Your Friday Briefing

> Let us help you start your day. [The New York Times]( [nytimes.com]( [The New York Times]( Friday, Apr 5, 2019 | [View in browser]( Supported by Good morning, We’re introducing a new format. Let us know what you think at [briefing@nytimes.com](mailto:briefing+pm+design+feedback@nytimes.com?subject=Briefing%20Feedback&te=1&nl=morning-briefing&emc=edit_MBAE_p_20190404§ion=topNews;section=topNews). Today, we’re seeing signals that the U.S. and China are near a trade deal, we are awaiting a court appearance for the suspect in the Christchurch massacres, and we are looking at the total surveillance in Xinjiang. By Stephen Hiltner and Inyoung Kang President Trump at the White House on Thursday. Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times Trump says U.S.-China trade deal is near President Trump [stopped short of announcing a final trade deal with China]( saying in an Oval Office meeting with the Chinese delegation that it may take another four weeks or more to secure an “epic” agreement. Before the meeting, Mr. Trump said that talks with China were “going very well” and that the two countries were headed toward an agreement that might be “the biggest deal ever made.” But there was no announcement, as had been hinted, of a meeting with President Xi Jinping. U.S. backdrop: President Trump has been trying to push forward on his agenda items, asserting that the special counsel’s report fully exonerated him. But our reporters have found that some of Robert Mueller’s investigators see their report as [more damaging for Mr. Trump than Attorney General William Barr indicated](. Ethiopian officials say pilots followed procedures The crew of the Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max 8 that crashed last month [repeatedly followed the emergency procedures]( recommended by Boeing, the plane’s manufacturer, Ethiopia’s transportation minister said. He was explaining investigators’ initial findings about the accident. The minister, Dagmawit Moges, said the plane had experienced “repetitive, uncommanded aircraft nose-down conditions,” similar to those involving another Max 8 in a crash in Indonesia last year. Impact: The findings are likely to heighten scrutiny of the 737 Max, Boeing’s top-selling jet. Airlines worldwide have grounded their 737 Max fleets. We counted 20 cameras on one street in Kashgar, in China’s western Xinjiang Province. Paul Mozur/The New York Times From Silk Road to total surveillance Kashgar, the storied city of ancient trade routes, lies in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang. A crackdown is underway there on ethnic minority groups — Uighurs, Kazakhs, Tajiks — who outnumber the otherwise dominant Han Chinese. The government’s cameras are everywhere, and the surveillance is as much about intimidation as monitoring. [Three of our correspondents explored the city]( taking care not to put residents at risk of detention. Voices: “In China, there are no whys,” a police officer told our reporter after deleting a photograph of a camel from his phone. Thailand’s junta flexes its rigged system The country’s military authorities are [targeting a popular pro-democracy party]( accusing its leader of causing disorder that could lead to rebellion. Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a billionaire who leads the Future Forward Party, has been ordered to submit to the police for questioning. He faces up to seven years in prison in the case, which was first opened four years ago. Reaction: Critics say the summons is the latest attempt by the military to consolidate power. At the polls: In parliamentary elections last week, Future Forward and two other opposition parties that campaigned for a return to democracy ended up splitting 51 percent of the vote, leaving the military-backed party, Palang Pracharat, in first place with just 24 percent of the vote, according to preliminary results. Background: After seizing control in a 2014 coup, the junta put in place a new Constitution and rigged the country’s electoral system to give itself huge political advantages. If you’re following the Indian elections Left or Left-Left Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress party, campaigned with his sister, Priyanka Gandhi, on Thursday. Atul Loke/Getty Images The opposition Congress party has put out [the first concrete policy proposal]( of the campaign. A caution: Trying to impose a Western prism on the elections could lead you astray. The Congress “manifesto” covers issues from social to environmental. One standout: [a minimum income plan]( that would guarantee 72,000 rupees a year (about $1,000) to India’s poorest 20 percent. Sounds like a classic left-wing response to five years of market deregulation and austerity under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, right? Wrong. Sure, in 2014, Mr. Modi campaigned on a promise to help business and cut back bloated government, but he rolled out his own version of a handout in February: [a payment of 6,000 rupees (about $85) for farmers]( and other sweeteners. “When it comes to the economy” in India, observed Milan Vaishnav, a South Asia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “almost all parties are clustered around the center left.” With so many Indians [still relatively poor]( he said, swinging too far toward fiscal conservatism would be political suicide. So if and when the B.J.P. puts out its own policy proposal, the economic ideas may not be all that different from the Congress party’s. — Alisha Haridasani Gupta Send us feedback or questions [here](mailto:briefing@nytimes.com?subject=IndiaFeedback&te=1&nl=morning-briefing&emc=edit_MBAE_p_20190404§ion=longReadsection=longRead). PAID