Your Friday Briefing

James Comey, Trump Foundation, North Korea | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, June 15, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Friday Briefing]( By CHARLES MCDERMID Good morning. Investigations rattle Washington, some clarity on North Korea and fiscal reform in Malaysia. Here’s what you need to know: Justin Tang/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press • Two major investigations grabbed U.S. headlines. A Justice Department report concluded that James Comey, the former F.B.I. director, was [“insubordinate” in his unorthodox handling of the investigation]( of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election. Mr. Comey, [in an Op-Ed]( disputed some of the report’s conclusions, but embraced its existence as “good for the F.B.I.” Above, he spoke in Canada last week. And the New York State attorney general’s office filed a scathingly worded [lawsuit against Mr. Trump’s charitable foundation]( accusing it and the Trump family of sweeping violations of campaign finance laws, self-dealing and illegal coordination with the presidential campaign. Mr. Trump reacted with vitriol, calling the civil suit an attempt by the “sleazy New York Democrats” to damage him. Here [are the basics]( of the case. _____ Kim Joon-Bum/Yonhap, via Associated Press • The U.S. clarified its policy on North Korea. Only after “complete denuclearization” would North Korea get “relief from sanctions,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, while on a tour of Asian nations. [Mr. Pompeo’s tough stance]( was intended to reassure Japan and South Korea, and to deny reports in North Korea’s state media that the U.S. had agreed to ease the sanctions at the summit meeting in Singapore. They were also a clear appeal for cooperation from Beijing, where Mr. Pompeo met with President Xi Jinping on Thursday. _____ Adam Dean for The New York Times • “The more we look into the previous administration, the more bad things we find.” Malaysia’s new prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, 92, has discovered that the country is in [far worse financial shape than feared](. The national debt, tallied at $170 billion by the previous administration, has been reassessed at $250 billion — 80 percent of Malaysia’s gross domestic product. The fiscal housecleaning has [reached Goldman Sachs](. The U.S. investment bank made $600 million selling bonds for 1MDB, the scandal-hit state investment fund. Now Malaysia wants some of it back. _____ Khaled Abdullah/Reuters • In Yemen, the city of Al Hudaydah came [under intense attack for the second day]( in the largest battle of the country’s yearslong civil war. A Saudi-led coalition pounded the city, trying to capture the port from Houthi rebels. And Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, an architect of years of war, was [watching his Saudi team lose to Russia]( in the opening match of the World Cup in Moscow. Our explainer [untangles the complex war]( and we have [a video about the blockade starving the country](. _____ Pool photo by Alexei Druzhinin • Soccer, and beyond. Our team is following [every game, and every angle]( of the World Cup as it unfolds in Russia. [As our columnist writes]( the tournament is about Russia “proving to its people as much as to its rivals that it can deliver the world’s most-watched sporting spectacle.” In recent weeks, [Russia tried to tame its habitual xenophobia]( in anticipation of the 500,000 foreign soccer fans descending on the country. (It even organized a class on how to smile.) Not everyone got the memo. One member of Parliament cautioned against hugging visitors from other continents — diseases, you know. Business • A trade war with China? The Fed doesn’t seem too worried. [In announcing an interest-rate increase]( for the second time this year, Jerome Powell, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, emphasized that there was no evidence that trade frictions were weighing the strong U.S. economy. • Beijing has been scrambling to break [China’s addiction to ever-rising debt]( but its crackdown on easy money is starting to hit growth in the world’s second-biggest economy. • Didi Chuxing, China’s ride-hailing giant, [resumed late-night car pooling with a new safety rule]( Men can’t pick up female passengers, a problem in a place where most drivers are male. • Apple plans to [close a loophole that let the authorities hack into iPhones]( adding to debates over security versus privacy. • U.S. stocks [were up](. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Danish Ismail/Reuters. • Syed Shujaat Bukhari, a leading journalist in Indian-administered Kashmir, was fatally shot by unidentified gunmen. [[BBC]( • The U.N. human rights office called for an investigation into abuses by India and Pakistan in the disputed region of Kashmir, criticizing the Indian security forces in particular for inflicting mass civilian casualties. [[The New York Times]( • Roughly 2,000 U.S. troops are in Syria. Recently, a statement went out calling for direct attacks against them. This video examines who sent it, and why. [[The New York Times]( • A Vietnamese-American was among those detained in Vietnam for protesting a cybersecurity law and proposed special economic zones that raised fears of Chinese encroachment. [[The New York Times]( • “You monster!” The family of a 19-year-old Chinese student confronted the woman convicted of killing her in a road rage incident in Arizona. The judge in the case accepted a plea deal that will impose a mandatory 25-year prison sentence. [[A.P.]( • Albert Einstein’s travel diaries, kept during visits to Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Japan, India and Palestine, expose some unpleasant stereotyping. [[The New York Times]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. Chiara Zarmati • The dangers of belly fat may be [more harmful than you know](. • The Mediterranean diet can [cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes]( — a conclusion reconfirmed after the initial landmark study of its benefits was retracted and reanalyzed. • Recipe of the day: [Lemon sweet rolls]( are a perfect project for the weekend. Noteworthy Indranil Bhoumik/Mint, via Getty Images • Traces of a Jewish past can be found across the Middle East and North Africa and in Central and South Asia. “[It’s in synagogues and cemeteries]( in the facades of old buildings, in language, food and the memories of those who left. You just need to know where to look.” • The U.S. Open has brought all of the big names — yes, that means Tiger Woods — to Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, N.Y. [Our live leader board]( shows that the old-school course had many players struggling through the first day. • And a best seller returns after 18 years. “Kitchen Confidential,” a memoir by Anthony Bourdain, is No. 1 on both our paperback nonfiction best-seller list and our combined print and e-book nonfiction one. [Find all our best-seller lists here](. Back Story R Dumont/Getty Images “Man, woman or child, Ella is the greatest,” Bing Crosby once said. Ella Fitzgerald, who[died on this day in 1996]( at the age of 79, began her journey to stardom by winning a talent contest as a teenager. She [had originally intended to dance]( but stage fright made her decide to sing instead. The “First Lady of Song” spent more than 60 years in the limelight, working with more musical legends than we can count. She won 13 Grammy Awards and received a National Medal of Arts. With a range of nearly three octaves, she relished big band, jazz, bebop, scat and swing. She is perhaps best known for her [Song Books]( of the ’50s and ’60s: eight albums, each dedicated to the likes of Duke Ellington, Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hart. But her young life was filled with hardship. Her mother died when she was 15 years old. She ran away from an [abusive stepfather]( and had a [spell in a reformatory]( where beatings were common. She was living hand-to-mouth in 1934 when she won that crucial amateur competition. As she received an honorary doctorate at Yale, [she said]( “Not bad for someone who only studied music to get that half-credit in high school.” Anna Schaverien wrote today’s Back Story _____ Correction: Thursday’s Back Story omitted the time peg for our Back Story on Harriet Beecher Stowe, which was the anniversary of her birth on June 14, 1811. _____ This briefing was prepared for the Asian morning. 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