wall that Mr. Trump promised during the campaign. Nearly two years into his presidency, there’s no wall — [but his supporters still want it]( and his re-election could be at stake. If funding does expire tonight, [here’s what to expect](. We’re following the latest developments and linking to our detailed coverage [here](. _____ Doug Mills/The New York Times 2. Fallout continues after a national security shake-up. President Trump is dealing with the aftermath of the resignation of Jim Mattis, the defense secretary, who delivered a stinging rebuke of Mr. Trump’s worldview in his resignation letter. The president also faces alarm over his decisions to pull American forces out of Syria and to [withdraw roughly 7,000 troops from Afghanistan](. Mr. Trump seems intent on assembling a team of advisers who will embrace a vision for the U.S. that includes bolstering the military but leaving international alliances to wither — the [unfiltered version of “America First” foreign policy](. Above, at a NATO summit in Brussels last summer. _____ Spencer Platt/Getty Images 3. On Wall Street, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index closed down more than 20 percent from its August peak, [meaning it has officially entered a bear market.]( The S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average, both of which also include the biggest tech companies, are not far behind. Bear markets in stocks are rare but have the power to spread gloom through the economy. Above, the New York Stock Exchange. The market’s most recent swoon began on Wednesday after the Fed signaled it planned to keep raising interest rates next year, citing the strength of the economy. _____ Doug Mills/The New York Times 4. The Supreme Court refused to revive a Trump administration effort [to bar migrants who enter the country illegally from seeking asylum](. Last month, President Trump issued a proclamation requiring asylum requests to be made at legal checkpoints. But lower courts blocked the initiative, ruling that federal law plainly allowed applications from people who had entered the country unlawfully. The president lashed out at the first ruling and the judge who made it, prompting a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts. The administration then urged the Supreme Court to stay the ruling. But Chief Justice Roberts joined the four-member liberal wing of the court in turning down the administration’s request. Separately, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, above, [underwent surgery]( to remove two malignant nodules from her left lung, according to a Supreme Court spokeswoman. There was no evidence of any remaining disease, she added, and Justice Ginsburg is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days. _____ Sashenka Gutierrez/EPA, via Shutterstock 5. Mexico’s new leader, barely three weeks in office, has been racing to upset the status quo. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, above, has championed a new law to cut the highest government salaries and raise the lowest ones. He’s proposed expanding social programs that benefit the poor and marginalized, whom he has declared are his primary concern. And in a move replete with symbolism, he turned the official presidential residence into a cultural center and opened it to the public — on the day of his inauguration. As a candidate, he promised a revolution. [So has it begun]( _____ Filippo Monteforte/Agence France-Presse, via Associated Press 6. “Hand yourself over to human justice, and prepare for divine justice.” In a speech at the Vatican, Pope Francis, above, [called on clerics who sexually abuse minors to turn themselves in]( saying that the Roman Catholic Church would remove priests who prey on their flock. Priests who misuse their position of authority, he said, discredit the church, which has been “buffeted by strong winds and tempests” this year. The pope has spoken out in increasingly forceful tones against abuse. But victims and their supporters contend that he has taken little concrete action. In commanding child molesters to turn themselves in, said one advocate for victims, the pope is misguided. “He’s pretending that sick men can suddenly see the light.” _____ William A. Anders/NASA 7. Earthrise. While scouting landing spots on the moon on Christmas Eve, 1968, the astronauts of NASA’s Apollo 8 mission — Frank Borman, William Anders and James Lovell Jr. — spied our shiny blue planet rising over the ash-colored lunar mountains. [Major Anders snapped a photo]( above, that went on to capture the imagination of the world. Sent to examine the Moon, he later said, humans instead discovered Earth. _____ Brett Gundlock for The New York Times 8. The tortilla is in crisis. In Mexico, the classic staple is under pressure from mass production and modernity. Consumption is down as Mexicans eat more bread and fast food. But small producers are pushing back. Above, near Puebla, Mexico. [A traditional tortilla is made from scratch]( through a process known as nixtamalization. Dried corn is cooked in water with calcium hydroxide and left to soak overnight. This unlocks nutrients, and makes the tortilla a valuable source of vitamins, minerals and protein. Minimally processed corn is more nutritious and makes for a better tasting tortilla, one expert told us. “For the last 50 years,” he said, “people don’t know how corn tastes in the city.” _____ Chris Maggio for The New York Times 9. It shines. It shimmers. It frosts store windows and amps up a manicure. It is aluminum metalized polyethylene terephthalate — in a word, glitter. Humans are drawn to shiny things, some researchers say, from an innate need to seek out fresh water. So how did we get from there to Glitterex, the industry leader in glitter-making technology? Above, ready for packaging. Our writer takes a factory tour to learn more, and encounters “neon sparkles so pink you have only seen them in dreams, and rainbow hues that were simultaneously lilac and mint and all the colors of a fire.” [Follow her deeper on her strange journey](. _____ Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times 10. Finally, this is your periodic reminder that it’s not all bad news out there. A bright green “Christmas comet” will be in the night sky all next week. Pediatricians have officially endorsed traditional toys over digital ones. And Cole Porter’s 111-year-old Steinway piano, above, is getting a tuneup. This is the [Week in Good News](. Have a merry and bright holiday. See you next Wednesday. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing. [Sign up here]( to get it by email in the Australian, Asian, European or American morning. Want to catch up on past briefings? [You can browse them here](. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at [briefing@nytimes.com](mailto:briefing@nytimes.com?subject=Evening%20Briefing%20Feedback). LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. ADVERTISEMENT Sponsor a Subscription Inspire the future generation of readers by contributing to The Times’s [sponsor-a-subscription program](. 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