Your Tuesday Briefing

North Korea, Taliban, Cambodia View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, May 8, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Tuesday Briefing]( By DAN LEVIN Good morning. Nuclear challenges in North Korea, devastation in the Philippines and a slide toward authoritarianism in Cambodia. Here’s what you need to know. Kazem Ghane/European Pressphoto Agency • “North Korea could make Iran look easy.” North Korea’s secretive nuclear program presents a [host of challenges for President Trump]( as he weighs disarmament negotiations with Kim Jong-un. Foremost, how to verify whether Pyongyang has truly shut down facilities long hidden from international monitors. Inspections would be far more difficult than those in Iran under a deal [that diplomats say Mr. Trump is inclined to end](. He argues that Iran made false declarations about its nuclear program, undercutting the accord. Above, an inspection team at a uranium enrichment plant in Iran in 2014. [Iran and Israel are both lobbying hard]( as President Trump prepares to announce his decision on Tuesday in Washington on whether he will withdraw from the agreement. The uncertainty [has sent oil prices soaring](. _____ Kevin Lamarque/Reuters • President Trump accused federal investigators of deliberately prolonging the special counsel inquiry to influence congressional elections in November, and he appeared to warn that some involved had conflicts of interest that would be revealed soon. [The veiled threat]( came as the president’s legal team appears to be struggling to present a consistent message to the public and as Republican fears grow over the possibility of losing control of Congress. In a signal of just how alarmed Republicans are, Mr. Trump [also intervened in the West Virginia Republican]( pleading with voters to oppose a controversial candidate for Senate, warning that if he were chosen, it would lead to a repeat of the party’s embarrassing loss last year in Alabama. _____ Jim Huylebroek for Norwegian Refugee Council • What does it feel like to live in a city on the brink of falling to the Taliban? Our reporter visited Ghazni, not far from Kabul, where the Taliban [impose “taxes” on businesses and kill police officers]( with impunity. He found weary and fearful residents who say they can hardly tell anymore who’s in charge. The sense of defenselessness highlights the failures of a U.S.-led war in its 16th year and the struggles of building a democracy in the midst of bloody conflict. And yet Afghanistan is now taking in [refugees forced to return from neighboring Pakistan]( among them a young boy named Bilal, above, starting a new life with his only friend, his pet parrot. _____ Adam Dean for The New York Times • The Phnom Penh Post is widely seen as the last bastion of a free press in Cambodia. So its sale, just before national elections, to a Malaysian investor with ties to Cambodia’s strongman prime minister, Hun Sen, is stirring fears that the country [is sliding toward outright authoritarianism](. Above, the newspaper’s printing presses in Phnom Penh in February. Critics say the sale suggests Mr. Hun Sen no longer needs to tolerate a free media, now that China has become his government’s main patron. The new owner, Sivakumar S. Ganapathy, made his mark felt almost immediately. Several senior editors resigned or were fired after they refused to remove a story from the paper’s website about the relationship between Mr. Sivakumar’s P.R. firm and Mr. Hun Sen, the longest-ruling leader in Asia. _____  • Skeletal remains. Bomb remnants. An empty vault that used to hold money. This is what’s left of Marawi, above, in the southern Philippines, after it was seized by pro-ISIS fighters nearly a year ago. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced by five months of fighting, the longest urban combat in the country since World War II. The Philippine Army, with help from the U.S., retook control in October, and residents are now beginning to return to collect their belongings. Our correspondent [takes you]( as families began returning home. Business • Academics from around the world have harvested information from Facebook for more than a decade. The security of the data they’ve collected [is now being questioned](. • Investors are pouring [billions of dollars into South Korean bonds]( as the local currency stabilizes and tensions with the North ease. • Starbucks is planning to [use its $7.15 billion payment from a deal with Nestle]( on stock buybacks. It will also funnel investment in its two key markets, China and the U.S. • California [is the world’s fifth-largest economy](. But while years of robust growth have brought the state bragging rights and soaring salaries, it also faces rising homelessness and eye-popping house prices. • U.S. stocks [were up](. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Pool photo by Alexei Nikolsky • Vladimir Putin was sworn in for a fourth term as Russia’s president, in a ceremony that was more a coronation. [[The New York Times](. • In India, a 17-year-old girl was raped and then set on fire, the second such incident in recent days as the country reels from a string of violent sexual crimes. [[BBC]( • President Moon Jae-in of South Korea offered the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, a detailed blueprint for economic integration at last month’s historic summit. The proposed initiative fits Mr. Moon’s campaign pledge to merge the two Koreas’ economies in a single market to lay the foundations for unification. [[South China Morning Post]( • AIDS threatens an entire indigenous population in Venezuela, as government programs collapse. “A part of the population is going to disappear,” warned a doctor. [[The New York Times]( • Peter Madsen, the Danish inventor convicted of killing a journalist aboard his submarine, will not appeal the verdict, only the life sentence imposed on him. [[The New York Times]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. Meredith Heuer for The New York Times • Recipe of the day: A 20-minute [one-pot spaghetti with cherry tomatoes and kale](. • Some runners use marijuana to provide a [mental or physical boost](. • Sell your old phone [safely](. Noteworthy Stephen Hiltner/The New York Times • For decades, a neighborhood[in New Orleans has been home to several thousand Vietnamese]( immigrants, many of whom came as refugees during the war. But some residents fear their tight-knit community may fade away. Above, a Vietnamese grocery store in the neighborhood in March. • In Scotland, the archipelago of St. Kilda has been uninhabited since 1930, when the last islanders left after their old way of life became untenable. But [signs of life remain in abundance](. • Researchers using earthquake monitoring tools have found that [elephants]( be monitoring ground vibrations]( through their bodies and communicating to warn of danger, a tactic that could protect pachyderms from poaching. Back Story Rafael Marchante/Reuters When [the Eurovision Song Contest]( opens in Lisbon today, it will be part of the largest edition yet of the zany annual pop competition. Forty-three countries will compete for the top prize, which is awarded in a grand final√ on Saturday. At the first contest, in Switzerland in 1956, there were 14 entries, all of them from Western Europe. But in 1961, socialist Yugoslavia joined, and the competition has steadily become ever more international and inclusive. Israel first appeared in 1973; Australia, which used to broadcast the competition without taking part, has been sending contestants since 2015. Despite its distinctly “euro” sensibility — which can be puzzling to the uninitiated — Eurovision is now a global phenomenon with [fans all over the world](. From the moment Eurovision was first broadcast in Australia, in 1983, Maria Bresic, who grew up in the suburbs of Sydney, said she and her parents, who were from Croatia, were hooked. “We would often stay up until ridiculous times to watch it,” Ms. Bresic, 50, said. (This year, the grand final√ begins at 5 a.m. Sydney time.) Matthew Anderson and Tacey Rychter wrote today’s Back Story. _____ 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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