Thursday, Aug 22, 2019 | View in browser

Good morning.

We’re covering China’s detention of a British consulate worker, Boris Johnson’s delicate G7 dance and the enduring popularity of the abacus.

By Alisha Haridasani Gupta

Protesters outside the British Consulate in Hong Kong expressing support on Wednesday for Simon Cheng. Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times

China admits to holding British Consulate employee

The government acknowledged on Wednesday that it detained an employee of Britain’s Hong Kong consulate, Simon Cheung, who had disappeared earlier this month after visiting Shenzhen for a business conference.

A government spokesman said Mr. Cheng was being held under a 15-day administrative detention, without citing specific allegations.

His seizure, in the midst of Hong Kong’s biggest political crisis in decades, added to fears that the authorities in mainland China were attempting to intimidate supporters of the protests in Hong Kong, though it was still unclear if Mr. Cheung took part in the demonstrations.

The latest protest: On Wednesday night, protesters gathered at the subway station in Yuen Long to commemorate a month since a mob of men with sticks and metal bars attacked dozens of people in and around the station, apparently targeting protesters.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, welcomed Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain on Wednesday. Filip Singer/EPA, via Shutterstock

At Group of 7 meeting, Britain will walk a tightrope

Prime Minister Boris Johnson set off on his first foreign trip as Britain’s leader on his way to the Group of 7 meeting this weekend in France, where he faces a delicate diplomatic dance with world leaders over Brexit.

Ahead of a potentially chaotic no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31, Mr. Johnson needs President Trump’s help to cushion the economic impact. But he can ill afford to appear too chummy, given Mr. Trump’s unpopularity among both Europeans and Britons.

On Wednesday in Berlin, his first stop, Chancellor Angela Merkel effectively challenged Mr. Johnson to produce a detailed, practical solution within 30 days to avoid a hard Brexit.

In Washington: Mr. Trump added to strained European relations, saying that the new prime minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, had been “nasty” to him by calling his interest in purchasing Greenland “absurd.”

Undocumented immigrant families in McAllen, Tex., last year. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times

U.S. aims for indefinite detentions of migrant families

The Trump administration unveiled a new regulation that would abolish a 20-day limit on detaining families who cross the border illegally, allowing them to be detained indefinitely.

The regulation, which must be approved by a federal judge, would also let the White House set standards for conditions at centers. It is expected to be immediately challenged in court.

Rationale: Immigration hard-liners inside the administration say the measure is crucial to halt the flow of migrants across the southwestern border.

U.S. sanctions Chinese nationals over opioids

The Trump administration imposed sanctions on three Chinese nationals — Fujing Zheng, Guanghua Zheng and Xiaobing Yan — who were charged with manufacturing synthetic opioids and distributing them in the U.S.

Their operations directly contributed “to the crisis of opioid addiction, overdoses and death in the United States,” the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement. The three remain at large.

Context: The move comes just weeks after President Trump accused China of not doing enough to curb the flow of drugs into the U.S., one of several factors he cited as a reason for escalating his trade war with Beijing.

If you have 6 minutes, this is worth it

In Japan, the abacus is still popular

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Schools across the country still teach how to calculate dizzying sums by sliding tiny beads along rods in wooden frames, and at least 43,000 students take advanced lessons. Many practitioners sit for exams and the elite take part in national competitions, like the All-Japan Abacus Championship in Kyoto this month, pictured above.

“Unlike the computer or calculator, you have to watch the movement of the beads with your eyes, and then think with your brain and make a move with your fingers,” one expert said. “It’s a very foundational learning process.”

Here’s what else is happening

U.S. budget: The federal deficit is expected to reach $1 trillion next year, sooner than expected, even as President Trump considers more tax cuts and other measures that could add to government debt.

Brazil: Wildfires are burning in the Amazon rain forest at the fastest pace since the country’s National Institute for Space Research started keeping records on them in 2013. The center said 74,155 fires have been detected so far this year — an 84 percent increase from the same period in 2018.

Cardinal George Pell: An Australian court on Wednesday upheld the sexual abuse conviction of the cardinal, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic leader ever found criminally guilty in the church’s child sex abuse crisis.

Australia: Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the country would join an American-led effort to protect ships from Iranian threats in the Strait of Hormuz. He dismissed concerns that the U.S. was dragging Australia, the third country to take part in the mission, into another military intervention.

Sarah Farnsworth/The Adventurists

Snapshot: Above, Bob Long, 70, just became the oldest person to finish what Guinness World Records calls the longest multi-horse race in the world, a grueling 1,000-kilometer competition across the steppes of Mongolia. He also won.

Martin Scorsese: The theatrical release of the filmmaker’s $159 million mob epic, “The Irishman,” starring Robert De Niro. is caught in the conflict between Hollywood’s old guard and Netflix.

“The Matrix”: Keanu Reeves will reprise his role as Neo, a rebel leader battling machines, in a fourth installment of “The Matrix” franchise. The first film was hailed as a revolution in filmmaking when it debuted in 1999.

What we’re reading: This excerpt from Lyz Lenz’s new book “God Land,” in Pacific Standard, published shortly before the online magazine ceased publication. “It examines the definition of ‘rural’ and the intersection of religion, gun ownership and class,” writes Dan Saltzstein, our senior editor for special projects, “and is a great encapsulation of why I found the book so fascinating.”

Now, a break from the news

Romulo Yanes for The New York Times. Food styling: Vivian Lui.

Cook: For weeknights, stick to easy dinners like a shrimp and kimchi rice bowl.

Watch: The writer and director Spike Lee narrates a sequence from “Do the Right Thing,” his 1989 film, which remains startlingly relevant.

Read: In the new book “A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves,” a veteran Times journalist delves into international migration through the lens of a single family, hopscotching from the Philippines through the Middle East and Europe to the U.S.

Go: Several U.S. airports are increasing amenities — from workout spaces to museums — in an effort to make layovers a little less cumbersome.

Smarter Living: Irritated by a colleague’s constant social media updates? Our Work Friend columnist advises that what some older workers see as shameless personal brand-building might be millennials’ strategy for surviving in a precarious job market. They’ve seen that they need to keep their brands burnished through social media, skill-building and networking.

And for those shopping for TVs, here’s what you need to know about a new feature, High Dynamic Range, or H.D.R.

And now for the Back Story on …

Fried chicken

Two major fast-food chains, Chick Fil-A and Popeyes, are waging a Twitter war over their fried chicken sandwiches.

We went looking into the history books to see what everyone is all aflutter about.

While many cuisines feature fried chicken, the American version drew from the palm-oil frying traditions of West Africa carried across the Atlantic by enslaved women, and the fritters made by Scottish immigrants who staffed or owned plantations.

There's more history in fried chicken than most people might realize. Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Cookbooks written by white Southerners circulated the recipes, and after the Civil War, freed black entrepreneurs, especially women, plied train stations to sell fried chicken to travelers.

The dish spread nationally during the Great Migration of black Americans from the Jim Crow South, and the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain eventually took that version around the world.

Who first sandwiched fried chicken in bread may never be known — one writer found an ad for a fried chicken sandwich in a 1936 Kansas newspaper.

That’s it for this briefing. In case you’re inspired, here’s The Times’s own guide to frying chicken.

— Alisha

Thank you
To Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Andrea Kannapell, the briefings editor, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is about a push by chief executives in the United States to change their business practices.
• Here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: Lost ones might turn up in an old pants pocket (four letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• Gillian Wong, who manages much of The Times’s coverage of the protests in Hong Kong, discussed how we do it. (Breathing masks and goggles are involved.)