Your Thursday Briefing

Donald Trump, Kerala, Singapore | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, August 23, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Thursday Briefing]( By CHARLES MCDERMID Good morning. A one-two punch in Washington, the good news from Kerala, India, and Facebook’s discovery of influence campaigns around the world. Here’s what you need to know: Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times • A grim focus inside the White House. After the conviction of his former campaign chairman and a plea deal by his former personal lawyer and fixer, [President Trump mostly]( the topic]( at a rally in West Virginia, above. The next morning, he monitored the headlines, sat for an interview with Fox News and discussed ways to try to seize the news cycle again. But the legal setbacks — and the possibility that both defendants [might cooperate with the special counsel]( — have all but collapsed his attempts to dismiss the criminal investigations engulfing his tenure. Even Mr. Trump’s staunchest defenders acknowledge that [he could be exposed to the possibility of impeachment](. We know it’s a confusing story. [Here’s an overview]( of all the moving parts. _____ Manjunath Kiran/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • Scenes of valor in India. “The sun has finally come out in Kerala,” our correspondent writes, “and the weather this week is forecast to be much better.” But water seems to “cover everything.” [His report]( with video from the Indian Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, looks at the heroics of rescuers — from commandos to fishermen — in the southern state, where hundreds have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the heaviest rainfall in nearly a century. _____ Aaron Bernstein/Reuters • Facebook’s use as a vessel for disinformation is spreading. The social media influence tactics used in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and that surfaced again in the U.S. last month, appear to have been [adopted by operatives in other countries]( as well. The company said it had found and removed hundreds of fake accounts, pages and groups that were trying to sow misinformation in Latin America, Britain and the Middle East. “We believe these pages, groups and accounts were part of two sets of campaigns,” Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive (pictured above earlier this year), said in a conference call. “One from Iran, with ties to state-owned media. The other came from a set of people the U.S. government and others have linked to Russia.” _____ Altaf Qadri/Associated Press • Air pollution is shortening your life. Months, and sometimes years, are [being shaved off life expectancy]( according to a new study. Outdoor air pollution — fine particulate matter from sources like coal-fired power plants, truck tailpipes, wildfires and dust storms — reduces the worldwide average life expectancy at birth by one year, researchers found. The average Egyptian loses 1.9 years; the average Indian, 1.5 years. Above, a scene in New Delhi last year. Many of the sources of outdoor air pollution are tightly linked to greenhouse gas emissions, suggesting that moving to cleaner sources of energy might deliver public health dividends. Indoor air pollution — for example, from cooking with wood, charcoal or animal dung — can also be devastating. In South Asia, the researchers found, it reduced life expectancy by an additional 1.2 years. _____ Jay Rommel Labra/EPA, via Shutterstock • It’s time for Filipinos to “move on.” Imee Marcos, the [eldest daughter of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos]( used an appearance with President Rodrigo Duterte, a Marcos admirer, to tell her people to get over her father’s misdeeds. “The millennials have moved on and I think people at my age should also move on as well,” the 62-year-old said. The remark came on the 35th anniversary of the assassination of Benigno S. Aquino Jr., which fueled the protests that ended Marcos’s brutal 20-year rule, during which thousands of people were killed and tortured. The Marcos family was accused of stealing roughly $10 billion in government treasure to enrich itself. “It is so easy to say that we should all move on,” said one of Aquino’s nephews, Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino, “but for those who suffered during martial law, it would not be so easy.” Business Doug Chayka • Is China changing Google? The tech company founded 20 years ago in a Silicon Valley garage was once proudly nonconformist. But our tech columnist writes that, if it does decide to abide by Chinese censors, it [would mark a new era for Google]( — one of conventionality. • The U.S. will impose a 10 percent tariff this week on an additional $16 billion worth of Chinese products. Here are [eight ways]( that could rebound on American consumers. • Apple [bought the rights to a television series]( based on “Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change,” a [novelistic article]( that stretched more than 30,000 words and took up an entire issue of The Times Magazine this month. • U.S. market milestone: American stocks crossed a [major threshold on Wednesday]( and the 10-year-old bull market arguably became the longest on record. But the gains have been concentrated among the rich. • U.S. stocks [were mixed](. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Korea Summit Press Pool • South Korea said it would press ahead with its plan to open a diplomatic “liaison office” in North Korea this year. [[The New York Times]( • If Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian prime minister, survives today’s political jockeying in Canberra, he’ll have the two weeks of lawmakers’ recess to regroup. But he may not make it. [[Bloomberg]( • Hurricane Lane, a rare Category 4 storm in the Pacific, is bearing down on Hawaii with 160-mile-per-hour winds. The National Weather Service warned that some areas “may be uninhabitable for weeks.” [[The New York Times]( • Saudi Arabia is seeking the death penalty for a 29-year-old woman who advocates equal rights for the country’s Shiite minority. [[The New York Times]( • A Vietnamese court found two Vietnamese-Americans guilty of terrorism and sentenced them to 14 years in prison for masterminding a series of bomb plots earlier this year. [[Reuters]( • Cambodia’s imprisoned opposition leader, Kem Sokha, was denied bail. He has been held without trial for almost a year. [[The New York Times]]( • Singapore says Kevin Kwan, the author of the novel on which the hit film “Crazy Rich Asians” is based, skipped out on his military service obligations and threatened him with a fine or possible imprisonment. Mr. Kwan left the country as a child, but Singapore does not allow anyone under 21 to renounce citizenship. [[The New York Times]( Smarter Living Tips for a more fulfilling life. Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times • Recipe of the day: Tasty [BLT tacos]( work for brunch, lunch or a light, fast dinner. • Women and men peak at different ages [on dating sites](. • How to ask for help ([and actually get it](. Noteworthy Ko Sasaki for The New York Times • The meeting of mayhem and sport. Botaoshi, a century-old game combining elements of rugby, sumo and martial arts, is hanging on despite being so dangerous that [many]( schools have abandoned it](. • Hong Kong’s changing classrooms: More white students are [enrolling in public schools than at any time]( in the city’s history, as wealthy Chinese gravitate to its prestigious international schools. • And New York, Melbourne or both? As a MoMA exhibition continues in Melbourne, Australia, we tested how well the two cities really know each other. Think you’re pretty global? [Take the quiz and see](. Back Story Egan-Polisen, via Pressens Bild/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Forty-five years today ago today, an escaped convict burst into a busy bank in Stockholm, fired at the ceiling and shouted in English, “The party has just begun!” The man, Jan-Erik Olsson, [took four employees hostage]( and a tense, six-day standoff followed. But the police were stumped by the terrorized hostages’ apparent sympathy for their captor, behavior that is now widely known as Stockholm syndrome. In a phone call set up with Sweden’s prime minister, one hostage said she felt safe with Mr. Olsson but worried that “the police will attack and cause us to die.” The authorities agreed to some of Mr. Olsson’s demands: a getaway vehicle, hundreds of thousands of dollars and the release of another convict, who joined Mr. Olsson at the bank. After 130 hours, the police pumped tear gas into the vault and the captors surrendered. The hostages pleaded with the authorities: “Don’t hurt them — they didn’t harm us.” Evaluating the hostages after their release, psychologists compared the experience to wartime shell shock, and they soon coined the term Stockholm syndrome. It wasn’t until the next year, with the abduction of the American heiress Patty Hearst, that the term went into wide use. Joumana Khatib wrote today’s Back Story. _____ This briefing was prepared for the Asian morning. [Sign up here]( to get it by email in the Australian, 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](. 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