Your Thursday Briefing

What you need to know today. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, January 11, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( Europe Edition [Your Thursday Briefing]( By PATRICK BOEHLER Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: Imaginechina, via AP Images • Before we get to the news, here’s [our annual list of 52 places]( to inspire your travel plans in 2018 and beyond. Among the gems that made this year’s cut: Estonia, the Belgian town of Ypres, São Tomé and Príncipe, off Africa’s west coast, and the Chinese province of Gansu, above. (Here’s how [we chose the locations]( And meet [Jada Yuan]( the lucky writer we're sending to each and every place this year. You’ll have all of 2018 to get to know her. _____ Tom Brenner/The New York Times • In Washington, President Trump [called the U.S. courts system]( “broken and unfair” after a federal judge ordered the administration to restart a program that shields young, undocumented immigrants from deportation. In other immigration news, U.S. federal agents raided nearly 100 7-Eleven stores across the country [to punish employers of illegal workers](. Meanwhile, [the “Trump effect” seems to have worn off]( at the southern border of the U.S. Illegal crossings are up again. _____ Hani Amara/Reuters • The Libyan Navy said that about 100 migrants were missing and feared dead after their dinghy sank in the Mediterranean. The Coast Guard [rescued at least 279 migrants](. In Belgium, the migration minister’s decision to expel several Sudanese migrants late last year — several of whom say they were tortured when they went back home — [has led to calls for his resignation](. The number of migrants reaching Spain from Africa almost tripled to nearly 22,000 last year. Short on space in detention centers, Spain [has sent some Algerian migrants to a prison](. _____ Eric Vidal/Reuters • In Catalonia, the main parties seeking secession from Spain [are said to have reached a preliminary agreement]( to re-elect Carles Puigdemont, above, as the region’s leader. He remains in Belgium to avoid prosecution in Spain. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has rejected a proposal by Mr. Puigdemont to meet outside Spain to negotiate a settlement. The Catalan Parliament is set to reconvene next Wednesday, and is expected to elect a regional leader within two weeks. Business Roger Kisby for The New York Times • Our reporter at the International Consumer Electronics Show answered [some readers’ questions ranging from Apple’s absence to smart kitchens](. (Embarrassingly, the giant exhibition had a two-hour [electricity failure]( attributed to rain.) • Canada has [filed a sweeping trade case]( against the U.S. at the World Trade Organization. The case also outlines problematic U.S. actions taken against other countries, including Germany and China. • Using data, female economists [have forced a reckoning]( over the barriers they face throughout their careers. • The kidnapping drama “All the Money in the World” has become a new [flash point in the debate over gender equality]( in Hollywood. • Kodak [is betting its future on digital currencies]( with an initial coin offering intended to help photographers sell their work. • Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Abed Omar Qusini/Reuters • The Islamic State’s Sinai branch in Egypt has urged attacks on Hamas’s members, courts and security positions, accusing the Islamic group that dominates Gaza of betraying Palestinians. (Above, Hamas supporters at a rally in the West Bank last month.) [[The New York Times]( • Key European foreign ministers meet their Iranian counterpart today to show their commitment to the 2015 nuclear accord ahead of a deadline for President Trump to decide whether to reimpose sanctions. [[Reuters]( • The arrest of a prominent human rights advocate in Chechnya appears to be part of an effort to drive out dissidents. [[The New York Times]( • In a marked change from earlier statements, President Trump declined to commit to being interviewed by the special counsel investigating whether his campaign colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 election. [[The New York Times]( • Greece has passed a law to limit the powers of Islamic courts in a northern region. [[The New York Times]( • Jewish advocacy groups in Germany welcomed an idea to make tours of concentration camps mandatory for immigrants. But some experts called the idea simplistic. [[The New York Times]( • In an Op-Ed, an Obama-era security official argues that the European Union needs to rein in the authoritarian impulses of Poland’s government. [[The New York Times]( • Hackers tied to Russian intelligence released private emails in an apparent attempt to retaliate against antidoping investigators. [[The New York Times]( • No plane, no money: Malaysia will pay a U.S. company up to $70 million if it finds debris of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which vanished in 2014, within 90 days. [[The New York Times]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. Karsten Moran for The New York Times • Recipe of the day: For a fish dinner, try [halibut with brown butter, lemon and sage](. • Fiber’s good for you. [Here’s why](. • Eight tips to help keep your [travel expenses down](. Noteworthy Elizabeth Lippman for The New York Times • Tonya Harding, the disgraced U.S. figure skater, is back. [And she’d like an apology](. She tells her side of the 1994 Nancy Kerrigan scandal in a new movie, “[I, Tonya.]( • The Vatican’s plan to take 2,100 homeless and poor people to the circus, along with refugees and prisoners, [did not go down well with animal rights activists](. • Dolphins develop the ability to recognize themselves in a mirror [at an earlier age than children]( do, which fits with how fast they develop generally. • With the improbable help of human nose hair, [researchers found the earliest fossils of butterflies]( in 200-million-year-old rocks in Germany. • The former head of Disney promised Portsmouth, a proud English soccer club fallen on hard times, [the prospect of an underdog’s triumph](. • A dash of this. A bit of that. Our writer recalls how a French babysitter [once taught her to make rice pudding “au pif”]( — without the constraints of precision. Back Story Richard Perry/The New York Times In the 1850s, a U.S. Army lieutenant exploring the Grand Canyon made one of history’s less accurate predictions, saying that the area had no financial value and that his “party of whites” [would probably be the last to visit](. Far from it. In 1919, the year the Grand Canyon became a national park, it had [more than 44,000 visitors]( and today it receives [six million a year](. The canyon’s path to national park status [began in the 1880s]( when Senator Benjamin Harrison of Indiana introduced several bills, but to no success. Later as president, he made it a forest reserve. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed parts of it a federal game reserve and then established it as a national monument on this day in 1908. Five years earlier, on his first visit to Arizona (then still a territory), Roosevelt said he could not attempt to describe the Grand Canyon and [implored people to preserve it](. “You cannot improve on it; not a bit,” he said. Like Roosevelt, the environmentalist John Muir was left at a loss for words by the canyon’s beauty, [writing in 1902]( that no artist could do justice to its colors: “And if paint is of no effect, what hope lies in pen-work? Only this: some may be incited by it to go and see for themselves.” Jennifer Jett contributed reporting. _____ This briefing was prepared for the European morning and is updated online. [Browse past briefings here](. You can get the briefing delivered to your inbox Monday through Friday. We have four global editions, timed for [the Americas]( [Europe]( [Asia]( and [Australia]( and [an Evening Briefing]( on U.S. weeknights. Check out our full range of free newsletters [here](. If photographs appear out of order, please download the updated New York Times app [from iTunes]( or [Google Play](. What would you like to see here? Contact us at [europebriefing@nytimes.com](mailto:europebriefing@nytimes.com?subject=Briefing%20Feedback%20(Europe)). 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