Your Friday Briefing

North Korea, Russia, Samsung | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, August 10, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( Asia Edition [Your Friday Briefing]( By CHARLES MCDERMID Good morning. A close look at the global heat wave, a deadly airstrike in Yemen and a gender milestone for the U.S. Marines. Here’s what you need to know: Saumya Khandelwal for The New York Times • The world is getting hotter, faster. Globally, this is [shaping up to be fourth-hottest year on record]( — the only years hotter were the three previous ones. The devastating effects have been felt from California to Greece to Japan. Above, air-conditioners in New Delhi. And it’s too early to call it the new normal: Temperatures are still rising, and, so far, efforts to tame the heat have failed. On the horizon is a future of cascading system failures threatening basic necessities like food supply and electricity. “It’s not a wake-up call anymore,” a climate expert said. “It’s now absolutely happening to millions of people around the world.” _____ Doug Mills/The New York Times • Pre-emptive diplomacy. The Times has learned that senior U.S. national security officials, seeking to prevent President Trump from upending a formal policy agreement at last month’s NATO meeting in Brussels, [pushed the military alliance’s ambassadors]( to complete it before the forum even began. The rushed machinations to get the policy done, as demanded by John Bolton, the national security adviser, came just weeks after Mr. Trump refused to sign off on a communiqué from the June meeting of the Group of 7 in Canada. _____ Giulia Marchi for The New York Times • In recent years, millions of ordinary investors across China have plowed their savings into online financial products that promised big profits with little risk. But the [sudden collapse of hundreds of these peer-to-peer lenders]( in recent months has prompted a panic, leaving many investors with little information and little way to get their money back. For Chinese officials, the situation is quickly becoming political. Thousands of investors plotted a big protest in Beijing this week, but the Chinese authorities all but quashed it, above. _____ Dita Alangkara/Associated Press • Senior officials from North and South Korea will meet on Monday in Panmunjom, above, on their border, to discuss the [possibility of a third summit meeting this year]( between their leaders, Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in. Seoul is hoping to break the impasse over the dismantling of Pyongyang’s nuclear arms program. The move comes as South Koreans are [coping with a changing U.S. military presence]( — one no longer seen as immutable. Our At War blog went to Camp Humphreys, a once-sleepy outpost that is now the largest American base overseas. Its expansion cost nearly $11 billion, 90 percent paid for by South Korea. _____ Thomas Gibbons-Neff/The New York Times • For the U.S., a historic moment. First Lt. Marina Hierl, 24, has become the first woman in the [U.S. Marine Corps to lead an infantry platoon](. Above, she directed her unit in Australia in June. The Marine Corps allowed women into its infantry ranks in 2015, after losing its challenge to the Pentagon’s 2013 order that women would no longer be excluded from combat roles. Separately, the U.S. is pushing forward its plan for a new military branch, [the Space Command]( to be in operation by 2020. Business Lucas Jackson/Reuters • Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note9, [its latest big-screen smartphone]( (also known as a “phablet”). It has a digital pen, costs about $1,000, and arrives in stores on Aug. 24. Analysts say it may not be enough to return Samsung to healthy growth in a saturated market. • Russia’s ruble plunged and its main stock index, the Micex, fell [after the U]( new sanctions]( in response to a nerve-agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain. • Days after Google, Facebook and Apple purged videos and podcasts from the right-wing conspiracy site Infowars from their sites, the Infowars app has become one of [the hottest in the U.S.]( • U.S. stocks [were flat](. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Naif Rahma/Reuters • In Yemen, an airstrike from the Saudi-led coalition struck a school bus in a busy market area, killing at least 43 people, including many children. The Saudi-led coalition said it was part of a “legitimate military operation.” [[The New York Times]( • The government of Puerto Rico for the first time acknowledged that 1,427 people probably died in Hurricane Maria. The previous death toll was 64. [[The New York Times]( • Australia stripped five former dual nationals of their citizenship because of their involvement with the Islamic State overseas. [[A.P.]( • Britain’s “greatest chess prospect in a generation.” The family of Shreyas Royal, a 9-year-old chess prodigy born in India, is fighting to stay in Britain after his father’s work visa runs out. [[The New York Times]( • Fighting affirmative action: Galvanized by the fight over race-based school admissions in the U.S., a small segment of Chinese-Americans is showing growing political clout. [[The New York Times]( • Stateless no more. Three of the 12 boys who were rescued from a flooded cave in northern Thailand last month have been granted Thai citizenship, along with their coach. [[The New York Times]( • Golf’s odd couple: As Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson go into the P.G.A. Championship, they may have more in common than ever, our columnist writes. [[The New York Times]( • In memoriam: Jarrod Lyle, 36, an Australian golfer who competed in more than 120 P.G.A. tournaments and returned to the sport after multiple bouts with leukemia. [[The New York Times]( Smarter Living Tips for a more fulfilling life. Michael Kraus for The New York Times • Recipe of the day: End the week with a simple, light dinner: [Mark Bittman’s spicy shrimp salad with mint](. • Are you a smart traveler? [Take our quiz.]( • How to [deal with a bad boss](. Noteworthy Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times • “It’s visual art.” In Hong Kong, government-provided public housing estates, have become [wildly popular]( Instagram selfie backdrops]( much to the irritation of some residents. • The Indigenous Department at Screen Australia is celebrating its 25th year. The head of the department shared her five top movies, and her favorite television series, [in this week’s Australia Letter](. • And a robot walks into a bar: Artificial-intelligence researchers are building neural networks that can take part in improv skits. [The results are unpredictable](. Back Story Elvis Barukcic/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images [The Sarajevo Film Festival]( begins today in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The red carpets, more than 200 screenings and hundreds of thousands of euros in prizes are a far cry from the festival’s origins during the siege of Sarajevo and the Bosnian War in the 1990s. In 1993, Haris Pasovic, a Bosnian director, [helped organize a gathering]( with the title “Beyond the End of the World,” which was inspired by one of the films that were screened: “Until the End of the World,” by the German director Wim Wenders. At the time, a reporter asked Mr. Pasovic, “Why are you holding a film festival in the middle of a war?” “Why are they holding a war in the middle of a film festival?” he replied. In [an interview the next year]( he said, “People have to have food for their souls.” The gathering lasted 10 days, but screenings continued through a separate organization, culminating in the inaugural Sarajevo Film Festival in the fall of 1995. About 15,000 people risked their safety to watch 37 films from over 15 countries, some of which were smuggled in by their own directors. Soon after the first festival closed, [the Dayton peace accords were signed]( ending the Bosnian War. Matthew Sedacca wrote today’s Back Story. _____ This briefing was prepared for the Asian morning. You can also [sign up]( to get the briefing in the Australian, European or American morning. [Sign up here]( to receive an Evening Briefing on U.S. weeknights. Browse our full range of Times newsletters [here](. 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