Your Wednesday Evening Briefing

Your nightly rundown of the day's top stories delivered straight to your inbox. View in [Browser] | Add [nytdirect@nytimes.com] to your address book. [The New York Times] [The New York Times] Wednesday, January 25, 2017 [NYTimes.com »] [Your Wednesday Evening Briefing] By DANIEL VICTOR AND SANDRA STEVENSON Good evening. Here’s the latest. Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters 1. Donald J. Trump’s presidency continued at a breakneck pace, as he acted to fulfill campaign promises and reverse policies of the Obama administration. He signed an order to [start building a border wall with Mexico], and planned to indefinitely block Syrian refugees while temporarily [halting the admission of refugees] from elsewhere in the world. (His homeland security secretary has said that [a wall alone would not work].) Mr. Trump is considering [reopening overseas “black site” prisons] and undoing restrictions on handling detainees. And reiterating his false claim that millions of illegal immigrants voted for Hillary Clinton, he called for [an investigation into voter fraud] even though his own legal team, when arguing against earlier recount petitions, said no such fraud had occurred. _____ Joshua Lott for The New York Times 2. There’s more. Citing statistics of shootings and killings, Mr. Trump [threatened a federal intervention] if Chicago cannot reduce its violent crime. The administration is also preparing executive orders that could [drastically reduce the U.S. role] in the United Nations and other international organizations. Mr. Trump’s advisers say his frenzied approach shows he is a man of action. More than ever, [his impulses carry considerable force]. _____ Christo 3. The election of Mr. Trump may have enabled [Seth Meyers to find his voice] on “Late Night,” even as the chaotic news cycle threatens to make a show that tapes at 6:30 p.m. obsolete by the time it airs at 12:35 a.m. If Mr. Trump’s presidency has raised Mr. Meyers’s art, it has had [the opposite effect on Christo]. The artist is walking away from a vast public work he had planned for public land in Colorado, on which he’d spent $15 million of his own money over 20 years. “I can’t do a project that benefits this landlord,” he said, meaning the federal government. Meanwhile, [Peter Thiel], the billionaire tech founder and a rare Trump supporter in Silicon Valley, has raised a furor in New Zealand by taking Kiwi citizenship without residing there. The Times has more coverage related to Mr. Trump than this briefing can highlight. Here’s our [full coverage]. _____ Photofest 4. The national focus on Mr. Trump was redirected to Hollywood on the news that [Mary Tyler Moore had died]. She was 80. Her characters incarnated the modern American woman in shows [laden with feminist themes], and she was credited with changing [television] and [fashion], while easing anxieties about women in the workplace. Her co-stars and other celebrities [mourned] her death. _____ Matt Nager for The New York Times 5. The unemployment rate — 4.7 percent in December — is at a postrecession low, but the figure obscures how many people are [dropping out of the labor force entirely]. Unlike in other industrialized countries, where men are driving the trend, American women are also out of work and not looking for jobs. The international gap for women might be partly explained by the “care chasm” — the lack of comprehensive family support policies that are common in other industrialized countries. The absence of paid family leave and the cost of child care in the U.S. could be causing women to stay home more than men. _____ J. David Ake/Associated Press 6. Want to feel a bit happier? You might start by getting out of your chair. A new study says that people tend to be [happier when they’re moving], even a little, than when they are still. While other studies have linked physical activity to psychological health, they have tended to focus on negative moods, whereas this new study focused on happiness. So go ahead, get up, take that walk. Send this to your boss if you have to. _____ Pool photo by Ed Jones 7. A North Korean defector is predicting that “[Kim Jong-un’s days are numbered].” Thae Yong-ho, the highest-ranking defector in years, said efforts to control outside information in the reclusive nation were failing. Women who would once run from the police while selling smuggled goods in markets now stand their ground, demanding the right to make a living, he said. “The traditional structures of the North Korean system are crumbling,” he said. Such pronouncements are common from defectors, but Mr. Thae had been a longtime, faithful diplomat. He vowed to spend the rest of his years working to bring down the North Korean regime. _____ Doug Chayka 8. United States manufacturing creates 85 percent more goods than it did in 1987, but with just two-thirds as many workers. It’s the wonder — or peril — of automation. Companies are likely to invest in more automation, but experts say China’s investment in the technology is set to [give the country robotic dominance over the U.S.] That would hit American workers with the double-whammy of losing industrial jobs while not even creating the robots that take their jobs, as U.S. factories would use Chinese robots. _____ Ivor Prickett for The New York Times 9. Three months into a battle to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State, Iraqi troops continue to face booby traps, gunmen and suicide car bombers. [A Times photographer embedded with an Iraqi special forces unit] as they made their way through the city. At one point, they pointed their rifles to the sky to shoot down an Islamic State drone carrying an explosive payload. The troops were feeling celebratory, feeling that the Islamic State was on the run. But much fighting remains. _____ Toru Hanai/Reuters 10. After Mr. Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, many people in Japan are preparing themselves for [a showdown between Tokyo and Washington]. They fear a return to the trade wars of the 1980s and early ’90s. But there was also good news on Wednesday: Kisenosato became the first Japanese athlete since 1998 to receive the [rare sumo title of yokozuna], or grand champion. The quintessentially Japanese sport has been increasingly dominated by foreign stars. _____ NOAA 11. Finally, it’s easy to forget sometimes amid the torrent of news, but we live on a beautiful planet. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [released the first images] taken by a recently launched satellite, and the results are breathtaking. In addition to the high-resolution eye candy, the satellite will also help provide better weather forecasts. Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. [Viewing this version of the briefing] should help. Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a.m. Sundays. Want to look back? [Here’s last night’s briefing]. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at [briefing@nytimes.com]. ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK] [Twitter] [@nytimes] Get more NYTimes.com newsletters » | Sign Up for the [Morning Briefing newsletter »] ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Evening Briefing newsletter. 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