Your Tuesday Briefing

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Tuesday, Oct 1, 2019 | View in browser

Good morning.

We’re covering another phone call in which President Trump pressed a foreign leader — this time, of Australia — and we look at juxtaposing scenes from Hong Kong and Beijing today. We also have potentially good news — or at least, not bad news — for red-meat lovers.

By Melina Delkic

President Donald Trump with Attorney General William Barr in May. Doug Mills/The New York Times

Trump pressed Australian leader to discredit Mueller

President Trump recently pushed the Australian prime minister to help Attorney General William Barr discredit the Mueller investigation, according to two officials with knowledge of the call.

The White House restricted access to the transcript to a small group of aides, an unusual decision that is similar to the handling of the July call with the Ukrainian president at the heart of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.

Big picture: The discussion with Prime Minister Scott Morrison indicates that the president used diplomacy to advance his personal political interests.

Context: The F.B.I.’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election began after Australian officials told the agency what a Trump adviser had bragged about: that the Russian government offered up dirt on Hillary Clinton to the Trump campaign.

In other impeachment inquiry news, the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was subpoenaed by Congress. And Mr. Trump said he “deserved” to know the whistle-blower’s identity — while also suggesting the chairman leading the investigation in the House should be arrested for treason.

An artisanal diamond mine in the government-controlled area of Boda in the Central African Republic. Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Times

Russia’s playbook in Central African Republic

After meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, Russia is sowing political chaos in the Central African Republic. What it wants, analysts say, is to assert its global importance and reap the financial rewards.

Russian forces there have trained local soldiers and facilitated peace talks between warlords and the government, which has been in tumult since a 2012 coup. At the same time, Russian representatives have struck deals with the government and rebels to mine diamonds — both legally and illegally.

The sprawling campaign: As in the 2016 U.S. election, social media has become a battleground. Pro-Russia Facebook content and other soft-power tactics, like billboards and Russia-sponsored events, have helped Russians build ties and potentially profit from them.

Quotable: “There’s always fraud: from the collectors, in the mines, from the government,” Sylvain Marius N’Gbatouka, the cabinet director for the mining ministry, said of the illegal diamond trade.

Related: The U.S. issued sanctions against Russia for its interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called it a warning to foreigners who seek to meddle in American elections.

Tiananmen Square in Beijing, where China was preparing for the 70th National Day celebration. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

China celebrates as Hong Kong protesters ramp up

The two scenes were jarringly different: In Beijing, flower arrangements, soldiers and performers for the 70th anniversary of the Communist Party rule today. In Hong Kong, a citywide lockdown, with thousands of Chinese soldiers at the ready after a tumultuous weekend.

Antigovernment protesters were planning demonstrations in Hong Kong that could descend into violence and clashes with the police.

Follow our reporters on Twitter for the latest. Chris Buckley and Steven Lee Myers will be in Beijing, and Keith Bradsher and Tiffany May will be among our team of reporters in Hong Kong.

If you have 10 minutes, this is worth it

A diplomacy mission out of a thriller

Dave Sanders for The New York Times

Last week, a telephone line to President Hassan Rouhani of Iran was secretly set up in a secure room in New York. President Trump was waiting on the other end. It would have been a breakthrough in French President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to broker a thaw in the U.S.-Iran standoff.

In the end, Mr. Rouhani refused even to come out of his room, Mr. Macron left empty-handed and Mr. Trump was left hanging, according to people with knowledge of the gambit.

Here’s what else is happening

Greece: The situation at a notorious migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos has stabilized after a fire left a woman dead and touched off rioting. Politicians and the U.N. called it proof the camp conditions were inhumane.

Hurricane Lorenzo: Today the storm could affect the Azores, 850 miles west of Portugal. No Category 5 storm has ever been recorded as far north and east in the Atlantic as Lorenzo. It is now a Category 2.

North Korea: John Bolton, the former U.S. national security adviser, delivered a stark warning about President Trump’s approach to the country’s nuclear proliferation in his first public comments since leaving office. He said the current outreach benefited only the North Koreans.

Somalia: Car bombers attacked U.S. and European military targets, officials said, injuring a number of Somali civilians. An Islamist extremist group, the Shabab, claimed responsibility for at least one of the assaults.

WeWork: The shared office space company officially shelved its plans for an initial public offering. It was another sign of trouble for the company, which has run up more than a billion dollars in losses and does not appear to be close to turning a profit.

Morocco: A judge found a journalist and her fiancé guilty of having premarital sex and obtaining an abortion, and imposed prison sentences on them and a doctor, in a case that critics have denounced as a thinly veiled bid to suppress critical coverage of the government.

Christophe Petit Tesson/EPA, via Shutterstock

Snapshot: Above, the tribute in Paris to the former French president Jacques Chirac, who died last week, at a national day of mourning for him.

Red meat: Eating less red meat — for decades, scientists’ and doctors’ recommendation to patients — may not make you healthier. An international collaboration of researchers concluded that the evidence behind the advice was not strong enough.

What we’re reading: This Twitter thread of people recounting times they gushed over a celebrity’s dog before noticing the celebrity holding the leash. “It’s hilarious — and we could all use a laugh,” writes Andrea Kannapell, the Briefings editor.

Now, a break from the news

Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

Cook: Linguine with clam sauce can be on the table in the time it takes to boil water. (Our Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter has more recommendations.)

Watch: The opening shot of “The Irishman,” Martin Scorsese’s latest long-form crime story, evokes a canonical sequence from “Goodfellas” and turns it inside out.

Listen: Elmo and Abby Cadabby came to the New York Times studio recently to talk about the alphabet song — a tune that, in its 50 years on the air, “Sesame Street” has covered a lot.

Go: Using the Tate Modern as her stage, Kara Walker’s new work examines the empire, the debate over memorials and the tragedy of Emmett Till. Our writer asks, is London ready?

Smarter Living: There’s significant evidence that exposure to two types of chemicals found in plastics — phthalates and bisphenols — can affect health, especially during fetal development and children’s first years. So use metal or glass containers and a HEPA-filtered vacuum, and avoid vinyl products like shower curtains. For baby toys, wood or silicone is safer than plastic.

And we have guidance on how to wash children’s stuffed toys — especially important after they’ve been sick.

And now for the Back Story on …

The start of modern climate science

Warnings that carbon dioxide might warm the Earth go back further than you might think.

An experiment that demonstrated the warming power of the gas was first presented in 1856, at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Albany, N.Y.

We found no images of Eunice Newton Foote, so we're letting her own words represent her.

The identity of the amateur scientist who performed and wrote up the experiment may also come as a surprise: Eunice Newton Foote, an inventor and American women’s rights campaigner.

Her experiment was straightforward. To see whether releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere would increase temperatures, she used thermometers and two glass tubes — one rich in carbon dioxide, the other less so.

She laid out both tubes in the sun to see whether one might heat up more. We know the answer: The one with more CO2 did.

Her findings were presented at the Albany meeting by a man, in keeping with the era’s limitations on women.

But her work was published, and three years later, replicated and advanced by the British scientist John Tyndall. The work created the foundational understanding of the greenhouse effect, which informs climate research to this day.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Melina

Thank you
To Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Kendra Pierre-Louis, a climate reporter, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is about the whistle-blower’s complaint against President Trump.
• Here’s today’s Mini Crossword puzzle, and a clue: Tree with acorns (three letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• James Bennet, who oversees the Opinion department at The Times, explained the operations of our editorial board, which is independent of the newsroom.