Your Thursday Evening Briefing

Your nightly rundown of the day's top stories delivered straight to your inbox. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, August 17, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Thursday Evening Briefing]( By CHARLES MCDERMID AND SANDRA STEVENSON (Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s [the sign-up]( Good evening. Here’s the latest. David Armengou/European Pressphoto Agency 1. A terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 80 others when a van zigzagged through a crowd at a popular tourist spot. Two people were later arrested, including a Moroccan man whose identification documents had been used to rent the van. But the police said neither was believed to be the driver, who remained at large. The Islamic State claimed that the perpetrators were its “soldiers,” adding Spain to the list of European countries — including France and Britain — where vehicles have been used in attacks on civilians. Here’s the [latest news]( on this developing story. _____ Jason Lappa for The New York Times 2. President Trump said on Twitter he was “sad” to see American history torn apart by the removal of “our beautiful statues and monuments,” echoing the sentiment of groups that [oppose the removal of Confederate monuments](. His remarks came after thousands of people gathered [in Charlottesville, Va., for a candlelight vigil]( above, for the weekend’s violence, in which a rally protesting the removal of a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee. And Mr. Trump appears [increasingly isolated]( from business executives, military leaders and the Republican Party, which [is facing its gravest political crisis]( since he took office. _____ Pool photo by Andy Wong 3. More confusion and conflicting signals over North Korea. Stephen Bannon, President Trump’s chief strategist, said there was [“no military solution” to the nuclear standoff]( with Pyongyang — a remark that appeared to undercut Gen. Joseph Dunford, the United States’ top military official, who had dismissed the possibility of American troop withdrawal from the Korean Peninsula during a recent visit to China, above. And President Moon Jae-in of South Korea is trying to dispel fears at home that the U.S. might carry out a unilateral military strike against the North. Here’s how [the previous three U.S. administrations dealt]( with North Korea. But as the North talks tough, our correspondent writes, [South Koreans remain largely unmoved](. _____  4. A settlement was reached in the [lawsuit against two psychologists]( above, who helped devise the C.I.A.’s brutal interrogation program, bringing to an end an unusual effort to hold individuals accountable for the techniques the agency adopted after the Sept. 11 attacks. The terms of the settlement were confidential, but one of the plaintiffs expressed satisfaction. “Our goal from the beginning was justice and for the people to know what happened in this black hole that was run by the C.I.A.’s offices.” _____ Marco Garcia/Associated Press 5. In Hawaii, Coast Guard crews are searching for five [American Army aviators who went missing]( after their helicopter crashed in a night exercise off the island of Oahu. It was the third military aircraft crash in about a month involving U.S. service members. And the Navy plans to relieve of duty the two top officers and the senior enlisted sailor of the Fitzgerald — the [U.S. destroyer]( [that collided with a freighter]( off the coast of Japan in June, killing seven sailors. _____ via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 6. There is national outrage in India over the deaths of more than 60 children who died in a government hospital last week after their [oxygen supply was cut off](. Unbeknown to the patients and their parents, the hospital’s supplier had halted shipments of liquid oxygen over unpaid bills. The deaths symbolize India’s swamped, mismanaged and often corrupt public health care system. Separately, a 10-year-old [Indian girl who was raped by an uncle]( and then lost her legal battle to have an abortion, gave birth to a girl. _____ Wang He/Getty Images 7. China’s top internet companies are [creeping up on America’s tech giants](. Alibaba said its first-quarter profit rose 94 percent to $2.2 billion, and its stock price has increased more than 80 percent this year. Alibaba and its biggest Chinese rival, Tencent Holdings, now have valuations around $400 billion. By contrast, Amazon.com has a valuation of about $470 billion, while Facebook is at about $490 billion. Above, Alibaba’s headquarters. _____ Andrew Burton for The New York Times 8. Think your morning commute is brutal? Think again. The [housing crisis in California]( means that Sheila James, a public health adviser, above, wakes up at 2:15 a.m. in Stockton to take two trains and a bus to make it to her job in San Francisco by 7 a.m. And then, after a full day’s work, she repeats the journey. _____ Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters 9. Malala Yousafzai is going to college. Ms. Yousafzai, above, was 15 when a Taliban gunman in Pakistan shot her in the head for advocating girls’ education. She was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for “her struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.” Now 20, [she will attend Oxford]( to study philosophy, politics and economics. _____ CBS 10. Finally, late-night TV hosts pounced on President Trump after chief executives resigned en masse from two presidential councils. “The C.E.O.s of Intel and Under Armour both resigned,” [James Corden, host of “The Late Late Show]( said, “which means somehow Donald Trump figured out a way to lose the nerds and the jocks at the same time.” Have a great night. If photographs appear out of order, please [download the updated New York Times app]( from iTunes. Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a.m. Sundays. 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). ADVERTISEMENT Looking for Something to Watch? Three times a week, receive recommendations on the best TV shows and films to stream and watch. Sign up for our Watching newsletter [here](. 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](. FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nytimes]( Get more NYTimes.com newsletters » | Sign Up for the [Morning Briefing newsletter »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Evening Briefing newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2017 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018