Your Tuesday Briefing

North Korea, Ivanka Trump, Vesak | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, May 29, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Tuesday Briefing]( By INYOUNG KANG Good morning. Japan requests its own meeting, Ivanka Trump is awarded new Chinese trademarks, and Buddhists celebrate Vesak Day. Here’s what you need to know: Doug Mills/The New York Times • Shinzo Abe isn’t taking any chances. With the U.S.-North Korea summit hanging in the balance, the Japanese prime minister spoke to President Trump by telephone and [agreed to meet beforehand](. Mr. Abe has been concerned that Mr. Trump might make a deal with North Korea that would address nuclear disarmament but not Tokyo’s worries about short-range missiles. By speaking with Mr. Trump before his meeting with Kim Jong-un of North Korea, Mr. Abe is angling to be one of the last advisers to have Washington’s ear. Above, Mr. Abe and Mr. Trump in Florida last month. _____ Tom Brenner/The New York Times • Remarkable timing: China awarded [Ivanka Trump seven new trademarks]( around the same time her father, President Trump, vowed to save ZTE, the Chinese telecommunications company that faced ruin after being punished for violating U.S. sanctions. Ms. Trump’s representatives said there was nothing improper about the trademarks, but the family’s business interests and Mr. Trump’s status as commander in chief have again raised questions about whether the family has been given extra consideration by Chinese officials. _____ Andrea Bruce for The New York Times • “It’s an attack on who we are. The whole fabric of society is breaking down.” Eight years of [budget cutting have refashioned British society]( making it less like the rest of Western Europe and more like the United States. In a series of articles, The Times will chronicle how a shrinking welfare state is changing the fabric of life in Britain. The manifestations of austerity are omnipresent in a country with a storied history of public largess: closed libraries, public swimming pools and cuts in benefits. The Conservative government that enacted these policies promised “prosperity for all,” but measures of social well-being — crime rates, opioid addiction, infant mortality, [childhood poverty]( and homelessness — point to a deteriorating quality of life. _____ Associated Press • The Syrian government took up the [rotating presidency of a United Nations-backed disarmament forum]( this week, outraging Western officials. The U.S. ambassador to the conference condemned it as “one of the darkest days” in the forum’s history. President Bashar al-Assad’s government has been accused of using chemical weapons against citizens in a brutal campaign against rebels. Above, Turkish experts carried a victim of an alleged chemical attack last year. Though Syria’s leadership of the disarmament group is unlikely to have much effect and is only for four weeks, it is a blow to the conference’s public image. _____ U.S. Army Air Force/Kelly Family, via Associated Press • In 1944, an American warplane was shot down off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The remains of a 21-year-old bombardier were recovered just a few weeks ago, 74 years after his death. The discovery has helped his family find closure — and demonstrated how [new sonar and robotics technologies are making it easier to find aircraft that crashed at sea.]( “It really opens up the possibility that more families can learn what happened to their family members who have been missing all this time,” said the president of a nonprofit that helped with efforts to find the missing remains. _____ Business Luong Thai Linh/EPA, via Shutterstock • Uber’s abrupt sale of its [Southeast Asia business]( to Grab, its top competitor in the region, left behind unhappy customers, drivers and regulators. • Saudi Aramco has reached a [deal with Halliburton]( to increase its output in three Saudi shale fields, a sign of the company’s efforts to produce more natural gas to support its growing chemical industry. • Europe’s next privacy battle is over [legislation that’s even stricter than the new G.D.P.R. rule](. It would protect the confidentiality of electronic communications, and the tech industry is fighting hard to quash it. • Reset your router now. Hoping [to thwart malware linked to Russia, the F.B.I. has made an urgent request]( to anybody with one of the devices: Turn it off, and then turn it back on. • U.S. stocks were closed. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times • Flattery of President Trump may be fatal in Afghanistan, where a man was killed for making a medal thanking him and another who named his child for him, above, has fled the country. [[The New York Times]( • The Moro Islamic Liberation Front accused Philippine government forces of killing nine of its members who had surrendered in an antidrug operation. [[The New York Times]( • Chinese and Taiwanese students in Australia are being targeted in an online kidnapping scheme that has defrauded victims of more than $2 million. [[ABC]( • A fifth New York City taxi driver — a Burmese immigrant facing financial woes in an industry upended by ride-sharing apps — took his life. [[The New York Times]( • Muslim asylum seekers in Australia are facing a tougher Ramadan this year, with new rules preventing local Muslims from sharing home-cooked meals with detainees. [[The New York Times]( • Kim Jong-un may be reclusive, but an Australian-Chinese man has built a career as a convincing impersonator of the North Korean leader. [[South China Morning Post]( • Coca-Cola has broken with 132 years of tradition, introducing its first-ever alcoholic beverage in Japan. [[Fortune]( • Our reporter traveled to Surabaya, Indonesia, to try to understand why a family of six there carried out suicide attacks on Christian churches this month. [[The New York Times]( • Hundreds of Buddhists traveled to the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery in Singapore to take part in annual Vesak Day celebrations. [[The Straits Times]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. Aubrie Pick for The New York Times • Recipe of the day: Surprise your co-workers with a delicious [lemon sheet cake]( with buttercream frosting. • Five cheap(ish) things to help with [summer camping](. • Tips to upgrade your rental the [landlord-friendly way](. Noteworthy Lionel Bonaventure/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • A migrant from Mali, above, is being [hailed as a hero in France]( after he scaled four stories to save a child dangling from a balcony. President Emmanuel Macron of France said the man, Mamoudou Gassama, would be granted legal status, amid a tightening of France’s immigration policy. • The Korean boy band BTS is the first K-pop act to reach [No. 1 on the Billboard album chart]( with “Love Yourself: Tear.” • Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has destroyed homes and forced the evacuation of thousands. Its [lava fields may yield clues]( as to whether Mars is — or was ever — habitable. Back Story Associated Press The Dodgers weren’t the first baseball team to abandon a city but perhaps no fans felt — and still feel — more [collective trauma]( than those from Brooklyn. On May 28, 1957, the borough’s beloved “[Bums]( and the New York Giants [won permission to move to California](. They left the next year for [Los Angeles]( and [San Francisco]( respectively. Jerry Reinsdorf, a Brooklyn native who owns the Chicago White Sox, said that losing the Dodgers broke his heart. “I’m still ticked,” [Mr. Reinsdorf said recently](. “There’s no way that an iconic franchise should have been allowed to move.” Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont also [invoked a similar pain]( recently, saying fans had no concept that the team did not belong to Brooklyn. “It was a disaster. Walter O’Malley, his name remains in infamy,” he said of the owner of the Dodgers at the time. Some have tried to [shift blame from O’Malley]( because of his battle with New York over a new stadium. But in 1986, [the White Sox threatened to leave Chicago]( for the same reason. “Frankly,” Mr. Reinsdorf said then, acknowledging the parallel, “I don’t know if I have the heart to do it.” He didn’t have to find out. Chicago complied. Robb Todd 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](. 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. 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