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• In Washington, the once-vast duties of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, appear to be shrinking as the new White House chief of staff, John Kelly, enforces a strict chain of command.
And lawmakers from both parties expressed concerned about the exodus of more than 100 senior Foreign Service officers from the State Department since January. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has frozen most hiring and recently offered a buyout in hopes of pushing out nearly 2,000 career diplomats and civil servants.
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• “For the first time in my life, I don’t feel safe in Australia.”
That was Rabbi Shmueli Feldman, a fourth-generation citizen. An annual report found that racially motivated incidents against Jews had increased by almost 10 percent in the past year, and by nearly 20 percent over the past two years.
Separately, the trials of six Christian antiwar protesters have put a spotlight on a secret U.S. spy base in the Outback that Washington would rather keep in the shadows.
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• Finally, our climate team takes a look at Peru, where the desert is blooming thanks to accelerating Andean glacial melt.
But when the ice vanishes, the vast farms that have sprung up below may do the same.
“If the water disappears, we’d have to go back to how it was before,” said a local farmer. “The land was empty and people went hungry.”
Business
VideoChina Slows Garbage Imports and Impact Is Felt Globally
China, a longtime importer of international waste, has tightened its regulations, weighing on livelihoods domestic and foreign.
By LAM YIK FEI, MIKE IVES, JEAN YVES CHAINON and GUGLIELMO MATTIOLI on Publish Date November 25, 2017. Photo by Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times. Technology by Samsung.. Watch in Times Video »• China’s harsh crackdown on imported foreign waste to be recycled has had global impact, from big waste companies in Texas to the “cardboard grannies” in Hong Kong.
• Amazon is aggressively recruiting Indian vendors to sell their goods directly on the e-commerce giant’s U.S. site. At least 27,000 Indian sellers have signed up.
• In Nepal, a state-owned firm will build a $2.5 billion hydropower dam, the country’s biggest, after a deal with a Chinese company was terminated.
• The Atari gaming console known as the Flashback is capitalizing on nostalgia to make the retro product a hot seller.
• Here’s a snapshot of global markets.
In the News
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• Mount Agung erupted for the second time in a week, spewing ash and steam more than 14,000 feet into the skies above the Indonesian resort island of Bali and stranding thousands of airline passengers. [The New York Times]
• High turnout was reported in Nepal for the first phase of a landmark vote in the transition from monarchy and years of civil war. The second phase of elections for Parliament and provincial assemblies comes Dec. 7. [BBC]
• In Egypt, the devastating, highly organized attack on a Sufi mosque in the Sinai Peninsula last week, and the military’s fierce retaliation, deepened dread for those trapped between barbarous militants and the country’s security forces. [The New York Times]
• An explosion in the Chinese port city of Ningbo killed two people and injured at least 30 others. [A.P.]
• A teacher at a kindergarten in Beijing was arrested after parents said their children were drugged and forced to strip, triggering outrage across China. [The New York Times]
• A trove of John Lennon’s diaries and personal effects were stolen from Yoko Ono years ago by her driver, the police say. The driver says otherwise. [The New York Times]
• Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany held talks with her party on whether to try again to form a coalition government. [Deutsche Welle]
• The mayor of Osaka, Japan, said he was cutting ties with San Francisco over a new monument to “comfort women,” who were held as sex slaves by the Japanese during World War II. [The New York Times]
• The Golden Horse Awards: Big winners included two Taiwanese films, the “The Great Buddha+,” shot mainly on iPhone, and the thriller “The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful.” [Variety]
• Stephen Hawking, the British theoretical physicist, used Weibo to praise Wang Junkai, the lead singer of China’s most popular boy band, for asking about interstellar migration. [Reuters]
Smarter Living
Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.
• Take these small steps to create a happier life.
• You’re getting better with age. Your makeup should follow suit.
• Recipe of the day: Spaghetti with a creamy lemon sauce works for a meatless Monday.
Noteworthy
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• “We are going to win.” Indian gay rights activists are seizing momentum, hoping that a crucial decision in favor of privacy rights by India’s Supreme Court will mean the repeal of repressive laws, including one from the colonial era that criminalizes sex between men.
• Who owns the moon? Ambiguities in the 50-year-old Outer Space Treaty may be keeping entrepreneurs from seeking out opportunities in our solar system.
• And a Vietnamese scholar has scoured the world for documents and maps to support territorial claims in the South China Sea, but finds his government reluctant to challenge Beijing.
Back Story
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“We’ll always have Paris.”
Seventy-five years ago today, The Times published its review of “Casablanca,” the romance filmed and released during World War II that became one of the most beloved — and oft-quoted — Hollywood movies of all time.
The film is set in Rick’s Café Américain, a swinging bar “through which swirls a backwash of connivers, crooks and fleeing European refugees,” as the Nazis take over Europe. Vichy France controls the port city — and the exit visas required to leave it. The price is high, and refugees are desperate to snag one on the black market.
The stars were Hollywood A-listers: Humphrey Bogart as Rick; Ingrid Bergman as his long-lost love, Ilsa; and Paul Henreid as her husband, the heroic resistance leader Victor Laszlo.
Mr. Henreid was, in fact, a staunchly anti-Nazi European. Critics have written that the film was strengthened by the many refugees and exiles in the supporting cast, including Madeleine Lebeau, who belts out “La Marseillaise” through tears in one of the most famous scenes.
Noah Isenberg, the author of a recent book on the film, said it still retains its magic, in part because it confronts a deep moral question: “Do you stick your neck out?”
Karen Zraick contributed reporting.
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