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Asia Pacific Edition

Nintendo, Duterte, Donald Trump: Your Friday Briefing

Good morning.

We’re trying something new for our readers in Asia and Australia: a morning briefing to jump-start your day.

What do you like? What do you want to see here? Email us with your feedback at asiabriefing@nytimes.com.

Here’s what you need to know:

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Credit...Damon Winter/The New York Times

• Both major American political parties expressed concern over Donald J. Trump’s refusal to commit to abiding by the outcome of the Nov. 8 election, a position he repeated a day after his acrimonious final debate with Hillary Clinton.

“I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election — if I win,” he said at a rally in Ohio.

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Credit...Wu Hong/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

• President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines deepened his rapprochement with China, agreeing to resume talks on disputes in the South China Sea and declaring a “separation from the United States.”

But he did not scrap the 70-year-old treaty alliance with Washington or the accord that gives the United States access to five military bases.

He is expected to address Chinese business leaders today and may visit a drug rehabilitation center in Beijing.

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Credit...Bullit Marquez/Associated Press

• Typhoon Haima is moving toward Hong Kong today as a weaker storm after bringing devastating wind, rain and flooding to the northern Philippines.

Officials in hard-hit areas said it could take days to assess the damage, but a large-scale disaster seemed to have been avoided.

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Credit...Safin Hamed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

• An American serviceman was killed by a roadside bomb while assisting Kurdish forces in the campaign to recapture Mosul.

Our reporting team is on the front lines as thousands of pesh merga fighters attack from the north.

• Britain will posthumously pardon gay and bisexual men who were convicted of sexual offenses that have been decriminalized, the government announced.

The measure has been nicknamed Turing’s Law, after Alan Turing, the mathematician central to the development of the computer. He committed suicide in 1954, after being convicted on charges of homosexuality.

• Top-secret U.S. hacking tools were found in a huge trove of stolen documents held by a contractor for the National Security Agency.

Investigators believe the case is the largest episode of mishandled classified documents in the country’s history.

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Credit...Nintendo

• A hotel project in Texas is using Donald Trump’s name and other incentives, including a path to a green card in the United States, to reel in Chinese investors.

• A Hong Kong tribunal punished an American investor who criticized a Chinese property developer, in a case that raised concerns about freedom of speech.

Nintendo provided the first glimpse of its highly anticipated portable game console, the Nintendo Switch.

• Japanese investors are watching for news from speeches today by the Bank of Japan’s governor, Hirohiko Kuroda.

• Big investors are souring on hedge funds.

For the first nine months of the year, more than $50 billion has been pulled in the biggest exodus for the industry since the financial crisis.

“Whoever survives this is going to win,” said a veteran energy analyst. Big Oil’s major players have adjusted to two years of low prices and may emerge stronger than ever.

• Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

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Credit...Farooq Khan/European Pressphoto Agency

• The Caravan: “The Iron Cage.” An analysis of protests in Indian-controlled Kashmir that started with the killing of a militant commander.

Vice Motherboard: “Hustling Haunted Apartments to Millennial Expats.” A Hong Kong company capitalizes on fears of ghosts to find lower prices.

• Golf Digest: “Pratima Sherpa is working to become Nepal’s first golf star.” She’s 17, grew up and still lives in a golf course maintenance shed, and is the country’s top-ranked female golfer.

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Credit...Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters..

• In Egypt, a weekslong sugar shortage has plunged people into a panic and has manifested itself in frustration with the government’s handling of the economy.

“The people are going to snap,” one Egyptian said.

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Credit...Bagus Indahono/European Pressphoto Agency

An Indonesian man was jailed for 10 years for making bombs that killed four civilians in Jakarta in January. Dodi Suridi, 23, a supporter of the Islamic State, smiled as he left the court and said he accepted the verdict as “the risk of being a terrorist.”

A South Korean artist based in New York, Anicka Yi, won this year’s Hugo Boss Prize, one of the most prominent international awards for visual artists.

Ms. Yi, who uses fragrances, food and fermentation to turn art into a more whole-body experience, wins $100,000 and a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim.

• How much do different colleges’ graduates earn? The answers are changing the way students and families evaluate prospective universities.

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Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, vice president of Equatorial Guinea, speaking during the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 2015.Credit...Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

Switzerland has long been a popular destination with foreign officials who are seeking discreet banking services.

But while their money may be hidden, their arrival in the Swiss city of Geneva isn’t any longer.

This month when a private jet sometimes used by the son of the authoritarian ruler of Equatorial Guinea arrived, a tweet was posted: “A dictator’s plane landed at #gva airport.”

The United States views the son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, as a kleptocrat, saying he once went on a $100 million American shopping spree.

François Pilet, a journalist, is part of the team behind the GVA Dictator Alert.

Mr. Pilet and his cousin, a former Google software engineer, wrote a computer program to track the comings and goings of the world’s powerful and wealthy to the city.

Here’s how it works: The program regularly scans an antenna that collects transponder codes from the planes entering and exiting Geneva. If there’s a match with a plane linked to an authoritarian government, it triggers a tweet.

“Switzerland is still one of the best places for corrupt dictators to hide their money,” Mr. Pilet said. “Every time we see dictators arrive in Geneva, we should ask ourselves, Why is this guy coming?”

Patrick Boehler contributed reporting.

Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings.

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

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