North Korea, African National Congress, Israel: Your Monday Briefing

Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

• “An economic agent on behalf of North Korea.”

Australian federal police said Chan Han Choi, 59, a naturalized citizen living in Sydney’s suburbs, had been arrested on charges of trying to help North Korea sell its missile parts and other military technology to “international entities” that were not further identified.

North Korea, which has become adept at circumventing international sanctions, has been accelerating its nuclear and missile tests. Here’s what we know about the “nuclear duo” and the “missile quartet” — that is, the scientists who serve the leader, Kim Jong-un.

The U.S. stance on talks with the North is back to a unified insistence on preconditions: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a U-turn after a brief effort at conciliation.

_____

• In South Africa, a turning point for the African National Congress.

In a meeting that isn’t exactly going smoothly, members are choosing a new party leader to succeed Jacob Zuma. The winner is expected to follow Mr. Zuma as the country’s president in 2019.

South Africa’s head of state since 2009, Mr. Zuma has been mired in a series of personal and political scandals that have tarred Nelson Mandela’s once heroic liberation movement.

_____

• A Times investigation has brought to light a shadowy Pentagon program — parts of it remain classified — that since 2007 has investigated reports of unidentified flying objects. One fighter pilot told us about a strange encounter in 2004 with a whitish, oval U.F.O. that “accelerated like nothing I’ve ever seen,” and left him “pretty weirded out.”

In less surprising political news, President Trump expects to sign the Republican tax bill this week. He has called it a Christmas present for the entire nation, but the fine print reveals some will get nicer gifts than others.

His administration sought to play down a report that officials at a top U.S. health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were told to avoid using seven words, including “fetus” and “transgender.”

_____

• A promising vaccine for dengue fever is in jeopardy after the Philippines suspended it, amid widespread fears about its safety and growing public anger over its use in 830,000 schoolchildren.

The French drugmaker, Sanofi, has come under fire for discounting early warnings that its vaccine could put some people at heightened risk of a severe form of the disease.

Researchers fear the stumble could stoke mistrust in vaccines around the globe.

_____

• The lights went out at the world’s busiest airport.

Passengers from around the world waited, held on the tarmac for four, five, six hours — without explanation. Expect snarls to ripple through the air traffic system.

_____

• A $500 million yacht, a $450 million Leonardo da Vinci painting and the $300 million chateau above.

These are among the impulse buys of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the heir to the Saudi throne, who happens to be preaching fiscal austerity and leading a crackdown on corruption in the Saudi elite.

The purchase of Chateau Louis XIV, as pieced together through interviews and documents by The Times, “is a severe blow to that image,” one analyst said.

_____

Business

• “The Last Jedi” made the jump to box office hyperspace, selling $450 million in tickets worldwide on its opening weekend and affirming Disney’s strategy for rebooting the 40-year-old franchise.

The film’s stars — including, above, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver and Mark Hamill — recently discussed new relationships, the joys of villainy and those porgs with our reporter.

• Uber secretly spied on key executives, drivers and employees at rival ride-hailing firms as part of an intelligence-gathering operation in multiple countries, according to a letter made public in a U.S. federal court.

• Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

In the News

• In Indonesia, as estimated 80,000 protesters marched against the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the latest show of support for Palestinians in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. [The Jakarta Post]

• Australia’s midyear economic forecast comes out today. It’s expected to show a bottom line improvement amounting to billions of dollars, another boon to the Turnbull government after weekend election wins for his Liberal party. [The Guardian]

• Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India’s famous political dynasty, reached out to other opposition leaders with a formal dinner after taking over as president of the Congress party, which faces a stiff challenge from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Hindu nationalists. [Press Trust of India]

• A lawyer for President Trump accused the special counsel, Robert Mueller, of illegally obtaining Trump transition emails, the latest in the mounting attacks on the investigation into Russian election meddling. [The New York Times]

• Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, called President Trump to thank him for the C.I.A.’s help in disrupting an ISIS attack in St. Petersburg. [The New York Times]

• In Pakistan, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an assault on a church in Quetta that left at least eight dead and 30 injured, raising concerns about the security of the country’s Christians. [The New York Times]

• Tropical Storm Kai-Tak set off floods and landslides in the central Philippines, killing more than 30 people and leaving many others missing. Thousands of Christmas holiday travelers were stranded. [The New York Times]

• Protesters booed and shouted “Shame” as European far-right leaders gathered at a weekend meeting in Prague to unify their stance on immigration and other issues. [The New York Times]

• A Japanese mathematician, Shinichi Mochizuki, may have proven “the abc conjecture,” which has baffled the best math minds for decades. His work could “fundamentally revolutionize number theory.” [The Asahi Shimbun]

Smarter Living

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

• Holiday travelers, here are 10 places around the world that really know how to celebrate Christmas (including Hong Kong).

• What to cook this week: Our food editor, Sam Sifton, suggests chicken adobo, Russian honey cake and more.

Noteworthy

• Global inequality, after widening for decades, has stabilized. The bad news: The respite probably won’t last despite rapid strides among developing economies like China and India.

• “It’s sort of like a religion.” In South Korea, break dancing offers escape from a strict conservative culture and intense educational system.

• And our pop critics collected notable new music, including Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamildrops team-up with the Decemberists and a Thelonious Monk reissue.

Back Story

On Dec. 18, 1941, less than two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Sunday editor for The Times sent a memo to the publisher, Arthur Hays Sulzberger.

It said: “We ought to proceed with the puzzle, especially in view of the fact it is possible there will now be bleak blackout hours — or if not that then certainly a need for relaxation of some kind or other.”

That’s how a time of national grief helped lead to one of The Times’s most joyful and beloved features. The crossword puzzle debuted some two months later as a weekly feature in the Sunday magazine.

The editor, Margaret Farrar, followed a simple rule: good manners. She refused to allow unpleasant or impolite language — a rule that’s still followed by The Times’s current crossword editor, Will Shortz.

Nowadays, we like to think of our crossword puzzle as the form’s gold standard.

But The Times didn’t always hold crosswords in high regard. In 1924, a Times opinion column called the completion of crosswords a “sinful waste.”

Crossword solvers, the column claimed, “get nothing out of it except a primitive sort of mental exercise.”

Many of us would disagree.

Stephen Hiltner contributed reporting.

_____

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.

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