Your Friday Briefing

Najib Razak, Kim Jong-un, Syria | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, May 11, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Friday Briefing]( By INYOUNG KANG Good morning. A date for Trump and Kim, Malaysia’s historic election and a Philippine women’s rights pioneer. Here’s what you need to know: Doug Mills/The New York Times • U.S.-North Korea talks are on. [Singapore, June 12]( President Trump made the announcement after three Americans released by North Korea arrived back in the U.S. We’ll “try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!” Mr. Trump tweeted in his announcement that he will meet with Kim Jong-un. Above, Mr. Trump [personally welcomed the freed men]( at a Washington-area air base in the middle of the night. Mr. Trump was asked this week if he thought he [deserved the Nobel Peace Prize](. “Everyone thinks so, but I would never say it,” he said with a laugh. _____ Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images • Mahathir Mohamad, 92, was sworn in as [Malaysia’s prime minister]( ousting a coalition he once led and that ran the nation for decades. But the ceremony came only after a long day of uncertainty over whether the king would in fact put him in office. He finally did, formalizing Malaysia’s first transfer of power to the opposition since it gained independence from Britain in 1957. [We look at the main players]( and the towering list of corruption accusations against Mr. Mahathir’s predecessor, Najib Razak, and what will happen next. _____ Beawiharta/Reuters • A prison riot in Indonesia has set off a new round of scrutiny about the [problems plaguing]( country’s]( system](. Followers of the Islamic State killed five guards at a compound guarded by elite counterterrorism officers in the city of Depok. Above, a group of police officers patrolling the streets there. Reports before the uprising had warned that the detention center was “a disaster waiting to happen” because of overcrowding and inadequate staffing. _____ Jason Lee/Reuters • China’s intensifying efforts to tame risky levels of corporate debt are growing more evident. [Wu Xiaohui, the founder of the Anbang insurance giant,]( was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison for fraud and cheating investors. It was a powerful warning to other major conglomerates of the dangers of heavy borrowing to buy high-profile trophy assets, as Anbang did with properties like the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. And Beijing’s [clampdown on shadow banking has dried up easy money](. Over the past four days alone, three private companies have defaulted. _____ Pat Roque/Associated Press • Patriot, feminist, farmer, diplomat. Our [Overlooked series]( remembers the life of [Leticia Ramos Shahani]( a Philippine women’s rights pioneer who became one of the highest-ranking female officials in the United Nations. She died on March 20, 2017, at age 87. She made labor and rape laws fairer to women and integrated gender into all kinds of policymaking, and remained vocal on public affairs to the end of her life. Above, Ms. Shahani in 1997 with her brother Fidel Ramos, who was president at the time. _____ Business Lynn Scurfield • Alexa, Siri and Google’s assistant can [hear secret audio commands]( that are undetectable to the human ear, researchers in China and the U.S. have demonstrated. In the wrong hands, they warn, the capability could be used to command smart devices to unlock doors, wire money or make online purchases — simply with music playing over the radio. • Hong Kong’s economy continues to [defy gravity]( but this may be as good as it gets before U.S. policy changes. • It’s not just hybrids; pickup trucks and sedans have gotten more efficient, too. Here’s how automakers, pushed by U.S. regulations, [have improved their vehicles’ fuel economy](. • U.S. stocks [were up](. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Jason Lee/Reuters • Local officials in Sichuan have designated Saturday, the 10th anniversary of a devastating earthquake that killed at least 69,000 people, as “Thanksgiving Day.” The aim was to focus commemorations on reconstruction, but the popular reaction has been harsh. [[The New York Times]( • Israeli strikes destroyed “nearly all” of Iran’s military infrastructure in Syria, the Israeli foreign minister said. The operation, which answered rocket fire on the Golan Heights, came days after the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran. [[The New York Times]( • A dam burst in Kenya, killing dozens of people and destroying villages after weeks of heavy rain. [[The New York Times]( • Indian women dismissed politicians’ promises to provide them with free sanitary pads as an election gimmick. But the offer — not the first — signals India’s shift toward grappling with long-ignored challenges around menstruation. [[Reuters]( • China’s millennials are pushing back against “996” — working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. [[BBC]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. Craig Lee for The New York Times • Recipe of the day: [Chewy chocolate chip cookies]( perfect for dunking in milk. • Need more space at home? [Fix up or trade up](. • 3 cheap(ish) gadgets [worth buying](. Noteworthy • A Japanese pop star made her way to Harlem, and a [gospel singer]( was born. • The rerelease of Stanley Kubrick’s [“2001: A Space Odyssey]( prompted our science reporter to reflect on our changing perception of space and where we come from. “One mark of the movie’s status as a masterpiece is that it has something different to say to us every time we encounter it anew,” he writes. Back Story Getty Images, via Hulton Archive Harriet Quimby, the first American woman to [become a licensed pilot]( was born on this day in 1875 on a Michigan farm. She was also the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel, in 1912. (The French aviator Louis Blériot was the first man to [accomplish that feat, three years earlier]( Quimby received her pilot’s license — the second woman anywhere to do so — when she was 36, in August 1911. The next month she flew by moonlight at the Staten Island Fair, [circling the fairgrounds four times](. “It was a great temptation not to keep right on flying until I got to New York,” she told reporters afterward. Before becoming a pilot, Quimby was [a writer, critic and photographer for Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly](. She became interested in aviation after working on the magazine’s issue devoted to the topic; she later attended the international air meet at New York’s Belmont Park and [started classes](. Less than a year after earning her license, Quimby [was killed during an air show in Massachusetts](. Before the fatal flight, Quimby had discussed the possibility of a water landing, saying with a smile: “But I am a cat and I do not like cold water.” Claire Moses 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. 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