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Good morning. Twin disasters devastate Indonesia, chaos grows around a U. S. Supreme Court nominee, a concession from Elon Musk. Here\u2019s what you need to know:
\u2022 Nearly a thousand people are dead in Indonesia after a powerful earthquake and tsunami.
The toll doubled over the weekend to 832 and is expected to rise further as rescuers comb through the rubble on the remote eastern island of Sulawesi. Nearly 17,000 people were left homeless in the main city, Palu, after an 18-foot wave destroyed the island on Friday.
Indonesia straddles several tectonic plates and is highly prone to natural disasters. Since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed around 230,000 lives across 14 countries, Indonesia has tried to upgrade its disaster response system.
But the latest disaster has raised questions about the country\u2019s efforts: no warning siren was sounded before the wave hit the island and none of the 22 buoys at sea monitoring for tsunamis were functional.
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\u2022 A tumultuous weekend in U. S. politics.
On Friday, Senator Jeff Flake initially said he\u2019d vote to advance Judge Brett Kavanaugh\u2019s Supreme Court nomination.
Then, after being confronted by two women and mounting pressure from his colleagues, the Republican from Arizona asked to delay the full Senate vote by a week to allow the F. B. I to investigate sexual misconduct allegations against Judge Kavanaugh, above.
Democrats denounced limits on the scope of the investigation as a farce, as it became clear that the White House had imposed limitations on the F. B. I.\u2019s line of inquiry.
The F. B. I will question Mark Judge, a close friend of Judge Kavanaugh\u2019s who is said to have been in the room when the judge allegedly assaulted Christine Blasey Ford in high school. Three other witnesses will also be interviewed.
We also fact checked Judge Kavanaugh\u2019s testimony and found inconsistencies that the F. B. I could try to address.
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\u2022 China confronts unlikely threats at home.
The government has detained several dozen young activists, many of them students and graduates of top universities .
The twist? The activists, above, are all well-versed in the Communist Party\u2019s values and have been campaigning for economic equality \u2014 a major pillar of the party\u2019s own ideology.
The crackdown on young communists is one of many steps by Chinese leaders to manage growing domestic unease, especially as the country heads into the throes of an economic slowdown.
The government recently banned publication of negative economic news, particularly the consequences of the trade war with the U. S., while President Xi Jinping preached self-reliance during a visit to farms and factories around the country, casting himself as a modern-day Mao Zedong.
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\u2022 From hero to pariah.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar\u2019s civilian leader and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, above, was once hailed as a beacon of hope who would steer the country away from decades of military rule and into a stable democracy.
Instead, she has turned a blind eye as the military has persecuted Rohingya Muslims, suppressed freedom of speech and done little to advance women\u2019s rights.
\u201cRarely has the reputation of a leader fallen so far, so fast,\u201d said a recent report from the International Crisis Group.
Our reporter charts Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s fall from grace.
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\u2022 Legacies threatened across Africa.
In South Africa, about 90 politicians have been killed since the start of 2016, more than twice the annual rate in the 16 years before that.
Many of the targets are members of the African National Congress who have spoken out against corruption, imperiling Nelson Mandela\u2019s dream of a unified, democratic nation. Above, the outskirts of Umzimkhulu town center where a prominent politician critical of party officials was killed.
\u201cIt is the very antithesis of democracy,\u201d said one expert.
In Senegal, fat, sprawling baobab trees that have towered over the West African country for thousands of years are being threatened by climate change, urbanization and population growth.
\u201cWhenever you see a baobab that has fallen down, you\u2019re sad,\u201d said one local.
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\u2022 Elon Musk, Tesla\u2019s chief executive, above, stepped down as the company\u2019s chairman as part of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve securities fraud charges against him.
\u2022 71: That is the percentage of working Japanese women who have had children, the highest on record. But many working mothers get part-time jobs, which means low pay, slim benefits and few opportunities to advance.
\u2022 Facebook announced that an attack on its network affected nearly 50 million accounts, the largest security breach in its 14-year history. Here\u2019s how to protect your information.
\u2022 Coming this week: Goldman Sachs\u2019s new C. E. O., David Solomon, officially takes the reins and the U. S. releases latest employment figures.
\u2022 Here\u2019s a snapshot of global markets. Markets in China and Hong Kong are closed today.
\u2022 Many killer whales carry lingering remnants of polychlorinated biphenyls, known as PCBs, and scientists estimate that the banned toxic chemicals might wipe out roughly half of their global population in the next few decades. [ The New York Times]
\u2022 North Korea\u2019s foreign minister said there was \u201cno way\u201d the country would denuclearize without any concessions from the U. S., just days after Washington reiterated the need to keep sanctions against Pyongyang intact. [ The New York Times]
\u2022 A man in Hong Kong is found to have a strain of Hepatitis E that was previously found only in rats. [ The New York Times]
\u2022 Brexit is just six months away and Britain still doesn\u2019t have a plan, forcing the country to prepare for the worst: a sudden exit that could disrupt energy, food and medicine supplies, and ground air travel. [ The New York Times]
\u2022 India will install air purifiers at major intersections in New Delhi in an attempt to reduce pollution. Experts are skeptical that this will work. [ The Guardian]
\u2022 Egypt sentenced a female activist, Amal Fathy, to two years in jail for posting a video that criticized the government\u2019s failure to protect women from sexual harassment. She is the latest victim of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi\u2019s crackdown on dissent. [ The New York Times]
\u2022 Kanye West, who now goes by the name Ye, delivered an off-the-cuff political speech on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d reiterating his support for President Trump. [ The New York Times]
Tips for a more fulfilling life.
\u2022 Recipe of the day: Start the week with something simple and comforting: kimchi rice porridge .
\u2022 Traveling abroad? Here\u2019s how to eat like a local .
\u2022 Be kind to yourself.
\u2022 Neil Armstrong, for many people, cuts a historic figure who left footprints in outer space. For his sons, Rick and Mark, he was just an ordinary dad who took \u201ca business trip to the moon\u201d and sometimes made it home in time for dinner. As the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission approaches, they\u2019re auctioning off the astronaut\u2019s memorabilia, from his signed \u201cinsurance cover\u201d card, above, to a rejection letter from the Diners Club.
\u2022 Jellyfish have long been considered the dead end of the ocean\u2019s food chain \u2014 an unappetizing, low-calorie dining option for most predators. But new research suggests that the mesmerizing floaters may play a crucial part in the ecosystem\u2019s survival.
\u2022 In memoriam: David Wong Louie, an American writer whose critically acclaimed works drew on his own experiences as the son of Chinese immigrants. He was 63.
\u201cThe park is a paradise that makes even the loss of Eden seem insignificant,\u201d wrote John Muir, a Scottish-American naturalist many see as the father of U. S. environmentalism.
He was describing Yosemite National Park, created today in 1890, in large part through his efforts.
Growing up in Dunbar, Scotland, Muir routinely risked \u201csore punishments\u201d by a stern father to run off and explore nearby wilderness.
His first glimpse of the Yosemite area, in 1868, transformed him. He roamed it endlessly. He called sheep set to graze there \u201choofed locusts\u201d for devouring the greenery. He worried about commercial exploitation and railed against clueless crowds.
\u201cSomehow most of these travelers seem to care but little for the glorious objects about them,\u201d he wrote.
The 1864 Yosemite Grant Act offered some protections, but Muir lobbied hard for more. After Congress established the park in 1890, Muir further lobbied President Theodore Roosevelt, taking him camping there. Roosevelt subsequently added new areas to the park.
Muir\u2019s love of Yosemite never waned . \u201cIt is good for everybody,\u201d he explained, \u201cno matter how benumbed with care, encrusted with a mail of business habits like a tree with bark. None can escape its charms.\u201d
Nancy Wartik wrote today\u2019s Back Story.
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