Good morning.
Here’s what you need to know:
• Score one for the power of sports.
North and South Korea agreed to have their athletes march together under a “unified Korea” flag at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics next month. The nations will also field a joint women’s ice hockey team.
The moves are “the most dramatic gesture of reconciliation between the two nations in a decade,” said our Korea correspondent. Above, the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
Even as relations thaw, however, President Trump told Reuters that Russia is helping the North evade sanctions and that Pyongyang is getting “closer every day” to being able to fire a missile to the U.S..
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• It’s being called one of the worst U.S. intelligence failures in years: More than a dozen C.I.A. informants in China have been killed or arrested since 2010, as Beijing dismantled American spying operations.
Now, an American is suspected of having helped Beijing by identifying the informants. Jerry Chun Shing Lee, who left the C.I.A. in 2007, was apprehended in New York this week. Here’s the affidavit against him.
Continue reading the main storyIntelligence officials fear the case could represent a troubling pattern of China targeting former C.I.A. employees, an easier task than trying to recruit current operatives.
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• Stephen Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, has agreed to be interviewed by investigators looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The deal allows him to avoid testifying before a grand jury, a sign that Mr. Bannon is cooperating with the investigation.
Separately, the clock is ticking on a government shutdown. Mr. Trump insists on including funding for a border wall in any spending bill, but Democrats want to extend a program for young undocumented immigrants.
Republicans, meanwhile, are weighing whether to use funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program as a carrot — or stick — to win Democrats’ support.
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• The Pentagon sent a new nuclear strategy to President Trump for approval that would permit the use of nuclear weapons in response to a wider range of devastating but non-nuclear assaults on the U.S., including cyberattacks.
The document casts an alarming picture of U.S. national security threats, citing not only Russian and Chinese nuclear advances but also ones by North Korea and, potentially, Iran.
“We must look reality in the eye and see the world as it is, not as we wish it to be,” the draft said.
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• “I believe that they’re hopeful that life will get better for them.”
That was the chief executive of the California hospital that is looking after some of the 13 siblings who were rescued by the police on Tuesday.
Their father, David Turpin, had created a school at his nondescript home. But what the authorities found inside over the weekend were his emaciated children, some chained to furniture.
How a family that some described as normal just a few years ago had unraveled so severely, nobody seemed to know. The good news, trauma experts say, is that recovery for the siblings is possible.
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• And is that you in that centuries-old work of art?
The Google Arts and Culture app, the most downloaded mobile app over the weekend, has made taking selfies at the museum a bit more personal. It allows the curious-minded to find their doppelgängers in paintings and sculptures.
One museum official said: “Art has the power to transport us through time, and so I think it’s a joy to recognize ourselves, a friend or even a pet, in an artwork from centuries ago.”
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Business
• Apple plans to bring back the majority of the $252 billion in cash that it has long held abroad, capitalizing on the Republican tax law. Meanwhile, our technology columnist writes that it’s time for Apple to build a less-addictive iPhone.
• Google is helping businesses build their own A.I. algorithms, even if they are novices.
• Twenty-one U.S. states have filed a lawsuit against the repeal of net neutrality rules, saying the move was “arbitrary and capricious.”
• Hong Kong stocks closed at their highest level on Wednesday, and U.S. stocks were up. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.
Market Snapshot View Full Overview
In the News
• In Myanmar, at least seven ethnic Rakhine protesters were killed by the police during a march commemorating the 233rd anniversary of the fall of the Rakhine, or Arakan, kingdom to an invading Burmese army. [The New York Times]
• A Hong Kong court sentenced Joshua Wong to three months in prison for his role in the 2014 Umbrella Movement. [The New York Times]
in Rakhine State. [Reuters]
• The U.S. is withholding $65 million from the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency for “future consideration.” [The New York Times]
• A U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led border force in Syria has raised alarm in the region. The 30,000-strong force, opposed by Russia, Turkey, Iran and Syria, could ignite a new phase in the war. [The New York Times]
• The Cantopop scene in Hong Kong owes a lot to Dolores O’Riordan, the Cranberries singer who died this week. [Quartzy]
• China will deploy robot submarines to stop oil leaking from an Iranian tanker that sank in the East China Sea. [South China Morning Post]
• From the Australian Open: Marta Kostyuk, a 15-year-old Ukrainian, has reached the third round. “Scary,” she said after advancing. “But, O.K.” [The New York Times]
Smarter Living
Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.
• Battle forgetfulness with these great tips.
• “Should I buy Bitcoin?” is the wrong question.
• Recipe of the day: Skip delivery and make Hunan beef at home.
Noteworthy
• “Drag has finally arrived at the place it deserves in pop culture, in a way that cannot be ignored,” one aficionado said. Beneath the glitz, it turns out, drag is a job like many others, with long hours and little immediate return.
• The first rule for Morocco’s bid for the 2026 World Cup: Don’t talk about it. In contrast to the joint bid of the U.S., Mexico and Canada, Morocco hasn’t shared its plans for the world’s biggest sporting event.
• Finally, here’s an image of Wednesday’s front page, and links to our Opinion content and crossword puzzles.
Back Story
Double your money in just 90 days. Better yet, make it 45.
That’s what Charles Ponzi, who died 69 years ago today, promised investors. In the end, Ponzi swindled more than $15 million in 1920, the equivalent of $191 million today.
The trickery earned Ponzi his own namesake scheme, made notorious by Bernard Madoff, who defrauded clients of more than $50 billion. But the original scheme centered on postal notes.
Ponzi took advantage of international postal reply coupons, which allowed postal customers in one country to buy a coupon redeemable for stamps in another country.
Money was invested through Ponzi’s Security Exchange Company with the idea that he would take investor’s dollars, use them to buy foreign postal coupons, convert each coupon into a 5-cent stamp, and convert the stamps into cash.
But Ponzi never invested in the coupons.
Instead, he collected the money and paid off his investors while waiting for another influx of cash to come in. Millions of dollars began arriving every week from working-class people.
Ponzi’s scheme was eventually exposed, and he later died in a charity hospital in Brazil, with only $75 to his name.
Remy Tumin contributed reporting.
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