Your Tuesday Briefing

Rod Rosenstein, the U.N., Hong Kong View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, September 25, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( ADVERTISEMENT Asia Edition [Your Tuesday Briefing]( By ALISHA HARIDASANI GUPTA Good morning. Rod Rosenstein’s fate is unclear, the U.N. General Assembly’s yearly meeting kicks off, China steps up religious controls. Here’s what you need to know: Eric Thayer for The New York Times • Rod Rosenstein in limbo. The deputy attorney general [will meet with President Trump]( on Thursday to discuss reports that he talked about invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office. [The Times reported]( on Friday that Mr. Rosenstein had discussed secretly taping the president and invoking the 25th Amendment. Over the weekend, Mr. Rosenstein told a White House official he was thinking of quitting. On Monday, he met with John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, pictured above. Mr. Rosenstein oversees the special counsel’s Russia investigation and has often found himself on the receiving end of Mr. Trump’s anger and frustration with the Justice Department. His departure could pave the way for the president to then get rid of Robert Mueller. Separately, a second woman came forward to accuse Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Mr. Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, of sexual misconduct. Mr. Kavanaugh on Monday called the allegations “smears” and said he “[will not be intimidated into withdrawing]( _____ Philip Fong/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • Hong Kong clamps down on independence. For the first time in decades, the government [outlawed a pro-independence political party]( the National Party, founded by Andy Chan, above. The party has just a handful of members and no elected representatives in office, but it has been under intense scrutiny for its calls for independence from China. Hong Kong is a part of China but governed by a “one country, two systems” framework that allows the region a high level of autonomy and protections of civil liberties. Human rights advocates said the government’s ban, under a colonial-era rule, curtailed those freedoms. _____ Tom Brenner for The New York Times • The U.N. General Assembly meeting kicks off. President Trump will address the General Assembly today and lead a meeting of the Security Council tomorrow. The U.S. remains the biggest single financial contributor to the U.N. But the Trump administration has pursued [increasingly isolationist, America First policies]( a theme that will likely be underscored in the president’s speech today. Meanwhile, his advisers are working quietly in the background to ensure he doesn’t [undermine their foreign policy efforts]( by being too enthusiastic about engaging with adversaries. Mr. Trump will also meet President Moon Jae-in of South Korea this week to discuss developments with North Korea, a country that the president derided in his speech at the U.N. last year. In Opinion: Kim Jong-un might end up being North Korea’s great economic reformer, [argues one historian]( putting him in the same league as Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding father, or even Deng Xiaoping of China. _____ Damir Sagolj/Reuters • China aims to control Christianity. There are now about 60 million Christians in China, many of them white-collar professionals in some of the country’s most prosperous regions. The rapid spread of the religion has prompted the Communist Party to try to assert its authority over it. And the country’s deal with the Vatican last week was [part of that broader effort](. With the pope legitimizing bishops appointed by the Chinese government, the party thinking goes, secret underground churches may have no reason to exist. _____  Business Adam Dean for The New York Times • As the U.S.-China trade war intensifies, manufacturers are under pressure to move their factories out of China, to countries like Cambodia, above. But [that’s easier said than done]( China boasts a reliable work force, top-notch infrastructure and a strong supplier base for components of many products, from zippers to digital chips. • The student who accused Richard Liu of rape sent WeChat messages to friends that reinforce her story about JD.com’s billionaire founder, according to a [report by Reuters](. • Amazon is using Seattle, where it’s headquartered, as a [lab for testing]( new retail and logistics models, from a grocery pickup spot to new ways to return packages. • Michael Kors, the U.S. fashion group, [may buy Versace]( in a deal valuing that luxury Italian label at around $2 billion. • U.S. stocks [were mixed](. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is closed today. In the News Ebrahim Noroozi/Associated Press • Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed to retaliate for an attack on a military parade that killed 25 people. A local Arab separatist group claimed responsibility, but Iran blamed Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and the U.S. Above, a funeral for victims of the attack. [[The New York Times]( • The Maldives’ authoritarian president conceded to his opponent after an election loss, easing fears of a crisis and buttressing the islands’ nascent democracy. [[The New York Times]( • An Indonesian teenager survived at sea for 49 days in a fishing hut before he was rescued off the coast of Guam this month. [[The Guardian]( • Buzz off: With a new genetic tool, scientists have moved a step closer to eradicating mosquitoes and the deadly diseases they carry. [[The New York Times]( • Four in five senior academics at Hong Kong’s publicly funded universities are male, according to a new report, prompting calls for more family-friendly policies in academia and training to tackle bias. [[The South China Morning Post]( Smarter Living Tips for a more fulfilling life. Peter DaSilva for The New York Times • Recipe of the day: [Cacio e pepe]( gets better and better every time you make it. • Want to seem more likable? [Try this](. • Owning a home means you also need to know [how to maintain it](. • And today’s word is [“sheeple”]( one of the 300 new additions to Scrabble’s dictionary, meaning people who are easily influenced … like sheep. Noteworthy Jo Han Pai for The New York Times • Four travel stories, from four writers, reflecting on [different forms of love]( love from a distance, the shared memories of love, love for siblings, love for children. • As apartments in major cities continue to shrink, architects are turning to robots. Check out these [Transformer-like units]( that can switch from a living room to a bedroom to a study with the push of a button. • In memoriam: Charles Kao, the [Nobel laureate in physics]( whose research on fiber optic cables enabled the proliferation of broadband communications. He was 84. Back Story Neal Boenzi/The New York Times William Faulkner, born on this day in 1897 in New Albany, Miss., won two Pulitzers and the Nobel Prize. His Southern-rooted fiction, heartbreaking, dark and perverse, is often remarked on for its long, winding sentences. His work appears in almost any [listing of best American novels.]( What’s less well known about Faulkner is that he was [a devoted fan of mysteries]( — Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Dorothy Sayers — and tried his own hand at the genre. In 1946 he won second prize in the annual [Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine]( contest, for the story “An Error in Chemistry” (its big reveal involved a whiskey toddy). The story later appeared in “[Knight’s Gambit]( a mystery collection from Faulkner featuring a mild-mannered yet shrewd country lawyer from Mississippi. Reviews were mixed, but [The Times gave it a thumbs up.]( Faulkner rarely discussed his love of mysteries, perhaps considering them lowbrow, but seemed to understand their importance to his writing. [A friend recalled]( visiting a library with him, so Faulkner could “exchange a stack of mystery stories for a new stack. I asked him, ‘Why do you read all of these damn mysteries?’ and he said, ‘Bud, no matter what you write, it’s a mystery of one kind or another.’” Nancy Wartik wrote today’s Back Story. _____ This briefing was prepared for the Asian morning. You can also [sign up]( to get the briefing in the Australian, European or American morning. [Sign up here]( to 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? 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