Your Friday Briefing – The New York Times

Beijing will be hashing out the specifics of the legislation in the coming weeks, and the final ruling will help determine the fate of a city that has been a link between China and the West for decades.

Early signals from the Chinese authorities point to a crackdown once the law takes effect, which is expected by September.

What it means: Under the new legislation, activist groups could be banned. Courts could impose long jail sentences for national security violations. China’s feared security agencies could operate openly in the city. And civil liberties, at the core of Hong Kong’s society, might not last.

Analysis: Beijing is “now willing to risk permanent harm to one of the motors of its four-decade economic expansion in order to make sure that its authority over Hong Kong will not be questioned,” our correspondent Keith Bradsher explained.

In Indonesia, ‘It’s too late’

Coronavirus infections are spreading at an alarming rate on far-flung islands of the world’s fourth-most-populous country, and it could get worse soon. After hundreds of thousands of Indonesians gathered for Ramadan over the past weeks, some experts fear a big surge in cases.

So far, Indonesia has counted on its sprawling archipelago and young population to slow the spread. But the number of cases is rising, and could be higher than what the country’s limited testing shows. Young people are dying at alarming rates.

As hospitals struggle, experts say a full-blown outbreak like those in Europe and the U.S. would be devastating.

Case study: A random sampling of 11,555 people in Surabaya, the country’s second-largest city, found last week that 10 percent of those tested had antibodies for the coronavirus. It could be an alarming glimpse at runaway transmission.

Details: In early May, Indonesia had recorded fewer than 12,000 cases and around 865 deaths. By Thursday, the number had increased to 24,538 confirmed cases and 1,496 deaths.

Twenty-eight North Koreans and five Chinese nationals have been charged in the scheme.

The charges are an acknowledgment that the United States has been unable to stop North Korea from pushing ahead with its nuclear weapons program, through economic sanctions and through President Trump’s attempts to forge a rapport with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un.

Like most Europeans, our reporter Patrick Kingsley was used to traveling freely across borders in the European Union. But as he recently crossed the Czech-German border, police officers stopped and searched his car and suitcase. It was “a mildly inconvenient episode,” but it also showed “how haphazard and disorientating life in Europe has become.”

Here’s what else is happening

Minneapolis protests: Police officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets across South Minneapolis overnight Wednesday and into Thursday as people set buildings on fire and looted stores days after an African-American man died in police custody. The Justice Department said it was making the investigation of his death a priority.

English Premier League: The most-watched sports league in the world is returning on June 17, pending a signoff from health authorities. The teams will play in stadiums without fans.

Snapshot: Above, a giant kookaburra that Farvardin Daliri built in his yard in Brisbane, Australia, to make people laugh. The replica cackles its distinctive laugh from a sound system he installed inside. “My way of art is to worship what’s in front of me,” he told our reporter.

What we’re reading: The Poem-a-Day series. “Amid the noise and clatter of the news, it’s nice to pause and sit quietly with a poem,” writes Gina Lamb, a Special Sections editor.

Cook: This flavorful grain salad gets its crunch from sliced vegetables, and its tenderness from pockets of cooked chickpeas.

And now for the Back Story on …

Out of college and straight into sports reporting

Danielle Allentuck is one of 23 young journalists who spent the past year in The Times’s first fellowship group, a program aimed at developing the next generation of reporters and editors.

She worked as a reporter on the Sports desk, writing about N.F.L. draft picks, profiling Simone Biles and covering spring training. She wrote about what she learned along the way. Here’s an excerpt:

I was always the youngest person at assignments and often the only woman. I learned how to be confident and stand my ground. When I asked a fan at a Mets game if he would be willing to be interviewed, he told me he couldn’t talk to me because I was “like 12.” I promptly replied: “Geez, that’s so rude. I turned 13 last week.” I kept walking and soon found the perfect person to interview for my story.

Sometimes, other reporters tried to push me out of postgame scrums, but I learned to fight my way to the front so I could be seen and heard. Age is just a number. If you’re hired to do a job, do it.

My best stories came from observing my surroundings. At the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Kansas City, Mo., I noticed that male gymnasts carried honey around with them. I started asking around and soon discovered they did that to improve their grip.

I spent hours watching sidearm and submarine pitchers perfect their craft at a training camp in Durham, N.C. I even got to throw a bullpen session. Back in New York, as I worked on edits for the article, I got into a lively debate about arm angles and technique with my colleagues. Soon, we were standing in the middle of the newsroom demonstrating how we would each approach the pitch.