Your Friday News Briefing

India, North Korea, Trump View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, September 7, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( ADVERTISEMENT Asia Edition [Your Friday News Briefing]( By REMY TUMIN Good morning. A groundbreaking victory in India, Japan’s summer of natural disasters, and a North Korean conspiracy undone. Chandan Khanna/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • “Irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary.” In a groundbreaking victory, India’s Supreme Court [struck down a colonial-era ban]( on consensual gay sex. The vote, coming after years of legal battle and [decades of struggles by gay Indians]( was unanimous. “We have to bid adieu to prejudices and empower all citizens,” Chief Justice Dipak Misra said. The court said that all gay people were now entitled to all constitutional protections under Indian law and that any discrimination based on sexuality would be illegal. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo [wrapped up his visit to India]( with an agreement that allows the sale of high-tech U.S. weaponry to India. The two countries are trying to curb China’s growing influence. _____ Tsuyoshi Ueda/Kyodo News, via Associated Press • Japan’s summer of natural disasters continues. A powerful earthquake struck the northern island of Hokkaido, [leaving nine dead and dozens missing]( after a landslide crushed multiple houses. Japan’s weather service said the quake had preliminary magnitude of 6.7. The quake, which cut electricity to all three million houses on the island, came just days after Typhoon Jebi, the largest to hit Japan in 25 years. And Japan is still dealing with repercussions of the Fukushima disaster: For the first time, the government acknowledged that [a worker died from cancer]( after being exposed to radiation from the 2011 nuclear meltdown. _____ Alexander F. Yuan/Associated Press • A North Korean conspiracy. A North Korean spy was charged in the [hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment]( the Justice Department announced. The 2014 hack wiped out 70 percent of Sony Pictures’ computer capability, and the suspect, Park Jin-hyok, appears to work for North Korean intelligence. Mr. Park was part of attacks on film companies and distributors, financial institutions and defense contractors that caused hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of economic damage over the past five years, law enforcement officials said. The Justice Department announcement comes on the heels of Kim Jong-un’s accusation that [Washington is negotiating in bad faith]( on the North Korean denuclearization plan. But he also said he wanted to denuclearize before the end of President Trump’s current term. _____ Doug Mills/The New York Times • “Gutless editorial.” [President Trump erupted in anger]( after The Times published a stinging Opinion piece by an unidentified senior White House official who claimed that a “quiet resistance” of like-minded aides was working to thwart the president’s “worst inclinations.” [Read the Op-Ed here](. Mr. Trump denounced the essay, calling it “gutless,” and the White House press secretary said in a statement that “this coward should do the right thing and resign.” Speculation as to who wrote the piece swirled across the internet. Vice President Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, [denied writing the Op-Ed](. In the essay, the writer said there were “early whispers” among Mr. Trump’s advisers to remove him by invoking the 25th Amendment. [Here’s what it would take](. Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, hearings for the Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh continued for a third day. [Today’s hot button issue]( Did Judge Kavanaugh mislead the Senate Judiciary Committee on Bush-era surveillance and on his views about access to abortion? In documents obtained by The Times that date to Judge Kavanaugh’s time in the George W. Bush administration, Mr. Kavanaugh, [seemed to raise doubts]( about whether Roe v. Wade was “settled law.” _____ Red McLendon/Associated Press • Farewell to a Hollywood heartthrob. [Bur]( Reynolds]( who starred in films like “Smokey and the Bandit” and “Boogie Nights” and TV shows like “Gunsmoke,” died Thursday. He was 82. With a career that included some 100 films and countless television appearances, Mr. Reynolds did not always win the respect of critics. But for years he was ranked among the top 10 movie draws worldwide. “I may not be the best actor in the world,” he wrote in his 2015 memoir, “but I’m the best Burt Reynolds in the world.” Business Tom Brenner for The New York Times • Twitter and Facebook executives’ testimony before Congress laid out many of the issues Silicon Valley and Washington are wrestling with, none with easy answers. Will we see a workable policy solution to regulating tech companies? Our columnist [explores some outstanding questions](. • A new Davos-style forum hosted by Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire media executive and former New York City mayor, will be [held in Singapore instead of Beijing]( because of fallout from the trade war between the U.S. and China. • Iran’s rial fell to a record low on Wednesday, part of [a staggering drop in the currency’s value]( since the United States pulled out of the nuclear deal four months ago. • Spotify, the music streaming service, has been [making deals with independent artists]( rather than labels or distributors. Could it change the music industry as we know it? • U.S. stocks [were down](. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Marco Bertorello/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • The collapse of a bridge in Genoa, Italy, that left 43 people dead has sparked debate about cause and culpability. We reconstructed how the disaster happened, from beginning to end, by using investigators’ descriptions of security camera footage. [[The New York Times]( • A British warship sailed near Chinese-claimed islands in the South China Sea late last month. Beijing called it a “provocation.” [[Reuters]( • British tourists who died at a resort in Egypt last month may have been exposed to E. coli and staphylococcus bacteria, tests showed. [[The New York Times]( • The International Criminal Court ruled that it has jurisdiction over the mass deportations of the Rohingya people from Myanmar as a possible crime against humanity. [[Reuters]( • U.S. Open semifinals: Serena Williams faces Anastasija Sevastova at 7 p.m. Eastern at Arthur Ashe Stadium, followed by Naomi Osaka and Madison Keys. [[The New York Times]( • The Week in Good News: Lego wants to build its toys from plant-based or recycled materials, Dorothy’s ruby slippers were found and a tablet helps blind and visually impaired people. See, it isn’t all bad out there. [[The New York Times]( Smarter Living Tips for a more fulfilling life. Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times • Recipe of the day: Fresh plums or jam work equally well as a fruit filling in [this buttery tart]( based on a classic gâteau Breton. • Dress up [your dorm room](. • Make technology work [for your family](. Noteworthy Angie Wang • Can you fall in love with classical music after listening to a five-minute selection? We asked some of our favorite artists to tell us about the sounds they cherish. [Listen to their choices](. • Sharks are not known for their taste for greenery. But bonnethead sharks are happy to dine on a salad of sea grass. They are the [first omnivorous sharks]( known to science, a discovery that could change our understanding of what some sharks eat. • “It’s the kind of dish that makes people fall in love with Chinese food.” Our food editor explains [his love for v]( fish,]( which pairs tender flounder alongside pillows of tofu, in a glistening wine-dark sauce. Back Story Associated Press “Grandma Moses,” the internationally acclaimed American painter who became a prototype for late bloomers, was born today in 1860. Anna Mary Robertson Moses, an upstate New York farm wife, [began painting seriously in her 70s](. She was discovered by a collector who saw her [colorful, precise paintings]( of rural scenes in a drugstore window. After her first show, she was [seized on by the press]( who loved her countrified ways. An early reviewer nicknamed her “Grandma Moses.” [The Times highlighted her folksiness]( when she visited Manhattan in 1940: “Modest ‘Grandma Moses’ declared, ‘If they want to make a fuss over me, I guess I don’t mind.’” But Moses was no naïf. A believer in women’s autonomy, [she said in her autobiography]( “Always wanted to be independent. I couldn’t bear the thought of sitting down and Thomas,” her husband, “handing out the money.” And her “primitive” painting style was carefully conceived: “I like to paint something that leads me on and on in to the unknown something that I want to see away on beyond,” she wrote. She [died at 101]( having created some 2,000 paintings and received two honorary doctorates. “All Americans mourn her loss,” President John F. Kennedy said. Nancy Wartik wrote today’s Back Story. _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online. [Sign up here]( to get it by email in the Australian, Asian, European or American morning. 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