Genoa, Morocco, Apple: Your Friday News Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/briefing/genoa-morocco-apple.html

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Good morning. More details emerge in the Skripal poisoning case, a rape case rattles Morocco, Apple gets the go-ahead to acquire Shazam.

Here’s the latest:

• The plot thickens in the Skripal poisoning investigation.

Sergei Skripal, the former Russian spy who was poisoned in Britain and almost died, was working with intelligence officers in Spain to weed out organized crime groups affiliated with the Kremlin, according to a senior Spanish official.

Britain this week accused Russia of the attack on Mr. Skripal, an assessment echoed by the U.S., France and Germany. The British authorities brought charges in the case against two Russians — Ruslan Boshirov and Aleksandr Petrov, above.

Little is known about either man — there is scant information in public records or online — and the authorities said that the men’s names are likely aliases.

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• What exactly happened in Genoa?

The bridge collapse in Italy that killed 43 people last month has set off a bitter debate about its cause: Was it a severe design flaw or, worse, the result of negligence?

Engineers and government officials are still investigating. We reconstructed the collapse using a surprise piece of evidence: security camera footage.

Our reporting found that the bridge’s southern supports — which had previously been reported to the authorities for signs of damage — snapped first. Then, within seconds, the rest of the bridge crumbled.

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• A rape case shocks Morocco.

A group of 12 men has been accused of abducting, raping and torturing a 17-year-old girl, above. She said she was kidnapped in June and held for two months by men who forced her to consume drugs and alcohol, and took turns assaulting her.

The case has elicited emotional reactions across the country. Supporters have started a fund-raising campaign, and detractors have questioned her credibility.

The case, which went to trial on Thursday, is the latest in a string of assaults that spotlight the country’s inability to adequately protect women.

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• Gay sex was decriminalized in India. Now what?

India’s Supreme Court decriminalized gay sex in a groundbreaking ruling. In its decision, the court said gay people should receive the full protections of the Indian Constitution.

Cultural stigmas about gay people, however, may be harder to overcome than the legal challenges. Conservative Hindus, Muslims and Christians blasted the ruling, with one Hindu group saying it legitimized “mentally sick” people.

Gay activists said that their next campaign will be to end discrimination in the workplace.

• European regulators gave Apple the green light to acquire the song-recognition app Shazam, saying the deal wouldn’t impede competition.

• The British luxury label Burberry will stop burning unsold goods and give up selling products with real animal fur, after months of criticism from politicians and environmental activists about those practices.

• Spotify, the streaming music service, has upended the industry by signing licensing deals directly with independent artists.

• Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

• A powerful earthquake struck Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, killing at least 17 people, cutting off electricity to millions of homes and leaving 26 people missing. The quake came just days after the largest typhoon to hit Japan in 25 years killed 11 people. [The New York Times]

• The U.S. Justice Department charged a North Korean spy in the 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment and accused the North of orchestrating a broad conspiracy that caused hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of economic damage over the last five years. [The New York Times]

• Sara Mardini, the Syrian refugee who was called a hero for saving 18 other refugees by swimming their dingy to shore, has been detained in Greece and accused of people smuggling and espionage. She was accused of working for a nongovernmental agency that the Greek police say could be a criminal network. [The Guardian]

• And the winner is … the Redrock Stockport building in Manchester, England. It was crowned Britain’s ugliest building of 2018 and received high praise from the judges, who described it as a “garish, soulless leisure shed” and an “absolute monstrosity.” [The New York Times]

• The Academy Awards dropped the “popular films” category after widespread criticism. [The New York Times]

• No al fresco. Florence, faced with a litter problem, has implemented a fine for eating food on sidewalks and roadways in the city’s historic center. [CNN]

Tips for a more fulfilling life.

• Make technology work for your family.

• University students everywhere are moving into campus housing. Here’s how to dress up a dorm room.

• Recipe of the day: Fresh plums or jam work equally well as a fruit filling in this buttery tart based on a classic gâteau Breton.

• If you’re drinking a cup of freshly brewed coffee right now, you may want to thank Melitta Bentz. She, like you, would start her days with coffee. But in the early 20th century, that involved a messy process with no filter for the grounds. One day, she tore out a page from her son’s notebook and invented what is now known as the Melitta filter.

• What do the “pussy hat,” a coin with “Hang the Pope” carved into it and a papier-mâché puppet have in common? They’re all part of a new exhibit at the British Museum that showcases forms of dissent throughout history as far back as ancient Egypt.

• Dyana Williams helped the rapper T.I. prepare for his post-prison tell-all interview with Larry King and she told D’Angelo to stop chain-smoking during interviews for his new album. Ms. Williams helps artists, including Rihanna and Justin Bieber, navigate the media landscape and create a brand for themselves. As she put it: “I’m part analyst, I’m a champion, I’m a critic, I’m a mother, I’m a sister.”

“Grandma Moses,” the internationally acclaimed American painter who became a prototype for late bloomers, was born today in 1860.

Anna Mary Robertson Moses, an upstate New York farm wife, began painting seriously in her 70s. She was discovered by a collector who saw her colorful, precise paintings of rural scenes in a drugstore window. After her first show, she was seized on by the press, who loved her countrified ways. An early reviewer nicknamed her “Grandma Moses.”

The Times highlighted her folksiness when she visited Manhattan in 1940: “Modest ‘Grandma Moses’ declared, ‘If they want to make a fuss over me, I guess I don’t mind.’”

But Moses was no naïf. A believer in women’s autonomy, she said in her autobiography: “Always wanted to be independent. I couldn’t bear the thought of sitting down and Thomas,” her husband, “handing out the money.”

And her “primitive” painting style was carefully conceived: “I like to paint something that leads me on and on in to the unknown something that I want to see away on beyond,” she wrote.

She died at 101, having created some 2,000 paintings and received two honorary doctorates.

“All Americans mourn her loss,” President John F. Kennedy said.

Nancy Wartik wrote today’s Back Story.

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