POST: A MESSAGE FROM CAMPAIGN MONITOR Email Marketing 101: Never Sacrifice Beauty for Simplicity A drag-and-drop email builder, a gallery of templates and turnkey designs, personalized customer journeys, and engagement segments. It's everything you need to create stunning, results-driven email campaigns in minutes. And with Campaign Monitor, you have access to it all, along with award-winning support around the clock. It's beautiful email marketing done simply. [Learn More]( Here’s what else is happening New Zealand: The Australian man accused of attacking two mosques in Christchurch will be in court today to be [charged with 50 counts of murder]( the police said. Australia: The country [passed sweeping legislation]( that includes the penalty of jail time for executives of social media companies if they fail to rapidly remove “abhorrent violent material” from their platforms. Algeria: President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was forced from power this week after 20 years. [We look at what happens next.]( Mar-a-Lago: The arrest of a Chinese woman carrying a malware-laced device [exposed porous security]( at President Trump’s Florida resort. Carlos Ghosn: The embattled former Nissan executive was [arrested for a fourth time]( in Tokyo over new accusations of misusing company funds. In an interview, his wife, Carole, said she was “treated like a terrorist.” Sayagyi U Ba Khin Memorial Trust of Massachusetts Snapshot: S.N. Goenka, above, gave up life as a successful Burmese businessman in 1969 to teach meditation in India, and [played a significant role in the explosion of interest in meditation](. He’s the latest entry in our [Overlooked series]( about people who didn’t receive obituaries in The Times when they died. Animal rescue: Almost 100 captive whales were [seized by the Russian government]( in the Far East before they could be exported to Chinese marine parks. Instagram influencers: A club owner in the Philippines became a local hero after he [pushed back at the growing number of travelers claiming large followings on social media]( and asking for free food, drinks and lodging. What we’re reading: [This short story in The New Yorker]( recommended by Gillian Wong, our editor specializing in China coverage. She writes: “Te-Ping Chen, a Wall Street Journal reporter until recently based in Beijing, imagines a pair of Chinese twins in the internet era whose lives take them in vastly different directions.” ADVERTISEMENT Now, a break from the news Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Susan Spungen. Cook: End the week with [lemon cream cheese cookies](. Listen: “[Downhill Lullaby]( the first original song Sky Ferreira has released since 2013, veers sharply away from the armor-clad pop that filled her first album, [our critic]( [writes](. Read: The movie has been rocking on Netflix, now Mötley Crüe’s “The Dirt” appears on our[paperback nonfiction]( and[combined print and e-book nonfiction]( best-seller lists. Watch: King Hu directs Angela Mao in the 1984 film “The Fate of Lee Khan.” [It’s a Critic’s Pick.]( Smarter Living: Intending to [part ways with your laptop, tablet or cellphone]( Provide them a second life: Sell them online, give them to people you know or donate them to nonprofits. If they’re too old to reuse, send them to a smelter to be reclaimed by “urban mining” — they’re often made of copper, silver, gold and lithium. Also, if you don’t feel like you have the time to read, try some [bite-sized books](. And now for the Back Story on … The troubles in Xinjiang The Times has been covering the Chinese government’s internment of hundreds of thousands — perhaps a million or more — of Uighurs and other Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang. We asked Chris Buckley, one of the reporters on the story, to explain the leadership’s rationale. The cost of internal strife is a major concern to China’s leaders, who have only to look to the Taiping Rebellion of the 1850s. That internal war, which claimed 20 million or more lives, remains one of the world’s bloodiest. Stockades in which the some of the leaders of the Taiping Rebellion were beheaded in 1863. Hulton Archive, via Getty Images The mass internments in Xinjiang reflect the leadership’s view that the religion and culture of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities are widely “infected” by antigovernment sentiments that could foment unrest and terrorism. Uighurs — a Turkic people — have had an uneasy, sometimes violent, relationship with the Chinese Communist authorities since 1949. In the 1980s and 1990s, the government allowed more space for the Uighurs’ language and customs. But policies became increasingly hard line, especially after ethnic rioting erupted in 2009, killing at least 200 people. In 2014, more than 30 people were killed in an attack by Uighurs in southwest China. There were many smaller-scale attacks as well. Thanks for reading the briefing in our new format. We’d love to hear your thoughts at [briefing@nytimes.com](mailto:briefing+pm+design+feedback@nytimes.com?te=1&nl=morning-briefing&emc=edit_MBAE_p_20190404§ion=backStoryon=backStory). See you next time. — Stephen and Inyoung Thank you To Mark Josephson, Eleanor Stanford and James K. Williamson for the break from the news. You can reach the team at [briefing@nytimes.com](mailto:briefing+pm@nytimes.com?subject=Briefing%20Feedback&te=1&nl=morning-briefing&emc=edit_MBAE_p_20190404§ion=endNote;section=endNote). P.S. • We’re listening to “[The Daily]( Our most recent episode is about the special counsel’s report. • Here’s today’s [mini crossword puzzle]( and a clue: "Me too" (4 letters). 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