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Asia and Australia Edition

Rex Tillerson, Xi Jinping, Rohingya: Your Wednesday Briefing

Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

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Credit...Greg Baker/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

President Xi Jinping was elevated to the same exalted status as China’s founding father, Mao Zedong, and his ideas were enshrined in the constitution of the Communist Party as its twice-a-decade congress came to a close.

“Xi Jinping Thought” is based, in part, on restoring China to greatness, a goal that has guided Mr. Xi’s policies. His new status sends a clear signal that any challenge to him now amounts to ideological heresy.

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A Rohingya woman and her child returning to the Basara camp in Sittwe, the provincial capital of Rakhine State in Myanmar.Credit...Adam Dean for The New York Times

• The U.S. has threatened action against Myanmar over its violent campaign against Rohingya Muslims.

But our correspondent in Myanmar found widespread denials of any atrocities against the Rohingya and celebration of their exodus. A deep hatred for the Rohingya is being fueled in part by social media campaigns and racism. Even some Buddhist monks refer to the Rohingya as “snakes.”

“They stole our land, our food and our water,” one abbot said. ”We will never accept them back.”

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Credit...Pool photo by Alex Brandon

The U.S. secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, on his way to India, stopped in Pakistan to deliver a strong message: Stop funding or sheltering terrorists. Now.

It’s hardly a new message. Yet the Trump administration is unlikely to see any immediate breakthroughs in the dysfunctional relationship with Pakistan. Above, Mr. Tillerson with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

And photos from Afghanistan raised questions about Mr. Tillerson’s secret meeting with the Afghan president on Monday. It was said to take place in Kabul, but the pictures told another story.

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The pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong, left, and Nathan Law leaving the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong on Tuesday after being granted bail.Credit...Isaac Lawrence/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

• In Hong Kong, Joshua Wong and Nathan Law, key figures in the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement, were released on bail to appeal their sentences.

And a Hong Kong bookseller who has been held in China for two years appears to be missing. Chinese authorities said that he was released from prison last week, but his daughter said no one has seen or heard from him.

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Credit...Joao Silva/The New York Times

• In South Africa, decades after the end of white rule, apartheid persists through economic inequality. That reality, our correspondent writes, is palpable in the townships of Cape Town, where the African National Congress’s housing policies have reinforced the geographic strictures of apartheid.

Many blacks remain hunkered down in squalor, on land they do not legally own. As one woman said, “I’ve gone from a shack to a shack.”

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Credit...Béatrice de Géa for The New York Times

And a startling experimental surgery: Doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston lifted a woman’s uterus out of her body to operate on her 24-week-old fetus.

The fetus had severe spina bifida, a disabling spine defect that the surgery, performed with tiny instruments through slits in the uterus, can mitigate.

The mother, Lexi Royer, and husband, Joshuwa, had always wanted children. Her due date is Jan. 14.

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Credit...The New York Times

• “Davos in the Desert”: The Saudi crown prince gathered business leaders to give their pitches for diversifying the kingdom’s oil-based economy. Among the guests is Masayoshi Son, founder of Japan’s SoftBank, who received $45 billion from the Saudis this year.

• China’s business climate has become strained as the Communist Party tightens its grip, weakening a drive to invest and eroding confidence in the country.

• Climate change is turning olive oil production into an increasingly risky business in the Mediterranean. Some producers are turning to California, Australia and New Zealand.

• Hong Ge, the head of Airbnb’s China business, left just four months into the job.

• Indonesian stocks closed at a record high on Tuesday. U.S. stocks were up. Here’s a snapshot of other global markets.

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Credit...Adam Dean for The New York Times

• Thousands are gathering in Bangkok for a five-day royal funeral and cremation ceremony for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, following a year of mourning. [Bangkok Post]

• In Malaysia, the two women accused of murdering the half brother of North Korea’s leader were taken, handcuffed and in wheelchairs, to the crime scene. [Reuters]

• Australia is investigating a disturbing Facebook page devoted to rape memes and “liked” by more than 100 active and former members of the Australian Defense Force.

• Four Australian men who swam inside a baited crocodile trap “are vying for the idiots of the century award,” the local mayor said. [The New York Times]

• “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” comes to Melbourne’s Princess Theater in 2019 after setting records in London. [The New York Times]

• Mount Fuji had its first snowcap of the year, 23 days later than usual, but three days before last year, which was the latest date since 1894. [The Asahi Shimbun]

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

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Credit...Zach Meyer

• Here are nine ways to become a better investor.

• Get a jump on next season’s most fashionable style trends right now.

• Recipe of the day: Baked chicken tenders will please children and adults alike.

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Credit...Gabriela Herman for The New York Times

Jane Goodall, the primatologist, is the subject of an intimate new documentary that includes never-before-seen footage of her from the 1960s. “Can I give you a chimp hug?” asked Dr. Goodall, 83, at the end of a Times interview.

• As cold weather sets in, red-toothed shrews, tiny mole-like creatures, shrink their skulls and brains by as much as 20 percent, a study suggests. Exactly how remains a head-scratcher.

• Finally, want to work for The New York Times? We are hiring at least one ambitious travel correspondent to turn our annual 52 Places to Go list into an itinerary. Apply here.

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Credit...Marco Garcia for The New York Times

If you live in an urban area, you’ve likely come across — or been bumped into by — people who walk with their eyes glued to their phones.

In Honolulu, those “smartphone zombies” can now face fines of up to $99.

A law goes into effect there today that bans pedestrians from crossing the road while looking at their devices. The Hawaiian capital passed the measure as an effort to reduce accidents caused by “distracted walking.”

The ban is thought to be the first of its kind among major U.S. cities.

“Sometimes I wish there were laws we did not have to pass — that perhaps common sense would prevail,” Mayor Kirk Caldwell said. “But sometimes we lack common sense.”

Pedestrian deaths in the U.S. climbed to 5,987 in 2016 — the highest since 1990 — and a report cites smartphone-related distraction as a potential factor.

Several cities have attempted to tackle pedestrians’ urge to tweet, text and swipe.

An announcement on Hong Kong’s escalators advises: “Don’t keep your eyes only on your mobile phone.”

And temporary “text walking lanes” have been set up in Washington, Philadelphia and Antwerp, Belgium. But in most cases, pedestrians didn’t notice the markings. They were too consumed by their phones.

Sara Aridi contributed reporting.

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Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online. Browse past briefings here.

We have briefings timed for the Australian, Asian, European and American mornings. And our Australia bureau chief offers a weekly letter adding analysis and conversations with readers. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters here.

If photographs appear out of order, please download the updated New York Times app from iTunes or Google Play.

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

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