Sweden, Northern Ireland, Love: Your Friday Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/briefing/sweden-northern-ireland-love.html

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Good morning.

A chilly G-7 approaches, Sweden convicts a terrorist and Europe protects whisky. Here’s the latest:

• President Trump can expect a subzero reception when he arrives today in Quebec for the Group of 7 meeting with the leaders of America’s closest allies, including Britain, France, Germany and Italy.

His decision to impose tariffs even on them, citing national security, has made Mr. Trump, in the words of our correspondent, “the black sheep of this family, the estranged sibling who decided to pick fights with his relatives just before arriving to dinner.”

Even without those tensions, the group faces a formidable task: proving its relevance in a world economy it no longer dominates. Above, the leaders at last year’s meeting.

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump asserted that his decision to abandon the Iran nuclear deal had already curbed Iran’s behavior, despite the country’s announced plans to increase its capacity to enrich uranium. He also predicted that his tough tactics would lead to a successful nuclear negotiation with North Korea.

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• A Swedish court sentenced a rejected asylum seeker to life in prison for a deadly attack with a beer truck that killed five people and injured nearly a dozen in Stockholm last year.

Rakhmat Akilov, an Uzbek supporter of the Islamic State, was found guilty of terrorism and murder. He had steered the hijacked truck into a crowd of shoppers after going underground to avoid deportation. Above, a memorial for the victims in April 2017.

Separately, Britain’s Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to Northern Ireland’s restrictive abortion laws over a legal technicality.

And Ukraine approved long-stalled legislation to create an independent anticorruption court, which could help unblock foreign aid frozen over Kiev’s failure to tackle endemic graft and cronyism.

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• Separating parents and children is the Trump administration’s latest and most widely debated border enforcement policy.

José, a 5-year-old Honduran boy, was sent into foster care in Michigan after his father was arrested when they arrived at the border in El Paso.

He has been inconsolable, according to the woman caring for him now, and he carries around pictures he drew of his family, above.

“He holds onto the two pictures for dear life,” she said through tears. “It’s heart-wrenching.”

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• The U.S. federal government released grim new statistics on suicide: Rates rose in nearly every state from 1999 to 2016, increasing 25 percent nationally.

The analysis found that slightly more than half of people who had committed suicide did not have any known mental health condition. But other problems — such as the loss of a relationship, financial setbacks, substance abuse and eviction — were common precursors. Firearms were by far the leading method.

Above, a message board at a suicide prevention event in Cincinnati in October adorned with notes left for people who took their own lives.

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• Amazon won the rights to broadcast Premier League games in Britain for the first time, as the fierce battle between digital outlets and historically dominant broadcasters extends to live sports.

• Europe’s highest court ruled that a German whisky distiller’s use of the term “glen” could mislead customers into thinking the beverage was a product of Scotland, the latest example of the bloc policing food and drink labeling.

• The U.S. announced a deal to lift sanctions on the Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE, a company that has been at the center of the Trump administration’s dispute with China.

• Facebook said a software glitch exposed the private posts of millions of users to public access last month.

• In a win for the chemical industry, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has decided that it will not look at air, water or ground contaminants when determining the health and safety risks of potentially toxic chemicals.

• Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

• China pledged to investigate a mysterious illness that has sickened Americans working at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou and led to the evacuation of a number of diplomats this week. Above, a residence where some fell sick. [The New York Times]

• In Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani declared an eight-day, unilateral cease-fire and called on the Taliban to use the time to “introspect that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts.” [The New York Times]

• The Israeli military published footage showing a Palestinian medic killed by Israeli forces last week throwing what appears to be a tear-gas canister. “I am here on the front line, and I act as a human shield,” she said in the video. [The New York Times]

• The German police said an Iraqi refugee suspected of killing a 14-year-old girl had fled Germany with his parents and five siblings. [Deutsche Welle]

• French lawmakers voted to ban the use of mobile phones by students in primary and middle schools. [BBC]

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

• Recipe of the day: End the day with Chez Panisse’s delightful blueberry cobbler.

• From the Wirecutter: the best cold-brew coffee maker.

• How to pose for a photograph.

• A collective love story: We just put out a special issue of The Times Magazine, dedicated entirely to love in New York City over the course of a single day in May.

• Real bite: With letters to the tooth fairy, a set of gold grillz and other weird and wonderful objects, an exhibition in London examines how people feel about their teeth.

• And huge news in the jazz world: A lost album by John Coltrane’s classic quartet has been unearthed and will be released this month. “Both Directions at Once” was recorded in 1963, near the peak of Coltrane’s career.

This week, the team behind “The Daily” is featuring a special audio series about Baltimore after the 2015 killing of Freddie Gray.

The title, “Charm City,” is a nickname for Baltimore that might seem at odds with its gritty portrayal in TV shows like “The Wire” and “Homicide: Life on the Street.”

Although Baltimore was founded in 1729, the term “Charm City” originated more than 240 years later, as part of an advertising campaign.

The fading industrial city was the site of riots after the assassination in 1968 of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In the early 1970s, it faced a series of municipal strikes, including by garbage workers.

Baltimore’s mayor at the time, William Schaefer, was a tireless promoter, and he turned to advertising executives to try to attract tourists.

Their idea: Charm City.

“It gave Baltimore a sense of pride in being characterized as something as simple (and powerful) as being ‘nice,’ ” one of the admen later told The Baltimore Sun.

The campaign didn’t last long, but the nickname did.

After spending a weekend in Baltimore last year, one of our travel writers declared, “Charm City has raised the charm quotient considerably.”

Chris Stanford wrote today’s Back Story.

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