Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
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Good evening. Here’s the latest.
1. The polar vortex continued to cripple much of the country as temperatures remained near record lows across the Midwest for a second day. Parts of the Northeast also endured subzero wind chills.
At least eight deaths have been connected with the record-breaking cold, including a University of Iowa freshman who was found unconscious near his dorm, and who died at the hospital.
The sustained cold taxed energy systems and forced the cancellation of thousands of flights and closings of schools and universities. In Milwaukee, wind chill fell to minus 50. Above, Chicago at sunrise. Here’s what photographers across the frigid regions are seeing.
But the cold is expected to begin to lift on Friday. By the end of the weekend, temperatures in some areas could swing up to the 40s or 50s, bringing rain instead of snow.
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2. The Senate, in a stinging bipartisan rebuke to President Trump, advanced a measure opposing his moves to withdraw troops in Syria and Afghanistan.
The measure, written by Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, warned that “the precipitous withdrawal of United States forces from either country could put at risk hard-won gains and United States national security.”
The measure was backed by virtually every Senate Republican and will be added to a broader bipartisan Middle East policy bill expected to pass the Senate next week.
But the bipartisan spirit had its limits. Mr. McConnell (above, on Capitol Hill today) called a proposal to make Election Day a holiday a “power grab” by Democrats .
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3. Two days of trade meetings between the U. S. and China ended with a flurry of good will, but much work remains to avert a major escalation of the trade war.
In a letter, President Xi Jinping promised big purchases of American agricultural products, but President Trump said any deal must include an unprecedented opening of China’s markets to American businesses. Above, Mr. Trump with cabinet members and the vice premier of China.
The president also signed an order to help, in the words of his trade adviser, U. S. manufacturers and “blue-collar Trump people,” whose economic prospects have been shaken by the trade war.
Our team of reporters sat down with President Trump this afternoon. We’ll have takeaways, a fact check and excerpts from the interview later tonight on nytimes.com.
