Kim Jong-nam, Illegal Immigration, Mexico: Your Evening Briefing

VX: The Poison That Killed Kim Jong Nam

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Photo Credit Dominick Reuter/Reuters

3. Senate Republicans have been widely seen as the likely holdouts in efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, pushing for a robust replacement before any wholesale repeal.

But Republicans in the House, who have been besieged by protests and raucous town hall meetings, are also beginning to fracture.

If conservative hard-liners oppose any robust replacement plan, and swing-district members demand a more generous plan, a compromise may be out of reach.

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Photo Credit Eric Risberg/Associated Press

4. Ubers workplace culture has been under scrutiny since a weekend post by a former engineer. She detailed a history of discrimination and sexual harassment that she said was barely addressed by Ubers human resources department.

Our reporter interviewed more than 30 current and former employees at the ride-hailing company, and heard accounts of a manager who groped a workers b*****s at a company retreat, another who hurled a homophobic slur at a subordinate and one who threatened to beat an underperforming employees head in with a baseball bat.

We are totally committed to healing wounds of the past and building a better workplace culture for everyone, an Uber official said in a statement.

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Photo Credit Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times

5. We now have a clearer understanding of the failed Al Qaeda plot to blow up a plane landing in Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.

Documents obtained by The Times after a two-year battle under the Freedom of Information Act offer a detailed account of how the Qaeda propagandist, Anwar al-Awlaki, recruited the so-called underwear bomber.

The accounts bolster President Barack Obamas justification for ordering the killing of Mr. Awlaki, an American, in Yemen in 2011.

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Photo Credit NBC

6. Stephen Colberts comedy has become more frank and caustic in the Trump presidency, but, our television critic says, Jimmy Fallon is behind the cultural moment. While Mr. Colbert appears to find the presidents antics terrifying, Mr. Fallon seems to find them silly.

In case you dont want to stay up, were rounding up the highlights of late-night comedians.

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Photo Credit Stuart Johnson/The Deseret News, via Associated Press

7. Americas dams are aging, and increasingly perilous.

Almost 2,000 high-hazard dams those that could result in a loss of life if they failed were in need of repair in 2015, according to safety officials.

Fixing them would require $20 billion, and rehabilitating less seriously faulty dams would cost $40 billion more.

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Photo Credit Monica Almeida for The New York Times

8. You should probably be prepared for La La Land to win a lot of Oscars on Sunday. Listen to A.O. Scott, Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris discuss why thats O.K. on the Still Processing podcast.

No matter how much of a cinephile you are, our Oscars quiz is not easy. One out-of-touch Evening Briefing writer got just two of 15 answers, so you can at least beat him.

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Photo Credit Fazry Ismail/European Pressphoto Agency

9. North Korea denied responsibility for the death of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half brother of the countrys leader, kim Jong-un.

The reclusive government accused Malaysian authorities of fabricating evidence in a bizarre case that has become a whodunit with vast geopolitical implications.

The authorities strengthened police presence at the morgue where Mr. Kims body was being kept after an attempt to break into the facility was detected.

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Photo Credit Iida Loukola

10. The wee brains of bees pack more power than youd think.

Researchers found that, much like humans, bumblebees will gladly perform basic tasks for sugary treats.

In one study, bees watched other bees to learn how to push a ball to the center of a platform for a tasty reward, the kind of social learning monkey see, monkey do more often associated with much bigger creatures.

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Photo Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times

11. Finally, s*x. Maybe it should be subsidized by tax dollars?

So says a local official in Sweden, who proposes giving municipal workers an hourlong, paid break each week to go home and have s*x, aiming to enhance their work-life balance while lifting the towns birthrate.

The proposal has attracted a mix of mockery, criticism and praise and taken the idea of a welfare state to a whole new level.

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