Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
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Good morning. Honoring a soul music legend, protesting at Google and hiding a river of trash in Indonesia. Here’s what you need to know:
• One word: respect.
Tributes are pouring in for Aretha Franklin, the universally acclaimed “Queen of Soul” and one of the greatest vocalists of all time, who died at her home in Detroit. She was 76.
In her classic late-1960s hits, including “Respect,” “Think” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” Ms. Franklin defined a female archetype: sensual and strong, long-suffering but ultimately indomitable. Read our full obituary.
“Aretha is a gift from God,” the singer Mary J. Blige once said. “When it comes to expressing yourself through song, there is no one who can touch her. She is the reason why women want to sing.”
Here’s a playlist of 20 essential songs .
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• The president versus the press.
President Trump lashed out after over 200 newspapers, including The Times, published editorials about the dangers of his repeated attacks on the news media.
Mr. Trump said The Boston Globe was “in collusion” with other newspapers for leading the editorial effort. He also called the “fake news media” the “opposition party.”
John Brennan, the former C. I. A. director, struck back at Mr. Trump for revoking his security clearance. He said the president was trying to “scare into silence others who might dare to challenge him.”
And jury deliberations are underway in the fraud trial of Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Here are some of the factors they’ll be weighing.
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• A worried work force.
About 1,000 Google employees signed a letter protesting the company’s decision to secretly build a censored version of its search engine for China .
They wrote that the project and Google’s apparent willingness to abide by Beijing’s censorship requirements “raise urgent moral and ethical issues.”
The protest presents another obstacle for Google’s potential return to China. The company publicly withdrew from the country eight years ago in protest of censorship and government hacking.
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• Not Asian enough?
This week we’ve been bringing you the buzz surrounding “Crazy Rich Asians,” a romantic comedy that has been celebrated for its all Asian and Asian-American cast.
But ahead of the film’s release next week in Singapore, where the film was largely shot, detractors say the cast is unrepresentative of diversity in the city-state .
A concern is that the film focuses on Singapore’s Chinese, the dominant ethnic majority, at the expense of Malays, Indians and other ethnic minorities.
As “Crazy Rich Asians” hits theaters, the book on which it’s based, as well as the rest of the trilogy, appear on our paperback trade fiction best-seller list .
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• What to do with a stinky river?
With Asia’s top athletes set to arrive in Jakarta for the 2018 Asian Games this weekend, city officials were scrambling to hide an embarrassing eyesore: the Black River .
That’s a local nickname for an urban waterway that’s clogged with decades of garbage, looks more like a tar pit, and releases a gag-inducing smell — and it’s right behind the athletes’ village.
After a dredging project was deemed infeasible, officials came up with a plan to fix their river problem that would impress David Copperfield: They hid it, above.
• A flood of cash from the world’s central banks has fueled rapid growth in emerging markets like Turkey, Now, that borrowing binge looks like a problem .
• Blame Beijing: China’s crackdown on gaming weighed heavily on the fortunes of Tencent, the homegrown internet giant. Investors worldwide worry that the pain could spread.
• Cancer warnings on coffee? California says no. An agency is moving to nullify a judge’s ruling.
• And China’s move to allow rainbow trout to be sold as salmon has outraged sushi lovers and angered consumers frustrated with the country’s persistent food-labeling problems.
• U. S. stocks were up. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.
• 44 small graves: An airstrike by a Saudi-led coalition on a bus carrying children casts new light on the United States’ role in the war in Yemen. [ The New York Times]
• “We are tired of crying for the dead.” At a morgue in Genoa, Italy, people looking for the missing after a catastrophic bridge collapse dreaded what they might find. [ The New York Times]
• An Islamic State member wanted for murder in Iraq was arrested in California. Omar Ameen, who is also a longtime member of Al Qaeda, lied to obtain refugee status in 2014. [ The New York Times]
• In India, flooding caused by monsoon rains in the southern state of Kerala has killed at least 73 people, shut down an airport and displaced more than 85,000 people. [ BBC]
• An 11-year-old bride to a Malaysian man 30 years her senior has returned to her native Thailand. The case highlighted the prevalence of child brides in Malaysia, which belies the country’s modern outlook. [ The New York Times]
• “Right now it’s really hard to be a Catholic.” We spoke with Catholics across the U. S., who are grappling with new revelations about the sexual abuse of more than 1,000 young people by hundreds of priests in Pennsylvania. [ The New York Times]
Tips for a more fulfilling life.
• Recipe of the day: Make this the year that you hit up the farmers’ market and make lots of fruit jam .
• Clean the most common of dog messes .
• Experts say eating quality food beats going for variety.
• A breezy, ex-hippie wonderland: That’s how our Australia Fare columnist describes the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, where appealing landscape and beaches have attracted young, talented restaurateurs and the “boho-chic” set.
• My dinner with Besha: This week’s Australia letter introduces readers to Besha Rodell, our award-winning Australia Fare columnist (see the review above). And Maureen Dowd, the Times Op-Ed columnist, is on her way to Sydney.
• And the Super Bowl of beekeeping: California’s $7.6 billion almond industry wouldn’t be possible without 30 billion bees (and hundreds of human beekeepers). But the bees’ existence is in peril. The Times Magazine explores their future.
On Aug. 18,1872, Aaron Montgomery Ward, a Chicago businessman, launched an idea that seemed humble at the time but would go on to shape the entire retail industry.
On a sheet of paper, he listed about 150 items for sale. That one page turned into hundreds, and by 1888 annual sales from the catalog reached $1 million.
