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| Version 4 | Version 5 |
|---|---|
| Aleppo, Berlin, Donald Trump: Your Morning Briefing | Aleppo, Berlin, Donald Trump: Your Morning Briefing |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Good morning. | Good morning. |
| Here’s what you need to know: | Here’s what you need to know: |
| • President-elect Donald J. Trump added more turbulence to U.S. foreign policy, tweeting that the country should greatly “expand its nuclear capability” after comments by the Russian president. He also pressured President Obama to veto a U.N. resolution critical of Israel. | |
| His choice of an outspoken critic of China, Peter Navarro, to oversee trade policy underscored his intent to reshape dealings between the world’s two largest economies. | His choice of an outspoken critic of China, Peter Navarro, to oversee trade policy underscored his intent to reshape dealings between the world’s two largest economies. |
| Mr. Trump’s transition team is asking employees at the State Department to provide details of gender-equality programs, fanning fears of a rollback. | |
| And the Obama administration is dismantling a dormant national registry program for visitors from countries with active terrorist groups after Mr. Trump seemed to suggest that the attack on a Christmas market in Berlin validated his proposal to bar Muslims from entering the United States. | And the Obama administration is dismantling a dormant national registry program for visitors from countries with active terrorist groups after Mr. Trump seemed to suggest that the attack on a Christmas market in Berlin validated his proposal to bar Muslims from entering the United States. |
| _____ | _____ |
| • “Who most wants to overthrow China?” | • “Who most wants to overthrow China?” |
| That’s the promotion for a widely circulating propaganda video that warns of the “devilish claws” of the West. Exactly who made it is unclear, but it’s a phantasmagoria of the Communist Party’s nightmares of foreign subversion. | That’s the promotion for a widely circulating propaganda video that warns of the “devilish claws” of the West. Exactly who made it is unclear, but it’s a phantasmagoria of the Communist Party’s nightmares of foreign subversion. |
| _____ | _____ |
| • South Korea’s Constitutional Court resumes hearings on Tuesday on the move to impeach President Park Geun-hye. | |
| The court shifted its focus from corruption accusations to possible negligence, ordering Ms. Park to detail her activities on the day in 2014 when a ferry sank and more than 300 people drowned, most of them teenagers on a school trip. | The court shifted its focus from corruption accusations to possible negligence, ordering Ms. Park to detail her activities on the day in 2014 when a ferry sank and more than 300 people drowned, most of them teenagers on a school trip. |
| _____ | _____ |
| • The Japanese government can begin removing spent shells and other detritus from nearly 10,000 acres of land on Okinawa that was returned by the U.S. military. The parcel may eventually be turned into a national park. | |
| In a sign of the prevalence of intense opposition to the U.S. military presence on Okinawa, the prefecture’s governor boycotted the return ceremony on Thursday, issuing a statement that said: “I greatly regret that the U.S. military doesn’t have any consideration for the people of Okinawa.” | In a sign of the prevalence of intense opposition to the U.S. military presence on Okinawa, the prefecture’s governor boycotted the return ceremony on Thursday, issuing a statement that said: “I greatly regret that the U.S. military doesn’t have any consideration for the people of Okinawa.” |
| With an eye on China, Japan’s cabinet approved a record $44 billion defense budget, investing in new submarines, ships and stealth fighter jets. | |
| _____ | _____ |
| • The Syrian government controls all of Aleppo for the first time since 2012. | • The Syrian government controls all of Aleppo for the first time since 2012. |
| The last evacuations from rebel-held areas of the city represent a turning point in the war and a morale-building victory for President Bashar al-Assad’s troops. | |
| _____ | _____ |
| • Alibaba’s stock fell more than 2 percent on the New York Stock Exchange after the U.S. returned the company’s Taobao marketplace to its list of “notorious markets.” | |
| Alibaba’s chief executive compared the American move to trade protectionism. | |
| • Super Mario “is rife with stale, retrograde gender stereotypes,” writes a video game critic. | |
| But makers of video games are trying to make competitions, or esports, more appealing to women. Revenue from esports is expected to surpass $1 billion by 2018. | |
| • Ikea reached a tentative settlement to pay $50 million to three American families whose young children were killed after the Swedish furniture company’s furniture fell on them. | |
| • The Sensex, Mumbai’s stock exchange, fell for a seventh consecutive day and appears headed for the first back-to-back annual declines since 2001. | • The Sensex, Mumbai’s stock exchange, fell for a seventh consecutive day and appears headed for the first back-to-back annual declines since 2001. |
| • Shark experts and consumer advocates are urging Australian authorities to curtail a booming business in untested shark repellents. | • Shark experts and consumer advocates are urging Australian authorities to curtail a booming business in untested shark repellents. |
| • Wall Street was lower. Here’s a snapshot of global markets. | • Wall Street was lower. Here’s a snapshot of global markets. |
