Note: Capital Journal Daybreak will return on Monday. For breaking news, sign up for our politics email alerts[1] or visit us on your mobile device[2]. Happy Thanksgiving!
HIGHLIGHTS
When Turkey destroyed a Russian warplane[4] it had warned away from its airspace, the fallout threatened to destroy chances for any grand coalition of international powers to change the course of chaos in Syria, at least for now. The fatal incident in the skies Tuesday immediately escalated, and complicated, what had already been an intensely difficult enterprise trying to bridge divides and corral longtime adversaries into a pact to combat their one shared enemy, Islamic State.
NICHOLAS KAMM/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
The Turkish-Russian aerial altercation quickly hardened the positions held by all sides. While the U.S. and its ally France dug in on their demands on resolving the Syrian conflict, Russia and its ally Iran adhered to theirs. Aggravating the conflict was a war of words, with Russian President Vladimir Putin leveling charges that Turkey, an ally of the U.S. and France, finances terrorism accusations widely aired on Russian television in a daylong propaganda blitz. Amid the strife, President Barack Obama and French President Fran ois Hollande presented a united front[5], speaking at the White House Tuesday after their first meeting since the Paris attacks. They outlined changes they said Russia must make to its military strategy in Syria and to its position on a political resolution to the conflict before the U.S.-led coalition, which includes Turkey, would cooperate with Moscow in the fight against Islamic State. Carol E. Lee and Thomas Grove report[6].
Plus: Pilots from the Russian jet downed Tuesday ejected[7] over mountain forests populated by a diverse mix of Syrian rebel groups, who share a resentment of Moscow s efforts to prop up President Bashar al-Assad Moscow pushed forward with its tough tack[8] on Wednesday, as the defense minister said one of the pilots from the plane had returned to base alive and well.
President Barack Obama s trip next week to Paris has been years in the making, the culmination of the administration s longstanding efforts to forge an international climate accord. But the Paris terror attacks have forced a rewrite of the script for the president s travels, altering the administration s singular focus on finalizing a sweeping climate deal and turning this into a dual-purpose visit. Read Colleen McCain Nelson s full post[10] in Washington Wire.
WSJ STORIES YOU SHOULDN T MISS
The Paris terror attacks have crystallized a divide in the Republican presidential field over the scope of American intelligence gathering and whether to establish a no-fly zone over Syria. The carnage in Paris, coupled with the downing of a Russian passenger jet over Egypt and the attack on a hotel in Mali, has amplified security concerns in the U.S., prompting many White House hopefuls in recent days to spell out how they would combat Islamic State. On the Republican side, the most aggressive including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio want to keep alive a controversial data-collection program run by the National Security Agency that Congress effectively ended this year. Patrick O Connor reports[12].
More on 2016: Support for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has surged among Iowa Republicans[13], a new poll shows, suggesting his effort to sew up support among influential evangelical Christians in the first-in-the-nation caucus state has borne fruit An effort by a former New Hampshire Republican Party official to throw celebrity developer Donald Trump off the state s presidential primary ballot[14] was defeated Tuesday after election officials said they had verified Mr. Trump was in fact registered as a Republican in his home state of New York.
TIM GALLOWAY FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
After his teenage sons were whipped by Syrian troops and he was beaten by forces loyal to the country s president, Mohamad Almohsen decided he needed to flee the civil war tearing his homeland apart. That was in April 2012. The burly truck driver trekked by foot with his wife and four children over two days to reach Jordan, where he connected with United Nations aid workers. Three years and a litany of background screenings later, he came to America. The journey of Mr. Almohsen illustrates the multistep process including interviews with U.N. and U.S. officials, security checks and medical exams that Syrian refugees must undergo to be allowed to enter the U.S. Miriam Jordan and Joseph De Avila report[16].
Plus: The U.S. government accepts thousands of refugees each year[17] and provides cash, medical and rental assistance to them through nine nonprofit resettlement agencies.
The latest on the Paris attacks: Belgian authorities prepared to return their capital to normalcy[18] after a four-day lockdown as a Belgian judge issued an international arrest warrant for a man prosecutors say drove a key suspect to Paris two days before the terrorist attacks in the French capital The Belgian government has been stripping or blocking the security clearances[19] of people working at the Brussels airport because of past connections to people who left for Syria French prosecutors on Tuesday said they suspect that Abdelhamid Abaaoud[20], the architect of terror attacks in Paris, returned to the scenes of the massacres, lurking outside the Bataclan as police were storming the theater and freeing hostages French police are using special powers[21] under a state of emergency to round up gun runners and drug dealers in the wake of attacks on Paris New York is ramping up its counterterror effort[22] as the holidays approach.
