Your Friday Briefing

> Cyclone Fani threatens India. [The New York Times]( [nytimes.com]( [The New York Times]( Friday, May 3, 2019 | [View in browser]( Supported by Good morning, We’re covering a powerful cyclone, the fight between Democrats and the attorney general and the Indian elections. By Katie Van Syckle A fisherman leaves the shore after securing his boat ahead of Cyclone Fani on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam, India, on Wednesday. Reuters Powerful cyclone threatens India Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from parts of the country’s eastern coast ahead of [the arrival today of Cyclone Fani](. The India Meteorological Department said the storm would land with sustained winds of more than 100 miles per hour and gusts of up to 120 m.p.h. More than 100 million people are potentially in the cyclone’s path. The details: As much as eight inches of rain is forecast to fall on the states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The storm is expected to continue north, hitting Bangladesh and Bhutan, as well as parts of the Indian states of West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya. Check our [live cyclone tracking map]( for the latest. Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times Attorney general is a no-show in Congress Attorney General William Barr left Democratic lawmakers fuming when he failed to appear at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, and they [threatened to hold him in contempt]( of Congress. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Mr. Barr of lying to Congress, saying, “That’s a crime.” Response: Mr. Barr refused to show for the hearing because Democrats had insisted that he sit for questioning from committee staff lawyers. A spokeswoman for the Justice Department said he would be happy to testify if Democrats dropped that demand. Watch: House Democrats [respond]( to Mr. Barr’s decision. Listen: “The Daily” focuses on [Mr. Barr’s Senate testimony]( this week. Maduro greets troops in Venezuela Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, sought to [strengthen his image]( as the undisputed commander of the armed forces on Thursday, mustering troops in a televised show of authority a day after the opposition tried to incite a military mutiny that fizzled within hours. “Soldiers of the fatherland, it’s time to fight!” Mr. Maduro said to hundreds of troops in an appearance at the Fuerte Tiuna base near Caracas. Mr. Maduro’s visit seemed to contradict assertions of authority by [Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader]( who has the support of more than 50 countries but has been unable to turn military commanders to his side. Go deeper: Tareck El Aissami, one of the most powerful leaders of the Venezuelan government and a close confidant of Mr. Maduro, was the target of investigations by his own country’s intelligence agency. According to a [secret dossier]( compiled by Venezuelan agents, Mr. El Aissami and his family helped sneak Hezbollah militants into the country and went into business with a drug lord, becoming a rich man as the economy was in disarray. Biden’s potential conflict of interest in Ukraine When Joe Biden was the U.S. vice president, one of his foreign policy roles included [pushing Ukraine’s corrupt government]( to clean up its act. Part of that effort, during a trip to Kiev in March 2016, was threatening to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if Ukraine’s leaders did not dismiss the country’s top prosecutor, who had been accused of being soft on corruption. It worked. The conflict: Among those who had a stake in the outcome was Mr. Biden’s son Hunter Biden, who was on the board of an energy company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch in the sights of the fired prosecutor general. Why it matters: The broad outlines of the story had previously been public, but new details about his son’s involvement and the decision by the current prosecutor general to reopen an investigation into the company, Burisma, have pushed the issue back into the spotlight, just as the senior Biden’s presidential campaign begins. If you’re following the Indian elections... What is an ‘anti-national’? Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency, allowing her to jail her political opponents in 1975. Bettman via Getty Images Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other members of his Bharatiya Janata Party have [often described their rivals in the general election as “anti-nationals.]