Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
Good morning.
Here’s what you need to know:
• President Trump strongly defended what he called his “absolute right” to share classified information about an Islamic State plot with top Russian officials, disclosures that set off a furor over whether he had violated the expectations of the Middle Eastern ally that provided the intelligence.
Two American officials, one current and one former, told our reporters the intelligence was provided by Israel — which considers itself to be threatened by a close Russian ally, Iran.
The turmoil has set the White House staff squabbling .
_____
• President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey left his first meeting with President Trump at the White House declaring a “historical turn of tide” in the countries’ relationship.
Our reporter details Turkey’s decline from democracy .
_____
• Representatives of South Korea and the U. S. working toward a summit meeting in late June, agreed to “pursue drastic and practical joint approaches” to the North Korean nuclear crisis, possibly including talks with the North.
Security experts said North Korean sleeper cells might be responsible for the crippling ransomware attacks targeting outdated versions of Microsoft’s Windows operating system.
North Korea’s most recent missile test, meanwhile, appeared to show significant progress toward a long-range weapon.
Above, South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, with Matt Pottinger, left, a special assistant to President Trump.
_____
• “You need to consider your options. No one will be resettled in Australia.”
That’s what asylum seekers and refugees said Papua New Guinea officials told them, after announcing that parts of the Manus Island detention center would be shut down.
But their options appear to be limited to repatriation — or moving to an even more remote camp.
_____
• Thailand dropped its plan to block Facebook after the social media network agreed to take down more posts that appeared to show Thailand’s new king walking through a shopping mall in a crop top that revealed his tattoos.
_____
• And Myanmar’s many changes don’ t yet include much in the way of protecting women from violence, our reporter found.
Diplomats have called the issue a “silent emergency, ” and rights advocates say the situation is made worse by weak law enforcement and courts rife with corruption and misogyny.
• A whistle-blowing automotive engineer prompted South Korea’s order to recall 240,000 Hyundai cars .
• The 25 highest-paid hedge fund managers, including some underperformers, earned a collective $11 billion in 2016.
• The top executive at China’s branch of Legendary Entertainment, the Dalian Wanda-owned film studio, is leaving, the second major departure since the flop of “The Great Wall.”
• India n stocks hit record highs, led by exporters and encouraged by positive growth assessments.
• And Tim Gurner, the Australian real estate mogul, said that spending on things like avocado toast was impeding millennials’ ability to own homes. The criticism didn’ t go over well.
• U. S. stocks were mixed. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.
• Princess Mako, the 25-year-old granddaughter of Japan’s emperor, will reportedly marry a fellow student she met while attending a Christian university in Tokyo, and become a commoner. [The Yomiuri Shimbun]
• The Syrian government dismissed as “lies” a U. S. government accusation that it was burning bodies at a prison complex to destroy evidence of war crimes. [The New York Times]
• A 60-foot-long “sea monster” that set off a frenzy when it washed up on a remote Indonesian beach was finally identified as a badly decomposed whale. [Jakarta Globe]
• More than 8,000 candidates running for 21 seats: This year’s Tehran City Council race is proving to be a spectacle that provides a rare perspective on Iranian society. [The New York Times]
• An Indian court ruled that doctors were free to carry out an abortion on a 10-year-old girl who is nearly 21 weeks pregnant after being repeatedly raped by her stepfather. [The New York Times]
• Refugees in Hong Kong who helped hide Edward Snowden, the American whistle-blower, face deportation. [South China Morning Post]
• Henderson Island, a coral atoll in the South Pacific, has the world’s highest density of plastic litter, an Australian and British study found, with 671 items of rubbish per square meter. [The New York Times]
• Once we would brag of not needing very much of it. Now, deep slumber is a coveted state achieved with gadgets, apps, gizmos and classes.
• Need something to watch to help with the elliptical tedium of running on a treadmill? Watch these shows while you workout.
• Recipe of the day: Make this fettuccine with asparagus one of your half-hour favorites.
• Murder in the 4-0. The Times documented every homicide last year in the 40th Precinct in the South Bronx, a part of New York where poverty and crime persist.
• From our science reporters: Patients’ immune systems often produce antibodies to the very treatments that are keeping them alive. The search for a solution is on. Plus, we have news about honeybee hair.
• Finally, Chanel’s $1,300 boomerang came back to hit it. In Australia, home of the Aboriginal boomerang, the French brand is being accused of cultural appropriation, exploitation and ignorance.
There’s an F. B. I. investigation currently in the headlines, but it was on this day in 1965 that a different one ended: a two-year inquiry into “Louie, Louie.”
The song was originally recorded in 1956, but it was the muddled lyrics of the 1963 version by The Kingsmen that many listeners thought might be obscene.
“Parents were concerned, and they figured, ‘My gosh, this sounds like a dirty song, I don’ t understand it — maybe we should have an investigation,’ ” said Eric Predoehl, who is making a documentary about the song’s history .
One parent’s letter to the serving attorney general, Robert Kennedy, prompted the investigation .
“This land of ours is headed for an extreme state of moral degradation, ” the parent wrote.
The lyrics may have been indecipherable because, when the band recorded the single in a studio in Portland, Ore., there was only one microphone, hanging several feet above Jack Ely, the lead singer. To be heard, he reportedly shouted lines like (maybe) “Me gotta go” and “All the way.
