Your Wednesday Briefing

Earthquakes, Oscars, Narendra Modi | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, January 24, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Wednesday Briefing]( By MIKE IVES AND INYOUNG KANG Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: Kyodo, via Reuters • A tectonic drama on the Pacific Rim. [Mount]( erupted in Japan]( setting off avalanches, killing a soldier who was training nearby and injuring more than a dozen people, including several at a ski resort. Then a major [earthquake]( off the coast of Alaska]( prompting a tsunami warning that was soon called off, and hours later another strong temblor hit [off the coast of Indonesia]( rocking buildings in Jakarta. The Mayon volcano, meanwhile, continued to billow ash in the Philippines, a day after officials [raised the alert level]( for a hazardous eruption. _____ Tom Brenner/The New York Times • The U.S. attorney general, [Jeff Sessions, was questioned last week on Russian meddling]( in the 2016 election and whether President Trump obstructed justice since taking office. The Times also learned that James Comey, the former F.B.I. director, was interviewed last year by the special counsel investigators. They discussed memos he wrote detailing his interactions with Mr. Trump. Separately, the U.S. accused [Syria of carrying out a new chemical attack]( on civilians and rebuked Russia for its failure to stop such assaults, which are considered war crimes. _____ Ed Jones/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • North Korea announced a [national holiday in honor of its army]( on Feb. 8 — the day before the Winter Olympics begin in South Korea. Though the state-run Korean Central News Agency did not say how the occasion would be observed, there is speculation that Pyongyang will hold a [large military parade]( in a show of force. North Korea has agreed to send 22 athletes to Pyeongchang, South Korea, for the Games next month. _____ Abdul Aziz, via Reuters • Fifty-eight refugees who had been stuck at a detention center on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, shown above in November, were boarding flights to the U.S. They were held there under Australia’s offshore detention policy. The refugees — mostly from Afghanistan, Myanmar and Pakistan — are being sent as [part of an agreement forged with Australia]( during the Obama administration. President Trump called the agreement a “dumb deal.” _____ Chinapeace.gov.cn/VCG, via Getty Images • When he showed up at school after a nearly three-mile trek, 8-year-old Wang Fuman was covered in frost. The picture his teacher took lit up Chinese social media and sparked a national outcry over rural poverty. Now, Fuman has been [embraced by the Communist Party]( as a rallying cry for a robust, resilient China. But critics expressed concern for Fuman’s well-being amid the media hype, and that officials were using him as a prop and neglecting the broader issue of rural development. _____ Tony Cenicola/The New York Times • Thousands of readers had [questions for our new publisher, A.G. Sulzberger](. In his answers, Mr. Sulzberger spoke about media bias, the Trump administration and The Times’s role in covering the U.S. “We now have journalists living in every part of the country who spend their time crisscrossing their states and regions for stories that aren’t being told,” Mr. Sulzberger said. Business • New U.S. tariffs are taking direct aim at [Chinese solar panels and South Korean washing machines](. But the effects will be felt in multiple countries, illustrating the difficulty of targeting specific industries in the complex world of global trade. • Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a strong [defense of globalization at the]( Economic Forum]( in Davos, Switzerland. Follow our [complete coverage from Davos]( where [six feet of snow is expected]( and where the forum will take up topics like [sustainable manufacturing](. • A British regulator provisionally [rejected 21st Century Fox’s bid to buy Sky]( the satellite network long coveted by Rupert Murdoch. • Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, told our columnist that he had agreed to stay in the role for the next decade. His compensation plan [may be the most radical in corporate history](. • U.S. stocks [were higher](. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Wakil Kohsar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • The U.S. State Department said that American citizens were among the 22 people killed by the Taliban at a hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, above, over the weekend. [[The New York Times]( • The U.S. defense secretary, Jim Mattis, was in Indonesia, where the government wants the U.S. to ease sanctions on an elite military unit implicated in rights abuses in the 1990s. [[Reuters]( • Sweden asked China to explain what happened to a Hong Kong bookseller with Swedish citizenship who was detained in China on Saturday. It got no response. [[The New York Times]( • A court in South Korea sentenced Cho Yoon-sun, a former culture minister, to two years in prison for creating a blacklist of artists deemed critical of ousted President Park Geun-hye’s government. [[Yonhap]( • In Hong Kong, the democracy activist Joshua Wong was granted bail as he appeals a jail sentence over the 2014 Umbrella Movement demonstrations. [[South China Morning Post]( • The mayor of Venice vowed to “thoroughly examine” why four Japanese tourists were charged $1,347 at a restaurant for water, four steaks and a plate of fish. (Yes, that includes service.) [[BBC]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. • Get over [your infatuation](. • Show your cast iron [some T.L.C](. • Recipe of the day: Enjoy a [traditional English scone]( with jam, cream and a cup of tea. Noteworthy Fox Searchlight Pictures/Fox Searchlight Pictures, via Associated Press.. • Oscar nominations are here. [“The Shape of Water,” above, led the way with 13]( — one short of the record — while “Dunkirk” got eight and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” received seven. • In memoriam. [Naomi Parker Fraley]( 96, the real “Rosie the Riveter” who became a 1940s pop culture icon and a feminist touchstone; [Hugh Masekela]( 78, a South African trumpeter, singer and activist whose music symbolized the anti-apartheid movement. • And a woman evaded airport security in Chicago and flew to London without a passport or a ticket. [It wasn't her first time.]( Back Story Bettmann, via Getty Images Here’s a tale of innovation and why it’s hard to stand in the way of progress. Eighty-three years ago, [the first-known canned beer was sold]( in the U.S., in Richmond, Va. The innovation [soon spread to a brewer in Wales](. The cans were lighter and cheaper than bottles, and immediately proved a huge success. “Sales resistance to beer in cans has been overcome in every section of the country,” [The Times reported a few months later in 1935](. “The product is selling more rapidly than it can be supplied.” Within two months, the American Can Co. [produced 25,000 to 30,000 beer cans every day](. By September, U.S. winemakers sought to package their product in cans, too, to “induce the American consumer to ‘become wine-minded,’” [The Times reported](. [Bottle makers pushed back]( against the new competition. At a conference in Atlantic City, they spoke of plans for lighter bottles, as well as ones that wouldn’t require a deposit. Regardless of what it was packaged in, beer was popular in post-Prohibition America. Sales of bottled and canned beer grew more than 50 percent over the previous year, [The Times reported](. By 1970, [beer cans had overtaken bottles](. 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. And our Australia bureau chief offers [a weekly letter]( adding analysis and conversations with readers. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters [here](. What would you like to see here? Contact us at [asiabriefing@nytimes.com](mailto:asiabriefing@nytimes.com?subject=Briefing%20Feedback%20(Asia)).  LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nytimes]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Morning Briefing: Asia Edition newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2018 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018