Wednesday Briefing: Casting doubts on the U.S. election

October 23, 2024

	By Gaya Gupta

Good morning. We’re covering Republican efforts to challenge U.S. voting and Hamas’s guerrilla tactics.

Plus, saving Japan’s most popular rice.

Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania holding a megaphone and standing on steps in front of a Stop the Steal rally.

Representative Scott Perry. Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times

Republican lawmakers sow doubts about the election

As Donald Trump makes widespread claims that the Nov. 5 election will be rigged, a handful of his allies are already questioning this year’s voting. Their efforts could help lay the groundwork to once again undermine the results, should Trump lose.

Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who helped Trump try to overturn the 2020 election, is among those leading this effort. He and a group of Republican lawmakers have filed a lawsuit against their state’s government, alleging that its system to verify ballots cast by members of the military and Americans living abroad is insufficient. It’s one of about 100 cases filed by Republican allies related to topics like voter rolls and noncitizen voters. Election officials and other experts say that these claims are meritless.

More on the U.S. election

Election Day is less than two weeks away.

Russia may act to stoke protests and even violence over the U.S. election results, intelligence officials warned yesterday.
Trump will record a podcast interview with Joe Rogan as part of his strategy to reach young men.
The Harris campaign hopes that a blitz of Facebook ads and WhatsApp channels will help win over disillusioned Muslim and Arab voters.
A Times analysis found that Project 2025, a conservative initiative to reshape the government, has numerous ties to Trump and his campaign, despite his claims otherwise.

Do you have questions about the election? Send them to us, and we’ll find the answers.

Groups of people, some with belongings, walking down a road with destroyed buildings on either side.

Palestinians fleeing from the northern Gaza Strip this month. Omar Al-Qattaa/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Hamas’s guerrilla tactics make it hard to defeat

Hamas’s top commanders are mostly dead, its rank and file has been decimated and many of its hide-outs and stockpiles have been captured and destroyed. The group’s fighters are no match for Israel’s army in open combat, but that’s not how Hamas is fighting.

Small-scale, hit-and-run strikes have allowed the group to continue to inflict harm on Israel and avoid defeat. Its vast underground tunnel network has remained mostly intact despite Israeli efforts to destroy it. Even the death of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is unlikely to affect the capacity of the group’s fighters in northern Gaza, analysts said.

Diplomacy: During Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Israel yesterday, he pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to capitalize on” the killing of Sinwar and end the war in Gaza.

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen, wearing a black jacket and gold necklace, gestures with her hands while talking from a podium with an American flag behind her.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Washington, yesterday. J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

A $50 billion loan to Ukraine

The U.S. and Europe are close to finalizing a plan to provide Ukraine with a $50 billion loan backed by Russia’s frozen central bank assets, the U.S. Treasury secretary said yesterday.

An announcement could come this week as finance ministers and central bank governors hold talks in Washington during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. “This is a way of making Russia bear the cost and the expense of the damage that it’s inflicting on Ukraine,” the secretary, Janet Yellen, said at a news conference.

Related: The U.S. has agreed to provide $800 million in military aid to Ukraine for the manufacturing of long-range drones.

Inflation: In a report, the I.M.F. said that the global economy had managed to avoid falling into a recession, even though the world’s central banks have raised interest rates to their highest levels in years.

MORE TOP NEWS

A head-and-shoulders portrait of Michael Jeffries in a black suit and gray tie on a black background with blurry blue lights.

Michael Jeffries, in 2009. Mark Lennihan/Associated Press

Business: Mike Jeffries, the former chief executive of Abercrombie & Fitch, was indicted on charges of running an international sex-trafficking scheme.
Taiwan: China said it would carry out live-fire military drills in the Taiwan Strait, a week after the Chinese military launched large-scale exercises.
Russia: Isolated by the West, President Vladimir Putin scored a diplomatic victory by welcoming the leaders of China, India and South Africa for a summit.
Diplomacy: India and China reached an agreement on their shared Himalayan border, which could ease hostilities.
India: The Muslim political activist Umar Khalid has been jailed for four years without a trial. He has become a symbol of what it costs to speak out.
Iran: Prosecutors in New York charged four men, including an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps official, in a failed plot to assassinate an activist in Brooklyn.
Singapore: The son of Singapore’s first prime minister said he was granted political asylum in Britain.
Church: The Vatican and China said they extended an agreement on the appointment of bishops in China.

Climate: Russia’s warming Arctic is a serious threat, but Western climate scientists can’t study it because of the war in Ukraine.

Sports

Basketball: As the N.B.A. season begins, The Athletic has predictions for each team.
Soccer: Toni Kroos has explained his decision to retire from soccer at the top of his game.
Athletics: Glasgow will host the 2026 Commonwealth Games in a stripped-back version of the event.

MORNING READ

Four images of the Forest City development in Malaysia.

Amrita Chandradas for The New York Times

For years, the giant Chinese property developer Country Garden sustained a build-and-they-will-come strategy that characterized China’s housing frenzy. But after it tried to take that model overseas, promising a “dream paradise” in Malaysia with 700,000 apartments across four man-made islands, it defaulted on its debt. The pop-up city, left largely unfinished, echoes the excesses of China’s housing boom.

Lives lived: Christine Boisson, a French actress who became famous at 17 with her performance in the erotic film “Emmanuelle,” died at age 68.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Two swans swimming through a water channel, with a wall of grasses on one side.

The Steart marshes in England are an important habitat for birds and home to a variety of fish, mammals, insects and amphibians. Andrew Testa for The New York Times

A radical solution: A decade after a huge tract of land on the Somerset coast of England was deliberately flooded, the results have been transformative.
Shoppers’ paradise: New York’s reputation as a shopping town has waned over recent years, but there are new signs of life.
In art’s shadow: It may not be bigger than its visual arts sibling, but the Music Biennale has much to offer.
Political infighting: Why was the vice president of the Philippines threatening to behead President Ferdinand Marcos?

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times .

CLIMATE

The cupped palms of two hands holding a large pile of raw rice.

Noriko Hayashi for The New York Times

The race to save Japan’s most popular rice

Last year, the Koshihikari rice crop was devastated by the hottest summer on record in Japan. But scientists have recently identified a pattern within rice DNA that makes certain varieties more resistant to heat. They are now embarking on a quest to crossbreed that genetic signature into Koshihikari rice.

Whether they succeed could determine the fate of Koshihikari, the “king” of Japanese rices, and the livelihood of farmers in Niigata, where the rice is the biggest agricultural output. Read more here.

RECOMMENDATIONS

A plate of pasta with spinach and feta cheese.

Linda Xiao for The New York Times

Cook: This 20-minute pasta with spinach is coated with a tangy feta-yogurt sauce.

Read: John le Carré’s son revisits the British spy George Smiley in “Karla’s Choice.”

Watch: The comedy “What We Do in the Shadows” begins its final season.

Train: Here’s how to add active recovery to your exercise routine.

Compete: Take our quiz to see if you can find the hidden book titles.

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

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Gaya

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