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| Strasbourg, Brexit, the Arctic: Your Wednesday Briefing | Strasbourg, Brexit, the Arctic: Your Wednesday Briefing |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
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| Good morning. | Good morning. |
| Thank you for all the feedback on our special Brexit section of the briefing over the last week. You may have noticed some other changes — we’ve been working on ways to make the briefing even better. Please let us know what you think. | Thank you for all the feedback on our special Brexit section of the briefing over the last week. You may have noticed some other changes — we’ve been working on ways to make the briefing even better. Please let us know what you think. |
| Now, on to the news: A no-confidence vote is planned for Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, there was a possible terrorist shooting in the French city of Strasbourg, and the Arctic is on track for its second-warmest year on record. Here’s the latest: | |
| Britain’s beleaguered prime minister faces a no-confidence vote today, after 48 lawmakers from her Conservative Party submitted letters of protest, posing a new and potentially lethal threat to her leadership. | |
| Under the party’s rules, Mrs. May needs to win 158 votes from among the 315 Conservative members of Parliament to stay as party leader and therefore prime minister. If she does so, then party members cannot mount another challenge to her leadership for a year, but if she loses the vote, then she withdraws and another leader will be chosen over the coming weeks. | |
| If you missed it yesterday: Mrs. May toured European capitals, seeking concessions to try to salvage her agreement on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union a day after postponing a parliamentary vote on it. | |
| But European leaders expressed resistance to further negotiations. “There is no room whatsoever for renegotiation,” said Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission. | |
| A telling scene: Some saw a metaphor when Mrs. May was briefly stuck in her car in Germany. | |
| The Daily: On the podcast, our correspondents in London discuss the Brexit fiasco. | |
| An armed man previously flagged as a threat by the French authorities opened fire in Strasbourg, France, at the country’s largest Christmas market, killing at least three people and wounding a dozen others before fleeing amid mass panic. A terrorism investigation was opened, the city center was closed off and residents were warned to stay home as a manhunt began. | An armed man previously flagged as a threat by the French authorities opened fire in Strasbourg, France, at the country’s largest Christmas market, killing at least three people and wounding a dozen others before fleeing amid mass panic. A terrorism investigation was opened, the city center was closed off and residents were warned to stay home as a manhunt began. |
| Broad challenges: European leaders gathering this week in Brussels for an end-of-the-year summit meeting will confront a new kind of business as usual: constant turmoil. | Broad challenges: European leaders gathering this week in Brussels for an end-of-the-year summit meeting will confront a new kind of business as usual: constant turmoil. |
| It’s not just the concerns over terrorism or Brexit. Mass protests in France have dashed hopes for a handoff of pan-European leadership from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany to the French president, Emmanuel Macron. | It’s not just the concerns over terrorism or Brexit. Mass protests in France have dashed hopes for a handoff of pan-European leadership from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany to the French president, Emmanuel Macron. |
| Populism is still potent, and the E.U. also faces a fraying alliance with the U.S., a budget fight with Italy, Russian aggression, increasing authoritarianism in Hungary and Poland, and shaky or coalition-less parliaments across the bloc. | Populism is still potent, and the E.U. also faces a fraying alliance with the U.S., a budget fight with Italy, Russian aggression, increasing authoritarianism in Hungary and Poland, and shaky or coalition-less parliaments across the bloc. |
| Yellow Vests: A month of turmoil has left Mr. Macron’s economic agenda in doubt, and has so far cost the country’s economy an estimated $11.4 billion. Mr. Macron’s proposed relief package for the working and middle classes is estimated to cost about the same, but doubts have emerged about how much it would help. Members of the Yellow Vest movement called for more protests this weekend. | Yellow Vests: A month of turmoil has left Mr. Macron’s economic agenda in doubt, and has so far cost the country’s economy an estimated $11.4 billion. Mr. Macron’s proposed relief package for the working and middle classes is estimated to cost about the same, but doubts have emerged about how much it would help. Members of the Yellow Vest movement called for more protests this weekend. |
| The Arctic has been warmer over the last five years than at any time since records began in 1900, and the region is warming at twice the rate as the rest of the planet, according to a report by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. | The Arctic has been warmer over the last five years than at any time since records began in 1900, and the region is warming at twice the rate as the rest of the planet, according to a report by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. |
