Your Wednesday Briefing

Russia, Strava, Blood Moon | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, January 31, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Wednesday Briefing]( By MIKE IVES Good morning. The State of the Union address in Washington, a fight over thin air and an epic lunar eclipse. Here’s your Morning Briefing: Al Drago for The New York Times • President Trump makes his first State of the Union speech in a few hours (10 a.m. Hong Kong). Here’s [our live briefing]( where we’ll stream the address. [Melania Trump]( who has kept a low profile since reports emerged of an affair between Mr. Trump and an adult film star, is expected to attend. Above, the Trumps with their son, Barron, on New Year’s Eve. Ahead of the address, a U.S. business group warned that China would retaliate [against U.S. industries if Mr. Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese exports]( like solar panels. _____ David Chang/European Pressphoto Agency • China and Taiwan are [arguing over thin air](. With Chinese military drills encroaching on Taiwan’s airspace, Taiwan this month rejected new flights from two Chinese commercial carriers. It said they had been flying sensitive new routes in the Taiwan Strait without first asking Taiwan’s permission. The carriers have now canceled 176 planned flights around the Lunar New Year, in mid-February — flights that would normally take home thousands of Taiwanese who work in China. _____ [United States Navy]United States Navy • Russian leaders expressed outrage over [a name-and-shame list]( issued by the U.S. Treasury Department that identified 210 senior Russian political and business figures. At the same time, the Trump administration has declined to impose new sanctions in accordance with a law intended to punish the Kremlin for election interference — even though the C.I.A. director warns of more interference to come in the U.S. 2018 midterms. The tensions aren’t just political. U.S. officials said [a Russian fighter jet came within a scant five feet]( of a U.S. spy plane, like the one above, over the Black Sea. _____ Rahmat Gul/Associated Press • Attacks in Kabul have killed more than 130 people over the last 10 days. Distraught and angry Afghans are [asking why the government cannot protect its own heavily militarized capital](. [On our podcast “The Daily,”]( our Kabul correspondent discusses the connection between the wave of violence and the U.S. government’s cutoff of security aid to Pakistan. And a veteran journalist [argues in an Op-Ed]( that U.S. military aims in Afghanistan are riddled with contradictions (and illusions) that Pakistan’s spy agency exploits. _____ Jan Mark • “I would definitely not like to be a Manning, or a Snowden, or an Assange.” That was [Nathan Ruser, the 20-year-ol]( Australian National University student]( who shook security experts around the world with his revelation that [the fitness app Strava exposes the locations]( of U.S. and other military bases in Afghanistan, Syria and beyond. He credits part of his discovery with private group chats on Twitter, which experts say are increasingly important forums for cybersecurity discussions. _____ NASA • Super blood blue moon rising. Earth will cast its shadow today over a full moon, turning it red “[like a giant rose in the predawn sky]( our science correspondent writes. It’s going to be super cool. Viewers in Asia and Australia should (for the most part) have the best seats in the global house. For further lunar background, [see our handy moon guide](. Business • Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase shook the U.S. health insurance market, announcing a plan to form [a tech-based, independent health care company]( to serve employees. • India’s leading ride-hailing service, Ola, [said]( that it would launch in Australia this year. The company said recently that [it had raised $1.1 billion for expansion](. Its investors include Tencent Holdings and SoftBank. • Uber for pooches? The SoftBank Vision Fund, a nearly $100 billion pot managed by the Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son, is [investing $300 million in Wag]( a start-up based in Los Angeles whose app lets users summon dogwalkers. • U.S. stocks [fell](. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Pool photo by Neil Hall • Prime Minister Teresa May of Britain is scheduled to arrive in China today, with trade high on her agenda for meetings in Wuhan, Beijing and Shanghai. [[BBC]( • In India, the rape of an 8-month-old girl has sickened and transfixed a country grown distressingly accustomed to horrifying sex abuse cases. [[The New York Times]( • Hawaii’s false alert of an inbound ballistic missile was issued intentionally, after a state worker missed the announcement of a drill. [[The New York Times]( • Macau’s gaming regulator said it had met with representatives of Stephen Wynn, a billionaire casino magnate and prominent political donor in the U.S., amid allegations that he engaged in a long pattern of sexual misconduct with employees. [[Reuters]( • An Op-Ed writer takes issue with what she saw as the Grammy awards program’s “slut-shaming” of Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. [[The New York Times]( • Dozens of medical experts called on Facebook to kill its new messaging app that targets children as young as 6. [[The New York Times]( • Ferry McFerryface will be rechristened. Officials had initially said Sydney ferry’s name was the result of a public poll that cost taxpayers $100,000 Australian (about $81,000 U.S.). But a news report revealed that it was handpicked by a transport official. [[9NEWS]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. Nicole Rivelli, via Sundance Institute • Yes, you can [stream many of this year’s Oscar-nominated films]( including “The Big Sick,” above. • Figuring out how to rebuild after infidelity often results in a [stronger relationship.]( • Order delivery and make an [easy chocolate fudge]( for dessert. Noteworthy Giulia Marchi for The New York Times • Our Frugal Traveler offers a guide to [traveling in and around China]( cheap phone service, useful apps and getting online. • Andreas Gursky, a best-selling German photographer, captures scenes that never existed. We [reviewed his new retrospective in London](. • Lunch with Bill Gates: Our columnist joined Mr. Gates and Steven Pinker, a psychology professor at Harvard University, for pizza. They had [a wide-ranging conversation about politics, poverty and evolution](. • New York commuters once looked down upon other mass-transit systems. [Our new documentary]( explains why the city’s oft-delayed trains are now a global laughingstock. Back Story Erica Yoon/Roanoke Times, via Associated Press “Milkshake duck” just [missed a spot in the Oxford Dictionaries]( but the phrase was honored this month by Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary, which declared it the word of the year for 2017. Confused? “Even if you don’t know the word, you know the phenomenon,” [the committee said in its announcement](. The phrase describes when a person’s 15 minutes of fame is followed by an abrupt fall from grace when distasteful past misdeeds are unearthed. In many ways, the committee said, that term captured the events of the past year. The Australian cartoonist Ben Ward [wrote an absurd tweet]( in 2016 about the phenomenon that raced across the internet last year. “The whole internet loves Milkshake Duck, a lovely duck that drinks milkshakes! *5 seconds later* We regret to inform you the duck is racist” The joke poked at the ridiculous ability of social media to accelerate the cycle of adulation and backlash, Mr. Ward told us last summer, when we [analyzed the meme’s meteoric rise](. “I didn’t mean it to mock anyone — I’m as susceptible to it as anyone else is,” Mr. Ward added. Isabella Kwai contributed reporting. _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online. Browse past briefings [here](. This briefing was prepared for the Asian morrning. We also have briefings timed for the [Australian]( [European]( and [American]( mornings. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters [here](. 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