Your Thursday Briefing

> Theresa May fires her defense secretary. [The New York Times]( [nytimes.com]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, May 2, 2019 | [View in browser]( Supported by Good morning, We start today with William Barr’s defense of his handling of the Mueller report, Theresa May’s dismissal of her defense secretary over a leak, and the relationship between food and climate change. By Melina Delkic Attorney General William Barr testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Erin Schaff/The New York Times Barr defended himself against accusations of deceit Attorney General William Barr told a Senate committee he [had not misrepresented the conclusions reached by the special counsel, Robert Mueller]( despite Mr. Mueller’s newly revealed letter in which he protested Mr. Barr’s initial characterization of the Russia inquiry. Mr. Barr dismissed Mr. Mueller's letter as “a bit snitty.” Democrats contended that Mr. Barr had been “purposely misleading” and had even lied to Congress. Republicans focused on what President Trump has called the actual scandal, the fact that he was investigated in the first place. What Mueller wrote: In his March letter, Mr. Mueller [expressed his and his team’s concerns]( that the attorney general had inadequately portrayed their conclusions. Pointedly, he attached the report’s executive summaries as a reminder that his investigators had already done the work of distilling their findings. See for yourself: Read [Mr. Mueller’s letter]( and review [key moments from the testimony](. Next: Mr. Barr is expected to skip a House hearing on Thursday, after arguing with Democrats about its format. Democrats may subpoena him. Britain’s defense secretary, Gavin Williamson, leaving the prime minister’s residence in London in September. Daniel Leal-Olivas/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Theresa May fires defense secretary over leak Britain’s prime minister abruptly fired Gavin Williamson, [blaming him for a leak that suggested she would give Huawei a role]( in designing a British telecommunications network. Mrs. May’s announcement came after an investigation into a report in The Daily Telegraph about discussions in Britain’s National Security Council, of which Mr. Williamson was a member and where secrecy is meant to be strictly observed. Sticking points: The Telegraph report suggested Mrs. May had overruled objections from some senior council members about Huawei. The U.S. has said equipment from the Chinese telecom giant is vulnerable to Chinese state espionage, an assertion Huawei denies, and it is pressing allies not to work with the company. More Huawei: The company seeks acceptance in the West and is attempting to distance itself from the Chinese Communist Party. But its structure and value system [could get in the way](. President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine and Vice President Joe Biden meeting in Kiev in December 2015. Pool photo by Mikhail Palinchak Biden’s potential conflict of interest in Ukraine When Joe Biden was the U.S. vice president, one of his foreign policy roles included [pushing Ukraine’s corrupt government to clean up its act](. Part of that effort, during a trip to Kiev in March 2016, was threatening to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if Ukraine’s leaders did not dismiss the country’s top prosecutor, who had been accused of being soft on corruption. It worked. The potential conflict: Among those who had a stake in the outcome was Mr. Biden’s son Hunter Biden, who was on the board of an energy company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch who was in the sights of the fired prosecutor general. Why it matters: The broad outlines of the story had previously been public, but new details about his son’s involvement and the decision by the current prosecutor general to reopen an investigation into the company, Burisma, have pushed the issue back into the spotlight, just as the senior Mr. Biden’s presidential campaign begins. Some farmers in New York have given up on raspberries after uncontrollable waves of a fruit fly whose larvae can turn berries to mush. Jessica Ebelhar/The New York Times How food affects climate change What we eat every day has consequences. The world’s food system is responsible for about [one-quarter of the planet-warming greenhouse gases]( that humans generate each year. That includes raising and harvesting all the plants, animals and animal products we eat. Climate change is also [now altering]( the foods America grows. What should you do? We’ve answered all [your questions]( about how to shop, cook and eat in a warming world. Recipes: Review our collection of [climate-friendly]( dishes. And a correspondent who has traveled the world suggests [five cuisines]( that are easier on the planet. Quiz: What is the climate impact of the type of foods you ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner yesterday? Take [our quiz](. If you have 8 minutes, this is worth it In pursuit of Aboriginal justice Patrick Cumaiyi’s aunt showing how his hands had been shackled as he was led to a police airplane. Glenn Campbell for The New York Times Patrick Cumaiyi waved to his family with shackled hands as he boarded a plane to Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory, to face a domestic-violence complaint. Before takeoff, an argument broke out, an officer delivered a sharp blow to Mr. Cumaiyi’s head, and another officer dragged him headfirst onto the tarmac. Medical records obtained by The New York Times suggest he [was a victim not only of police brutality]( — a persistent problem for Indigenous Australians — but also a cover-up. PAID POST: A MESSAGE FROM CAMPAIGN MONITOR Email Marketing 101: Never Sacrifice Beauty for Simplicity A drag-and-drop email builder, a gallery of templates and turnkey designs, personalized customer journeys, and engagement segments. It's everything you need to create stunning, results-driven email campaigns in minutes. And with Campaign Monitor, you have access to it all, along with award-winning