Good morning. We’re covering the U.S. election, virus lockdowns in Europe and the battle for beet soup. | |  By Melina Delkic and Carole Landry | | | At a bar in Canberra on Wednesday. Lukas Coch/EPA, via Shutterstock | | | In Australia and Indonesia, crowds gathered around televisions in cafes to steal a glimpse of American states turning red or blue. In Japan, Fuji Television covered the U.S. presidential election with graphics that mixed old-school cardboard cutouts with avatars common in video games. | | | In Asia, the first, incomplete election results came in while the markets were trading, setting off wild fluctuations. | | | The latest: At the time of this writing, the presidential race was too close to call, with key battleground states still counting ballots. Joe Biden flipped Wisconsin, and the Trump campaign said it would request a recount. Mr. Biden holds narrow leads in Michigan, Nevada and Arizona, while President Trump leads in Georgia and North Carolina. Many of the votes still being counted are mail-in ballots. The latest tallies are here. | | | A scene in central London on Wednesday. Andrew Testa for The New York Times | | | British lawmakers approved a new lockdown in England, in which people will be asked to stay home, with exceptions for school, certain jobs, food shopping or exercising. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced scalding criticism from the opposition who said he waited too long to act — and from others saying he went too far. | | | Mr. Johnson told Parliament on Wednesday that there was no alternative to a monthlong lockdown if the country wanted to avoid a “medical and moral disaster.” Britain has reported more than 60,000 deaths in total. | | | The scene: Discontent is mounting in Italy, with restaurant and bar owners taking to the streets in recent weeks. In France, a tense exchange took place in the National Assembly. The health minister, lashing out at critics of an extension of the state of the emergency, described hospitals filling and young people in critical care. “That’s the reality,” he said. “If you don’t want to hear it, get out of here.” | | | In China: Getting into the country will become even harder in Saturday, when new government rules require travelers to obtain not just a nucleic acid test for the coronavirus but also a blood test for antibodies against the virus, both performed less than 48 hours before departure and both needing approval by a Chinese embassy or consulate. | | | Students from the Washington area participated in a youth climate strike on Capitol Hill in March 2019. Ting Shen for The New York Times | | | If President Trump wins re-election, it would very likely seal the isolation of the U.S. for the next four years from the nearly 200 other nations committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. | | | Other nations: China, Japan and South Korea have all put in place more ambitious plans to reduce their own emissions of planet-warming gases. Those commitments, and others by Britain and the European Union, mean that nearly half of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions are now covered by net-zero emissions targets, according to Carbon Brief, a climate analysis site. | | | Cemeteries were closed on the Day of the Dead because of the pandemic, depriving Mexicans of mourning rituals. But one town went ahead with an online version of its annual weeping competition. Participants submitted videos, some screaming with the gusto of a telenovela star. | | | PAID POST: A MESSAGE FROM CAMPAIGN MONITOR | | TEST: Email Marketing 101: Never Sacrifice Beauty for Simplicity | | A drag-and-drop email builder, a gallery of templates and turnkey designs, personalized customer journeys, and engagement segments. It's everything you need to create stunning, results-driven email campaigns in minutes. And with Campaign Monitor, you have access to it all, along with award-winning support around the clock. It's beautiful email marketing done simply. | | | Learn More | | | | India anchor’s arrest: Arnab Goswami, one of the country’s most famous television journalists and a strong backer of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party, was charged with abetting a 2018 suicide in Mumbai, a city controlled by an opposition party. | | | Oksana Parafeniuk for The New York Times | | | What we’re reading: This moving read from Bicycling magazine, about a man’s quest to cycle the Swiss Alps, and how it relates — or doesn’t — to his relationship with his late father. | | | Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times | | | Listen: You may not be able to travel the world right now but thousands of foreign radio stations are easily accessible online to bring the world to you. Here’s how to listen. | | | Do: We look at three methods of controlled breathing that can help reduce stress, increase alertness and boost the immune system. | | | Take some time to explore our At Home collection for more ideas on what to read, cook, watch, and do while staying safe at home. | | | After covering the epic race for the American presidency, 16 Times journalists shared some of their memorable experiences. Here is an excerpt from what they wrote for Times Insider. | | | The night before Super Tuesday in early March, I took my then-7-year-old daughter with me to East Los Angeles for an Elizabeth Warren campaign rally I was covering. For months, my daughter had listened to me describe scenes and politics she didn’t really understand. By then, it was clear that Senator Warren, the last woman standing, would not succeed in getting the Democratic nomination. | | | My daughter was mostly in awe of my friends working for the television networks, as they stood in the stands with their cameras and laptops. That press corps was mostly young women, who were exceedingly generous to a second grader. The night was a moment for her to witness history, and women’s roles in it. — Jennifer Medina | | | Soon after he exited the stage, I met Gene Bishop, an 81-year-old New Hampshire voter who told me he had never contributed to or canvassed for a political candidate before he began supporting Mr. Yang. “I just can’t believe that it’s over,” Mr. Bishop said, his brave face melting away. Then, to my surprise, he began to cry. It’s easy to get jaded about politicians. But my brief interview with Mr. Bishop has stuck with me. — Matt Stevens | | You can check for the latest on the U.S. election on our results page. See you next time. — Melina | | Thank you
To Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com. | | | Were you sent this briefing by a friend? Sign up here to get the Morning Briefing. | | |
