Your Thursday Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/briefing/austria-australia-fires-2020.html

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Happy New Year!

We’re covering Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest gamble, an unlikely political alliance in Austria, and the ruling in a case about a lost Michelin star.

Two days of protests at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, set off by deadly American airstrikes over the weekend, highlight miscalculations by both of the country’s most powerful patrons: Iran and the United States.

Iran’s proxy militias have played a crucial role in the fight against the Islamic State, making them an unlikely bedfellow of the United States. But one of them killed an American contractor in an attack last week on an Iraqi military base, apparently without fear of retaliation.

The Trump administration, which has dismissed the depth of Iran’s determination to re-establish itself as the most powerful force in the region, seems not to have anticipated that its retaliatory airstrikes on an Iranian militia would set off a broad outcry in Iraq.

Details: Some protesters forced their way into the embassy compound on Tuesday and set some of its outbuildings on fire. The crowd, which was smaller on Wednesday, retreated after the Iranian-backed militias that had organized the unrest ordered them to leave.

Background: Here’s why the protesters targeted the embassy, and why demonstrations in Iraq have centered in recent months on Iran’s outsize influence there.

What’s next: The Iraqi government’s decision to allow the protesters to enter the secure compound that includes the embassy may threaten a continued American presence in the country. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo canceled a planned trip to Ukraine and four other nations so that he can stay in Washington to monitor the tensions in Baghdad.

Just two months before an election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel took the rare step on Wednesday of asking Parliament to grant him immunity from prosecution on graft charges. The request could delay his trial for months.

Mr. Netanyahu’s request — which he submitted hours before the legal deadline to do so — threatens to prolong the political deadlock that has already left Israel without a fully functioning government for nearly a year. Legal experts say it would damage the rule of law.

Optics: The charges have dented what our correspondent calls Mr. Netanyahu’s “aura of invincibility.” Yet Mr. Netanyahu is already Israel’s longest-serving premier, and he’s survived earlier political crises — like the time he returned his right-wing Likud party to power in 2009, three years after it won just 12 of Parliament’s 120 seats.

What’s next: Under Israeli law, a lawmaker must seek immunity from a parliamentary body, whose decision must then be ratified by a simple parliamentary majority. It’s so far unclear whether Mr. Netanyahu could muster those votes.

In Vienna today, the conservative Austrian People’s Party is expected to announce details of a new government it is forming with the leftist Green Party. The new government would be officially presented next week.

If the unlikely pairing succeeds, it may set an example for other European democracies — particularly Germany, where there is already talk of forming a similar coalition after the next election, slated for 2021. It will also represent a political second chance for the Austrian People’s Party’s leader, Sebastian Kurz, a 33-year-old former chancellor.

Background: The new coalition comes seven months after the Austrian People’s Party’s controversial alliance with a far-right party collapsed under the weight of an influence-peddling scandal. “If nothing else,” our reporter writes, “the new coalition shows Mr. Kurz’s skills as a political chameleon.”

Shoddy construction and inattention to the risks posed by aging buildings: It’s a pattern repeated across Southeastern Europe.

A deadly November earthquake in Albania, above, offers a stark warning for a region that has been devastated by much more powerful quakes in the past, three journalists write in a Times story that also includes reporting from Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria. Experts warn that the Balkan nations are ill prepared for the next big one.

Turkey: In a special session today, Parliament is expected to authorize a plan to dispatch troops to Libya to counter Russian-backed forces that have put Tripoli under siege since April. It’s the latest example of Turkey’s growing self-confidence as a regional power, and may help President Recep Tayyip Erdogan maintain his domestic support.

The Vatican: Pope Francis apologized for slapping away the hand of a woman who had yanked his hand, momentarily throwing him off balance. He said he had lost his patience and set a bad example.

North Korea: Kim Jong-un said in a lengthy policy statement that his country’s self-imposed moratorium on nuclear weapons testing had ended. But he also said his efforts to expand the North’s nuclear weapons capabilities could be adjusted “depending on the U.S. future attitude.”

Australia: The country, which just witnessed its warmest decade on record, is in the grip of a devastating fire season that has already killed at least 15 people. Here’s why the fires are so destructive.

France: President Emmanuel Macron insisted in a speech that he was not giving up on a plan to overhaul the country’s pension system that has prompted nearly a month of crippling transport strikes. But he nonetheless hinted that he could be open to compromises.

Germany: The rise of electric cars threatens jobs in Germany’s powerful auto industry, which employs 835,000 people and trades on its expertise in internal combustion engines and transmissions. (Nearly all of Europe’s battery cells, which account for a large share of an electric car’s cost, are imported from Asia.)

Zoo fire: Dozens of animals were killed when a fire that started shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day burned down a monkey enclosure at a zoo in western Germany.

Snapshot: Above, ringing in 2020 with kisses in New York City. Here are some pictures and videos of New Year celebrations around the world.

Culinary spat: A court in France ruled on Tuesday against Marc Veyrat, a celebrity chef who had sued the Michelin Guide for stripping his restaurant of one of its treasured three stars. The court said he had failed to prove that the demotion damaged his popular restaurant, La Maison des Bois.

Found cash: A hawk-eyed employee at a waste center in southeastern England returned 15,000 pounds in cash (nearly $20,000) to a couple who had unwittingly left it there. The money had belonged to a dead relative with a habit of hiding money around the house.

What we’re reading: The Washington Post’s list of what’s out and what’s in for 2020. “Since 1978, my former employer has compiled an annual scorecard of the cultural zeitgeist,” writes Chris Stanford, on the briefings team. “It includes helpful links for the terminally unhip, like me, who can’t make sense of most of the entries.”

Cook: This recipe for ground beef and macaroni is the most luxurious Hamburger Helper you’ve ever had.

Read: The Golden Globes award ceremony is on Sunday. Our pop culture reporter shares his predictions.

Go: In his latest dispatch, our 52 Places columnist visited the final stops on his list: Tahiti and its island neighbors in French Polynesia, plus wintry Calgary, Canada.

Smarter Living: One of the best things you can do for your health is to cut back on foods with added sugar.

Over the last few weeks, The Times has published many an article marking the end of the decade. However, several readers have written us arguing passionately that the decade still has another year to go.

In the sixth century, a Christian scholar named Dionysius Exiguus invented the anno Domini numbering system, in which 1 A.D. was supposed to indicate the year of Jesus’ birth. There was no year zero, so the beginning of the first decade of the Common Era started with 1 and ended with 10.

Like language, time is socially constructed. People celebrated the end of the century in 2000 because the dramatic change in numerals served as a convenient marker, and also because humans are drawn to round numbers. But the first year in the third millennium is — technically — 2001. That being said, someone born in 2000 was not alive in the ’90s.

Let’s have it both ways. Welcome to the final year of the 202nd decade, and also the start of the 2020s.

Correction: Tuesday’s briefing incorrectly said that the outcome of a coalition deal in Austria could make Sebastian Kurz the world’s youngest sitting head of state. In fact, it would make him the youngest sitting head of government.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Mike

Thank youTo Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Will Dudding, an assistant in the standards department, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode revisits Ella Maners, a 9-year-old who was the subject of our special kids’ episode about facing fears.• Here’s today’s Mini Crossword puzzle, and a clue: Half of 2020 (four letters). You can find all our puzzles here. • A weekly column about the technology that Times journalists use found that, unsurprisingly, the smartphone was their most vital work tool.