( The term doesn’t mean, as one might assume, anti-nationalism. Instead, it seeks to frame criticism of the government as a betrayal of the nation. In the days after [suicide bombers attacked Indian soldiers in Kashmir]( for example, those who questioned the military or the government’s response were described as anti-national and [ridiculed on social media](. The term was popularized in the late 1970s, after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi [declared a state of emergency across the country that lasted for 21 months](. At the time, Ms. Gandhi faced mounting challenges. Economic distress had led to widespread riots and protests, while a state high court had convicted her of election fraud. Instead of resigning, she installed a curfew and censored the press. She also jailed hundreds of political opponents — many from early predecessors of the B.J.P. — without trial, deriding them as anti-nationals. With the resurgence of the term today, the question is whether it “tells us more about the people accused” or the accusers, [writes the journalist and author Raghu Karnad](. — Alisha Haridasani Gupta Send us your feedback or questions on this series [here](mailto:briefing@nytimes.com?subject=IndiaFeedback&te=1&nl=morning-briefing&emc=edit_MBAE_p_20190502§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 Julian Assange: The WikiLeaks founder appeared in court on Thursday for a U.S. extradition hearing via a video link from prison. [Mr. Assange said he did not wish to surrender himself]( to the U.S. to face a hacking charge. Pakistan: In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations on Wednesday [added the leader of an outlawed Pakistani militant group]( to its sanctions blacklist after the group claimed responsibility for a February suicide attack in disputed Kashmir that killed 40 Indian soldiers. North Carolina shooting: Riley Howell, a U.N.C. Charlotte student who was one of two students killed when a gunman opened fire in a classroom, couldn’t escape, so [instead he tackled the gunman.]( The police charged a 22-year-old student with murder. Facebook: The [social media platform banned]( members of the right-leaning fringe media, including Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist and founder of Infowars. Measles: St. Lucia [quarantined a cruise ship]( reportedly owned and operated by the Church of Scientology after a case of measles was confirmed on board. Emile Alain Ducke for The New York Times Snapshot: An influx of Chinese tourists and businesses around Lake Baikal in Siberia, pictured above, [is stirring old Russian fears of a Chinese land grab]( and raising concerns about polluting the lake. Ostrich wings: Scientists strapped [artificial wings to a young ostrich]( to study one of the greatest controversies in paleontology — how avian flight evolved. What we’re reading: [This piece in BBC Travel](. Lynda Richardson, a Travel editor, writes: “Former President Barack Obama recently gave an erudite meditation on why travel is important, in this wide-ranging Q. and A. at an international tourism conference in Seville, Spain.” ADVERTISEMENT Now, a break from the news Romulo Yanes for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Vivian Lui. Cook: Could you make, say, bread out of cinnamon rolls covered in frosting? [Yes, of course](. Read: “The Moment of Lift,” featuring stories about empowering women by the philanthropist Melinda Gates, debuts on our [hardcover nonfiction]( and [combined print and e-book nonfiction]( best-seller lists. Listen: On its own, FKA twigs’s “[Cellophane]( would be striking enough. The accompanying video clip [only multiplies the strangeness]( our critic says. Go: Melbourne is Australia’s capital for all things cultural. We have [recommendations for a weekend there](. Smarter Living: Time management regret is a jail cell, but you can walk free with a change of attitude. Own and admit your past mistakes and then forgive yourself. Don’t dwell on self-criticism. And [have the courage to set boundaries]( to make wiser choices now. And even a single workout may make our brain’s memory centers, like our muscles, [more fit](. And now for the Back Story on … The roots of derby The word “derby” is synonymous with major horse races. The Kentucky Derby, whose 145th running is Saturday, [was inspired in part by England’s Derby at Epsom Downs in Surrey](. But the word originates with a city that [long predates the United Kingdom](. Justify won the 2018 Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Morry Gash/Associated Press In the first century A.D., Romans began conquering the territory they called Britannia. They established Derventio, a small settlement on the east bank of the Derwent River. According to “Secret Derby,” a book by the British historian Maxwell Craven, the name Derwent is old Celtic: “from deru meaning oak and wen meaning white/pale, thus ‘place/river of the white oaks.’” Some 850 years later, Mr. Craven writes, Saxons established a fortified settlement across the river as a stronghold against Viking attacks. They named it by combining the first syllable of Derventio with the Norse suffix “-by,” meaning town or settlement. Roughly another 850 years later, a reputed coin toss won the 12th Earl of Derby the honor of having a new horse race named for him. A correction: [Thursday’s Morning Briefing]( misspelled the given name of an actress, producer and director. She is Anjelica Huston, not Anjelika. That’s it for this briefing. See you next time. — Katie Thank you To Mark Josephson, Eleanor Stanford, Chris Harcum and Kenneth R. Rosen for the break from the news. Jake Lucas wrote today’s Back Story. 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_20190502§ion=endNote;section=endNote). P.S. • We’re listening to “[The Daily]( Our latest episode is about the Senate testimony of Attorney General William Barr. • Here’s our [Mini Crossword]( and a clue: Components of a criminal code (4 letters). 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