Good morning.
Here’s what you need to know:
• A pipe bomb exploded in a major subway corridor during New York City’s Monday morning rush, echoing through tunnels just off Times Square. The attempted terrorist attack injured a handful of people, sent floods of commuters fleeing into the streets and disrupted the travel of tens of thousands. Here’s what we have on video.
Officials rapidly identified the suspect as Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old immigrant from Bangladesh now living in the city. He is in custody and has been hospitalized for burns.
Officials said the bomb was strapped to his body with “Velcro and zip ties” — suggesting the troubling possibility of a suicide bombing in a city known for thrumming multicultural energy.
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• President Trump pushed back against an exhaustively researched Times article on how the office has and hasn’t changed him.
In particular, he insisted via Twitter that he does not watch four to eight hours of television each day. “We stand by our reporting,” a Times spokeswoman responded.
Continue reading the main storyAnd in Alabama, Mr. Trump is backing Roy Moore in Tuesday’s too-hard-to-call special Senate election. The race has revolved almost entirely around Mr. Moore’s divisive views and allegations of improper behavior toward teenage girls.
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• The U.S., Japan and South Korea are teaming up for a military drill to track submarine-launched missiles. The two-day exercise follows news reports suggesting that North Korea is rapidly progressing toward such launches.
Underscoring fears of a possible crisis on the Korean Peninsula, a document possibly leaked from China’s state-owned telecom firm shows that a county along the border with North Korea is constructing refugee camps that could hold thousands of people.
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• President Vladimir Putin of Russia took a whirlwind diplomatic tour of Egypt, Syria and Turkey, underscoring the extension of Russia’s influence in the region and the continuing shrinkage of the U.S.’s role.
Regional and international anger has greeted President Trump’s unilateral decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
In Brussels, E.U. leaders rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for the same endorsement.
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• Like Russia, China has come under scrutiny for infiltrating other countries’ social media.
German intelligence services said that 10,000 citizens were approached via LinkedIn by Chinese spies posing as think-tank leaders and headhunters, but the quest was actually for insights and secrets from the government’s business and foreign policy arms.
A Chinese official angrily denounced the findings as “complete hearsay and groundless.”
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• When the Islamic State seized territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014, it had the time and space to manufacture weapons on an industrial scale.
Records and documents viewed by The Times show a system of arms production that combined research and development, mass production and organized distribution to amplify the terrorist group’s power, endurance and cruelty.
Mosul, a city left in ruins when the Islamic State was finally driven out in July, is beginning to rebuild.
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Business
• Beijing’s campaign to drive out rural laborers has also hurt a different kind of migrant: educated and ambitious white-collar workers drawn to the city’s new economy of tech, finance and hospitality industries.
• HSBC said its deferred prosecution deal with the U.S. Justice Department had been successful and that it expected charges related to lapses on money laundering controls to be dropped. The bank paid a $1.9 billion settlement for the deal five years ago.
• European telecom providers have already pushed the boundaries of internet protections, offering a glimpse at what U.S. consumers may face once net neutrality is repealed this week.
• The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates this week. Investors want to know what’s next.
• In the latest tech newsletter, our columnists debate how sustainable the Bitcoin boom is. (Bitcoin futures hit $17,540 this morning, from an opening of $15,000.)
• Singapore begins its electric car-sharing program today.
• U.S. stocks were higher. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.
Market Snapshot View Full Overview
In the News
• Mario Batali, the celebrity chef, apologized and stepped away from his food empire and ABC’s “The Chew” after four unnamed women accused him of sexual harassment. [The New York Times]
• Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia denied that he or his government is anti-Chinese in a televised interview that also included testy exchanges with an asylum-seeker and Indigenous Australians. [ABC]
• In Venezuela, the party of President Nicólas Maduro dominated municipal elections, aided by an opposition boycott. [The New York Times]
• India’s opposition Congress Party named Rahul Gandhi as its president, setting up a challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 polls. [NDTV]
• South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, starts a four-day visit to China this week aimed at “recovering mutual trust.” [The Straits Times]
• Saudi Arabia will allow commercial movie theaters to open for the first time in more than 35 years, the latest transformative move by the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. [The New York Times]
• A Chinese biologist proved — after a 14-year quest — that a catfish he discovered in remote Myanmar was a new species. [South China Morning Post]
Smarter Living
Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.
• Even in touch-averse cultures, men need platonic physical contact.
• Holiday messes got you stressed? Clean ’em up.
• Recipe of the day: Hot sauce livens up noodle kugel.
Noteworthy
• The Golden Globes nominations are out, led by Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy “The Shape of Water,” above, with seven. Here are the top nominees and a look at the surprises and snubs.
• The Times editorial board highlights the danger extremist Hindu politicians now pose to India’s national treasure, the Taj Mahal.
• And one of our most viewed stories at the moment: Amid the racial tensions of the 1970s, an American family decided to return a black girl they had adopted. A few months later they adopted a white girl. This is what happened decades later, when the two met.
Back Story
Long before there were meatless Mondays, there were meatless Tuesdays, wheatless Wednesdays and porkless Saturdays.
One hundred years ago, during World War I, the U.S. government made an appeal for the country to sacrifice more to help its allies in Europe avoid starvation.
Americans were already encouraged to give up meat (red meat, preserved meat and lard) on Tuesdays and wheat on Wednesdays. The new instructions also excluded pork on Saturday and recommended one meal without meat or wheat each day.
“In this emergency, only the simplest of living is patriotic,” said Herbert Hoover, food administrator and a future president.
In that crucial winter, he said, “lies the period when there will be tested in this great free country of ours the question as to whether or not our people are capable of voluntary individual self-sacrifice to save the world.”
The guidelines were later tightened again, and declared a success.
Another plea to help those struggling in Europe came after World War II. President Harry Truman, in the first televised address from the White House, asked Americans to give up meat on Tuesdays and poultry and eggs on Thursdays.
“We must not fail them,” he said.
Sarah Anderson contributed reporting.
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