Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Europe Edition

Poland, ‘Brexit,’ O.J. Simpson: Your Friday Briefing

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)

Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

Image
Credit...Agencja Gazeta/Reuters

• In Poland, the government-controlled upper house of Parliament could vote as soon as today on a bill that would give the populist government the power to replace Supreme Court judges. Yesterday, the bill passed the lower house of Parliament.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Warsaw and other cities to protest the bill, which they and the European Union say is a threat to the independence of the judiciary.

_____

Image
Credit...François Lenoir/Reuters

• Doubts are growing that Britain’s governing Conservatives will formulate a coherent strategy for negotiating the country’s departure from the European Union. The confusion in London is being met with increasing consternation in Brussels.

“There are about as many views about the direction of Brexit as there are members of the cabinet,” said one observer.

Separately, recorded crimes in Britain increased the most in a decade. Felonies committed with guns were up 23 percent.

_____

Image
Credit...Tobias Schwarz/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Germany’s relations with Turkey took another turn for the worse over the persecution of human rights activists, including a German citizen, who had been arrested at a digital security workshop this month.

Berlin told its citizens to exercise caution when traveling to Turkey and threatened to scale back economic cooperation.

Germany is home to Turkey’s largest diaspora and Turkey’s top export destination. Turkey’s foreign minister said Germany’s rhetoric was not “worthy of a serious country.”

_____

Image
Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

• In Washington, presidential aides are said to be looking for information to discredit Robert Mueller, above, the Justice Department special counsel investigating Trump campaign’s interactions with Russia, or even justify his firing.

Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions pledged to stay in his job “as long as it is appropriate,” a day after President Trump lashed into Mr. Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation.

Exxon Mobil was fined in the U.S. for violating sanctions imposed against Russia in 2014 while Rex Tillerson, now the secretary of state, was the oil company’s chief executive.

And a key U.S. diplomatic vacancy in Europe could soon be filled: Richard Grenell, Mr. Trump’s pick for ambassador to Germany, would be his first openly gay appointee.

_____

Image
Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

• At the U.S. Senate, Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, plans to hold a make-or-break vote on the health bill amid deep rifts in his party.

If passed, the bill would leave 15 million people without health insurance next year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Meanwhile, the prognosis for Senator John McCain’s brain cancer is grim.

_____

Image
Credit...Menahem Kahana/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

• In Syria, some war-wounded and sick people have gotten help from an unexpected source: Israel. The government says treating Syrians in Israeli hospitals helps its security and public relations goals.

As the war grinds into its seventh year, English-language literature about the conflict is beginning to reach the rest of the world. We review two moving new works that shed light on life in wartime.

California’s agricultural belt has had an influx of Syrian refugees over the last year. Rents are low, but there are few jobs and no resettlement agencies to help them.

_____

Image
Credit...Chris Graythen/Getty Images

• At the Tour de France, Warren Barguil of France, above, won Stage 18, the tournament’s fearsome last steep climbs in the Alps. Chris Froome of Britain defended his overall lead. Today, riders face the tour’s longest stage.

At the British Open, Jordan Spieth almost tied the record for the best first round. His caddie’s pep talk helped Rory McIlroy recover from a spate of bogeys.

_____

Image
Credit...Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times

• The European Central Bank’s plan to end its stimulus program has raised existential questions in the Italian city of Pistoia, where the bank’s bond-buying spree helped revive a train factory.

• Automakers, including Volvo and Audi, are working on technology to enable cars to avoid hitting animals like deer.

• In an Op-Ed, two Finnish educators argue that their country’s experiment with a universal basic income is too small in scale.

• The value of the dollar has fallen steadily this year, bolstering exports but hurting consumers.

Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

Image
Credit...Kalymnos-news.gr, via Associated Press

• A magnitude 6.7 earthquake in the Mediterranean killed at least two people on the Greek island of Kos. [The Guardian]

• O. J. Simpson will be released on parole as soon as Oct. 1. The American football legend will go free after serving nine years in prison for armed robbery. [The New York Times]

• The lead singer of Linkin Park, Chester Bennington, died at 41. His death is being investigated as a possible suicide. [The New York Times]

• Rome’s “Mafia Capitale” trial, which exposed widespread corruption that stunned Italy, ends with lengthy prison sentences. [La Stampa]

• Trainy McTrainface is the new name of a train in Sweden after a public poll. [Reuters]

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

Image
Credit...Jim Wilson/The New York Times

• If you like “deviled” foods, with just enough acidity and bite, make this chicken thigh recipe.

• Dare yourself to find out where all your time goes.

Image
Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

• Biomechanics experts discovered what might be the secret that makes Usain Bolt the fastest sprinter in history. His right leg hits the track harder than his left.

• An experiment in Uganda showed a simple way to save endangered chimpanzees and slow down climate change: Pay people not to chop down trees.

• “L’Inconnue de la Seine,” an anonymous woman who drowned in the Seine in the late 19th century, ended up becoming the model for C.P.R. dolls and a muse for Picasso and other artists.

Image
Credit...Associated Press

More than 70 countries have elected women as their leaders, not counting figureheads or royalty. Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, broke the leadership barrier on this date in 1960 when Sirimavo Bandaranaike became prime minister.

In 1966, Indira Gandhi, above, was the first woman elected to lead India, the world’s largest democracy. Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan became the first female leader of a Muslim-majority country in 1988.

As of March, there were 15 women serving as heads of state or government around the world, more than twice the number in 2000, representing less than 8 percent of the 193 members of the United Nations. Eight of the 15 were their country’s first female leader.

In Europe, Margaret Thatcher of Britain became the first elected female leader in 1979. Today, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, after 11 years in power, is often called the world’s most powerful woman.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became Africa’s first elected female head of state after she won the Liberian presidency in 2005. Before she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, The Times once asked her if female leaders would “acquire the negative traits that power breeds.”

“It would take a very long term of women absolutely in power to get to the place where they became men,” she said.

Charles McDermid contributed reporting.

_____

This briefing was prepared for the European morning. You can browse through past briefings here.

We also have briefings timed for the Australian, Asian and American mornings. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters here.

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

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT