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Europe Edition

Robert Mugabe, North Korea, Angela Merkel: Your Tuesday Briefing

(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...Markus Schreiber/Associated Press

Germany is facing the prospect of new elections after negotiations to form a new government collapsed.

The breakdown comes less than two months after the last elections seemed to assure that Angela Merkel, above, an icon of Western democracy and values, would remain Germany’s leader for a fourth term.

If the deadlock isn’t broken, Ms. Merkel said, she would prefer to go through new elections rather than try to lead a minority government.

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Zimbabwe may have a new leader for the first time in 37 years. Now, those who grew up under Robert Mugabe share a mix of hope and skepticism about the country’s future.CreditCredit...Kim Ludbrook/European Pressphoto Agency

• Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, ignored an ultimatum from his own party demanding that he step down.

Parliament is now under pressure to impeach him, a process that could extend broad national frustration for weeks.

Here’s how Mr. Mugabe, the only leader Zimbabwe has known since its independence in 1980, lost power in just days. And a veteran reporter who was there when Mr. Mugabe took power sees disturbing parallels with the current moment of hope and joy.

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Credit...KCNA, via Reuters

• President Trump returned North Korea to a list of state sponsors of terrorism in light of its nuclear ambitions, cyberattacks and support for assassinations, a move to be accompanied by toughened Treasury sanctions.

South Korean intelligence officials said that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, above, was disciplining his most powerful military organization. He may be trying to instill fear in the elites in order to strengthen his control as the country braces for recently imposed U.N. sanctions.

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Credit...Karsten Moran for The New York Times

• More accusations of sexual harassment emerge by the day. A second woman says Senator Al Franken groped her while her husband was taking a photo of them in 2010. Unlike the first accusation, this episode took place when Mr. Franken was in office.

Multiple women who worked for the longtime television host Charlie Rose, above, have also alleged that he made crude sexual advances toward them.

And The New York Times suspended a White House correspondent, Glenn Thrush, and said it was investigating after a published report accused him of sexual misconduct.

Here’s our updated graphic of more than 30 men who have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent weeks.

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Credit...Paul Faith/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

•Northern Ireland is sinking into a “profound crisis” nearly a year after the collapse of the governing coalition left a power vacuum.

The departure of Gerry Adams as president of Sinn Fein, one of the coalition partners, could give the political parties in Belfast more room to maneuver, but it also deprives the government of another established leader.

Above, the Northern Irish Parliament buildings, commonly known as Stormont.

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Credit...José Sarmento Matos for The New York Times

• Two E.U. agencies are moving from London to cities on the Continent as a result of Britain’s impending exit from the union. The European Medicines Agency will move to Amsterdam, while the European Banking Authority is to relocate to Paris. Above, the European Medicines Agency headquarters in London.

• Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, told the European Parliament that falling unemployment would eventually drive inflation in the eurozone.

• Janet Yellen said that she would step down from the board of the U.S. Federal Reserve when she ends her term as chairwoman.

• The U.S. Justice Department, in a major shift on antitrust issues, will sue to block a major acquisition, AT&T’s $85.4 billion bid for Time Warner.

• The euro had a volatile day after the collapse of German coalition talks but later stabilized. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

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Credit...Daniel Leal-Olivas/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

In an effort to curb exhaust fumes, London is adding oil made from coffee grounds to the fuel for its double-decker buses. [The New York Times]

• The Argentine authorities acknowledged that a missing submarine had reported equipment failure and that satellite signals detected Saturday were not from the craft. [The New York Times]

• Kenya’s Supreme Court dismissed two petitions seeking to overturn last month’s presidential vote, paving the way for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s second term. [The New York Times]

• The Trump administration is ending a program that allowed some 59,000 Haitians to live legally in the U.S. after the 2010 earthquake. [The New York Times]

• Two former members of the Catalan government who were detained after Catalonia declared independence from Spain said they accepted Madrid’s control of the region. [Reuters]

• The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court is requesting permission to investigate torture, rape and other atrocities in Afghanistan, including those possibly committed by Americans. [The New York Times]

• The pro-Brexit campaign group is being investigated by the Electoral Commission over whether it violated spending limits. [The Guardian]

• Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip celebrated their 70th anniversary, becoming the longest-married couple of the royal family. [The New York Times]

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

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Credit...QuickHoney

• How to use social media to give your career a lift.

• If you’re sick, you should stay home from work. But if you can’t, here’s what doctors advise.

• Recipe of the day: Roasted salmon in butter is astonishingly easy.

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Credit...Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

• In Mexico, where the drug war’s “disappeared” number in the tens of thousands, some families are taking up the search for loved ones on their own.

• Jana Novotna, the Czech tennis star, has died at 49. A Wimbledon champion in 1998, she was also known for being consoled by the Duchess of Kent after an earlier loss. Our columnist remembers her as “a perfectionist in a sport where perfection is unfortunately not an option.”

A restored ceramic frieze at a former brothel in Paris tells a story of the city’s once-thriving sex business.

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Credit...Ross Land/Getty Images

Our recent story about a reunion between Vietnamese refugees and their rescuers at sea prompted an Australian reader to point us to another rescue — one that bears on our coverage of Australia’s offshore detention facilities.

On Aug. 26, 2001, a Norwegian cargo ship received a distress call in the Indian Ocean. The engine of an Indonesian fishing boat packed with asylum seekers had failed en route to Australia’s Christmas Island. The captain, Arne Rinnan, diverted course to save the 438 people aboard.

But the Australian authorities were trying to deter human traffickers. They directed him to an Indonesian port 12 hours away.

Instead, the captain plunged ahead. So a navy ship intercepted, transferring the refugees to the tiny Micronesian island nation of Nauru — creating Australia’s first offshore processing center.

A year later, about half had been resettled in New Zealand. They welcomed Captain Rinnan on a visit to Auckland with flowers and letters, above.

But other refugees were stuck on Nauru for years. Interviewed a decade after the rescue, the captain told of receiving a haunting letter detailing conditions so bad that the writer wished the captain had let him die.

“And that is a terrible thing to tell people, that you should have just let them drown,” Captain Rinnan said.

Isabella Kwai contributed reporting.

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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.

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