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Europe Edition

Zimbabwe, Emmanuel Macron, Jeff Sessions: Your Wednesday Briefing

Patrick Boehler and

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)

Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

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Credit...Jekesai Njikizana/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Zimbabwe’s military claimed to have taken custody of President Robert Mugabe, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, in what increasingly appeared to be a military takeover in the southern African nation.

After apparently seizing the state broadcaster, ZBC, two uniformed officers said in a short, predawn announcement that “the situation in our country has moved to another level.”

While denying that the military had seized power, they said that Mr. Mugabe and his family “are safe and sound, and their security is guaranteed.” (Above, Mr. Mugabe and his wife, Grace, last week.)

Here’s what we know so far.

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Credit...Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times

• Our Tehran bureau chief, traveling with a photographer, reached the earthquake-ravaged area of western Iran.

The death toll has surpassed 530, he writes, “a massive loss of life” accompanied by vast structural damage — a painful test for the government’s resources and capabilities.

In one village, he found a lone Shiite cleric who was trying to help. “I’m trying to talk to people about God, give them peace of mind — that is all I can do,” he said. “And pray. One can always pray.”

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Credit...Pool photo by Ludovic Marin

• In France, President Emmanuel Macron visited an impoverished suburb and a depressed industrial town, promising investment and seeking to dispel jibes that he is the “president of the rich.”

Mr. Macron, along with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, is expected to attend the United Nations climate conference in Bonn today.

There, energy experts are watching to see whether China steps up its climate ambitions in the face of American retreat. (Sign up here to receive Climate Fwd:, our new newsletter.)

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Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

• “It’s been very epic.”

That was President Trump, assessing his 12-day tour of Asia. As one of our accompanying reporters puts it, he treated the trip as a test of his own charisma and stamina, but it’s unclear what he actually achieved on major issues like trade and North Korea.

Another correspondent notes that, while it’s true that he made no major gaffes, his mixed signals fed a sense that China, not the U.S., calls the shots in the region.

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Credit...Al Drago for The New York Times

• In Washington, Attorney General Jeff Sessions told a House hearing that he could not recall the details of a campaign adviser’s Russia proposals but that he could recall rejecting a proposed Trump-Putin meeting.

He earned praise from Republicans for ordering career prosecutors to evaluate whether a special counsel should investigate Hillary Clinton, a bid that would shatter norms established after Watergate.

Meanwhile, a firm with ties to President Vladimir Putin’s former boss in the Russian spy service has been employed to protect American diplomatic missions in Russia.

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Credit...Al Drago for The New York Times

• Republican senators are struggling to figure out what to do about Roy Moore, the Alabama Senate candidate accused by five women of having sought romance or brute sex with them when they were teenagers.

If he’s elected — and many people in his state are standing behind him — they could expel him from the Senate, an action last taken during the Civil War. (Above, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee holding pictures of Mr. Moore and some of his accusers.)

We’d like to hear from readers for whom the recent wave of sexual harassment accusations have prompted frank discussions with parents or grandparents about changing attitudes across generations.

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Credit...The New York Times | Sources: The World Bank; McKinsey & Co. Data is latest available, from 2014.

• The end of cash? Physical currency remains the most popular way to pay for things, but China is among the countries charging into the cashless future. (The map above shows the share of adults who made or received any noncash payment.)

• Three Yale professors are racing against Google, IBM and Intel to build the first quantum computer. “It will solve problems we can’t even imagine right now,” an investor said.

• Op-Ed: Some companies are making a fortune by using personal data gleaned from the internet. They would barely notice a 1 percent tax, but it could make a better world.

Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

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Credit...Fayez Nureldine/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

• In Saudi Arabia, the risk of a blowback to the crown prince’s brazen seizure of power is growing. [The New York Times]

• A majority of Australians voted “yes” to same-sex marriage in a nationwide poll, paving the way for its legalization in Parliament. [The New York Times]

• A World Anti-Doping committee found that Russia was still noncompliant with the antidoping code, an infraction that could keep the country out of the Paralympics. [The New York Times]

• A gunman rampaged through a small Northern California town, taking aim at people at an elementary school and six other locations. He killed at least four people before he was fatally shot. [The New York Times]

• Republicans think they’ve found another way to finance their sweeping changes to the U.S. tax structure: repealing the Obamacare requirement that most people have health insurance. [The New York Times]

• The Legion of Christ, a Roman Catholic order, acknowledged that it had established offshore companies in Caribbean tax havens in the past. [Associated Press]

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

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Credit...Jim Wilson/The New York Times

• For those planning to celebrate Thanksgiving, our cooking team can help. And spicy sweet potatoes are good in any case.

• A link between alcohol and cancer is not nearly as scary as it sounds.

• Can ketone supplements rev up your workout? Maybe, if you can stomach them.

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Credit...Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

• “Utopia,” Björk’s new album, is a love letter to optimism.

• The world of Scrabble is in an uproar over a three-year ban of a top British player investigated for cheating.

• In London’s theaters, our critic found himself watching “the English contemplating the demise of England in a very English way.”

• Christie’s is expecting Leonardo da Vinci’s recently rediscovered “Salvator Mundi” to sell for at least $100 million at auction today.

• Denmark’s national soccer team qualified for the soccer World Cup by routing Ireland, 5-1. The U.S. tied Portugal, 1-1, and Germany drew France, 2-2, in friendlies.

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Credit...Mark Jay Goebel/Getty Images

“The time has come when man can no longer continue using the land, sea and air as his ‘trash basket,’” a New York Times article said in 1966. “He must find ways to cycle his wastes, both solid and liquid, back into the economy.”

It was one of our first front page articles to address the urgent need to deal with household waste.

The report was based on a National Academy of Sciences study sent to Lyndon B. Johnson’s White House. It came as more cheap, plastic goods were entering the daily lives of Americans — and leaving as garbage.

We have come a long way. Today is the 20th America Recycles Day, a nonprofit initiative.

Last year, 1.9 million Americans participated, organizers said, and 63 million pounds of recyclables were collected.

But there’s much work still to be done. More than half of U.S. household waste still ends up in landfills.

Sweden could show the way. In 1975, its recycling rate was about on par with America’s.

Last year, it stood at 51 percent and only 0.7 percent of its waste ended up in landfills. Sweden even imports waste — to use as a source of energy.

Here are 10 tips to improve your recycling.

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Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online.

This briefing was prepared for the European morning. Browse past briefings here.

We also have briefings timed for the Australian, Asian and American mornings. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters here.

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What would you like to see here? Contact us at europebriefing@nytimes.com.

A correction was made on 
Nov. 15, 2017

An earlier version of this briefing misstated the quantity of U.S. household waste that ends up in landfills. It is more than half, not a third.

How we handle corrections

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