Tuesday Briefing: Blinken’s high-stakes Middle East trip

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February 6, 2024

By Amelia Nierenberg Writer, Briefings

Good morning. We’re covering Antony Blinken’s visit to the Middle East and Chile’s deadly wildfires.

Plus, the best moments at the Grammys.

Smoke rose over Gaza yesterday after Israeli strikes. Said Khatib/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Blinken began a push for the latest cease-fire deal

Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, landed in Saudi Arabia yesterday, beginning his visit to the Middle East. He is trying to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from becoming a broader regional war — and to rally allies around a proposal to release hostages in Gaza.

Here’s the latest.

Blinken’s visit comes as the U.S. and its Arab allies wait for Hamas to respond to a proposal for a potential cease-fire. Under the proposed agreement, Hamas would return more than 100 Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a pause in fighting there and for the release of Palestinians in Israeli jails.

The Biden administration is also pursuing further retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed militias that have targeted U.S. troops. A U.S. official said Blinken would seek to reassure U.S. allies that the strikes should not be interpreted as an escalation of fighting in the Middle East.

Politics: Many blame Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel for the security failures that led to the Oct. 7 attacks and want him out of office. While there’s no clear way to force early elections, there are other ways to oust him.

The Red Sea: The Houthi attacks on commercial ships are driving up freight costs.

Strikes: A drone attacked a base that houses U.S. and allied troops in eastern Syria, killing six fighters from a Kurdish military group, according to the group’s official media outlet.

The remains of the cottage where a gatekeeper lived with her mother. Both died in the fire. Cristobal Olivares for The New York Times

Devastating fires in Chile

The death toll from the wildfires in Chile has risen to at least 122. President Gabriel Boric announced a two-day mourning period and said it was Chile’s worst disaster since a 2010 earthquake that left more than 400 people dead and displaced 1.5 million others.

“We’re standing before a tragedy of immense proportions,” Boric said.

Many people were on summer vacations near Viña del Mar and Valparaíso, coastal cities west of Santiago, the capital, when the fires swept through. Some people ran with children in their arms. The incinerated husks of cars lined the streets. Early signs suggest that flawed evacuation orders may have contributed to the death toll, and authorities believe that some of the fires were sparked intentionally.

Here are photos of the destruction.

Deluge in California: The blazes in Chile were likely worsened by El Niño, the cyclical climate pattern that also may have worsened the damage from a record-breaking storm in California. Nearly half a million homes and businesses remained without power there as residents faced rising floodwater, mudslides and relentless rainfall.

King Charles III has been diagnosed with a form of cancer. Peter Nicholls/Getty Images

King Charles was diagnosed with cancer

Buckingham Palace said King Charles III, Britain’s monarch, has been diagnosed with a form of cancer and was suspending his public engagements to undergo treatment. The announcement cast a shadow over his busy reign that began barely 18 months ago.

Last week, the 75-year-old was discharged from a hospital after a procedure to treat an enlarged prostate. The palace did not disclose the type of cancer, but said it was detected during that procedure. It is not prostate cancer, a palace official said.

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Yang Hengjun and his wife, Yuan Xiaoliang. Chongyi Feng, via Associated Press

Around the World

The War in Ukraine

Climate

Culture

Public bathrooms in Tokyo. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

A Morning Read

Bezwada Wilson’s group has logged over 1,300 sanitation worker deaths since the 1990s. Rebecca Conway for The New York Times

Bezwada Wilson leads one of the largest organizations fighting caste discrimination in India. “In my growing up years, I was made to feel different from the rest in school,” said Bezwada, 57, who was born into a caste assigned to remove dried human waste from latrines by hand.

He has spent 40 years trying to eradicate the practice and retrain workers.

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Taylor Swift accepting the award for “Midnights.” Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording A

A big night for women at the Grammys

Taylor Swift won her fourth album of the year award, breaking the record for the category. (She beat Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon, who have each won three.) Billie Eilish won song of the year, Miley Cyrus won record of the year and Victoria Monét was named best new artist. Phoebe Bridgers picked up the most awards: three for boygenius and one for a collaboration with SZA. Read about the highlights here.

“The show was particularly joyous, slick and thoughtful, featuring several striking performances and a few raw acceptance speeches,” our critics write. “All in all, it captured pop music as it actually is — centerless, and subject to change at any moment.”

See the standout outfits and a list of winners. And read an appraisal of Tracy Chapman’s performance of her song “Fast Car.”

Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.

Cook: French onion soup is a labor of love.

Read: “Praiseworthy” is the latest novel from Alexis Wright, arguably the most important Aboriginal Australian — or simply Australian — writer alive today.

Watch: In “Disco Boy,” an Italian film, a Belarusian joins the French Foreign Legion.

Travel: Ghana’s art scene is booming.

Grieve: People mourning their pets are meeting in groups.

Play Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. See you tomorrow. — Amelia

We welcome your feedback. Send us your suggestions at briefing@nytimes.com.

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