10 things you need to know today: October 19, 2019

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1. Amendment places Johnson's Brexit deal on hold
2. State Department finds no 'systemic' mishandling in Clinton email probe
3. House to vote on condemnation of G7 summit at Trump Doral resort
4. Kurdish forces reportedly withdraw from Syria 'safe zone'
5. At least 62 people killed in Afghanistan mosque explosion
6. Giuliani reportedly sought visa for Ukrainian prosecutor
7. Boeing pilot reportedly knew about glitches in 737 MAX flight-control system in 2016
8. Tulsi Gabbard calls Hillary Clinton 'embodiment of corruption'
9. Astronauts Christina Koch, Jessica Meir complete first all-female spacewalk
10. Maleficent expected to top weekend box office

published 19 October 2019

1. Amendment places Johnson's Brexit deal on hold

U.K. Parliament passed an amendment during its first Saturday session in 37 years that requires Prime Minister Boris Johnson to request a Brexit delay from the European Union by 11 p.m. Saturday. The vote was tight, but ultimately a cross-party group backed the amendment by a count of 322-306. It does not necessarily mean that the MPs would not have supported the deal Johnson had brokered with the European Union on Thursday, but the government was clear that, after being defeated in the amendment vote, it would abandon a follow-up vote on the deal, as the amendment rendered it "meaningless." It appeared that Johnson was close to receiving the votes he needed to pass the deal, and he said he would move forward with Brexit legislation next week.

The State Department found "no evidence of pervasive systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information" after wrapping up its internal investigation launched in 2016 related to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of private email during her tenure. The investigators did, however, determine that 38 unidentified current and former State Department officials were "culpable" in 91 cases of sending classified information that ended up in Clinton's personal email, meaning the use of private email did increase the vulnerability of such information. Any of the 38 officials still working for the State Department could reportedly face some form of disciplinary action, while the violations will be noted in the files of all 38, and will be considered when applying for or renewing security clearances. All in all, the investigation covered 33,000 emails and found 588 violations, though it could not assign fault in 497 cases.

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The House is reportedly set to vote on a resolution to condemn the White House over its choice to hold the 2020 Group of Seven summit at President Trump's Doral resort in Miami, Florida. Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney announced the decision Thursday saying Trump would not profit from the event. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle criticized the move as a potential ethics violation, pointing out that diplomats, world leaders, and their staffers would visit the financially strained resort. The House resolution will determine whether lawmakers want to condemn Trump's "practice of accepting foreign government Emoluments without obtaining Congress' affirmative consent." The resolution will be considered next week.

Kurdish troops reportedly began withdrawing from a key zone in northern Syria on late Friday, adhering to terms agreed upon by Turkey and the U.S. one day prior. Vice President Mike Pence announced Thursday that Turkey agreed to a temporary ceasefire in Syria between Turkish and Kurdish forces. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to "pause" the operation in Syria "to allow for the withdrawal of YPG forces from the safe zone for 120 hours." However, shelling and gunfire were still heard in some Syrian border towns Friday morning, leading Kurdish leadership to accuse Turkish forces of violating the ceasefire. The deal came after President Trump pulled back U.S. troops from northern Syria, clearing the way for Turkey's military to enter Kurdish-held zones.

At least 62 people have died and more than 100 others were injured in explosions at a mosque in eastern Afghanistan. Multiple bombings caused the roof of a mosque in the Nangarhar province to collapse during Friday prayers. Rescuers are still excavating the site and pulling survivors and bodies out of the destroyed mosque, a member of Nangarhar's provincial council said. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, though the Deh Bala district borders rural ISIS-held areas. Afghanistan's government has so far blamed the Taliban, but the Taliban has reportedly denied involvement. The United Nations recently said violence against civilians has reached "extreme levels" in Afghanistan. At least 1,174 civilians died in the months of July-September, the largest quarterly total in a decade.

President Trump's personal lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani attempted to secure a visa from the State Department for former Ukraine prosecutor Viktor Shokin, U.S. diplomat George Kent reportedly told congressional investigators, two people familiar with his closed-door deposition earlier this week said. Shokin was pushed out of his position in 2016 when several world leaders, including former Vice President Joe Biden, voiced concerns that Shokin was not pursuing corruption cases in Ukraine. Giuliani has previously said he wanted to interview Shokin because he promised to reveal information about Democrats' actions in Ukraine. Giuliani has alleged that Biden was trying to stop investigations to protect his son, Hunter, who was sitting on the board of a Ukrainian gas company at the time.

Mark Forkner, a Boeing technical pilot, reportedly warned a colleague about problems with the flight-control program, MCAS, in the company's 737 MAX airplane in 2016, messages released Friday reveal. MCAS was later implicated in two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia within the last year that combined killed a total of 346 people and ultimately led to the plane's removal from the sky, as engineers and regulators attempt to implement new safeguards. In 2017, Forkner reportedly instructed a Federal Aviation Administration employee to remove MCAS from pilot manuals and training because "it's way outside the normal operating envelope." The FAA said in a statement Friday it is "disappointed that Boeing did not bring this document to our attention immediately upon its discovery."

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) on Friday condemned Hillary Clinton after Clinton suggested Russia was "grooming" a current 2020 candidate "to be the third party candidate," appearing to indirectly suggest that the outsider Democrat Gabbard is a "favorite of the Russians." In several tweets, Gabbard labeled Clinton "the queen of warmongers" and "embodiment of corruption," and declared "this primary is between you and me." Reports have indicated Gabbard's campaign has become a target of foreign bots and Russian media. Gabbard's tweets didn't address such reports, but the lawmaker has previously slammed the characterization as a "smear." Gabbard tweeted that Clinton must be behind a "concerted campaign to destroy my reputation."

Astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir completed a seven hour and 17 minute spacewalk outside of the International Space Station on Friday. While 15 women have conducted spacewalks before, Meir and Koch joined up for what was the first ever all-female spacewalk. It was Koch's fourth spacewalk, and Meir's first go at it. The pair completed their primary task of replacing a failed power charging unit, as well as several extra tasks. While Meir said the walk was "really just us doing our job," she did recognize the event's importance. "We hope that we can provide an inspiration to everybody, not only women, but to everybody that has a dream, that has a big dream, and who is willing to work hard," she said.

Disney's Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is projected to top the weekend box office, but with a weaker than anticipated debut. The Angelina Jolie-starring sequel centered around the Sleeping Beauty is projected to open to around $35 million, lower than earlier projections that had it making $45 million. This would be roughly half of the $69 million the original Maleficent made in its 2014 debut. Sony's Zombieland: Double Tap, meanwhile, is expected to earn around $28 million, higher than previous estimates that put it closer to $23 million. That would be a slight improvement on the original Zombieland's 2009 debut of $24 million. Joker, however, may snatch the second place slot away from Zombieland by taking in around $30 million in its third weekend.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.