FOR POOR COUNTRIES, WELL-WORN PATH TO DEVELOPMENT TURNS ROCKY:[23] For nearly half a century, Laljibhai Gajjar ran factories making diesel engines and parts in and around this sleepy industrial city. But after Chinese products began swallowing up the market, he found another calling. He laid off 100 workers and started selling Hyundais. Mr. Gajjar s downsizing is part of a phenomenon in India and other poor countries, where the world s population is growing most quickly, that is alarming many economists. Raymond Zhong reports[24].
ALSO IN THE NEWS
For a decade, Takata employees in the U.S. raised concerns[25] internally about misleading testing reports on air bags that later became prone to explosions.
A federal judge chided President Obama for pledging[26] to close the Guantanamo detention facility while allowing the process for clearing detainees to drag on for years with no resolution in sight.
When federal regulators launched a crackdown on alleged discrimination in auto lending[27] two years ago, they knew their methodology would be questioned. But they calculated they could secure a market-shaping settlement by going after a company unlikely to fight the charges because it needed to avoid a complaint to clinch government approval for a broader restructuring. That is the conclusion of a report, based on internal documents and emails written by the staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, released Tuesday by congressional Republicans who have long criticized the discrimination probe.
A terrorist attack on a bus killed at least 12 members of Tunisia s presidential guard force[28] in the capital Tunis on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said Islamic State claimed responsibility for a Tuesday attack[29] that Egypt s state media said killed seven people at a hotel in the Sinai Peninsula, including two judges supervising parliamentary elections, as the government continues to battle a growing insurgency there.
A combination of errors contributed to a U.S. warplane inadvertently bombing[30] a hospital in Afghanistan last month, resulting in the deaths of at least 30 people, including doctors and patients, a U.S. military report concludes.
Profits at U.S. companies during the third quarter posted their largest annual decline[31] since the recession, underscoring the competitive pressure from a strong dollar and weak global demand that could limit businesses ability to support stronger economic growth in the coming months.
A Chicago police officer was charged with first-degree murder[32] in the fatal shooting in 2014 of a black teenager, and hours later officials released a graphic video showing the white officer repeatedly firing at the 17-year-old.
Minneapolis police had three men in custody Tuesday[33] in connection with the shooting of five people who were protesting the killing of a black man by police this month.
Comcast faces a Justice Department antitrust probe[34] of its practices in the cable advertising-sales market.
A U.S. probe of Wal-Mart[35] is looking at payments to an individual in Brazil.
During a Q&A with WSJ s Jerry Seib, GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie said he was skeptical about working with Russia s Vladimir Putin in the fight against ISIS, saying Mr. Putin s only goal is to keep Syria s Bashar al-Assad in power. Watch clips of the interview[37].
HERE S A LOOK AT THE DAY AHEAD
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Vice President Joe Biden is in Zagreb, Croatia, to attend the Brdo-Brijuni Process summit on cooperation in Southeast Europe. President Barack Obama pardons the National Thanksgiving Turkey and wishes American families a safe and healthy holiday at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden at 2:30 p.m. E.T. Mr. Obama will deliver a weekly video and radio address on Thursday.
CONGRESS: Both the House and the Senate remain on a Thanksgiving week recess.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS: The Commerce Department releases personal income and outlays for October and durable goods for October at 8:30 a.m. Its report on new home sales for October will be released at 10 a.m. The Labor Department releases weekly unemployment insurance claims at 8:30 a.m. The Purchasing Managers Index, an indicator of the health of the manufacturing sector, will be released at 9:45 a.m. The University of Michigan s consumer sentiment index will be released at 10 a.m.
WHAT WE RE READING AROUND THE WEB
A proxy battle between Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Sen. Marco Rubio[38] (R., Fla.) in the Republican presidential primary has heated up with the launch of a new advertising campaign against Mr. Cruz by an Arizona nonprofit led by a former associate of the Koch brothers now backing Mr. Rubio, writes the Huffington Post.
In the battle against Islamic State, Barack Obama remains committed to a failed strategy[39] against an enemy he has long underestimated in a war he has no plans to win. Nothing has changed, write Stephen F. Hayes and Thomas Joscelyn of The Weekly Standard.
