Tuesday Briefing: Trump plans his appointments

Plus, the grief of never having grandchildren

View in browser|nytimes.com November 12, 2024 By Natasha Frost Good morning. We're covering key figures in the next Trump administration and the opening of the global climate summit, COP29, in Azerbaijan. Plus: How to cope with missing out on grandchildren. Senator Marco Rubio is expected to be named the next secretary of state. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times Plans emerged for Trump's second administration In the days after his election victory, President-elect Donald Trump has already settled on some of the top figures of his administration. He is expected to announce Senator Marco Rubio of Florida as his secretary of state, people familiar with his thinking said yesterday. Stephen Miller, an immigration hard-liner and Trump adviser, is taking over policy planning for the transition and is expected to be named deputy chief of staff, according to people briefed on the matter. Miller is expected to work closely with Thomas Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whom the president-elect named on Sunday as his "border czar." Trump has already said that he would nominate Lee Zeldin, a former congressman from New York, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, a position that is expected to be central to Trump's plans to dismantle landmark climate regulations. Elise Stefanik, a congresswoman from New York and staunch supporter of Israel, will be his ambassador to the U.N., he said. (Read about other key Trump insiders.) Related: Trump will begin his next presidency by reinstating several executive orders that President Biden revoked, Susie Wiles, the next White House chief of staff, privately told Republican donors yesterday. In other U.S. political news: Almost a week after Election Day, California is still tallying votes — including in races that could determine the balance of power in the House of Representatives. Track the results. Will Trump rekindle a bromance with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un? Some South Koreans are worried. As Trump threatens a bigger trade war with China, tariffs may be more potent, but the Chinese economy is less reliant on U.S. markets. Why was there a broad drop-off in Democratic turnout in 2024? Reading about the U.S. presidential election, in Tehran last week. Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times Could Iran make a deal with Trump? Iran has a charged history with Donald Trump: As president, he pulled out of the 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and world powers, imposed tough economic sanctions and ordered the killing of its top general. Iran, in turn, plotted to assassinate Trump before the November election, according to federal prosecutors. Yet many former officials and pundits in Iran have openly called for the government to engage with Trump in recent days. And many in the government of Iran's new, more moderate president, Masoud Pezeshkian, are listening. They say that Trump loves to make deals where others have failed, and that his outsize dominance in the Republican Party could give any potential agreement more staying power. From the region: The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for more than 20 towns and villages in southern Lebanon. Israel's military said that it had expanded a humanitarian zone it created in Gaza. The move came just before a U.S. deadline for Israel to deliver more aid or risk a cutoff of military supplies. Leaders from across the Muslim world met for a summit in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom has signaled a rapprochement with Iran. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has requested to delay testifying at his corruption trial. More than 470,000 people, mostly Syrians, have fled Lebanon and crossed into Syria in the past six weeks, aid groups say. Officials from nearly 200 countries are gathering in Baku. Rafiq Maqbool/Associated Press U.N. climate talks opened in Azerbaijan World leaders yesterday opened the global climate summit, COP29, in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, amid a bleak reality: The U.S., the country responsible for pumping the most greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, is expected to soon drop out of the fight against climate change. During the two-week talks, financial support for developing countries is expected to be a focus, but the U.S. is likely to abandon its plans to give aid. President-elect Donald Trump also intends to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, the 2015 international pact to protect the planet. Context: The talks are being hosted by an autocratic government whose economy relies almost entirely on fossil fuels. So why is COP29 being held in Baku? MORE TOP NEWS Jeroen Jumelet/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Amsterdam: The police arrested five more people on assault charges over the weekend, four of whom were still being held, over the attacks on Israeli soccer fans late last week. Japan: Shigeru Ishiba won a vote in Parliament to carry on as prime minister. He will lead a minority government. China: Local authorities shut down a 40-mile nighttime bike ride after it drew tens of thousands of students. Haiti: Prime Minister Garry Conille was fired by the country's ruling council after a political power struggle. Britain: The celebrity chef Jamie Oliver halted sales of his children's book and apologized after accusations that the book stereotyped Australian Indigenous culture. Space: A brief visit of NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft near Uranus in 1986 overlapped with an exceptional solar event, scientists said. Alcohol: Americans started drinking more during the Covid-19 pandemic. Two years later, they still were. Colombia: Sara Samaniego brands herself as Latin America's first recycling influencer through her character, Marce the Recycler. Mattel: The toy company accidentally listed a porn website on the packaging for its dolls for the movie "Wicked." SPORTS NEWS Tennis: The star player Barbora Krejcikova criticized the Tennis Channel after comments were made on a broadcast about her physical appearance during the WTA Finals. Soccer: A Premier League referee has been suspended after footage emerged on social media of him criticizing Jurgen Klopp, the former Liverpool manager. MORNING READ Photograph by Dave Kim; Illustration by Millie von Platen Dave Kim, an editor at The Times Book Review, spent August in the Alps after his son fell in love with the Swiss children's novel "Heidi." "I never expected it to be a hit," Dave writes. "I certainly didn't expect to find myself weeks later in an Alpine enclave called Heidiland, wandering with my 8-year-old superfan through the knot of trails and villages that inspired the story." Lives lived: Hama Amadou, a politician who alternated stints in high office in Niger with time in prison and exile, died at 74. CONVERSATION STARTERS An exercise gender gap: Women have less time to work out than men. Their health pays the price. Etiquette questions: When everyone else at the theater gives a standing ovation, do you have to? Diaspora cuisine: West African chefs in Europe and America are making some of the most exciting dishes in modern fine dining. ARTS AND IDEAS Nolis Anderson for The New York Times The grief of never having grandchildren A growing number of Americans say they are unlikely to have children. Now their parents are grappling with what that means for them. Would-be grandparents may experience a deep sense of longing and loss when their children opt out of parenthood, even if they understand that their children do not "owe" them a family legacy, said Claire Bidwell Smith, a therapist based in Los Angeles. It doesn't help that American society tends to paint grandchildren as a reward for aging. Read more here. We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. RECOMMENDATIONS Ryan Liebe for The New York Times Cook: This one-pot chicken and rice dish is delicious and easy. Read: The winner of the Booker Prize will be announced today. Which of these six novels should win? Watch: "Dune: Prophecy" takes place 10,000 years before the action in the first two "Dune" movies. Wear: Burgundy. You know you want to. Travel: Spend 36 hours in San Francisco. 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. — Natasha Reach Natasha and 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