Donald Trump, Barack Obama, European Union: Your Wednesday Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/briefing/donald-trump-barack-obama-european-union.html

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Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

• It was, according to President Trump, a “would” that should have been a “wouldn’t.”

Facing a barrage of criticism from both parties over his comments during a news conference with President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Trump said on Tuesday that he had misspoken about whether Russia had tried to influence the 2016 election.

Asked in Finland whether he believed Mr. Putin over American intelligence agencies, Mr. Trump had said: “He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

On Tuesday, he backtracked: “The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia,’ sort of a double negative. So you can put that in and I think that probably clarifies things pretty good.” (Read a transcript of his remarks.)

• Mr. Trump didn’t address other comments he made on Monday, including criticism of the F.B.I. and the Justice Department, and his assertion that Mr. Putin had given an “extremely strong and powerful” denial of any election meddling.

• “While the accusation of treason has been thrown around on the edges of the political debate from time to time, never in the modern era has it become part of the national conversation in such a prominent way.”

That’s from an analysis by our chief White House correspondent, who writes about the reaction to President Trump’s defense of Russia on Monday and whether it was a genuine turning point or simply another episode in Mr. Trump’s presidency that seems decisive at first but that ultimately fades.

Republican leaders in Congress mostly skirted Mr. Trump’s remarks, issuing warnings to Russia and trying to reassure European allies. To the president’s defenders, the episode is another example of Mr. Trump driving his critics to extremes.

• Separately on Tuesday, former President Barack Obama rebuked “strongman politics” and warned about growing nationalism, xenophobia and bigotry in the U.S. and around the world. He spoke at an event in South Africa marking the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth. (Read a transcript of his speech.)

• While tensions with the U.S. flare, the European Union signed its largest-ever trade deal on Tuesday, a pact with Japan that will eliminate $1.2 billion in tariffs that European companies pay per year.

The U.S. remains the Continent’s biggest trading partner, but the deal is part of a series of negotiations that one former trade official said “fits the notion that you don’t need the U.S. to do open trade.”

• To understand trade, two words can help: loss aversion. The phrase refers to the idea that people feel the pain of losing something more intensely than they do the pleasure of an equivalent gain. Our senior economics correspondent explains.

• In India, false rumors about child kidnappers have been going viral on the messaging service WhatsApp, prompting fearful mobs to kill two dozen innocent people since April.

WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, has 250 million users in India. Some of the bogus messages described gangs of kidnappers on the prowl. Others included videos showing people driving up and snatching children.

• The Times went to a village where a woman was killed after being mistaken for a “child lifter,” to see how WhatsApp and local authorities have struggled to contain the false messages. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court urged the government to use “an iron hand” against mob violence.

• Google was hit with a record $5.1 billion fine by European antitrust officials today, for abusing its power in the smartphone market.

• Goldman Sachs appointed a new chief executive, David Solomon, but the change probably won’t alter the Wall Street giant’s course.

• Papa John’s is trying to distance itself from its founder, John Schnatter, who stepped down after it was reported that he had used a racial slur. Now he’s fighting back, saying he was pressured to resign, including with an extortion attempt.

• MGM Resorts International, faced with possible lawsuits from hundreds of victims of last year’s mass shooting in Las Vegas, is suing victims first. The company isn’t seeking money, but it argues that a post-Sept. 11 law protects it from liability because the massacre qualifies as an “act of terrorism.”

• When women earn more than their husbands, neither partner likes to admit it, according to new research from the Census Bureau.

• U.S. stocks were up on Tuesday. Here’s a snapshot of global markets today.

Tips for a more fulfilling life.

• Are your friendships giving you a boost or bringing you down?

• At these hotels and spas, cancer is no obstacle to quality service.

• Recipe of the day: Make swordfish piccata in a buttery pan sauce whenever you need a quick, tasty dinner.

• Rescued Thai boys leave hospital

The 12 members of the soccer team and their coach who had been trapped in a flooded cave apologized to their rescuers at a news conference today. They had been hospitalized for a week after their ordeal.

• A youth sports crisis caught on video

Belligerent parents have contributed to a severe shortage of referees for youth and high school games across the U.S.

Now some of those parents are being publicly shamed.

• “The Simpsons” creator discusses controversy

The long-running animated comedy has been criticized for its supporting character Apu, a convenience-store owner who some viewers see as promoting Indian stereotypes.

The Times recently spoke to the series’ creator, Matt Groening, about the debate, which he says has become “tainted.” Here’s our interview.

• A new kind of pie fight

At Una Pizza Napoletana on the Lower East Side, a master of pizza simplicity joins two chefs with a more eclectic sensibility. The results are … complicated. Read our review.

Here’s more from this week’s Food section.

• Best of late-night TV

Jimmy Kimmel offered an analogy for President Trump’s comments on Tuesday: “This is like if Bill Clinton had come out and said, ‘Wait, no, I meant to say I did have sexual relations with that woman!’ ”

• Quotation of the day

“My mother said we needed to have culture. For her it wasn’t a matter of being rich or poor.”

— Daiana Ferreira de Oliveira, a ballet teacher in Rio de Janeiro who kept her dance school running when budget cuts closed the library where she taught.

• The Times, in other words

A technical glitch prevented us from including an image of today’s front page, but you can find a list of its contents here, as well as links to our Opinion content and crossword puzzles.

• What we’re reading

Lynda Richardson, an editor in our Travel section, recommends this piece from The New Yorker: “This is an absorbing read about a spy who became a beat cop in Savannah, Ga., where he grew up. An expert in counterterrorism with deployments in Afghanistan, he has unique skills, like an ability to memorize license plates backward from mirrors. But his approach to community policing in this Southern town is what gives me a sliver of hope for our country during these uncertain times.”

The riders on the Tour de France entered the 11th stage today, having already suffered some spectacular crashes.

Imagine if they tried it with the bikes of the past.

Bicycle makers of yore — meaning those of the 1800s — had yet to discover gearing. In the hunt for speed, “velocipedes” came to rely on one huge wheel, with a second wheel for stability and balance.

That’s the style that Britain called the penny-farthing, because it looked like a giant penny paired with the much smaller farthing coin. They offered a thrilling, but forbiddingly dangerous, ride.

But the 1800s were a time of invention. An Englishman named John Kemp Starley introduced a radical improvement in 1885: the “Rover safety bicycle,” with two same-size wheels.

A few innovations later, he had the basics of what has been called “the most influential piece of product design ever” — a bike with a triangular frame and pedals that power the wheels with a chain and gears.

The bicycle has become the most popular mode of personal transport in the world, and estimates of the number of bikes in use around the globe run upward of two billion.

Andrea Kannapell wrote today’s Back Story.

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