Your Tuesday Evening Briefing

Trump, Obama, ICE | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, July 17, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Tuesday Evening Briefing]( By JOUMANA KHATIB AND HIROKO MASUIKE Good evening. Here’s the latest. Tom Brenner for The New York Times 1. “I have full faith in our intelligence agencies.” That was [President Trump, making an abrupt about-face]( after coming under bitter, widespread criticism for his embrace of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Mr. Trump said that he “accepts” the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election and would fight any such interference in November’s midterms. But he left many other aspects of his comments with Mr. Putin unchanged. The fury over his conciliatory meeting with Mr. Putin has been raging. Some critics are [openly speaking of treason](. _____ Kimimasa Mayama/EPA, via Shutterstock 2. For Mr. Putin, as one analyst put it, the meeting was [the “summit he has dreamed of for 18 years.”]( Russian news media celebrated what was effectively his welcome back into the club of global leaders. European countries, buffeted by President Trump’s criticism and embrace of Russia, are eyeing new trade partners in Latin America and Asia. The [European Union signed its largest trade deal ever — with Japan](. _____ Marco Longari/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 3. Former President Barack Obama, in South Africa for his first major speech since leaving office, [rebuked “strongman politics.”]( He did not mention Mr. Trump by name, but warned against the “politics of fear, resentment and retrenchment.” “Strongman politics are ascendant suddenly, whereby elections and some pretense of democracy are maintained,” Mr. Obama said, but “those in power seek to undermine every institution or norm that gives democracy meaning.” _____  4. “I just simply did what he wanted.” “I didn’t know how to refuse because he told me that I was going to be deported.” In our video, two women share their stories of [sexual assault while in custody of ICE](. The agency has reported over 1,300 claims of sexual abuse against detainees from fiscal years 2013 to 2017. Watchdog organizations fear the number of cases is much higher. _____ Guerin Blask for The New York Times 5. At Goldman Sachs, it’s official. The firm’s longtime head, Lloyd Blankfein, announced that he would step down as chief executive on Oct. 1, and leave as chairman at the end of the year. And, as expected, he’ll be passing the mantle [to David Solomon, the current president]( and a veteran investment banker. Mr. Solomon, above, takes on a firm suffering from the poor performance of its securities trading businesses and under criticism for profiting from the financial crisis at the expense of some clients. _____ Saumya Khandelwal for The New York Times 6. Many cities in South Asia are already scorching. But researchers fear that temperatures and humidity levels are rising to levels the human body [just can’t tolerate](. A recent [analysis of climate trends in several of South Asia’s biggest cities]( found that if current warming trends continued, by the end of the century, people directly exposed to the heat and humidity for six hours or more would not survive. The poor are particularly vulnerable. “It’s a silent killer,” one expert said of the heat. _____ Olya Morvan for The New York Times 7. The thrill of this year’s World Cup may be fading, but in Qatar, [all eyes are on 2022](. The small, arid nation (three inches of rainfall per year) will host the next World Cup, and work is well underway to transform the country. That means planting palm trees, experimenting with grass and developing stadiums that keep fans and players cool in the blazing heat. But scrutiny is intensifying about the country’s problems — especially the disturbing, sometimes shocking reports of abuses of a work force that includes almost two million foreign workers. _____ Andrea Morales for The New York Times 8. “Hospital closed. Call 911 for emergencies.” We spoke to a woman in rural Missouri who, after her local hospital closed, had to travel nearly 100 miles to deliver her twins. She was wracked with worry as she and her mother hurtled down dark country roads at 90 miles an hour: Would she have to deliver on the side of the road? (She made it — just in time for a cesarean section.) After years of cost-cutting and closings, researchers estimate that [fewer than half of the nation’s rural counties]( now have a hospital that offers any obstetric care, leaving many women stranded. _____ IRS Media 9. A new HBO documentary, “Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind,” takes a hard look at the comedian. Luminaries like Billy Crystal, David Letterman and Steve Martin are among the interviewees, and many interview subjects spoke of wishing to get further inside Williams’s head. The film “leaves you feeling that you know Robin Williams about as well as he’d let you,” [our critic Mike Hale writes](. Our Watching team looks at [nine of his best short roles](. _____ CBS 10. And finally, the Trump-Putin meeting was t[he topic of the evening for late-night hosts](. “Of all 542 bizarre days of Donald Trump’s reign of error, today may have been the weirdest,” Jimmy Kimmel said. Stephen Colbert said he was “shaken” to his core, adding, “I don’t need to point out that at 54 there’s not a lot of core left.” With that, have a great evening. Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing. [Sign up here]( to get it by email in the Australian, Asian, European or American morning. Want to catch up on past briefings? [You can browse them here](. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at [briefing@nytimes.com](mailto:briefing@nytimes.com?subject=Evening%20Briefing%20Feedback). LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. ADVERTISEMENT Sponsor a Subscription Inspire the future generation of readers by contributing to The Times’s [sponsor-a-subscription program](. 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