Tuesday Briefing: Commemorating a year of loss

Plus, the war in the Middle East is threatening Harris in Michigan

View in browser|nytimes.com October 8, 2024 By Jonathan Wolfe and Gaya Gupta Good morning. We're covering commemorations of the Oct. 7 attack and Kamala Harris's vulnerability in Michigan. Plus: Getting lost in Netflix's vast library. Mourning victims of the Oct. 7 attack at the site of the Nova music festival near Re'im, Israel, where many were killed. Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times Marking a year of loss Anger and pain dominated vigils and protests held around the world yesterday to commemorate the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel led by Hamas, which began a war that still rages. A solemn memorial was held in the Re'im forest in southern Israel, the site of a music festival where hundreds were killed. Families of captives held by Hamas gathered at a public plaza in Tel Aviv known as Hostage Square. In Gaza, Palestinians looked back on a year of unparalleled loss: homes destroyed, livelihoods upended and loved ones killed. Here's more on the day's events. New York Times correspondents have been looking back on the past year, and we spoke to Raja Abdulrahim, a Times correspondent based in Jerusalem, about the moments that stood out to her. "After a year of war, when I speak to Gazans, all I hear is despondency — about how long the war has lasted and how there is no end in sight, with no progress with the cease-fire talks," she said. "They also speak about how the attention of the international community has shifted away from this terrible war, which has wrought unimaginable death and destruction on the tiny Palestinian territory." Analysis: A year on, hatred is the war's only winner, our colleague Roger Cohen writes. It towers over the dead dream of a two-state Israeli-Palestinian peace and threatens to spread across the Middle East. The latest: Israel's military said it conducted extensive strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon yesterday and sent in more troops. It also struck Gaza after Hamas targeted Tel Aviv with a rare rocket attack. Imam Hassan Qazwini of Dearborn Heights, Mich., said he planned to vote for a third party this year. Sarah Rice for The New York Times The Mideast war is threatening Harris in Michigan The escalating violence in the Middle East is threatening the Democratic coalition in the U.S. Many Arab Americans are outraged by the Biden administration's support for Israel as it wages war in Gaza and, now, in Lebanon. Nowhere is this more politically important than in Michigan, a crucial battleground state with a significant population of Arab American and Muslim voters. In parts of the Detroit area, support for the Democratic ticket headed by Kamala Harris has all but vanished, interviews with community members indicated. Some voters are now considering backing third-party candidates or Donald Trump instead of Harris. More on the U.S. election Americans head to the polls in less than five weeks. Harris is in the middle of a media blitz that includes a "60 Minutes" election special, podcast interviews, stops on daytime and late-night TV, and a visit with Howard Stern. A new analysis found that Trump's economic plans could add as much as $15 trillion to the U.S. debt over a decade. The serial entrepreneurs behind Trump's new cryptocurrency project have left a trail of lawsuits, unpaid debt and tax liens. Do you have questions about the election? Send them to us, and we'll find the answers. Getty Images Have we reached peak human life span? Life expectancy has risen significantly over the past century, thanks to medical and technological advances. But a new study looking at data between 1990 and 2019 found that while average life expectancies increased in many countries, the rates at which they rose slowed down. The data suggests that after decades of progress, humans could be closing in on the limits of what's possible for the average life span. MORE TOP NEWS Victor Ambros, left, and Gary Ruvkun. Ken McGagh/Reuters Nobel Prizes: Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won the prize for physiology or medicine for the discovery of microRNA, which helps determine how cells develop and function. Ukraine: A Russian hypersonic missile hit a military base, Ukraine's air force said, as Moscow expands a campaign of assaults aimed at wearing down air defenses. Tunisia: Exit polls showed that President Kais Saied overwhelmingly won re-election, the latest sign that authoritarianism has returned to the birthplace of the Arab Spring. Russia: A 72-year-old U.S. citizen was sentenced to six years and 10 months in a penal colony on charges of serving as a mercenary in Ukraine. Philippines: Rodrigo Duterte, the ex-president being investigated by the International Criminal Court over extrajudicial killings, filed papers to run for mayor of Davao, his family's political stronghold. Space: The Hera spacecraft began a journey to visit an asteroid, part of an effort to build a planetary defense strategy against them. U.S.: Floridians prepared for mass evacuations as Hurricane Milton, the second major hurricane in two weeks, took aim at much of the state's Gulf Coast. SPORTS NEWS Soccer: Johan Neeskens, the former Ajax and Barcelona legend, has died at 73. Formula 1: Lando Norris spoke to The Athletic about his dramatic rise and bid for the title. Basketball: Here are The Athletic's predictions for each N.B.A. team in 2024-25. MORNING READ Lauren DeCicca for The New York Times A panel discussion in Myanmar about female leadership had two speakers. Both were male. Scores of "manels" — all-male panels — have been organized by the pro-democracy movement, according to Ying Lao and other gender equality activists. They say excluding women from those discussions ultimately hurts the effort to oust Myanmar's military rulers. Lives lived: Lore Segal, a virtuosic and witty author of autobiographical novels, died at 96. CONVERSATION STARTERS Glamour shot: Maggie Smith's ad campaign for the brand Loewe reminds us that age itself may be the ultimate luxury. Setting boundaries: Chappell Roan, the rising pop singer, has been transparently navigating the demands of fame — onstage and online. Purse size and power: The bigger the job, the smaller the handbag, writes our fashion critic. ARTS AND IDEAS Illustration by Giacomo Gambineri Lost in Netflix's endless library Netflix's vast library, which would take three and a half years of nonstop viewing to see in full, changed the business and nature of television. TV once had the goal of amusing as many people as possible at the same time, which is also what made it so stupid, writes my colleague Willy Staley. The streaming model liberated TV from the law of averages, and it allowed companies to create a vast array of diversified content in order to build audiences, instead of a single audience. Willy looked back on the origins of Netflix and its vast catalog. "When the foundations of this staggering library were first being laid," he writes, "we could never have imagined the abundance it would eventually contain — and how disoriented we could become in its labyrinthine corridors." We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. RECOMMENDATIONS David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Cook: You can make this rich miso mushroom and leek pasta in just over 30 minutes. Watch: The documentary "The Menendez Brothers" includes new phone interviews with Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents. Read: These new poetry collections tap into a strain of cultural anxiety. Listen: David Marchese interviewed Al Pacino about, well, everything. Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today's Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here. That's it for today's briefing. See you tomorrow. — Jonathan and Gaya Reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Morning Briefing: Europe Edition from The New York Times. To stop receiving Morning Briefing: Europe Edition, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018