Tuesday, July 9, 2019 | View in browser

Good morning.

We’re covering the sex trafficking charges against a wealthy New York financier, the rise of militant Buddhism and a heated debate in Britain … about tea.

By Alisha Haridasani Gupta

The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York discussed the Jeffrey Epstein case at a news conference on Monday. Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times

New York wealthy financier charged with sex trafficking

Federal prosecutors on Monday accused Jeffrey Epstein, the Manhattan financier, of exploiting minors for sex from 2002 to 2005 and are seeking to detain him without bail, saying he is a flight risk.

Mr. Epstein is said to have lured girls as young as 14 to engage in sex acts with him and paid them hundreds of dollars in cash. Investigators said they seized hundreds — possibly thousands — of nude or partially nude photographs of underage girls from his mansion in Manhattan.

If convicted, he faces a combined maximum sentence of up to 45 years in prison.

The site: Mr. Epstein’s mansion is one of the largest in Manhattan — a sprawling $56 million seven-story home with a heated sidewalk to melt the winter snow.

Background: In 2008, Mr. Epstein avoided similar federal charges in Miami after striking a plea deal that shielded him from prosecution, as revealed by The Miami Herald. One of the federal prosecutors who offered him the secret deal is now in President Trump’s cabinet.

President Trump talks up ‘environmental leadership’

The president — who has reversed many environmental initiatives promoted by the Obama administration — positioned himself as a defender of the environment in a speech from the White House on “America’s Environmental Leadership.”

Mr. Trump touted his administration’s economy-boosting achievements, focusing on clean air and water, and lauded the fact that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions have dropped about 10 percent in recent years. That drop, though, is largely due to increased use of natural gas.

The idea for a speech may have come from consultants on his re-election campaign who have discovered that his environmental record has put off some voters — millennials and suburban women.

Rollbacks: We counted more than 80 environmental rules and regulations on the way out under Mr. Trump (using research from Harvard and Columbia law schools and other sources).

A Lipton tea-processing factory in Arhavi, Turkey, that has suspended its operations. Nicole Tung for The New York Times

Turkey is at the mercy of its economic crisis

The Turkish lira dipped further on Monday, following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s abrupt firing of the chief of the central bank.

Inflation and joblessness are alarmingly high, and growth has been minimal. Political uncertainty is spreading.

As Turkey muddles through a grinding economic crisis, the unshakable Mr. Erdogan now appears to be confronting a force he can’t command: international markets.

Global impact: The biggest immediate threat to Turkey’s economy is loans in foreign currencies. Turkey’s medium- and long-term foreign currency debts exceeded $328 billion at the end of 2018, according to official data.

Analysis: All signs point to Mr. Erdogan’s forcing interest rates lower, while pumping credit to businesses and households. That may spur short-term spending and growth but risks a full-blown crisis in the future.

A rare defection to North Korea

The son of a South Korean diplomat who defected to North Korea in 1986 has followed in his parents’ footsteps.

Choe In-guk, 73, arrived in Pyongyang on Saturday to “resettle permanently,” according to a North Korean state-run news website. He left a wife and two adult children in the South, South Korean media reported.

It is highly unusual for South Koreans to defect to the North or travel to the country illegally, and officials said they were trying to determine how Mr. Choe got there.

Background: Mr. Choe remained in South Korea when his parents left for the U.S. in 1976. His father, Choe Dok-shin, a former foreign minister, had become disgruntled with the military dictatorship of Park Chung-hee. A decade later, the couple defected to North Korea; Choe Dok-shin was the highest profile South Korean to do so since the Korean War.

The younger Choe long lived under surveillance in the South. He was reunited with his mother briefly in 2000 in Seoul, a few years after his father’s death, and was allowed to visit the North repeatedly to see his parents’ graves.

If you have 12 minutes, this is worth it

The rise of militant Buddhism

Buddhist monks and novices washing themselves at a monastery in Mandalay, Myanmar. Minzayar Oo for The New York Times

Some Buddhist monks are abandoning the religion’s pacifist tenets, amid fears of demographic decline, and propagating sectarian hate and violence in places like Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Their main target: Muslims.

