Your Tuesday Briefing

Texas, Uber, Doklam Plateau | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, August 29, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Tuesday Briefing]( By CHARLES MCDERMID Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: Joe Raedle/Getty Images • Pounding rains and rapidly rising floodwaters from the most powerful storm to hit the U.S. in a decade have brought Houston, its fourth-largest city, to its knees. In scenes that evoked Hurricane Katrina in 2005, roadways turned to rivers, and waist-high waters choked off homes and hospitals. Officials begged boat owners to pitch in with [an enormous and frantic rescue operation](. The toll — at least eight dead — is almost certain to rise. [This video compares Houston before and after Hurricane Harvey](. Our reporters on the ground are creating [a detailed picture of the disaster]( unfolding across a broad area of Texas in photos, videos and articles. The Times is providing free access. _____ Gilles Sabrie for The New York Times • India and China have raised hopes of a possible resolution to one of their worst diplomatic flare-ups in many years. The two agreed to [“expeditious disengagement”]( in a heated border dispute along the Doklam Plateau, a remote section of the Himalayas, a week before India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, visits China. Above, an Indian Army base near the disputed border. _____ [Clockwise from top left: Kenneth Aaron Smith, 22, from New Jersey; Logan Stephen Palmer, 23, from Illinois; John Henry Hoagland III, 20, from Texas; Dustin Louis Doyon, 26, from Connecticut; Jacob Daniel Drake, 21, from Ohio; Corey George Ingram, 28, from New York; Charles Nathan Findley, 31, from Missouri; Abraham Lopez, 39, from Texas; Kevin Sayer Bushell, 26, from Maryland; Timothy Thomas Eckels Jr., 23, from Maryland.]U.S. Navy; Ingram family New York Air National Guard • The U.S. Navy said divers had recovered the [remains of 10 missing sailors]( from the destroyer John S. McCain, all from compartments that were crushed and flooded in a collision with a huge tanker near Singapore last week. The Navy is investigating the crash, as well as another lethal collision near Japan in June. [Naval ships are designed to be hard to detect]( but more than a dozen current and former Navy officers told our reporters that [another problem is the sailors’ grueling schedule](. _____ Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • In India, lawyers for [Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh]( shown in the poster above, say they will appeal his conviction in two rapes more than a decade ago. Known as the “guru of bling,” he leads the Dera Sacha Sauda sect, which claims 60 million adherents worldwide. Northern India has been bracing for violence since he was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison. At least 38 people died in rioting after his conviction last week. _____ Stefan Postles/Getty Images • “The welfare will stop.” That was [Australia’s immigration minister, Peter Dutton]( above, defending a move to cut off financial and housing support for hundreds of asylum seekers brought from offshore camps for medical treatment. A rights advocate called the cuts a “new low” that would inflict “unimaginable suffering.” _____ Michael Benanav • The nomadic Dokpa people know that few, if any, of their children will carry on the [incredibly harsh life of herding yaks and sheep]( on the rooftop of the world — the Tibetan and Himalayan plateaus. A photographer for The Times documented their way of life, before it disappears forever. Business Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg • Who is Dara Khosrowshahi, the new chief of Uber? We [profiled this Iranian-American Seattle-ite]( and examined whether what he achieved at Expedia will translate. • Samsung, South Korea’s No. 1 brand, dominates the [country’s business and social life](. That may make it difficult to keep its top executive in prison. • Deals: [Toshiba is selling its semiconductor]( unit for $18 billion, to help cover losses from its U.S. nuclear business. [Gilead]( the maker of drugs to treat HIV and hepatitis C, is buying Kite Pharma, which developed a genetic cancer treatment, for $11.9 billion. • Mind control: A game that incorporates a [headset with virtual reality goggles and brain sensors]( is just a few years from the market. • U.S. stocks [were mixed](. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Pool photo by Andy Wong • China came to the defense of Venezuela, a close ally that has taken a dictatorial turn, saying that new U.S. sanctions “will not help resolve the actual problem.” Above, President Nicolás Maduro and President Xi Jinping in Beijing in 2015. [[Reuters]( • The lawyer for a woman convicted in a plot to carry out a suicide bombing on Indonesia’s presidential palace said her seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence was handed down early because she is about to give birth. [[Agence France-Presse]( • A business associate of Donald Trump promised in 2015 to engineer a real estate deal with an aide of Vladimir Putin that would help Mr. Trump win the presidency — evidence that some in the Trump circle viewed close ties with Moscow as a campaign advantage. [[The New York Times]( • A daughter of a former aide to Gen. Douglas MacArthur is looking for a Japanese girl who appeared with her in a photo probably snapped in 1947. [[The Asahi Shimbun]( • A 73-year-old South Korean was fined $4,400 for spreading a rumor online that a former South Korean president’s widow would marry Dr. Dre, the American hip-hop superstar. [[The Korea Times]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. Nicole Craine for The New York Times • A skin lightening treatment popular in the Philippines is [gaining traction around the world]( — but without rigorous testing to assess its safety or efficiency. • The line between [normal parental instinct and obsessive-compulsive disorder]( can be vanishingly thin. • Recipe of the day: You can’t go wrong with Marcella Hazan’s [famous tomato sauce]( and some [grilled garlic bread](. Noteworthy [From top, a modern day horse (equus caballs), followed by prehistoric horses Pliohippus, Merychippus, Miohippus, Mesohippus and Hyracotherium. New research lends support to existing hypotheses that early horses had several toes and evolved to have fewer toes as they gained mass.]De Agostini Picture Library • Hippos, rhinos and camels have four, three and two toes on each leg. A new study explains how those big toes became [a hoof in the modern horse](. • Marc Wallack is 72. Cynthia Zhou is 27. The story of [their romance]( is one of our most popular reports this week. • In memoriam: [Tobe Hooper]( the director of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” 74. Our critic says the [cult hit’s reputation for gore obscures its true greatness](. • The season finale of “Game of Thrones” was busy, to say the least. Aside from blood feuds, blue fire and some potentially awkward family reunions, it set up next season’s culminating clashes of the living and the dead. [Here’s our recap](. Back Story Associated Press The nuclear hotline between Washington and Moscow turns 54 tomorrow. Established after the Cuban missile crisis, the hotline, which has often been [falsely portrayed as a red telephone]( in pop culture — including the films “[Dr. Strangelove]( and “[Fail Safe]( — was created to help [prevent nuclear disaster](. The original equipment, above, actually consisted of [eight Teletype machines]( — four installed at the Pentagon and four at the Kremlin — which inadvertently spawned a new kind of conflict between the two adversaries: a literary face-off. The [first message]( was sent by the Americans: “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’s back 1234567890.” The Soviets sent back a poetic description of Moscow’s setting sun. Since then, during connection tests, passages by literary luminaries like Shakespeare, Chekhov and Mark Twain have traveled the trans-Atlantic cables. Certain passages, however, are off limits. As Col. Donald Siebenaler [told The Times]( in 1988, it is essential to “make sure there is no innuendo.” He noted that a passage about Winnie the Pooh’s head getting stuck in a honey jar, for instance, could be seen as a slight by the Russians, as the bear is their national symbol. Evan Gershkovich contributed reporting. _____ This briefing was timed for the Asian morning. We also have briefings for the [Australian]( [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