Your Wednesday Briefing

North Korea, Myanmar, Vladimir Putin | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, September 6, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Wednesday Briefing]( By CHARLES MCDERMID Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images • President Xi Jinping faces a difficult decision if, as expected, the [Trump administration presses China to impose an oil embargo]( on North Korea over its latest and most powerful nuclear test. He must avoid appearing to buckle to U.S. demands, but also deter moves toward a destabilizing war. Above, a bridge over the Yalu River between China and North Korea. On a deeper level, the North’s defiance is [undermining Beijing’s long-term goal to replace the U.S.]( as Asia’s major power. _____ Pool photo by Mark Schiefelbein • A regional economic forum in [Vladivostok, Russia, that starts today]( is expected to include many of the parties enmeshed in the nuclear standoff. Some, like Vladimir Putin, will be coming from the BRICS meeting in Xiamen, China, above. Other expected leaders Moon Jae-in of South Korea and Shinzo Abe of Japan, who has been in [frequent contact with President Trump](. Mr. Putin, speaking on the BRICS sidelines yesterday, expressed doubts that more sanctions would deter the North’s leadership. “They would rather eat grass than give up their nuclear program,” he said. He also answered a question about Mr. Trump by saying he is [“not my bride, and I am not his groom.”]( _____ Adam Dean for The New York Times • Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India spoke with President Xi on the BRICS sidelines, their first meeting since the end of a tense, monthslong border standoff. They agreed to [strive to get bilateral relations “on the right track.”]( Mr. Modi [is now in Myanmar]( where he is expected to discuss the violence in Rakhine State that has forced at least [123,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee]( to Bangladesh, above. _____ Todd Heisler/The New York Times • President Trump faces weeks of political bargaining on [the debt ceiling, his border wall, taxes, Harvey relief]( and more. [Mr. Trump is also ending the program]( that shielded “dreamers,” young undocumented immigrants, from deportation. He is urging Congress to replace it before it expires in March. _____ Wang Zhao/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • The governor of China’s central bank, [Zhou Xiaochuan]( above, is likely to step down in the leadership reshuffle pegged to the Communist Party Congress set to begin Oct. 18. Economists in China and beyond are wondering whether his embrace of free markets will fall by the wayside — and how his successor will manage a system that experts say is plagued with heavy debt and onerous government control. _____ Matthew Abbott for The New York Times • In New Zealand, a Sept. 23 election that had been seen as a surefire win for the conservative National Party [has been reshaped by “Jacindamania.”]( The Labour Party has pulled slightly ahead thanks to Jacinda Ardern, above, its 37-year-old leader. She has 80,000 Twitter followers, once performed as a D.J. at a music festival, and attracted global attention for condemning an interviewer’s sexist questions. _____ Want your phone to tell you when the briefing is ready? iOS users can now sign up for a daily notification. Open our app, tap the bell on the upper right and turn on “Morning Briefing.” On Android, tap the three dots. Business Rovio • The Finnish gaming company behind the [“Angry Birds” empire, Rovio Entertainment,]( is going public in Helsinki and plans to issue new shares worth about $36 million. • Lilium Aviation, a [flying car start-up, raised $90 million]( from a host of investors led by Tencent, the Chinese internet giant. • United Technologies shares fell on the company’s announcement of a $30 billion deal to buy the airplane parts maker [Rockwell Collins](. U.T. said it had no immediate plans to sell off other businesses. • Our reviewer says there’s “as much to [love about the new Samsung Galaxy Note 8]( as there is to hate.” Guess in which category the price tag of almost $1,000 falls? • U.S. stocks [were weak](. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Heng Sinith/Associated Press • Cambodia charged a top opposition leader, Kem Sokha, above, with treason after he was accused of plotting to overthrow the government with U.S. backing. [[The New York Times]( • Hurricane Irma has strengthened over the Atlantic, threatening to batter the Caribbean as “an extremely dangerous” Category 5 storm and head toward South Florida. [[The New York Times]( • Taiwan appointed a new premier, William Lai, as President Tsai Ing-wen moved to shore up public approval ratings that have dropped below 30 percent. [[Reuters]( • Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, financed by foreign evangelical Christians, is recruiting non-American foreign volunteer teachers to fill the gap left by a U.S. travel ban on North Korea. [[The New York Times]( • A Japanese company developed a baseball with built-in sensors that enables the measurement of spin — counting the rotations on curves, sliders and other breaking balls. [[The Asahi Shimbun]( • Australia pulled an episode of “Peppa Pig,” a children’s cartoon, off the air over its reassurances, meant for a British audience, that spiders are nonthreatening. They can be lethal in Australia. [[The Guardian]( • At the U.S. Open, four American women made the quarterfinals, and Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are on course for their first-ever clash at the tournament. [[The New York Times]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. Rikki Snyder for The New York Times • Recipe of the day: Skip takeout and [make orange beef at home](. • Should you take advantage of [a deferred-compensation plan?]( • Learn to recognize burnout, [before you’re burned out](. Noteworthy Tony Cenicola/The New York Times • “Every day that you’re working as a model, you’re objectified somehow.” [Twelve]( to us]( about racism, body shaming and sometimes elusive pay. • Afghanistan’s harvest is bountiful this year, [our Kabul correspondent writes]( but Taliban and extortion by government-linked militias have taken a toll on farmers and traders. • Finally, scientists offer a comprehensive look at the chemical warfare that takes [place when we cut into an onion](. “It’s similar to tear gas,” on researcher said. Back Story Associated Press Sixty-five years ago this week, The Times published [its review of the “The Old Man and the Sea,”]( the last Ernest Hemingway book published in his lifetime. The story of a Cuban fisherman and the greatest catch of his life, the book was a huge success and won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. A year later, Hemingway, above, was awarded the Nobel “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in “The Old Man and the Sea,” and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.” Our critic, the Smith College professor Robert Gorham Davis, wrote that it was “a tale superbly told, and in the telling Ernest Hemingway uses all the craft his hard, disciplined trying over so many years has given him.” ([One scholarly account]( says Hemingway’s literary rival, William Faulkner, was asked to write the review, but declined. He did applaud the work later in a magazine blurb.) Hemingway dismissed the notion that the work portrayed real people. But some said the novel was [inspired by Gregorio Fuentes]( the Cuban who captained his fishing boat, the Pilar — and who spent his later years reminiscing for tourists eager to learn more about [Hemingway’s Cuba](. Karen Zraick contributed reporting. _____ If photographs appear out of order, please download the updated New York Times app [from iTunes]( or [Google Play](. This briefing was prepared for the Asian briefing. We also have briefings timed 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. 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