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Europe Edition

North Korea, Stephen Bannon, Snow: Your Wednesday Briefing

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Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

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Credit...Pool photo by Ludovic Marin

• On a visit to China, President Emmanuel Macron of France and his host, President Xi Jinping, sought to provide alternatives to the strident nationalism of President Trump: They denounced protectionism and embraced cooperation to combat climate change.

But Mr. Macron also called for more rigorous scrutiny of Chinese investments in competitive industries in Europe. And critics said Mr. Macron was paying too little attention to Beijing’s increasingly assertive foreign policy and human rights abuses.

Mr. Macron and Mr. Trump are expected in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum this month, a year after Mr. Xi portrayed his country as a global leader there.

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Credit...Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

• Few observers believe Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, is motivated solely by the Olympic spirit in his détente with the South, our correspondents report from Washington and Seoul.

The Winter Games also present him with an ideal opportunity to throw a wrench in President Trump’s threats of military action if the North does not agree to give up its nuclear program.

(Above, the figure skaters Ryom Tae-ok, left, and Kim Ju-sik are the only North Koreans who have qualified for the 2018 Games.)

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Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

• President Trump appeared to endorse a broad immigration deal that would grant millions of undocumented immigrants a pathway to U.S. citizenship, saying he would “take the heat” for an approach that many of his supporters oppose.

Separately, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee released a transcript of its interview with a founder of Fusion GPS, the firm that produced the Trump-Russia dossier. (Here’s the full text.)

And in the first decision of its kind, federal judges threw out North Carolina’s congressional map, saying it was drawn to favor Republicans. District lines will have to be redrawn before this year’s midterm elections.

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Bannon’s Megaphone at Breitbart Goes Mute

Stephen Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, was ousted from his post as executive chairman at Breitbart News, the right-wing website he used as a mouthpiece.

Steve Bannon is out at Breitbart News, the right-wing website that served as a megaphone for President Trump’s former chief strategist. His ouster was put in motion after these remarks by Bannon came to light. “‘He’s not going to make it,’ Bannon reportedly said. ‘He’s lost his stuff.’ “Treasonous and unpatriotic.” Those comments sparked the president’s wrath ... “In a blistering statement the president said ... and gave Bannon the nickname ‘Sloppy Steve.’ The former Breitbart chairman, who once boasted about overthrowing the Republican establishment in a blazing revolution, also lost key conservative allies, a sign that his revolution may not be televised. The family of hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer played a major role in funding Bannon’s platform, but not anymore. In a statement, Rebekah Mercer said, After the book published, Bannon issued this statement But that didn’t patch up the discord with the Mercer family. Rebekah Mercer controls a minority stake in Breitbart and a majority stake in Bannon’s future. She ultimately forced him out of Breitbart. Between Trump and Bannon, the split has been more swift. Bannon was one of Trump’s most trusted aides until August ,when he left the White House. That was just days after white supremacists marched on Charlottesville. “I think there’s blame on both sides.” Critics accused him of channeling Bannon in that response. While in the White House, reports say Bannon had a profound influence on policy bringing in other far-right nationalist figures to help shape laws. And after he was out of the White House, Bannon continued to enjoy the president’s support. “And I can understand where Steve Bannon is coming from. So I can understand fully how Steve Bannon feels.” After leaving the White House, Bannon helped Roy Moore’s controversial campaign for Senate. After Moore lost the election, critics — including the president — blamed Bannon. Still, he was steadfast on his campaign for a populist conservative revolution. Now, his feud with Trump and departure from Breitbart may bring that to an end.

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Stephen Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, was ousted from his post as executive chairman at Breitbart News, the right-wing website he used as a mouthpiece.CreditCredit...Lexey Swall for The New York Times

• Stephen Bannon is out as head of Breitbart News.

Mr. Bannon lost the support of conservative patrons amid the furor over remarks attributed to him in a book that angered the White House.

His departure was forced by his former financial patron Rebekah Mercer. Recent tax filings suggest how difficult it will be for Mr. Bannon to fill the void left by the Mercers.

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Credit...Marko Knezevic, via Associated Press

• Avalanches and heavy snowfall have wreaked havoc in parts of Europe and stranded tens of thousands of people in the Alps.

