Your Thursday Briefing

Austin, North Korea, Cambridge Analytica | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, March 22, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Thursday Briefing]( By CHARLES MCDERMID Good morning. A new Communist takeover, Boris Johnson’s Hitler comment, and Mark Zuckerberg’s highly anticipated moment. Here’s what you need to know: Alexander F. Yuan/Associated Press • Party power. China issued a blueprint for shaking up its bureaucracy that [vastly increases the Communist Party’s control]( over government and culture. The plan empowers party panels to shape policy on reform, cybersecurity, economics, finance and foreign affairs. And it merges state-run radio and television broadcasters into a “Voice of China” conglomerate answering to the party’s Department of Propaganda, which will also control film, books and magazines. This week, Shanghai briefly detained and then [returned a Chinese-born Australian, John Hugh,]( who has been sharply critical of the party’s efforts to influence Australian politics. _____ • A three-way summit meeting? President Moon Jae-in of South Korea floated the possibility of [joining the planned meeting of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and President Trump]( in May, which he said would be “a momentous event in world history.” Mr. Moon and Mr. Kim are planning to meet in late April at Panmunjom, the “truce village” that straddles the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas. Some South Korean news outlets interpreted Mr. Moon’s remarks as indicating that he wanted the summit meeting to be held there, too — affording his government great optics. _____ Loren Elliott/Reuters • He blew himself up as the police closed in. Mark Anthony Conditt, 23, a suspect in the series of bombings that have terrorized the city of Austin, Tex., [died early this morning by detonating an explosive]( in his vehicle. In a blog about his political views created for a college class, he described himself as a conservative and argued against same-sex marriage and sex offender registries and in favor of the death penalty. [Here’s what we know about him.]( _____ UK Parliament, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • Tensions between Britain and Russia hit a new peak. Boris Johnson, the top British diplomat, told Parliament that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, would [use the World Cup this summer as a propaganda tool, much as Hitler did]( with the 1936 Olympic Games. In Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned foreign diplomats to suggest Britain itself may have been responsible for poisoning a former Russian double agent and his daughter with a nerve agent. (The British ambassador did not attend.) _____ • In the U.S., Republican lawmakers are among those [faulting President Trump for congratulating Vladimir Putin]( on winning election to a fourth six-year term to lead Russia. The immediate leak of their conversation signals the depth of frustration inside the White House. Only a small circle would know of the content of the leaders’ conversation on Tuesday or could have revealed the existence of a briefing card cautioning Mr. Trump: “DO NOT CONGRATULATE.” An analyst left Fox News with [a searing farewell]( accusing it of becoming “a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration.” _____ Andrew Gombert/European Pressphoto Agency • “We also made mistakes, there’s more to do, and we need to step up and do it.” Facebook’s chief executive, [Mark Zuckerberg, above, responded publicly]( (via Facebook) to the growing crisis over reports that outside companies harvested data on millions of users. He said the company would crack down on outside apps and bolster privacy. Facebook has lost about $50 billion in market value since the reports were published, and a growing numbers of users [are considering deleting]( their accounts. [On “The Daily,”]( we talk to one of our reporters who broke the story, and discuss how a key data scientist at Cambridge Analytica became a whistleblower. Business • The U.S. Federal Reserve [raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point](. Under a new chairman, Jerome Powell, it signaled two more increases this year. • Toyota suspended tests of [self-driving vehicles on public roads]( so it could “assess the situation” after an autonomous Uber vehicle fatally struck a pedestrian on Sunday in Arizona. • Shares of Crown Resorts [slipped]( after James Packer, the Australian billionaire enmeshed in an Israeli corruption scandal, [resigned as director of that huge casino company]( to deal with “mental health issues.” • This year’s Turing Award, often called the Nobel Prize of computing, went to [Dave Patterson and John Hennessy for their visionary influence]( on computer chip design. • Our technology reporter in Mumbai explains how cheap [mobile data is changing India]( and why WhatsApp is indispensable. • U.S. stocks [were up](. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Mohammad Ismail/Reuters • In Afghanistan, a suicide bomber killed at least 31 people among a crowd in Kabul celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year. [[The New York Times]( • The ailing president of Myanmar, Htin Kyaw, resigned. Parliament is expected to rapidly choose a successor who will allow Aung San Suu Kyi, officially a state counselor, to continue to exert power. [[The Guardian]( • A U.S. State Department official said American policy would continue “to ensure that Taiwan’s people can continue along their chosen path, free from coercion,” shrugging off a threat from China. [[The New York Times]( • Tributes are pouring in for Kak Channthy, 38, the lead singer of the Cambodian Space Project, who was killed Tuesday in a traffic accident in Phnom Penh. ([Watch one of the band’s performances.]( [[The Phnom Penh Post]( • Space junk is a problem. A team of Australian scientists wants to use powerful ground-based lasers to shoot it away. [[ABC]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. • Thinking of going to Brazil? You’ll [need this vaccination](. • Here’s how to protect your [data on Facebook](. • Recipe of the day: Brighten up the usual salmon dinner with a[sauce of capers, scallions, parsley and garlic](. Noteworthy David Maurice Smith for The New York Times • Thoughtful feathers: An scientist in Sydney implored people across the country to mail her [fallen feathers so she could map bird movements]( as the country’s wetlands disappear. The response, she says, has been “really exciting.” • Nepal wants to [remove 200,000 pounds of]( garbage]( in a campaign aimed at “saving the glory of the Everest region.” (They’re going to need more yaks.) • And 15 years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, The Times reintroduces At War, a forum on global conflict that [evolved from a renegade blog](. The [first essay]( is the tale of a U.S. Marine who led tanks into Baghdad. Back Story Elise Amendola/Associated Press On this day in 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Eisenstadt v. Baird that [it’s unconstitutional for a state to deny]( unmarried people access to contraception. [The court had ruled]( in 1965 that state bans on contraceptives for married couples violated their privacy rights. But a few states still restricted access for single people. Bill Baird, an activist, violated one such law in Massachusetts. He appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court, which struck down the law. Justice William Brennan [held that the law violated]( the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment because it discriminated between married and unmarried people. The case became an important precedent in subsequent landmark rulings by the Supreme Court, including its 1973 decision in [Roe v. Wade]( that recognized abortion rights, and, more recently, the 2015 decision [guaranteeing a right to same-sex marriage](. [A movie]( about Mr. Baird’s case is in development. Above, Mr. Baird in 2012. Mr. Baird has continued working as an activist, but his legacy is complicated by what [The Times described in 1993]( as an “unapologetic zealotry” and a willingness to criticize “even his ideologic allies.” Planned Parenthood once called him an “embarrassment.” Jillian Rayfield contributed reporting. _____ This briefing was prepared for the Asian morning. You can also [sign up]( to get the briefing in the Australian, European or American morning. [Sign up here]( to receive an Evening Briefing on U.S. weeknights. Browse our full range of 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](. 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