The Washington Examiner s Byron York says Donald Trump[40] s natural penchant for show business, combined with that instinct to overstate his demands, plus the requirements of his supporters, have created a candidacy that can be very difficult for outsiders to read and doesn t reveal much about what Trump might do if elected.
In the WSJ s Think Tank, Aaron David Miller writes[41] that Turkey s downing of a Russian plane shows how hard it will be to get all parties on the same page in fighting ISIS in Syria: For now, the coalition remains more compelling on paper than in practice.
TWEET OF THE DAY
@SpeakerRyan:[42] The new office space is coming along. Could use some more @packers decoration though.
Readers: Do you have questions about the political and international scene? Washington Bureau Chief Jerry Seib would be happy to answer them in an upcoming Daybreak video. Send your questions to editor Kate Milani at
______________________________________________________
2016 Election Calendar[46] | WSJ/NBC Polls[47] | 2016 Poll Standings[48]
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References
^ politics email alerts (www.wsj.com)
^ visit us on your mobile device (www.wsj.com)
^ SKIES DARKEN FOR ACCORD ON SYRIA WITH TURKISH DOWNING OF RUSSIAN FIGHTER: (www.wsj.com)
^ Turkey destroyed a Russian warplane (www.wsj.com)
^ President Barack Obama and French President Fran ois Hollande presented a united front (www.wsj.com)
^ Carol E. Lee and Thomas Grove report (www.wsj.com)
^ Pilots from the Russian jet downed Tuesday ejected (www.wsj.com)
^ Moscow pushed forward with its tough tack (www.wsj.com)
^ OBAMA S DUAL MISSION AT CLIMATE TALKS IN PARIS (blogs.wsj.com)
^ Colleen McCain Nelson s full post (blogs.wsj.com)
^ GOP RIVALS SPLIT ON HOW TO FIGHT TERROR: (www.wsj.com)
^ Patrick O Connor reports (www.wsj.com)
^ Support for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has surged among Iowa Republicans (blogs.wsj.com)
^ effort by a former New Hampshire Republican Party official to throw celebrity developer Donald Trump off the state s presidential primary ballot (blogs.wsj.com)
^ THE MANY STEPS IN A SYRIAN REFUGEE S JOURNEY TO THE U.S.: (www.wsj.com)
^ Miriam Jordan and Joseph De Avila report (www.wsj.com)
^ The U.S. government accepts thousands of refugees each year (www.wsj.com)
^ Belgian authorities prepared to return their capital to normalcy (www.wsj.com)
^ The Belgian government has been stripping or blocking the security clearances (www.wsj.com)
^ French prosecutors on Tuesday said they suspect that Abdelhamid Abaaoud (www.wsj.com)
^ French police are using special powers (www.wsj.com)
^ New York is ramping up its counterterror effort (www.wsj.com)
^ FOR POOR COUNTRIES, WELL-WORN PATH TO DEVELOPMENT TURNS ROCKY: (www.wsj.com)
^ Raymond Zhong reports (www.wsj.com)
^ For a decade, Takata employees in the U.S. raised concerns (www.wsj.com)
^ A federal judge chided President Obama for pledging (www.wsj.com)
^ When federal regulators launched a crackdown on alleged discrimination in auto lending (www.wsj.com)
^ A terrorist attack on a bus killed at least 12 members of Tunisia s presidential guard force (www.wsj.com)
^ Islamic State claimed responsibility for a Tuesday attack (www.wsj.com)
^ A combination of errors contributed to a U.S. warplane inadvertently bombing (www.wsj.com)
^ Profits at U.S. companies during the third quarter posted their largest annual decline (www.wsj.com)
^ A Chicago police officer was charged with first-degree murder (www.wsj.com)
^ Minneapolis police had three men in custody Tuesday (www.wsj.com)
^ Comcast faces a Justice Department antitrust probe (www.wsj.com)
^ A U.S. probe of Wal-Mart (www.wsj.com)
^ CHRISTIE: U.S. SHOULDN T LOOK TO PUTIN FOR HELP FIGHTING ISIS (www.wsj.com)
^ Watch clips of the interview (www.wsj.com)
^ A proxy battle between Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Sen. Marco Rubio (www.huffingtonpost.com)
^ In the battle against Islamic State, Barack Obama remains committed to a failed strategy (www.weeklystandard.com)
^ The Washington Examiner s Byron York says Donald Trump (www.washingtonexaminer.com)
^ In the WSJ s Think Tank, Aaron David Miller writes (blogs.wsj.com)
^ @SpeakerRyan: (twitter.com)
^