Above, the Swiss resort town of Zermatt, where some tourists had to be airlifted by helicopter.

Snow even reached parts of Algeria, where it frosted Saharan dunes, creating an alien-looking landscape.

Meanwhile in California, mudslides after drenching rains left 13 people dead and swept away houses in previously wildfire-ravaged areas.

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Credit...Ko Sasaki for The New York Times

• Japan’s carmakers and suppliers are scrambling to catch up as the world warms to battery-powered vehicles.

• SpaceX launched an American satellite into space in a classified mission, then something went wrong. It’s not clear whether we’ll ever find out what happened.

• At first glance, a $4,000 treadmill seems ridiculous. But it offers lessons for the future of gadgets.

• AT&T dropped a deal to sell Huawei smartphones in the U.S. over concerns that the company was too close to the Chinese government.

Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

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Credit...Alexey Furman for The New York Times

• In Ukraine, a funeral service was held for Iryna Nozdrovska, a human rights lawyer who was murdered after she fought for justice in the killing of her sister. [The New York Times]

• Protests over tax hikes have roiled Tunisia, the only nation to emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings with the semblance of a stable democracy. [The New York Times]

• In Poland, the prime minister announced a cabinet reshuffle seen as aiming to improve the governing party’s image in Brussels. But controversial policies remain unlikely to change. [The New York Times]

• The police in Italy and Germany arrested nearly 170 people in raids aimed at curbing the widening reach of the ’Ndrangheta crime group. [Reuters]

• At least 226 people were injured in a train collision in the second serious rail accident in South Africa in a week. [The New York Times]

• India’s Supreme Court ordered a review of a colonial-era law reinstated in 2013 that criminalizes sex between men. Gay-rights advocates were elated but cautious. [The New York Times]

• Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called President Trump “psychotic” and repeated the accusation that the U.S. instigated a week of protests across Iran. [The New York Times]

• Wales is preparing to ban the physical punishment of children. Not everyone agrees. [The New York Times]

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

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Credit...Andrew Roberts

• Learn to manage your career.

• That game on your phone may be tracking your TV-watching habits.

• Recipe of the day: Use our basic template to make soup with whatever you want.

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Credit...Gregor Fischer/DPA, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

• In an open letter, the actress Catherine Deneuve and dozens of other Frenchwomen criticized the #MeToo movement and its French counterpart, #Balancetonporc, saying they punished undeserving men.

• “The Shape of Water” picked up 12 nominations for the Baftas, the British equivalent of the Oscars. (Our critic called the movie “altogether wonderful.”)

• Despite promises of reform, FIFA paid its top soccer-governing executives more than some of the biggest companies in the world.

• We asked fashion pros how they pack for the busy season circuit that begins with the men’s shows in London.

• Our food writer, who was raised in Hawaii, traveled back home to trace poke, the raw fish dish, to its source.

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Credit...Times Wide World Photos

Ninety years ago this month, Leon Trotsky, above, one of the early leaders of the Communist Party, was exiled by his rival Joseph Stalin to what is now Kazakhstan, clearing the way for Stalin’s complete control of the Soviet Union.

An ever-wandering revolutionary, Trotsky was no stranger to exile.

More than a decade before, in January 1917, The Times noted his arrival in New York City: a “Russian journalist and Socialist” who had been “expelled from four lands.”

Trotsky and his family lived only briefly in New York — what he called “the city of prose and fantasy, of capitalist automatism, its streets a triumph of Cubism” — before he returned to Russia to help lead the Bolshevik Revolution.

After the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924, Stalin and his faction propounded “socialism in one country.” Trotskyists bristled, calling for a “permanent revolution,” global in scope, and accused Stalin of betraying Lenin’s vision.

The feud between Stalin and Trotsky would culminate in the anti-Trotskyist show trials in Moscow and the terrifying purges of the 1930s. It ended in Mexico City, where Trotsky settled, when he was killed by an ax-wielding assassin in 1940.

Penn Bullock contributed reporting.

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This briefing was prepared for the European morning and is updated online. Browse past briefings here.

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Follow Patrick Boehler on Twitter: @mrbaopanrui.

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