| • Expect a wide range of topics — nuclear weapons, terrorism, Syria, economics, U.S. politics — when President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia gives his annual news conference today. [Bloomberg] | • Expect a wide range of topics — nuclear weapons, terrorism, Syria, economics, U.S. politics — when President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia gives his annual news conference today. [Bloomberg] |
| • President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines called the U.N. official who said he should be investigated for murder an “idiot” and a “son of a bitch,” and said he would burn down the U.N. building if he went to New York. [The New York Times] | |
| • The arrest of a Perth man may be a break in the so-called Claremont serial killings, three deaths in 1996 and 1997 that set off Australia’s longest-running, most expensive police investigation. [ABC] | • The arrest of a Perth man may be a break in the so-called Claremont serial killings, three deaths in 1996 and 1997 that set off Australia’s longest-running, most expensive police investigation. [ABC] |
| • Extreme warmth in the Arctic is alarming scientists, who warn of record-low ice coverage and more warming in a region that is among the hardest hit by climate change. [The New York Times] | • Extreme warmth in the Arctic is alarming scientists, who warn of record-low ice coverage and more warming in a region that is among the hardest hit by climate change. [The New York Times] |
| • A New York antiquities dealer renowned for her expertise in Indian and Southeast Asian art was arrested on suspicion of selling looted artifacts after forging documents to hide their history. [The New York Times] | • A New York antiquities dealer renowned for her expertise in Indian and Southeast Asian art was arrested on suspicion of selling looted artifacts after forging documents to hide their history. [The New York Times] |
| • The fire that claimed some 140 buildings in the Japanese city of Niigata on Thursday started in a ramen restaurant. [Asahi Shimbun] | • The fire that claimed some 140 buildings in the Japanese city of Niigata on Thursday started in a ramen restaurant. [Asahi Shimbun] |
| • The year in pictures. 2016 was so unexpected, so tumultuous that the fight has just begun over which narrative might possibly explain it. These images might help. | • The year in pictures. 2016 was so unexpected, so tumultuous that the fight has just begun over which narrative might possibly explain it. These images might help. |
| • The capitals of Latvia and Estonia are feuding over which had the world’s first decorated Christmas tree. Civic pride and tourist dollars are at stake. | |
| • And our latest 360 video takes you to Santa Claus Village in Finland, where the elves (postal workers) sort through about 700,000 letters each year. | • And our latest 360 video takes you to Santa Claus Village in Finland, where the elves (postal workers) sort through about 700,000 letters each year. |
| We all know what it’s like to get a less-than-ideal gift. Compare your own this season to some of the oddities our correspondents have received. | We all know what it’s like to get a less-than-ideal gift. Compare your own this season to some of the oddities our correspondents have received. |
| Alissa J. Rubin, our Paris bureau chief, remembers that, as a war correspondent in Iraq, she was given a copper-colored, plasticky statuette of an Egyptian sphinx: “It had translucent bright blue eyes, and it would light up.” Another one that sticks out: “A Saddam watch.” | Alissa J. Rubin, our Paris bureau chief, remembers that, as a war correspondent in Iraq, she was given a copper-colored, plasticky statuette of an Egyptian sphinx: “It had translucent bright blue eyes, and it would light up.” Another one that sticks out: “A Saddam watch.” |
| Marc Lacey, our national editor and a former international correspondent, still has an Iraqi translator’s disconcerting gift: “A painting by an artist said to have painted Saddam Hussein himself, showing a man in a flowing white robe on a majestic white steed holding a sword toward the heavens. He had my face.” | Marc Lacey, our national editor and a former international correspondent, still has an Iraqi translator’s disconcerting gift: “A painting by an artist said to have painted Saddam Hussein himself, showing a man in a flowing white robe on a majestic white steed holding a sword toward the heavens. He had my face.” |
| Jim Yardley, our Europe editor, recalls a range of gifts when he was covering China: “A plaque with a photograph of a local dam project. A few tea sets. And Olympics swag, including a stuffed doll of one of the Beijing mascots, ‘The Friendlies.’” | Jim Yardley, our Europe editor, recalls a range of gifts when he was covering China: “A plaque with a photograph of a local dam project. A few tea sets. And Olympics swag, including a stuffed doll of one of the Beijing mascots, ‘The Friendlies.’” |
| Andrew Jacobs, a correspondent, remembers another gift to the Beijing bureau: “A compressed Frisbee-sized disc of tea shaped in the image of the Chinese helicopter tycoon who was giving them out.” No one, he says, drank the tea. | |
| _____ | _____ |
| We’re off on Monday. Your Morning Briefing will resume publishing on Tuesday. | We’re off on Monday. Your Morning Briefing will resume publishing on Tuesday. |
| What would you like to see here? Contact us at asiabriefing@nytimes.com. | What would you like to see here? Contact us at asiabriefing@nytimes.com. |