Your Wednesday Briefing

Las Vegas, Catalonia, North Korea | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, October 4, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Wednesday Briefing]( By CHARLES MCDERMID Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: Eric Thayer for The New York Times • The authorities are still searching for a motive for the gunman who killed at least 59 people and wounded more than 520 others on Sunday at an outdoor music festival in Las Vegas. As investigators [sketched a portrait of the suspect, Stephen Paddock]( a wealthy gambler and amateur golfer, survivors have described the scene of carnage in vivid detail: Thousands of concertgoers [screaming and running for cover]( as victims fell around them. Above, the site of the shooting on Tuesday. [Here are the latest updates]( and [maps and photographs of the area]( where the attack occurred. We’re also collecting details about [the victims](. _____ Doug Mills/The New York Times • President Trump, arriving in [hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico,]( said officials should be proud that only 16 died in Hurricane Maria, unlike the “thousands” in “a real catastrophe like Katrina.” That hurricane claimed 1,833 lives. The comments may further strain relations after Mr. Trump, criticized for a slow federal response, said Puerto Ricans were not doing enough to help themselves. While the social fabric has held, some worry how much [stress the small island can take](. _____ Carlos Barria/Reuters • The U.S. [expelled 15 Cuban diplomats from Washington]( in an escalating response to a mysterious series of illnesses that afflicted American diplomats and their spouses in Havana. U.S. officials believe the illnesses resulted from an attack, perhaps by a sonic device, toxin or virus. The State Department has not accused the Cuban government of complicity, but has sought a clear assurance that the attacks would not continue before the Cuban diplomats could return. _____ Lluis Gene/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • Protesters in Catalonia blocked highways and shut down some of the main roads in [Barcelon]( above, a]( part of a strike called by separatists to condemn]( the Spanish crackdown during an independence referendum over the weekend. The strike, which was backed by the Catalan regional government, also brought public transit to a standstill. The protests took place amid widespread uncertainty over the disputed referendum, which touched off clashes in which more than 900 people were injured. _____ Pool photo by Rob Griffith • Australian investigators delivered their final report on the missing [Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, saying the unsolved mystery]( was “unacceptable in the modern aviation era.” The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the disappearance of the Boeing 777 on March 8, 2014, with 239 people aboard, was “almost inconceivable.” The search for the jet, also involving Malaysia and China, was called off in January after 1,046 days. _____ Atul Loke for The New York Times • And for centuries, pilgrims have traveled to the tip of an island in southern India where according to the Ramayana, the ancient Hindu epic, Lord Rama crossed [a bridge called Rama Setu to rescue his wife](. Now, a team of researchers wants to to determine whether the formations clearly visible on the ocean floor are naturally occurring sandbanks or the remains of an ancient structure. For the pilgrims who flock there, it hardly matters. Above, the Ramanathaswamy temple. _____ Business Toru Hanai/Reuters • Nissan Motor will [recall all 1.2 million new cars it sold in Japan]( over the past three years after learning that final inspections were not performed by authorized technicians. The recall could cost as much as $220 million; Nissan’s shares fell more than 5 percent. • The Australian Tax Office said [Chinese investment in Australian farmland]( had grown from about 1.5 million hectares to almost 14.5 million, prompting calls for government oversight. • After selling DreamWorks last year, [Jeffrey Katzenberg is seeking $2 billion]( for short-form video project called New TV. Think “Game of Thrones” in 10-minute bites. • London’s decision [not to renew Uber’s license]( raised questions about race: Most of the city’s 40,000 drivers are nonwhite and many are immigrants. • U.S. stocks [were higher](. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Prime Minister Office, via Associated Press • Rapprochement in Gaza: Palestinians could have a unified leadership for the first time in a decade. Fatah and Hamas officials met to try to put their differences aside. [[The New York Times]( • A twist in Japan: Gov. Yuriko Koike of Tokyo, whose party is challenging Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s coalition in an Oct. 22 snap election, said she would not run for Parliament. [[Reuters]( • Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar, was stripped of the “Freedom of Oxford” honor over her response to the Rohinyga crisis. [[BBC]( • The Myanmar government refuses to use the word “Rohingya,” instead calling the Muslim minority “Bengalis.” The difference is crucial. [[Quartz]( • Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering space-time ripples known as gravitational waves, which were predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago. [[The New York Times]( • Plans for a barbed wire fence on the site of the World War II Japanese internment camp in Northern California have ignited a protest. [[Sacramento Bee]( • The new leaders of Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic scuttled a half-billion-dollar plan for a gut renovation of the lackluster David Geffen Hall. [[The New York Times]( • In Hong Kong, an 11th-century “brush washer” broke the auction record for Chinese ceramics. It was sold to an anonymous Asian buyer for $37.7 million. [[South China Morning Post]( • In Japanese folklore, an array of spirits appear in bathrooms. Each one has its own grim story. [[Atlas Obscura]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. Marcos Chin • Recent disasters remind us to [prepare our homes]( for the worst. • Environmentally friendly travel [doesn’t have to break your budget](. • Recipe of the day: Make [chicken shawarma]( in the oven. Noteworthy Lendl Tellington/The Franklin Institute • China’s ancient terra-cotta warriors lost their weapons; they crumbled away during the [2,200]( years that the soldiers were entombed](. Now, a museum in Philadelphia lets you arm them with historically accurate weapons — with your phone. • In memoriam: [Jalal Talabani]( 83, the Kurdish leader who used pragmatism and guile to survive guerrilla war and the terrors of Saddam Hussein to become the first president of Iraq under its postwar Constitution. • And “Blade Runner 2049” opens this week. We [asked Denis Villeneuve]( the director, to narrate a scene. [Our critic said the movie]( mostly succeeds, both in honoring the original film and escaping its considerable shadow. Back Story NASA Sixty years ago, we entered the space age when the Soviet Union [launched the first Earth satellite](. Weighing almost 200 pounds, the Sputnik spacecraft, above, was “one of the world’s greatest propaganda — as well as scientific — feats,” [The Times wrote](. It orbited the planet for three months, sending out a series of beeps that [were audible to amateur radio operators](. (Here’s [what that sounded like]( “Earthbound man, peering into the sky for a glimpse of the man-made moon, pondered its impact on his affairs,” [The Times wrote]( 1957](. Soviet propagandists said the breakthrough proved that their communist social model was superior to the capitalism of the West. They also said that it had [opened the way to interplanetary travel](. Without question, [it captured the attention of the U.S. and its leaders](. “No event since Pearl Harbor set off such repercussions in public life,” one historian wrote. Sputnik burned up in Earth’s atmosphere in January 1958, but test models and replicas continued to circulate. One American collector said he got an original spare Sputnik out of Russia by declaring [its two halves as salad bowls](. Patrick Boehler contributed reporting. _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online. Browse past briefings [here](. This briefing was prepared for the Asian morning. We also have briefings timed for the [Australian]( [European]( and [American]( mornings. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters [here](. If photographs appear out of order, please download the updated New York Times app [from iTunes]( or [Google Play](. What would you like to see here? Contact us at [asiabriefing@nytimes.com](mailto:asiabriefing@nytimes.com?subject=Briefing%20Feedback%20(Asia)). 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