“Buddhist monks will say that they would never condone violence,” one expert said. “But at the same time, they will also say that Buddhism or Buddhist states have to be defended by any means.”

Here’s what else is happening

British Airways: The airline faces a fine of nearly $230 million for a data breach last summer, the largest penalty for privacy lapses under a new European data protection law. Hackers stole the personal data of about 500,000 users visiting the airline’s website, according to British authorities.

Australia: The police obtained personal travel details from Qantas Airlines related to a journalist who in 2017 wrote an article alleging that the Australian military committed war crimes in Afghanistan, according to a document obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald. The revelation alarmed the country’s media industry.

Hong Kong: Protests in the semiautonomous city that called for the withdrawal of an extradition bill have fueled a broader demand: political reforms that would allow for democratic elections.

Deutsche Bank: The German bank started laying off thousands of employees in an effort to turn around years of losses, decline and scandal. Most of the job losses are expected to be concentrated in New York, London and Singapore.

Poras Chaudhary for The New York Times

Snapshot: Above, the Birla Mandir, a temple complex in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The centuries-old Indian city was among the many cultural and natural marvels added to Unesco’s World Heritage List on Monday.

Wimbledon: Coco Gauff, the 15-year-old American who became the youngest player to reach the fourth round of the women’s singles at Wimbledon since 1991, lost to Simona Halep, the No. 7 seed and former No. 1 player. Ashleigh Barty, the top-seeded Australian player, lost to Alison Riske.

Fancy a cuppa? A wild debate is brewing in Britain over a matter of great importance. When pouring tea into a cup, what goes first, milk or tea?

What we’re reading: This piece from The Verge. Michael Roston, a science editor, writes: “Nothing on the internet is ever really new. Bijan Stephen looks to Something Awful, a longtime online community, and considers how its founder long ago dealt with content-moderation issues, like those now facing YouTube and Facebook.”

Now, a break from the news

Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Cook: One-pot spaghetti with cherry tomatoes and kale is here to save you from washing too many dishes. (Our Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter has more recommendations.)

Listen: On her fifth solo album, the singer and songwriter Jesca Hoop teams with the producer John Parish, and strange things still happen in her music.

Watch: As the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing approaches, these movies, television shows and podcasts help shine a light on the story.

Smarter Living: Jessica Grose, the lead editor of our Parenting site, is not a huge fan of the beach, but because she is “not totally evil,” she’s taking her kids to the ocean anyway. Working with The Wirecutter, she recommends the gear to survive a day in the sun with children — starting with sunscreen that’s not greasy or goopy but augmented by rash guards and cover-ups. Afterward, give the kids a big soft-bristled paintbrush to clean sand off their skin.

Also: Do you need a coach to help raise children without screens? (Pro tip: Get a dog.)

And now for the Back Story on …

Qatar’s wealth

President Trump welcomes the leader of Qatar to the White House today, with plenty to discuss, including U.S. access to a pivotal air base and Qatar’s warm relations with Iran.

Qatar also has access to huge natural gas reserves. That wasn’t always a good thing: Natural gas, typically mostly methane, was long seen as an expensive nuisance to oil drillers, and Qatar’s massive field was initially a huge disappointment.

The West Bay neighborhood in Doha, Qatar. Tomas Munita for The New York Times

The fortunes of Qatar improved sharply thanks to technology that liquefies natural gas, shrinking its volume, so specially outfitted freighters can make cost-effective deliveries across great distances.

Qatar now exports more liquefied natural gas than any other country, and a boom in global demand has made it and its some 300,000 citizens very, very rich.

The U.S., Australia and Russia are also major suppliers, but natural gas is not necessarily a ticket to wealth: Uneven distribution in the United States — along with growing environmental opposition — has led to price spikes in some regions and negative prices in others.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Alisha

Thank you
To Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Jake Lucas 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 on the trial of a Navy SEAL.
• Here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: Bar mitzvah party dance (4 letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• The New York Times has named a new Moscow bureau chief: Andrew Higgins, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is fluent in Russian, Mandarin and French.