| An official with the agency said that increasing air and ocean temperatures were “pushing the Arctic into uncharted territory.” | An official with the agency said that increasing air and ocean temperatures were “pushing the Arctic into uncharted territory.” |
| Impact: The warming is shrinking sea ice and wreaking havoc on Arctic life and on weather around the world, the report found. For example, a bitter cold spell in Europe early this year is attributed to a jet stream slackened by warmer Arctic air. | Impact: The warming is shrinking sea ice and wreaking havoc on Arctic life and on weather around the world, the report found. For example, a bitter cold spell in Europe early this year is attributed to a jet stream slackened by warmer Arctic air. |
| Other effects: By midcentury, cargo ships may be able to pass directly over the North Pole, even under moderate warming. | Other effects: By midcentury, cargo ships may be able to pass directly over the North Pole, even under moderate warming. |
| The president, in an extraordinary public altercation at the White House on Tuesday, vowed to block full funding for the government if Democrats refused to finance his promised border wall. On Twitter, he said the military could work on building the “Great Wall” whether Congress funded it or not — which would not be legal. | The president, in an extraordinary public altercation at the White House on Tuesday, vowed to block full funding for the government if Democrats refused to finance his promised border wall. On Twitter, he said the military could work on building the “Great Wall” whether Congress funded it or not — which would not be legal. |
| The testy back-and-forth in the Oval Office with the Democrats’ congressional leaders, Representative Nancy Pelosi, above left, and Senator Chuck Schumer, right, heightened concern that the two sides might not reach an agreement on spending bills to keep the government running by a Dec. 21 deadline. | The testy back-and-forth in the Oval Office with the Democrats’ congressional leaders, Representative Nancy Pelosi, above left, and Senator Chuck Schumer, right, heightened concern that the two sides might not reach an agreement on spending bills to keep the government running by a Dec. 21 deadline. |
| The issue: Mr. Trump wants $5 billion for the wall, but the administration has yet to spend much of the $1.3 billion Congress approved for border security last year. | The issue: Mr. Trump wants $5 billion for the wall, but the administration has yet to spend much of the $1.3 billion Congress approved for border security last year. |
| The confrontation: Ms. Pelosi, the prospective speaker of the House when Democrats take control in January, met the president in verbal combat. “Don’t characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting,” she told him. Here are five takeaways from the fracas, and video of the sparring. | The confrontation: Ms. Pelosi, the prospective speaker of the House when Democrats take control in January, met the president in verbal combat. “Don’t characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting,” she told him. Here are five takeaways from the fracas, and video of the sparring. |
| Chinese tensions with Washington... : A cyberattack on the Marriott hotel chain in September that collected personal details on roughly 500 million guests was part of a sweeping Chinese intelligence-gathering effort in the U.S., according to two people briefed on the preliminary results of an investigation into the hacking. The development could throw a wrench into U.S.-China trade talks. ... and with Canada: A former Canadian diplomat was detained in China, less than a week after Canada announced the arrest of a senior Chinese executive, Meng Wanzhou of the tech giant Huawei. Ms. Meng has been granted bail while awaiting extradition to the U.S. | Chinese tensions with Washington... : A cyberattack on the Marriott hotel chain in September that collected personal details on roughly 500 million guests was part of a sweeping Chinese intelligence-gathering effort in the U.S., according to two people briefed on the preliminary results of an investigation into the hacking. The development could throw a wrench into U.S.-China trade talks. ... and with Canada: A former Canadian diplomat was detained in China, less than a week after Canada announced the arrest of a senior Chinese executive, Meng Wanzhou of the tech giant Huawei. Ms. Meng has been granted bail while awaiting extradition to the U.S. |
| Seven-hour spacewalk: Two Russian astronauts took to the vacuum of space from the International Space Station to examine a small, mysterious hole that the Russian government says it believes was drilled into a Soyuz spacecraft in an act of sabotage. Though the hole poses no danger, wild speculation has run through the Russian news media blaming NASA at the same time that Russia is trying to persuade the U.S. to extend their space alliance. | Seven-hour spacewalk: Two Russian astronauts took to the vacuum of space from the International Space Station to examine a small, mysterious hole that the Russian government says it believes was drilled into a Soyuz spacecraft in an act of sabotage. Though the hole poses no danger, wild speculation has run through the Russian news media blaming NASA at the same time that Russia is trying to persuade the U.S. to extend their space alliance. |
