Wednesday: The stories of Christchurch's victims

Japan, President Trump, Brexit View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, March 20, 2019 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Wednesday Briefing]( By ALISHA HARIDASANI GUPTA Good morning. New Zealand prepares for funeral services, Deutsche Bank’s ties to President Trump come under greater scrutiny and Afghanistan receives a rare bit of good news. Here’s the latest: [A man praying at a makeshift memorial in front of the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch.]A man praying at a makeshift memorial in front of the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch. Adam Dean for The New York Times What we know about the New Zealand victims As victims’ families prepare for funeral services in Christchurch, [we take a look at their stories](. Among those killed at the two mosques were students, engineers, a dairy farmer, a new father and an aspiring pilot. Some were born in New Zealand and others had moved there. Today: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to return to Christchurch. A day earlier, she delivered an impassioned speech to Parliament, saying [she would do everything she could to deny the gunman attention](. “He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist,” she said. “But he will, when I speak, be nameless.” Egg Boy: A teenager who shot to worldwide fame after smashing an egg on the head of an Australian far-right politician said that [“a majority of the money” raised for him would go toward the victims]( of the shooting. (A GoFundMe page asked for money to cover legal fees and buy “more eggs.”) Go deeper: The suspect cited a racist conspiracy theory in his online manifesto. [We explain what “the replacement theory” is]( and how it caught on among white supremacists. ______ [The Trump International Hotel in Chicago.]The Trump International Hotel in Chicago. Nathan Weber for The New York Times Deutsche Bank’s long relationship with President Trump Before Mr. Trump was elected, the German bank gave him more than $2 billion in loans to finance skyscrapers and other high-end properties, despite pushback from some at the bank. For Deutsche Bank, Mr. Trump’s projects helped fund its investment-banking unit and his celebrity was used to lure more clients. Now, as investigators in New York and Washington scrutinize their financial ties, [we examined their long and, at times, troubled bond](. How we know: Deutsche Bank officials have said that the lending was the work of a single, obscure division. But interviews with more than 20 current and former executives and board members contradict that narrative. Read [four takeaways from our investigation](. Response: A Deutsche Bank spokeswoman said the company was “committed to cooperating with authorized investigations.” The White House referred questions to the Trump Organization, which declined to comment. ______ [Tsunekazu Takeda, president of the Japanese Olympic Committee, after announcing his resignation.]Tsunekazu Takeda, president of the Japanese Olympic Committee, after announcing his resignation. Kimimasa Mayama/EPA, via Shutterstock Japan’s Olympic chief to step down The head of the country’s Olympic Committee, Tsunekazu Takeda, said he [would resign at the end of his term in June]( amid a French corruption investigation into the bidding process for next year’s Summer Games. In December, French investigators indicted Mr. Takeda — a former Olympic equestrian and chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s marketing commission — as part of a broad criminal investigation that further stains the scandal-ridden reputation of the sporting event. Details: France suspects that the process of Tokyo’s win was tainted. They say that hopeful officials representing potential host cities paid bribes to African Olympic committee members to win support. Reminder: The Tokyo Olympics in 2020 will be Japan’s second time hosting the Summer Games and fourth games overall. ______ [Iraqi Shiite forces during a graduation ceremony in southern Iraq.]Iraqi Shiite forces during a graduation ceremony in southern Iraq. Furqan Al-Aaraji/EPA, via Shutterstock U.S. ramps up pressure on Iraq to isolate Iran Washington has been pushing Iraq to confront and sideline its neighbor, a move that has increased tensions not just with Baghdad but also within the Trump administration. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been leading the effort, and under his proposed plans, the State Department [would designate Iran’s military Islamic Revolutionary Guards as a foreign terrorist organization]( — a first for a unit of another government’s military. The plan would also expose Iraqi Shiite militias — some of which were trained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and several of which are legitimate players in Iraqi politics — to economic sanctions and travel restrictions. Pushback: American officials said that the plan would put U.S. troops and intelligence officers at risk of similar actions from foreign governments. ISIS: The spokesman of the terrorist group broke his monthslong silence to [mock America’s assertion it had defeated the group]( and to call for retaliation over last week’s mosque attacks in New Zealand. Separately, [Iraqi truffle hunters]( have become the latest victims of the Islamic State kidnappings and killings. ______ Here’s what else is happening [People searching for survivors in eastern Zimbabwe after the area was hit by a deadly cyclone.]People searching for survivors in eastern Zimbabwe after it was hit by Cyclone Idai. Zinyange Auntony/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Cyclone Idai: A deadly cyclone struck Mozambique and neighboring parts of southern Africa this week, affecting 1.5 million people. [The death toll is now in the dozens]( but is expected to rise far higher. U.S. flooding: Record floods pummeled the Midwest, [inundating farmland and killing off livestock]( at a time when farmers and ranchers can least afford it. Cambodia: A government-controlled court issued [arrest warrants for eight opposition leaders]( who have been living in exile but who say they have been trying to return. It’s the latest effort by Prime Minister Hun Sen to sideline opposition and maintain his decades-long grip on power. Britain: The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, has become [an unlikely celebrity]( amid the chaos of Brexit, particularly after he denied Prime Minister Theresa May a third vote on her withdrawal plan. Google: The technology giant introduced a new video game streaming service, [called Stadia]( that will be released later this year, in an attempt to catch the next wave of gaming. PG&E: California’s largest utility company has been linked to wildfires that destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres and killed dozens of people. Regulators found that in many fires, the company violated state law or could have done more. [Here’s how it overlooked the risks.]( Levi’s: On Thursday, for the second time in its 165-year history, the company that invented the blue jean will start [trading on public markets](. Levi’s has overhauled its image, operations and products in the past decade. Afghanistan: The country’s beloved cricket team won its first-ever Test match, against Ireland, providing [a rare bit of good news]( for the war-torn nation. Australia: An artist has proposed building [a giant wooden bong]( to draw tourists to the town of Woodenbong in New South Wales. “Hundreds and thousands of people share the same dream as soon as they hear the town’s name,” he said. Other residents, though, are unamused. ______ Smarter Living Tips for a more fulfilling life. Johnny Miller for The New York Times Recipe of the day: A buttery [yellow sheet cake with chocolate frosting and colorful sprinkles]( helps beat the midweek blues. If you’re thinking of asking a star in your field out for coffee so you can learn what makes her or him tick, [here’s how to do it right](. The explosively popular ketogenic diet is the latest low-carb fad to promise a beach body with a side order of bacon. [Here’s the skinny on keto](. Back Story We recently asked readers to send us their favorite odd facts. Mark Stewart, from Maryland, mentioned that the distinctive shape of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City could be seen in an earlier design for a Maryland tourist attraction. When the museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opened in 1959, it was both praised (“[Mr. Wright’s greatest building. New York’s greatest building]( and scorned (an “[inverted oatmeal dish](. The museum took its cues from a design that Wright had experimented with before, initially for a project that was never built. [Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs for a project in Maryland that was later abandoned.]Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs for a project in Maryland that was later abandoned. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation In 1924, at the dawn of America’s love affair with automobiles, a businessman named Gordon Strong [worked with Wright on an attraction]( at the top of Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland that would “serve as an objective for short motor trips” from nearby Washington and Baltimore. Wright designed a circular building with drivable ramps that wound around the outside like a ribbon. Strong hated it, likening the design to the Tower of Babel, and the project was later abandoned. But Wright believed in his vision enough to return to it decades later, in an inverted form, when he was asked by the Guggenheim to design a “[temple of the spirit, a monument]( Karen Thorne, a content strategist, 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? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. 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