George Soros, Meghan Markle, Baguettes: Your Wednesday Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/briefing/george-soros-meghan-markle-baguettes.html

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Good morning.

Damage control for Europe, a loss for democracy in Hungary and an unexpected baguette champion in France. Here’s the latest:

• The United States’ European allies once worked overtime to please President Trump and preserve the trans-Atlantic alliance. On Tuesday, they met with Iran’s foreign minister to try to preserve the nuclear deal, above, while criticizing the bloodshed surrounding the U.S. Embassy’s move to Jerusalem.

But even as European officials scramble to protect their own interests and contain the geopolitical damage from Mr. Trump’s policies, our chief correspondent in Europe writes, American power leaves them with few viable options.

Meanwhile, in a new strain on trans-Atlantic trade relations, the World Trade Organization ruled that Europe had improperly subsidized Airbus to the detriment of Boeing, opening the door for the Trump administration to impose billions of dollars in retaliatory sanctions on European imports.

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• “We don’t want peaceful protests, we want rockets fired.”

That was the chant in Gaza, the scene of funerals for protesters killed along the fence bordering Israel, and frenzied work treating the thousands of wounded. The protests resumed, above, but on a smaller scale, and were met with tear gas.

Our video journalists rode with paramedics rescuing protesters shot by Israeli troops. They saw “a constant stream of stretchers.” Israelis responded to the death toll in different ways: defiance, shame, and with a healthy dose of served-them-right in some corners.

A Hamas commander, Muhammad Haniya, said the protests would continue. And he warned that the group could return to violence if Israel did not ease its 11-year blockade of the territory.

On “The Daily,” our Jerusalem and Cairo bureau chiefs discuss the Israeli and Palestinian views of the U.S. embassy’s relocation.

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• The philanthropist George Soros is moving his Open Society Foundations to Berlin from Budapest after months of intimidation and pressure from the Hungarian government.

The group promotes democracy, free expression and civil rights, but said on Tuesday that its work had become untenable in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban has stifled dissent and demonized Mr. Soros, a frequent target of far-right groups. Above, an anti-Soros campaign poster in Budapest in April.

Meanwhile, a Russian court sentenced the opposition leader Aleksei Navalny to 30 days in jail for organizing an unsanctioned rally before President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration for a fourth term in office. And Mr. Putin opened a new bridge to Crimea, tightening Moscow’s claim to the disputed territory seized from Ukraine in 2014.

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• Days before Meghan Markle is to wed Prince Harry, her family is at the center of a harsh media spotlight in Britain.

On Monday, the focus turned to Ms. Markle’s father — reclusive, unskilled in the ways of the media and a favorite punching bag of the British tabloids — leading to unconfirmed reports that he was too embarrassed to attend the wedding.

Ms. Markle is particularly vulnerable because she is American and of mixed race, and because her family so easily lends itself to shallow stereotypes about class and race in the U.S. (In our opinion section, an English journalist offers Mr. Markle some tips on managing his daughter’s new royal relatives, including “do not fear the queen.”)

And so you don’t have to, our TV critic watched seven specials related to Prince Harry and Ms. Markle’s wedding. She came away with very little. “They are repetitive and absent of meaningful insight,” she writes.

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• In an effort to engage with the #MeToo era, the Cannes Film Festival set up a harassment hotline, issued warnings and hosted a red-carpet protest, above. But the festival remains a prevailingly male-dominated event, and the sexualized atmosphere of Harvey Weinstein’s heyday lingers.

• Royal Dutch Shell’s acquisition of a small British energy firm shows how the world’s oil giants are navigating a shift away from their core products. The oil company is allocating up to $2 billion per year for electric power and alternative energy sources like wind and solar.

• Facebook disclosed data on what type of content it removes and why, in its latest attempt at transparency.

• Uber said it was eliminating forced arbitration agreements for employees, riders and drivers who make sexual misconduct claims against the ride-hailing company.

• Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

• North Korea postponed high-level talks with South Korea in protest of U.S.-South Korean military exercises and threatened to call off a summit meeting with President Trump next month if Washington insisted on “unilateral nuclear abandonment”. Above, Gwangju Air Base in South Korea. [The New York Times]

• President Trump’s nominee to lead the C.I.A., Gina Haspel, who faced tough questioning about her role in a torture program, appears to have enough support in the Senate to be confirmed. [The New York Times]

• The U.S. has been holding a suspect in the huge leak of C.I.A. hacking tools to WikiLeaks last year, but on unrelated charges. The suspect, a 29-year-old former C.I.A. software engineer, had designed malware used to break into the computers of terrorism suspects and other targets. [The New York Times]

• The British government will invest £2.5 billion in the country’s nuclear submarine program. [BBC]

• Greece’s Parliament passed a bill to help streamline asylum procedures and ease overcrowding on its island refugee camps. [Reuters]

• A second amateur rugby player from Britain has died while on tour in Sri Lanka. Both had complained of difficulty breathing after visiting a nightclub. [The Guardian]

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

• Here are 5 things to buy to help with spring cleaning.

• Tips for protecting yourself from mosquitoes and ticks.

• Recipe of the day: Nail weeknight cooking with a recipe for pork chops and Dijon sauce.

• The prize for the best baguette in Paris this year was awarded to the son of a Tunisian immigrant, above, the latest example of unexpected citizens keeping French traditions alive.

• Biohackers are tinkering with D.N.A. in garages and living rooms. Experts fear this D.I.Y. gene editing could lead to a biological arms race.

• Anne Frank covered up pages in her diary that contained dirty jokes and “sexual matters.” But researchers have revealed the hidden text using new digital technologies.

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins today in many countries.

It starts with the sighting of the crescent moon the night before; regions where it is not seen will wait a day.

From dawn to sunset, observant Muslims give up food, water and bodily pleasures. Most try to go about their normal routines, while making time for more prayer and charity. It can be a particular challenge for some people, like athletes.

Mosques hold extra prayers, called tarawih, each evening, during which the entire Quran is recited over the month. Above, an Indian boy learned to read the Quran during Ramadan last year.

It’s a time for reflection — but also for celebration. People hold festive gatherings to break the fast together. Each culture has specialties for the evening meal, iftar, and for the pre-dawn meal, suhoor.

The Muslim lunar calendar is 10 days shorter than the solar year, so Ramadan rotates through the seasons. Winter fasts are considered easier — the days are shorter, and usually colder, meaning less thirst — while summer fasts are more taxing. They are even harder in upper latitudes, where the days are long and the sun doesn’t set. So communities follow the times of the nearest Muslim country, or that of Saudi Arabia.

“The traditional greeting during the holiday month? “Ramadan Mubarak.”

Aisha Khan wrote today’s Back Story.

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