| Google in the hot seat: The company’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, testified on Capitol Hill, fielding questions from U.S. lawmakers on topics like the company’s market power, whether it deliberately suppressed conservative content and its protection of privacy. | Google in the hot seat: The company’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, testified on Capitol Hill, fielding questions from U.S. lawmakers on topics like the company’s market power, whether it deliberately suppressed conservative content and its protection of privacy. |
| Person of the year: Jamal Khashoggi, two Reuters journalists imprisoned in Myanmar, a journalist under attack in the Philippines and the staff of The Capital Gazette in Maryland, which was targeted in a mass shooting, were named Time magazine’s person of the year for 2018. | Person of the year: Jamal Khashoggi, two Reuters journalists imprisoned in Myanmar, a journalist under attack in the Philippines and the staff of The Capital Gazette in Maryland, which was targeted in a mass shooting, were named Time magazine’s person of the year for 2018. |
| Serenading North Korea: The provocative Slovenian rock group Laibach became the first Western band to perform in the totalitarian country back in 2015. Here’s what it was like to put on the show — which was mostly over-the-top covers from “The Sound of Music.” | Serenading North Korea: The provocative Slovenian rock group Laibach became the first Western band to perform in the totalitarian country back in 2015. Here’s what it was like to put on the show — which was mostly over-the-top covers from “The Sound of Music.” |
| Carbonated politics: A sign on a busy street in Berlin that looked like a Coke ad with a message denouncing the far right wasn’t actually a Coke ad, but the company didn’t disavow it, and that spawned far-right anger at the soda brand. | Carbonated politics: A sign on a busy street in Berlin that looked like a Coke ad with a message denouncing the far right wasn’t actually a Coke ad, but the company didn’t disavow it, and that spawned far-right anger at the soda brand. |
| Looking back: It’s been a, well, peculiar year. Try our game, “The Year in Dissonance.” | Looking back: It’s been a, well, peculiar year. Try our game, “The Year in Dissonance.” |
| Tips for a more fulfilling life. | Tips for a more fulfilling life. |
| Recipe of the day: Celebrate midweek with an intense cookie recipe, featuring molasses, chocolate and fresh ginger. | Recipe of the day: Celebrate midweek with an intense cookie recipe, featuring molasses, chocolate and fresh ginger. |
| 15 gift ideas for the woman who’s cooler than you are. | 15 gift ideas for the woman who’s cooler than you are. |
| Pro tip: Save for college! | Pro tip: Save for college! |
| A heated session of British Parliament turned to chaos on Monday night when a member of the House of Commons grabbed a five-foot, silver-gilt mace, as seen below, and tried to leave the chamber. | A heated session of British Parliament turned to chaos on Monday night when a member of the House of Commons grabbed a five-foot, silver-gilt mace, as seen below, and tried to leave the chamber. |
| The mace represents the crown’s authority, and Parliament can’t sit or pass laws without it. | The mace represents the crown’s authority, and Parliament can’t sit or pass laws without it. |
| Traditionally, the person in charge of guarding the mace — and restoring order in rare mace-snatchings — is the sergeant-at-arms. | Traditionally, the person in charge of guarding the mace — and restoring order in rare mace-snatchings — is the sergeant-at-arms. |
| The sergeant’s role, which dates to 1415, is to escort the speaker of the House before each sitting, carrying the mace during the procession, and to maintain order during the sitting. | The sergeant’s role, which dates to 1415, is to escort the speaker of the House before each sitting, carrying the mace during the procession, and to maintain order during the sitting. |
| You can’t miss the sergeant — the traditional uniform sports a frilly lace collar and cuffs, silk stockings and black patent shoes. The sword also comes in handy. | You can’t miss the sergeant — the traditional uniform sports a frilly lace collar and cuffs, silk stockings and black patent shoes. The sword also comes in handy. |
| After Monday’s breach of protocol, the troublemaking lawmaker said: “They stopped me before I got out of the chamber and I wasn’t going to struggle with someone wearing a huge sword on their hip.” | After Monday’s breach of protocol, the troublemaking lawmaker said: “They stopped me before I got out of the chamber and I wasn’t going to struggle with someone wearing a huge sword on their hip.” |
| Alisha Haridasani Gupta wrote today’s Back Story. | Alisha Haridasani Gupta wrote today’s Back Story. |
| Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings. | Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings. |
| Check out this page to find a Morning Briefing for your region. (In addition to our European edition, we have Australian, Asian and U.S. editions.) | Check out this page to find a Morning Briefing for your region. (In addition to our European edition, we have Australian, Asian and U.S. editions.) |
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| What would you like to see here? Contact us at europebriefing@nytimes.com. | What would you like to see here? Contact us at europebriefing@nytimes.com. |