Geert Wilders, Donald Trump, France: Your Friday Briefing

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/briefing/geert-wilders-donald-trump-france.html

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Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Prime Minister Enda Kenny of Ireland used his annual visit to Washington marking St. Patrick’s Day to lecture President Trump on the virtues of immigration.

“There are millions out there who want to play their part for America — if you like, who want to make America great,” said Mr. Kenny, who is seeking a path to citizenship for the estimated 50,000 Irish living in the U.S. illegally.

An Irish senator has organized an anti-Trump rally in New York today that will denounce the new administration, its immigration policies and its many Irish-American members. One of them is Vice President Mike Pence, who calls his Irish immigrant grandfather “the best man I ever knew.”

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• Mr. Trump proposed a budget that sharply reorders the nation’s priorities. Billions of dollars would go to the Pentagon, while foreign aid and poverty programs face deep cuts.

The chances of the budget passing Congress in its current form are slim. Many of the proposals are nonstarters for both Democrats and Republicans.

Mr. Trump’s rhetoric may be affecting higher education as well: In a recent survey, 40 percent of colleges reported a decline in international applicants. The biggest drop was in applications from the Middle East.

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• The “Trump factor” may have pushed Dutch voters away from populist candidates like Geert Wilders, above left, in their elections this week.

“In Europe we all see the developments in the United States, and that’s not where we want to go because we see it as chaos,” one observer said.

It is unclear whether American politics will have the same effect on elections this year in France, Germany and perhaps Italy.

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany will be at the White House today for her first face-to-face meeting with Mr. Trump. In many ways, the two politicians couldn’t be more different.

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• As the White House stands poised to slash U.N. funding, the relationship between the secretary general and the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. has become critical.

For Nikki R. Haley, the ambassadorship is an opportunity to burnish her foreign policy credentials. Secretary General António Guterres needs to fend off the decimation of his organization. They have met at least a half-dozen times.

Proposed cuts to the State Department have also caused international alarm. In an email to his staff, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said that “U.S. engagement must be more efficient.”

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• A 33-year-old hacker who became a Russian security officer faces legal problems in both Russia and the U.S.

Dmitry A. Dokuchaev has been identified by U.S. prosecutors as a defendant in the theft of half a billion Yahoo accounts. The Russians have accused him of passing information to the U.S., possibly related to American accusations of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The U.S. indictment of Mr. Dokuchaev and three other men is the first detailed description of collusion between criminal hackers and Russian intelligence services.

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• In a budget reversal, Philip Hammond, the British chancellor of the Exchequer, withdrew a plan to raise revenue from some self-employed Britons.

• The German authorities searched the offices of the American law firm hired by Volkswagen to lead its internal inquiry into emissions fraud.

• Regulators in Britain fear 21st Century Fox’s $14.3 billion deal to take over the satellite giant Sky may give Rupert Murdoch too much control over the country’s media.

• The German justice minister said he would introduce a law that would fine tech companies up to $53 million if they do not act quickly enough to delete hate speech from their platforms.

• The FTSE 100 closed at a record high on Thursday after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

• The U.S. military denied reports that it had bombed a mosque in Syria, saying the airstrike hit a nearby building where Qaeda militants were meeting. [The New York Times]

• Mount Etna, Europe’s biggest volcano, erupted in Sicily, above, injuring at least 10. [The New York Times]

• A letter bomb injured one person when it exploded in the Paris offices of the International Monetary Fund. [The New York Times]

• Denmark’s integration minister celebrated the country’s 50th regulation against immigration with a cake, spurring a public outcry. [The New York Times]

• A student opened fire at a high school in southeastern France, wounding at least three. [The New York Times]

• The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting Paris starting today to build good will as Britain prepares to leave the E.U. [The Guardian]

• Many of us mess up our sleep schedules over the weekend. Here’s the case for staying consistent and getting enough sleep.

• Recipe of the day: For a meatless meal, try pasta alla Norma with roasted tomatoes and eggplant.

• In Afghanistan, Women’s Day is a monthlong, if bittersweet, celebration. “We do not want to get flowers,” one activist said. “Instead, respect us as humans.”

• With populism on the rise, politicians like François Fillon of France have found their fashion choices under scrutiny.

• In Paisley, Scotland, a struggling working-class town, calls for a second Scottish independence referendum seem to have more support than ever.

If you were tempted to hit the snooze button this morning, you might be interested in how other members of the animal kingdom slumber, in honor of World Sleep Day today.

The sea otter rests on a real water bed, floating on its back, often arm in arm with a mate.

Wary of predators, giraffes coil their bodies and doze for a few minutes at a time. A bottlenose dolphin stays alert by shutting down half its brain and keeping one eye open while catching a couple of hours of sleep.

Birds are even more efficient. Scientists say the alpine swift can go on autopilot during its migratory flight to Africa from Europe. The Swainson’s thrush takes hundreds of power naps, lasting less than a minute each.

Sleeping while standing is a commuting trick for humans, but for horses, it’s a way of life. Ligaments that make up the “stay apparatus” brace the leg joints and take over for the muscles. Of course, horses occasionally lie down and sometimes even take something to relax; The Times wrote about one in 1911.

Missing and believed stolen, it was found asleep hours later in a nearby orchard, apparently drunk from eating cider apples.

Sweet dreams this weekend.

Remy Tumin contributed reporting.

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