Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
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Good morning.
Investigations rattle Washington, some clarity on North Korea and a special note to Australian readers. Here’s what you need to know:
• Two major investigations grabbed U. S. headlines.
A Justice Department report concluded that James Comey, the former F. B. I. director, was “insubordinate” in his unorthodox handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election.
Mr. Comey, in an Op-Ed, disputed some of the report’s conclusions, but embraced its existence as “good for the F. B. I.” Above, he spoke in Canada last week, warning leaders about to take part in the G-7 meetings not to trust President Trump .
The New York State attorney general’s office filed a scathingly worded lawsuit against Mr. Trump’s charitable foundation, accusing it and the Trump family of sweeping violations of campaign finance laws, self-dealing and illegal coordination with the presidential campaign.
Mr. Trump reacted with vitriol, characterizing the civil suit as an attempt by the “sleazy New York Democrats” to damage him. Here are the basics of the case.
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• The U. S. clarified its policy on North Korea.
Only after “complete denuclearization” would North Korea get “relief from sanctions,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, while on a tour of Asian nations.
Mr. Pompeo’s tough stance was intended to reassure Japan and South Korea, and to deny reports in North Korea’s state media that the U. S. had agreed to ease the sanctions at the summit meeting in Singapore.
They were also a clear appeal for cooperation from Beijing, where Mr. Pompeo met with President Xi Jinping on Thursday.
And our Tehran correspondent reported on the Iranian reaction to the Trump-Kim meeting: Many are asking, why won’t Mr. Trump talk to us?
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• Malaysia’s new prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, has his hands full.
“The more we look into the previous administration,” he said, “the more bad things we find.”
The 92-year-old, who previously served as prime minister from 1981 to 2003, has discovered that the country is in far worse financial shape than feared. The national debt, tallied at $170 billion by the previous administration, has been reassessed at $250 billion — 80 percent of Malaysia’s gross domestic product.
The fiscal housecleaning has reached Goldman Sachs. The U. S. investment bank made $600 million selling bonds for 1MDB, the scandal-hit state investment fund. Now Malaysia wants some of it back.
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• In Yemen, the city of Al Hudaydah came under intense attack for the second day, in the largest battle of the country’s yearslong civil war.
A Saudi-led coalition pounded the city, trying to capture the port from Houthi rebels. And Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, an architect of years of war, was watching his Saudi team lose to Russia in the opening match of the World Cup in Moscow.
The United Nations is trying to avert disruptions at the port, the main channel for food aid. Some 8.4 million people could face starvation, potentially the world’s worst famine for generations.
Our explainer untangles the complex war, and we have a video about the blockade starving the country .
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• Soccer, and beyond.
Our team is following every game, and every angle of the World Cup as it unfolds in Russia.
As our columnist writes, the tournament is about Russia “proving to its people as much as to its rivals that it can deliver the world’s most-watched sporting spectacle.”
In recent weeks, Russia tried to tame its habitual xenophobia in anticipation of the 500,000 foreign soccer fans descending on the country. (It even organized a class on how to smile.)
Not everyone got the memo. One member of Parliament warned Russian women against sleeping with foreign men. Another cautioned even against hugging visitors from other continents — diseases, you know.
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• Special note to Australian readers.
For both the U. S. and Australia, the past, present and future continue to be shaped by how the dynamics of race and equality are discussed and handled.
Our Australia bureau chief, Damien Cave, shares what he’s been reading to prepare to moderate coming conversations with Nikole Hannah-Jones, an award-winning New York Times reporter who has covered race and segregation for most of her career.
She’ll be joined by the actress Shareena Clanton at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne on Sunday ( discount code: NGVNYtimes) and by Prof. Megan Davis, the Aboriginal scholar and activist, at the University of New South Wales in Sydney on Monday ( tickets are free).
• Beijing has been scrambling to break China’s addiction to ever-rising debt, but its crackdown on easy money is starting to hit growth in the world’s second-biggest economy.
• Didi Chuxing, China’s ride-hailing giant, resumed late-night car pooling with a new safety rule: Men can’t pick up female passengers, a problem in a place where most drivers are male.
• Comcast’s offer: Our DealBook team broke down the $65 billion bid for a large portion of 21st Century Fox.
• Apple plans to close a loophole that let the authorities hack into iPhones, adding to debates over security versus privacy.
• U. S. stocks were up. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.
• Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull condemned a 2007 photo showing an Australian army vehicle flying a swastika flag in Afghanistan. Australia’s conduct there has been under new scrutiny. [ BBC]
• Syed Shujaat Bukhari, a leading journalist in Indian-administered Kashmir, was fatally shot by unidentified gunmen. [ BBC]
• The U. N. human rights office called for an investigation into abuses by India and Pakistan in the disputed region of Kashmir, criticizing the Indian security forces in particular for inflicting mass civilian casualties. [ The New York Times]
• A Vietnamese-American was among those detained in Vietnam for protesting a cybersecurity law and proposed special economic zones that raised fears of Chinese encroachment. [ The New York Times]
• “You monster!” The family of a 19-year-old Chinese student confronted the woman convicted of killing her in a road rage incident in Arizona. The judge in the case accepted a plea deal that will impose a mandatory 25-year prison sentence. [ A. P.]
• A former Walmart in Texas has become the largest migrant children’s shelter in the country — a warehouse for more than 1,500 boys, aged 10 to 17, who were caught illegally crossing the border. [ The New York Times]
• Albert Einstein’s travel diaries, kept during visits to Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Japan, India and Palestine, expose some unpleasant stereotyping. [ The New York Times]
Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.
• The dangers of belly fat may be more harmful than you know .
• The Mediterranean diet can cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes — a conclusion that was confirmed after the initial landmark study of its benefits was retracted and reanalyzed.
• Recipe of the day: Lemon sweet rolls are a perfect project for the weekend.
