Your Monday Briefing

South China Sea, North Korea, Breast Cancer | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Monday, June 4, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Monday Briefing]( By CHARLES MCDERMID Good morning. North Korea’s sudden popularity, trade confusion around the world, good news on breast cancer: Here’s what you need to know. Pool photo by Francis Malasig • “Intimidation and coercion.” The U.S. defense secretary, Jim Mattis, criticized [China’s placement of advanced equipment and missiles]( in the Spratly Island chain, above, as a flagrant show of military power. Mr. Mattis had already disinvited the Chinese military from a multinational naval exercise this summer. Speaking over the weekend at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional security conference in Singapore, Mr. Mattis said China’s activities in the South China Sea were “in stark contrast to the openness our strategy promotes” and called into question “China’s broader goals.” China called the comments [“irresponsible.”]( _____ Andy Wong/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • The U.S. and China ended trade talks in Beijing, above, without any announced deals. China refused to commit to buying more American goods without a Trump administration agreement not to impose further tariffs on Chinese exports. [The apparent impasse]( left unresolved the fate of the Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE. The ongoing [divisions and reversals on trade]( under President Trump have flummoxed the U.S. allies also hit by tariffs. International leaders are courting whichever advisers they think will listen, and Mr. Trump will face their grievances at the G-7 summit meeting in Canada on Friday. _____ Tom Brenner/The New York Times • More meetings for North Korea. Days after President Trump declared that his [summit meeting with Kim Jong-un was back on]( President Bashar al-Assad of Syria [announced his own plans to sit down with the North Korean leader](. It may be Mr. Kim’s first sit-down in Pyongyang with another head of state. Mr. Assad’s remarks, as reported by the North’s state-run news media, gave no date or details. President Trump has vowed not to [repeat the errors of his predecessors]( with North Korea, but his apparent softening toward the country resembles approaches taken by Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Above, Mr. Trump with the North Korean delegation last week. Delegations from the U.S. and North Korea are in Singapore to [work out the logistics of the June 12 conference](. _____ William DeShazer for The New York Times • Great news for women with breast cancer: Many with early-stage cancer [don’t actually need chemotherapy]( according to a major international study. Gene tests on tumor samples were able to identify women who could safely skip chemotherapy and take only a drug that blocks the hormone estrogen or stops the body from making it. Above, Bari Brooks of Tennessee, one of the roughly 10,000 women who took part in the study. “We can spare thousands and thousands of women from getting toxic treatment that really wouldn’t benefit them,” said an author of the study, adding, “It really changes the standard of care.” _____ Tom Brenner/The New York Times • President Trump will host a dinner on Wednesday [in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan]( restoring a White House tradition that he had abandoned during his first year in office. Above, a setting for the state dinner for France’s president in April. Mr. Trump has a long history of making inflammatory statements about Muslims. During his campaign, he told an interviewer, “I think Islam hates us.” In 2015, he said he would consider closing mosques. The guest list was not made available. Business Alana Paterson for The New York Times • Vancouver, a magnet for foreign buyers, is so expensive that politicians want to [tax its real estate market into submission](. Many homeowners — who will lose money if home prices fall — think it’s the best idea they’ve heard in years. • “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” now in its second week, has [amassed $264.2 million globally]( — which amounts to slow sales for the franchise. • Alibaba unveiled a [new automated vehicle]( a delivery bot it says is easy to mass-produce and could serve as courier, automated coffee vendor and more. The Cainiao G Plus can travel at up to nine miles per hour. • An anonymous bidder paid $3.3 million for [lunch with Warren Buffett](. The money goes to a charity in San Francisco. The winner goes to a steakhouse with Mr. Buffett in New York. • Apple annual weeklong developers conference is among the [headlines to watch for]( this week. • Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News • President Trump’s lawyers, in a confidential letter to the special counsel, Robert Mueller, made a brash assertion of executive power in a bid to avoid a subpoena. [[The New York Times]( • In eastern Afghanistan, a leftover rocket killed four and maimed seven young members of an extended family. “I wanted to cry,” said their doctor. [[The New York Times]( • In a move likely to anger Beijing, a sculpture of Liu Xiaobo will be unveiled in Taiwan. The democracy activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner died last year in a Chinese prison. [[The New York Times]( • In India, a colonial law that criminalizes gay sex, Section 377, is up for review. But its long use as a cover for blackmail and assault has created lasting fear. [[The New York Times]( • The Golden State Warriors have been outscoring opponents in the 3rd quarter this N.B.A. postseason. How they spend intermission may explain why. [[The New York Times]( • Video of a Chinese woman driving her tiny pink bumper car on a major roadway went viral. (The police confiscated the vehicle.) [[Straits Times]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times • Recipe of the day: Keep Monday meatless, and cook [tofu saag paneer with spinach and ginger](. • How to deal with group texts that just [never seem to stop](. • Five simple tips to [sleep better]( on your next trip. Noteworthy CBS; MSNBC; ABC • A year in apologies: Crude jokes, slurs, offensive words — here are [some of the high-profile American TV personalities]( who have apologized for controversial statements over the past year. • The actor Benedict Cumberbatch was credited with [saving a London delivery man]( from attackers. • In Hong Kong, film industry observers have been baffled by [the prosecution of t]( members of a film crew,]( were sentenced for possession of the counterfeit bills used on the set of the award-winning movie “Trivisa.” Back Story Library of Congress Before railroads, the easiest way to cross the U.S. in the 1800s was by horse caravan. But the Pentagon once tried to disrupt that four-legged status quo — with humps. On this day in 1855, [a Navy ship sailed from New York]( on the first of several missions to buy camels in the Middle East. Members of the U.S. Army Camel Corps later [took the animals on pilot treks]( through the arid American Southwest, and [praised them as superior to horses and mules](. Above, a mural in Texas depicting the camels’ arrival. Although camels [have been used by militaries throughout history]( the Camel Corps began to fall apart in 1861, the year its lead advocate, Jefferson Davis, the former secretary of war, began leading the pro-slavery Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War. Several prominent statues of Davis, whose side lost the war, [have recently been removed across the American South]( as part of a backlash against racism and white supremacy. But a monument to Hadji Ali — a camel handler of Syrian and Greek descent who joined the Camel Corps expeditions after being recruited in a Turkish port — still stands in Quartzsite, Ariz. Dedicated with [an Americanized version of his name, Hi Jolly]( it was erected in 1934, the same year that [the last camel from the original corps died in a zoo](. Mike Ives wrote today’s Back Story. _____ This briefing was prepared for the Asian morning. You can [sign up]( to get it by email in the Australian, Asian, European or American morning. You can also 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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