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Asia and Australia Edition

Jerusalem, Donald Trump, Russia: Your Thursday Briefing

Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

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Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Trump formally announced the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, saying it would advance the peace process. Mr. Trump asserted that the U.S. would remain a neutral broker in the effort, but offered little solace to the Palestinians.

But the decision has drawn a storm of criticism from Arab and European leaders, and Pope Francis and China joined the chorus of voices warning that the move could stir unrest across the region. The leader of Hamas called it “an unaccountable gamble.” This video explains why Jerusalem is so contested.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told a NATO conference that Mr. Trump was “very committed” to peace in the Middle East.

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• Time Magazine named “the silence breakers” its person of the year for 2017, honoring the women who came forward to accuse powerful men of sexual harassment, and the global conversation they have started.

The announcement came as eight Democratic women in the Senate called for Senator Al Franken to resign after a sixth woman accused him of misconduct.

And a Times investigation reveals how Harvey Weinstein, the movie mogul, used powerful relationships to cover up sexual misconduct accusations.

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• Vladimir Putin announced that he would seek a fourth term as president of Russia. He also said Russia would not boycott the 2018 Winter Olympics and would allow its athletes to participate under a neutral flag.

The International Olympic Committee’s ban on Russia because of a state-backed doping program has drawn outrage across the country.

Here are the events that could be most affected by the ban, and our columnist examines the fine print of the I.O.C. punishment.

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• China is open for business.

That was the main message at a forum in Guangzhou attended by executives from Apple, Ford and Walmart, and foreign leaders like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada.

The reality on the ground, our correspondent writes, is far more complex.

Separately, the Chinese Embassy in Australia scolded Australian officials for damaging “mutual trust,” a day after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull unveiled a series of proposed laws to curb foreign influence in politics.

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Credit...Mario Tama/Getty Images

Greenland’s ice is melting, but not as much of the water is reaching the ocean as expected — at least for the time being. That could alter some estimates of the rate of sea level rise.

One of our correspondents also recently trekked to Canada’s remote northeast to explore how climate change affects mental health.

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• China’s biggest tech summit — the World Internet Conference — was both impressive and worrying, our reporter said. He pointed out that all “the technology enabling a full techno-police state was on hand.”

• Electronics brands have sprung up offering inexpensive gadgets, once unfairly called “Chinese knockoffs.” Our tech columnist looks at how Amazon enables them.

• Disney is said to be closing in on a deal to buy parts of 21st Century Fox, the media conglomerate run by the Murdoch family.

• The world’s biggest Starbucks just opened in Shanghai. Here’s a look inside the 29,000-square-foot cafe, which has a staff of 400.

• U.S. stocks were up. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

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Credit...Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters

• A drop in Myanmar’s opium harvest signals a shift in the Asian drug market to synthetic drugs, a senior U.N. official said, citing booming demand for methamphetamine. [Reuters]

• Los Angeles commuters drove through showers of ash, and flames rose on the horizon as the latest of California’s devastating wildfires began to infringe on the heart of the city. [The New York Times]

• A detailed plot to kill the British prime minister was foiled, prosecutors said. Two suspects are on trial. [The New York Times]

• “Maybe $150 million.” A Turkish-Iranian gold trader testified that he couldn’t remember how much money he’d made helping Turkey evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. [The New York Times]

• The U.N. children’s agency warned that 17 million infants are breathing toxic air, putting their brain development at risk, with babies in South Asia the worst affected. [BBC]

• In Cambodia, some think Prime Minister Hun Sen considers himself the reincarnation of a 16th-century ruler. Recently built statues certainly have a resemblance. [The New York Times]

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

• So, you’d like to buy your loved one a book? Consider this.

• How not to talk to a child who is overweight.

• Recipe of the day: Start planning a holiday cookie plate with a recipe for linzer trees.

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Credit...Matthew Scott Luskin

• Sumatran tigers are appearing more frequently in Indonesia’s protected forests, a researcher says, but the increase is probably caused by tigers fleeing deforested areas where their numbers are plummeting.

• President Trump has upended the news media’s rhythms. Our night editors in Washington and New York, discuss how Year 1 of the Trump era has affected their jobs and their sleep.

• And so much to watch, so little time. Our reviewers picked their 10 favorite shows of 2017, and our chief film critics, Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott, shared their favorite pictures of the year.

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Credit...Associated Press

It was “a date which will live in infamy.” Or would it “live in world history”?

Seventy-six years ago today, Japan bombed the U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor, killing more than 2,400 Americans and propelling the U.S. into World War II.

News of the surprise attack in Hawaii “fell like a bombshell on Washington,” The Times reported the next morning. “Administration circles forecast that the United States soon might be involved in a world-wide war, with Germany supporting Japan, an Axis partner.”

A few hours later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt stood in the chamber of the House of Representatives and, in a speech that lasted only about seven minutes, asked Congress to declare war on Japan.

An initial draft of his speech said that the day of the attack would “live in world history.” But Roosevelt had changed the wording to say “a date which will live in infamy” — now among the most recognizable phrases in U.S. history.

The president’s three-page typewritten manuscript would be lost for more than four decades until a curator, Susan Cooper, found it during a routine search of Senate files at the National Archives in Washington.

“I hadn’t known that it was missing,” she told The Times in 1984.

Mike Ives contributed reporting.

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Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online. Browse past briefings here.

We have briefings timed for the Australian, Asian, European and American mornings. And our Australia bureau chief offers a weekly letter adding analysis and conversations with readers. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters here.

What would you like to see here? Contact us at asiabriefing@nytimes.com.

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