Your Monday Briefing

Thai Rescue, Novichok, Breast-Feeding View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Monday, July 9, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( Europe Edition [Your Monday Briefing]( By REMY TUMIN Good morning. A rescue in Thailand, a showdown over breast-feeding and China’s high-tech efforts to track its citizens. Here’s the latest: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA, via Shutterstock • Nine to go. In Thailand, the first four members of a youth soccer team have been [rescued from a cave]( after being trapped inside with their coach for more than two weeks. Divers are replacing air tanks and supplies along their route, so it will be hours before any more can start the trip. The Times has reporters on the scene and will be providing updates. Here are [maps and diagrams of how the rescue is unfolding](. _____ Niklas Halle'n/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • A British woman has died after being exposed to residue from a nerve agent that officials say was used in a March attack on a former Russian spy. The death of Dawn Sturgess, 44, brings [a new urgency to a diplomatic standoff]( in which Britain has accused Russia of sending Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent, to Salisbury, a small city in southern England. The former spy, Sergei V. Skripal, who recovered from the poisoning along with his daughter, lived near Ms. Sturgess in Salisbury, above. Ms. Sturgess’s boyfriend, who was also exposed, remains in critical condition. The British authorities have opened a murder investigation. _____ Fred Dufour/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • The Trump administration, embracing the interests of infant formula manufacturers, tried to derail a World Health Organization resolution that encouraged breast-feeding. U.S. officials first tried to water down language in the resolution, then [turned to threats of sanctions against countries that tried to sponsor it]( including trade sanctions against Ecuador and the withholding of crucial military aid. In the end, the Americans’ efforts were mostly unsuccessful. Russia stepped in to sponsor the measure — and the Americans did not threaten them. _____ Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times • The authoritarian future. Beijing, with help from its thriving technology industry, is embracing facial recognition, artificial intelligence and other systems to identify and track 1.4 billion people. In some cities, cameras scan train stations for the most wanted. Facial recognition scanners guard housing complexes. Other systems track internet use and communications, hotel stays and travel. For now, the goal of [a vast high-tech security state]( is out of reach. But the Chinese authorities, generally mum about security, are trying to persuade the population that it’s already in place. Business Illustration by The New York Times: Photographs by, upper right, Mike Windle/Getty Images (Justin Bieber); lower right, Khaled Elfiqi/EPA, via Shutterstock (Neymar); center, Nina Prommer/EPA, via Shutterstock (Taylor Swift); lower left, John Phillips/Getty Images (Oprah Winfrey); and upper left, Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TIDAL (Beyoncé). • Facebook, Instagram and Twitter teem [with fake accounts masquerading as public figures]( and the problem can be serious. • Martin Sorrell, the former chief executive of WPP, was one of the most influential leaders in the advertising industry before being pushed out. [Now he’s back with a new company]( that is bidding against WPP for a Dutch marketing firm. • A trade war unfolds: With U.S. tariffs and China’s retaliatory taxes now in effect, the big question is: [Does]( Trump have a plan to achieve the results he wants?]( Here’s how the “biggest trade war in economic history” is [playing out](. • Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan signs a free-trade agreement with the E.U. on Wednesday, and the European Central Bank will publish an account of its June monetary policy meeting. Those are among the business [headlines to watch for this week](. • Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Phil Bray/Miramax Films • “The English Patient,” the wartime love story by Michael Ondaatje, won the Golden Man Booker Prize. The one-off award commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Man Booker prize. Above, Ralph Fiennes in the 1996 film version of the book. [[The New York Times]( • In Japan, more than three million people were told to evacuate to higher ground or shelters as flooding and landslides destroyed homes and killed at least 68 people, with 56 more missing. [[The New York Times]( • A week before President Trump’s working visit to Britain, London’s mayor has allowed a giant balloon of Mr. Trump depicted as a baby in a diaper to be flown near Parliament in protest. It still needs final approval from the police and British air traffic control. [[The New York Times]( • The new Spanish government wants to move the remains of the dictator Francisco Franco to a more modest grave as part of an effort to atone for the crimes of the civil war. [[The New York Times]( • Anne Frank’s family’s attempt to escape the Nazis was thwarted by U.S. immigration rules at the time, new research shows. [[The New York Times]( • President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey will be sworn in for his second term today with expansive new powers. On Sunday, his government announced that 18,000 state workers had been fired, bringing the total to 125,000 since the attempted coup two years ago. [[BBC]( • The annual running of the bulls in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona is underway, with heavy rains causing bulls and runners to slip and slide throughout the race. [[Associated Press]( Smarter Living Tips for a more fulfilling life. Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • How to deal with an animal encounter [while vacationing](. • Ready for vacation? [Here’s the best tech for trip planning](. • Recipe of the day: Set up your breakfasts for the week by [making yogurt]( and a batch of [granola](. Noteworthy Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times • Macerata, above, a medieval Italian town near the Adriatic Sea, once had a reputation for tolerance. But the killing of a woman and a revenge shooting have made it a symbol of [the country’s rising right-wing politics.]( • Wimbledon has a new doubles event: tennis and the World Cup. Every four years, two of the world’s biggest sporting events collide, but rarely in recent decades has [the focus of English fans been so divided.]( • When a Russian belly dancer was arrested over modesty concerns last spring, it [exposed simmering tensions in Cairo’s belly-dancing scene](. Critics say foreigners are sullying an ancient art form. But many Egyptians love them. Back Story Doug Mills/The New York Times President Trump has said he will [announce his Supreme Court nominee]( as soon as today. While there are currently nine seats on the court, that hasn’t always been the case. The Constitution doesn’t specify the number of justices, leaving it to Congress to determine. In 1789, [the Judiciary Act]( established the number of justices at six, with a chief justice and five associate justices. Through various legislation, the number fluctuated up to as many as 10 justices. In 1869, the number was set at nine, where it has remained. Although Congress determines the number of justices, that hasn’t prevented presidents from trying to wield influence. President Franklin D. Roosevelt [often clashed with the conservative court]( in the 1930s over his New Deal programs. In 1937, Roosevelt pushed a plan that would add a justice, up to a total of 15, for each Supreme Court justice over 70 who did not retire. (At the time, six of the justices were above that age.) Roosevelt’s [effort to pack the court ultimately failed]( and the Senate Judiciary Committee said, “It is a measure which should be so emphatically rejected that its parallel will never again be presented to the free representatives of the free people of America.” Adriana Lacy wrote today’s Back Story. _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online. 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