Your Monday Briefing

Jerry Lewis, Grace Mugabe, Barcelona | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Monday, August 21, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Monday Briefing]( By CHARLES MCDERMID Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: Samuel Aranda for The New York Times • The police in Spain were still hunting for a 22-year-old Moroccan-born man who is suspected of driving the [van that ran down pedestrians in Barcelona]( killing 13. A 14th person died in an attack hours later in the town of Cambrils. Even as the country mourns, the [Spanish authorities are trying to answer]( how a group that included teenagers was able to carry out such a well-planned attack in a country that had long parried danger, despite being a [tempting and symbolic target for Islamists](. _____ Tyrone Siu/Reuters • Tens of thousands of people protested in [Hong Kong against the jailing of three democracy activists]( — Joshua Wong, 20, Nathan Law, 24 and Alex Chow, 27 — who were sentenced last week to six to eight months for unlawful assembly. Organizers said it was the biggest demonstration since the “Umbrella Movement” pro-democracy rallies in 2014 that paralyzed the city’s financial center for 79 days. Hong Kong police estimated that 22,000 people attended the protest on Sunday. _____ Al Drago for The New York Times • The U.S. treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, offered what could be the [most vigorous defense yet of President Trump’s]( response to the racially charged violence in Virginia. Mr. Mnuchin, who appeared with the president on Tuesday, above, is one of the most prominent Jews in the Trump administration. His statement in support of Mr. Trump was in response to a letter signed by more than 300 of his Yale classmates, urging him to step down. The departure of Steve Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, could [tip the Trump administration toward a more mainstream approach]( on issues like climate change, immigration and China, our Washington team writes. _____ Massoud Hossaini/Associated Press • U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that [President Trump has settled on a new strategy for Afghanistan]( after a “rigorous” review, and that the president wanted announce the details of the plan in coming days. Few believe the war there is going well. Our Kabul bureau chief writes that even [“Game of Thrones” has nothing on today’s Afghanistan]( when it comes to plots and political violence. Even so, [Aryana Saeed, an Afghan pop star]( above, wouldn’t bow to pressure after conservative clerics forced her to move a concert from a stadium made notorious by the Taliban’s executions of women. _____ US Navy, via European Pressphoto Agency • A search team led by Paul Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, has located the wreckage of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, [a Navy cruiser destroyed by a Japanese submarine in 1945](. The discovery of the wreckage 18,000 feet deep in the Philippine Sea, promises to revive interest in the Indianapolis and the ordeal of its survivors who spent five days floating in shark-infested waters. _____ Andrea Bruce for The New York Times • Finally, [in her last piece from India]( our South Asia bureau chief wrestles with a murder covered up in plain sight, and with what she is leaving behind — like the chief of a small village, above, where she had made a dozen or so reporting trips. “People hang Gandhi’s portrait on their walls here,” said Jahangir Khan, a young constable, “but they do not follow Gandhi’s rules.” Business Mary Altaffer/Associated Press • China will punish companies for violating foreign investment rules, and establish a blacklist of businesses that did so — the strongest signal yet that [Beijing wants to rein in runaway debt]( that could pose a threat to its economy. • Japan’s typically tightfisted consumers have helped power [a surprising economic uptick](. Experts hope it’s not a temporary bounce. • Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor, quit his position as a [special adviser to]( Trump on regulatory matters]( and Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive of the private equity giant Blackstone, has emerged as one of the [president’s most reliable Wall Street allies](. • The U.S. has split into political tribes. The culture wars are back. Amid this turbulence, C.E.O.s are speaking out on social and political issues, recasting the [role business plays in the national debate](. • Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News KCNA, via Reuters • North Korea unveiled bold new anti-American posters, like the one above, amid tensions over the North’s nuclear program. [[The New York Times]( • Grace Mugabe was whisked out of South Africa after the government granted diplomatic immunity to Zimbabwe’s first lady, who was accused of beating up a model in a luxury hotel. [[The New York Times]( • The widow of Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese Nobel Peace laureate who died last month in police custody, resurfaced in an online video for the first time since his death. [[The New York Times]( • Inside Indonesia’s dysfunctional prisons: A brazen breakout on Bali in June made news, but the corrections system’s troubles go far deeper. [[The New York Times]( • “We have so much hope,” said an anthropologist who helped draft Pakistan’s first law penalizing discrimination and violence against transgender people. [[The New York Times]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. Craig Lee for The New York Times • Recipe of the day: [Make poundcake]( with whipped cream and fresh fruit. • Don’t clean that [dirty sponge](. • Here are tips for [wearing, storing and cleaning your clothes](. Noteworthy Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press • In memoriam: [Jerry Lewis]( above, the American comedian and filmmaker who rose to fame with films like the “The Nutty Professor,” at 91; [Stuart J. Thompson]( a Tony Award-winning producer who helped mount hits like “The Book of Mormon,” at 62; and [Dick Gregory]( the pioneering black satirist who became a force for civil rights in the 1960s, at 84. • Some “revolutionary” selfies. A new book includes subversive images [taken during China’s Cultural Revolution](. “We didn’t dare show them to anyone,” the author said. • Yu Xiuhua, born with cerebral palsy, lived a quiet village life in China. [She is now a literary sensation]( whose vivid, erotic poems are “stained with blood.” Back Story Hannah Mckay/Reuters After striking noon today, [Big Ben]( will fall silent for as many as four years, part of [a $37 million maintenance program]( at the London landmark. In fact, Big Ben, the main bell that tolls every hour, doesn’t need fixing. But the clock tower containing it — called Elizabeth Tower and commonly referred to as Big Ben — is showing signs of aging, like the rest of [the crumbling Palace of Westminster]( the seat of Britain’s Parliament. Since its completion in 1859, Big Ben has had only [one major breakdown]( in 1976. It has also been silenced during the world wars — although [it rang throughout the Blitz]( Germany’s aerial bombing of London in 1940-41 — and for occasional maintenance. The BBC, which has [regularly broadcast the bell’s toll since 1924]( still begins [two radio broadcasts a day]( — at 6 p.m. and midnight — with the ringing. In [an interview last week]( a BBC official said the search for a replacement bong ultimately led back to the original. Denis Nowlan said, “We decided in the end that the only substitute for the most majestic, most evocative bell in the world is Big Ben.” So the BBC will use a recording, rather than a live broadcast from Westminster. Palko Karasz contributed reporting. _____ We have briefings timed for the [Australian]( [Asian]( [European]( and [American]( mornings. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters [here](. Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online. What would you like to see here? Contact us at [asiabriefing@nytimes.com](mailto:asiabriefing@nytimes.com?subject=Briefing%20Feedback%20(Asia)). ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nytimes]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Morning Briefing: Asia Edition 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