Your Monday Evening Briefing

DNA, Trump, Saudi Arabia | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Monday, October 15, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Monday Evening Briefing]( By JEAN RUTTER AND HIROKO MASUIKE Good evening. Here’s the latest.  1. DNA tests have helped millions of Americans understand their genetics, warning them of disease and uncovering long-lost relatives. Elizabeth Warren, for one, just used DNA to confirm that she had a [distant Native American ancestor](. In an unexpected twist, those same tests are unlocking criminal investigations. The free genealogy site GEDmatch is at the center of that transformation. It was built to solve family history puzzles. Now, over a few months, it has [helped crack 15 murder and sexual assault cases]( — and no one is more surprised than the men who created it. And within three years, the DNA of [nearly every American of Northern European descent]( will be identifiable through cousins in GEDmatch’s database, according to a study published last week. _____ Yasin Akgul/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 2. President Trump offered [a new take]( on what happened to the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi: “Rogue killers” might be behind his disappearance. The president spoke to reporters after a call with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, who Mr. Trump said offered “a flat denial.” Turkish officials have said Mr. Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, above. But the president’s words opened a window for Saudi Arabia to stand by its denials. (Neither Turkey nor Saudi Arabia has shared evidence so far. Here’s more that [we don’t know](. And here is a portrait of [Mr. Khashoggi’s career]( Mr. Trump is sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with King Salman. And, as of now, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is still planning to attend an investor conference in Riyadh this month, despite many heavyweights, including JPMorgan Chase’s C.E.O., Jamie Dimon, [pulling out](. _____ Doug Mills/The New York Times 3. Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania, [toured the shattered Florida Panhandle]( devastated by Hurricane Michael last week. Above, Lynn Haven, Fla. On the way back to Washington, he was also scheduled to stop in Georgia, where rains caused severe flooding. When he was asked in a “60 Minutes” interview on Sunday about the severe storms that have struck during his presidency, Mr. Trump backed off a long-held claim that global warming is a hoax — but he made several new assertions unsupported by science. [We fact-checked them](. _____  4. Who has raised the most? It’s the filing deadline for all House and Senate candidates, who must show how much they’ve raised and spent through the end of September. As the filings come in, [we’ll post updates]( for candidates in the 69 most competitive House races. This article will be updated regularly until the filing deadline at midnight. _____ Andrew Renneisen for The New York Times 5. “We don’t want them to treat us like we are not human.” Workers at Chinese companies in Kenya describe segregated bathrooms, physical abuse from managers and harsh punishments. They say their bosses call them monkeys. Above, an employee at a Chinese motorcycle company who captured on video a rant by his boss. As Chinese companies invest in the former British colony, concerns are rising about colonial-era labor practices and [racist attitudes toward the local population](. The episodes, amplified by social media, are creating a national conversation at a time when the government seeks closer ties with China. _____ Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times 6. A lawsuit against Harvard over its admissions practices [has gone to trial]( just as high school seniors are contending with college application season. The plaintiffs have accused the university of establishing a quota for Asian-Americans and holding them to a higher standard than applicants of other races. The case, which has divided [Asian-Americans]( is widely seen as a referendum on affirmative action. Harvard denies that its admissions policies discriminate unfairly. The case is being closely watched because it could wind up before a newly more conservative Supreme Court. In the past, the court has upheld “holistic” admissions practices like Harvard’s, which consider race as one factor among many. _____ Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters 7. When it comes to marijuana, California may have a lesson or two [to pass along to Canada]( which is about to become the second country in the world (after Uruguay) to legalize cannabis. California’s marijuana economy is booming, and related businesses are springing up all over: from conferences and magazines to testing companies and specialized law firms. Above, a cannabis lounge in Oakland, Calif. But legalization, our California correspondent writes, is still only half-baked. Sales are far below what proponents of legalization had hoped for, and a black market continues to thrive. One problem is cost: Paperwork, taxes and environmental compliance aren’t just a bummer, they can also drive up prices by 75 percent or more. _____ Adam Dean for The New York Times 8. Myanmar’s military exploited Facebook’s vast reach to unleash [a toxic propaganda campaign]( over five years, stirring up hatred against Rohingya Muslims, according to former military officials, researchers and civilian officials. Above, Rohingya Muslims stranded in a border area between Myanmar and Bangladesh. Hundreds of military personnel were involved, creating sham accounts and celebrity pages, then flooding them with incendiary posts, the sources said. Facebook confirmed the reports, saying it found “clear and deliberate attempts to covertly spread propaganda that were directly linked to the Myanmar military.” It took down the accounts in August. But by then the damage was done: More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims had fled the country in what U.N. officials called “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” _____ Amanda Lucier for The New York Times 9. Libraries are so much more than rooms full of books. We asked Annie Proulx, Amy Tan, Neil Gaiman and nine other authors to [tell us about their local public library]( or to share a memory of a library from their past. “This is my thank-you note to every librarian who’s ever helped a kid like me, nobody from nowhere, find her doorway through a library shelf into citizenship of the world,” Barbara Kingsolver wrote. _____ Will Oliver/EPA, via Shutterstock 10. Finally, Meghan Markle, scrutinized for her fashion choices even before she married into the British royal family, was cloaked in mystery over the weekend. First, she covered up with a coat at the wedding of Princess Eugenie, above. Then she arrived in Sydney, Australia, carrying large purple binders at her waist, rather than a dainty clutch. She and her husband, Prince Harry, are at the start a 16-day, four-country tour. So it was not a great surprise to some royal watchers when the palace announced [the couple are expecting a child this spring]( their first. The new royal baby would be seventh in line to the British throne — but would not be titled prince or princess unless the queen decides to alter a 1917 decree by King George V. 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](. For questions, email sponsor@nytimes.com or call [1-844-698-2677](. 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