Donald Trump, Syria, International Criminal Court: Your Thursday Briefing

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/briefing/your-thursday-briefing.html

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Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

• President-elect Donald J. Trump is taking calls from world leaders at Trump Tower in Manhattan, and he is to meet there today with Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

The New York City police and the Secret Service are meeting on how to handle Mr. Trump’s security, which has clogged traffic on Fifth Avenue.

Mr. Trump denied reports of chaos and infighting, insisting that his transition was “going so smoothly.”

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• President Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel are holding bilateral meetings in Berlin today and will be joined Friday by the leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Spain.

His final international trip as president, which concludes this weekend in Peru, has been focused on offering reassurances of a peaceful, if challenging, transition.

“As you may have noticed, the next American president and I could not be more different,” he said in Athens on Wednesday.

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• The scale of the disruption Mr. Trump may bring to American foreign policy became abruptly clear when Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, embraced him as “a natural ally” against “the terrorists.”

Mr. Assad uses the term to include Islamic militants of various stripes but also domestic insurgents fighting his authoritarian government in a bloody civil war.

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• President Vladimir V. Putin instructed Russia to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, calling it “ineffective and one-sided.”

The blow to the young court was largely symbolic, because Russia, like the United States, has not ratified the treaty that created the court and is not under its jurisdiction.

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• Walmart workers in China, furious over low pay and exhausting schedules, have organized strikes and boycotts at some of retail giant’s 400 stores across the country.

Beijing has so far looked the other way, caught between its Marxist commitment to the working class and the risk of encouraging labor activism independent of the Communist Party.

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• JPMorgan Chase has struck a $264 million settlement with the U.S. authorities over its hiring practices in China, people briefed on the matter told The New York Times.

The bank was found to have hired children of Chinese leaders in exchange for lucrative assignments from government-run companies, as we previously reported.

JPMorgan denied charges of bribery, arguing that the hiring of well-connected employees was routine in China.

• The BBC World Service is adding 11 new language services, most of which will cover Africa and the Indian subcontinent. A Korean service will also begin.

The director general called it the “biggest expansion of the World Service since the 1940s,” forecasting an audience of 500 million people by 2022.

• Janet Yellen, the chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, will testify before Congress. Her remarks may signal whether the central bank intends to raise interest rates next month.

• In China, the name Trump appears on products ranging from cosmetics to luxury toilets — in most cases without any O.K. from the president-elect.

• A couple jailed in China for nearly two years filed suit in the United States against GlaxoSmithKline, accusing the pharmaceutical giant of causing their arrest.

The case, in which they say the company asked them to investigate a troublemaker who was actually a whistle-blower, forced multinationals to curtail some of their freewheeling ways.

• Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, may go public by March, aiming for a $30 billion valuation that would make it the third-most-valuable tech company at market debut, after Alibaba and Facebook.

• Labatt, one of Canada’s biggest breweries, will end a longstanding policy that awarded the company’s retirees with free beer for life.

• Wall Street was mixed, and the dollar reached its highest mark in 13 years before retreating. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

• China’s most wanted corruption fugitive, Yang Xiuzhu, 70, was returned to Beijing after 13 years on the run from charges of embezzling more than $40 million. [South China Morning Post]

• In New Zealand, the first overland relief operation broke through to Kaikoura after the town was cut off by earthquake damage. [Fairfax Media]

• India banned an organization run by a popular televangelist preacher, Zakir Naik, after accusations that his sermons fomented terrorism. [The New York Times]

• Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Antarctica exposes the risks to a continent, and to the Obama administration’s climate policies, under a Trump presidency. [The New York Times]

• A South Korean woman is preparing to meet the son she gave away 40 years ago, who is being deported from the United States. [The New York Times]

• North Korea is asking citizens to save the foil from cigarette packs for use in military camouflage. [Radio Free Asia]

• At a tournament underway in Japan, Yokozuna Hakuho, a 31-year-old Mongolian, became the third sumo wrestler, and the first foreigner, to ever reach 1,000 wins. [Kyodo News]

• Bob Dylan told the Swedish Academy he was too busy to attend the ceremony to accept the Nobel Prize in Literature.

• WhatsApp, WeChat, Facebook, Weibo, and other social networks are shaping world events, partly because of their ability to foster surprisingly influential social organizations among once-marginalized groups.

• Across the United States, Native Americans are asserting old treaty rights and using tribal traditions to protect and manage federally owned land.In our latest 360 video, we step into a kitchen at Oceti Sakowin camp, which prepares meals for hundreds of Native Americans and supporters protesting the Dakota Access pipeline project.

If you haven’t read our recent story on the Virginia Quintuple Anvil Triathlon, check it out. It chronicles a race from hell: 700 miles of swimming, biking and running in five days. Participants cry, hallucinate, and do some other things we won’t say because it might ruin your breakfast.

And for what?

“If you have to ask,” some racers say, “you will never know.”

Endurance races are growing in popularity as many athletes seek a challenge beyond the quaint, 26.2-mile traditional marathon.

There’s the Badwater Ultramarathon in California. It’s 135 miles, starts in Death Valley and is held in July, when temperatures exceed triple digits. Some runners train in saunas.

Extreme weather is also a major factor in competitions in Chile’s Patagonia region, Costa Rica’s jungles and the Arctic Circle.

One grueling athletic adventure is known for secrecy. The Barkley is a 100-mile Tennessee trail race that few finish. Hopefuls must complete an essay to gain entrance.

The Self-Transcendence 3,100 Mile Race, though, may challenge the mind more than the body.

It takes place on one New York City block and over 52 days. Runners must average almost 60 miles a day to reach 3,100 — that’s thousands of laps if you’re wondering.

Inspired to hit the pavement (or trail) now? Here’s how to get started.

Des Shoe contributed reporting.

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