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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’s what you need to know:
• 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’s 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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• A tumultuous weekend in U. S. politics.
On Friday, Senator Jeff Flake initially said he’d vote to advance Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s 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.’s line of inquiry.
The F. B. I will question Mark Judge, a close friend of Judge Kavanaugh’s 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’s testimony and found inconsistencies that the F. B. I could try to address.
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• 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’s values and have been campaigning for economic equality — a major pillar of the party’s 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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• From hero to pariah.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s 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’s rights.
“Rarely has the reputation of a leader fallen so far, so fast,” said a recent report from the International Crisis Group.
Our reporter charts Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s fall from grace.
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• 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’s dream of a unified, democratic nation. Above, the outskirts of Umzimkhulu town center where a prominent politician critical of party officials was killed.
“It is the very antithesis of democracy,” 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.
“Whenever you see a baobab that has fallen down, you’re sad,” said one local.
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• Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, above, stepped down as the company’s chairman as part of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve securities fraud charges against him.
• 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.
• Facebook announced that an attack on its network affected nearly 50 million accounts, the largest security breach in its 14-year history. Here’s how to protect your information.
• Coming this week: Goldman Sachs’s new C. E. O., David Solomon, officially takes the reins and the U. S. releases latest employment figures.
• Here’s a snapshot of global markets. Markets in China and Hong Kong are closed today.
• 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]
• North Korea’s foreign minister said there was “no way” 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]
• 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]
• Brexit is just six months away and Britain still doesn’t 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]
• 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]
• Egypt sentenced a female activist, Amal Fathy, to two years in jail for posting a video that criticized the government’s failure to protect women from sexual harassment. She is the latest victim of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s crackdown on dissent. [ The New York Times]
• Kanye West, who now goes by the name Ye, delivered an off-the-cuff political speech on “Saturday Night Live” reiterating his support for President Trump. [ The New York Times]
Tips for a more fulfilling life.
• Recipe of the day: Start the week with something simple and comforting: kimchi rice porridge .
• Traveling abroad? Here’s how to eat like a local .
• Be kind to yourself.
• 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 “a business trip to the moon” and sometimes made it home in time for dinner. As the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission approaches, they’re auctioning off the astronaut’s memorabilia, from his signed “insurance cover” card, above, to a rejection letter from the Diners Club.