support around the clock. It's beautiful email marketing done simply. [Learn More]( Here’s what else is happening Venezuela: A day after the Venezuelan opposition’s call for a military uprising failed, there was a protracted standoff punctuated by violence, with the government and protesters [seeking to project strength at rival May Day rallies](. The failed uprising has raised questions about whether the Trump administration [misread events on the ground](. Britain: Amid poisoned national politics, even candidates in local elections, which take place today, have suffered [threats or physical attacks](. Analysts expect the Conservatives to lose hundreds of seats. College admissions: [$6.5 million](. That’s how much one family paid to secure a spot for their daughter at Stanford University. The student, who was admitted in 2017, is part of a wide-reaching college admissions scandal involving the consultant her family hired. France: [Violence flared]( at the traditional May Day rally in Paris as the police played cat-and-mouse with demonstrators and masked vandals. The police fired tear gas and charged protesters, but there was less violence than had been anticipated. North Carolina shooting: A student who the police say saved many lives, by [tackling the gunman at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte]( lost his own. Riley Howell was 21. Estonia: A gesture made by two Estonian lawmakers as they were sworn in this week — a circle with the thumb and index finger and three fingers outstretched, usually meaning “O.K.” — has been [seen by many as a white supremacist signal](. Poulomi Basu for The New York Times Snapshot: The rapper Slowthai, above, has made a name for himself in Britain with his stridently political tracks. His first full-length record — to be released on May 17, initially a proposed date for the country’s departure from the E.U. — [is a damning critique]( of the all-consuming nature of Brexit. Italy: Capri, which takes up just over four square miles, plays host to 2.3 million tourists a year, and they leave a lot of trash behind. The island is fighting back: [All forms of single-use plastic have been banned](. What we’re reading: [This conversation with Anjelica Huston]( in Vulture. “It’s as good as everyone’s saying,” writes Katie Rogers, one of our White House correspondents. ADVERTISEMENT Now, a break from the news Gentl and Hyers for The New York Times. Food stylist: Michelle Gatton. Prop stylist: Amy Wilson. Cook: When an average salad won’t do, Samin Nosrat’s [greenest green salad]( will satisfy. Watch: With “Avengers: Endgame” hijacking the box office — and the cultural conversation — five writers assembled to [discuss the superhero-saturated times we live in](. Go: [The Turner Prize]( Britain’s most prestigious art award, announced four finalists. Their work will go on display in Margate, England, and the winner will be announced in December. Listen: Three books by George R.R. Martin, including “Game of Thrones,” appear on our [monthly audiobook fiction best-seller list](. Listening to the unabridged versions of the three titles would take a total of 118 hours and 32 minutes. Smarter Living: Allergies can be torture. Immunotherapy — shots that can help desensitize you to allergens — can help over time. If needles aren’t your thing, cleaning the filter of your air conditioner or furnace can keep indoor air cleaner. Vacuum often. Mattress protectors for both your mattress and box spring keep dust mites out. [Pillow protectors are also an option](. And we asked you for the best advice anyone’s ever given you, and how it made an impact on your life. [Here’s what you said](. And now for the Back Story on … The power of fairy tales A recent feature [by our Berlin bureau chief]( tracked how Germany’s far right has adopted anti-immigrant tropes in discussing an influx from Poland of “the most notorious fairy-tale baddie”: the wolf. Connecting nationalism and fairy tales is not new. The Brothers Grimm, who based their tales on folk tradition, lived and worked in the 19th century, when Europe was brimming with enthusiasm for the nation-state over multiethnic empires. Artists and writers [reached for ancient myths]( to feed the ideal of a national culture. Little Red Riding Hood, from an 1865 Berlin edition of Grimms’ Fairy Tales. North Wind Picture Archives, via Alamy That legacy lives on in not only children’s books but also concert halls: [Jean Sibelius]( picked tales from [the Finnish national epic “Kalevala]( and [Bela Bartok collected folk songs]( from the former Austro-Hungarian empire. But when populists pick up the tales and myths, they often seem to stray [far from the artists’ intentions](. “Even if musical folklore once owed a debt to nationalism, today, ultranationalism hurts it so much that the damage is far greater than the benefit once was,” [Bartok wrote in an essay in 1937](. That’s it for this briefing. See you next time. — Melina Thank you Katie Van Syckle helped compile today’s briefing. Mark Josephson, Eleanor Stanford and Kenneth R. Rosen wrote the break from the news. Palko Karasz, in our London bureau, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at [briefing@nytimes.com](mailto:briefing+midnight@nytimes.com?subject=Briefing%20Feedback&te=1&nl=morning-briefing&emc=edit_MBE_p_20190502§ion=endNote;section=endNote). P.S. • We’re listening to “[The Daily]( Our latest episode is about the end of Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s rule of Sudan. • Here’s today’s [Mini Crossword]( and a clue: Components of a criminal code (4 letters). [You can find all our puzzles here](. • The New York Times [translated our Tokyo bureau chief’s five-part look]( at the Japanese monarchy [into Japanese](. Were you sent this briefing by a friend? [Sign up here]( to get the Morning Briefing. [Today's Front Page]( [nytimes.com]( [Subscribe to The Times]( You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Morning Briefing newsletter. Want to change the time you receive your briefing? 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