Your Friday Briefing

President Trump, Theresa May, Mexico View in [Browser] | Add [nytdirect@nytimes.com] to your address book. [The New York Times] [The New York Times] Friday, January 27, 2017 [NYTimes.com »] [Your Friday Briefing] By SEAN ALFANO [A dress rehearsal of “Swan Lake” at the New York City Ballet. During the first weekend of the company’s winter season, Claire Kretzschmar, center, danced in all seven performances.] A dress rehearsal of “Swan Lake” at the New York City Ballet. During the first weekend of the company’s winter season, Claire Kretzschmar, center, danced in all seven performances. Sasha Arutyunova for The New York Times Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: • British leader pays Trump a visit. President Trump will host Prime Minister Theresa May at the White House today, and they are expected to discuss a possible [free-trade agreement]. The meeting is Mr. Trump’s first as president with a foreign leader. It comes a day after Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, [canceled a trip to Washington] next week amid an outcry in his country over Mr. Trump’s order to build a border wall. • About that wall. To finance its construction, Mr. Trump appears to have embraced a House Republican proposal [to][impose a 20 percent tax] on imported goods, but an uproar on Thursday prompted the White House to say it was just “one idea” under consideration. If the president supports the plan, other nations could retaliate, prompting a trade war. • “The media here is the opposition party.” Those are the words of Stephen K. Bannon, the chief White House strategist who previously ran Breitbart News. Mr. Bannon delivered more scathing assessments during [our interview]. One of the issues fueling the Trump administration’s view of journalists is the reporting on Inauguration Day crowds. That story took a new turn on Thursday, with reports that [Mr. Trump had called the head of the National Park Service] to ask why the agency had shared a Times reporter’s tweet comparing the crowd at Mr. Trump’s inauguration with the one at President Barack Obama’s in 2009. • Abortion opponents head to Washington. The 44th annual March for Life today is expected to be a celebratory event at which supporters can [savor the political advantages] Mr. Trump’s election have brought them. Vice President Mike Pence is to address the rally. Organizers have [urged their followers to participate], in an effort to match the size of last week’s women’s march. • Confronting the sins of the past. On Sept. 8, 1940, a black man named Austin Callaway was dragged by a group of masked white men from a jail cell in LaGrange, Ga., and killed. On Thursday night, the city’s current police chief [issued a rare apology] for a lynching in the South. “I’m profoundly sorry. It should never have happened,” he said. Business • The unexpected departure of [Volkswagen’s head of compliance] has raised concerns about the German carmaker’s willingness to change ingrained practices. “The optics couldn’t be worse,” one analyst said. • Efforts by Google and Facebook to [combat the spread of fake news] have had little impact so far, according to industry experts. • Lee O’Denat, an internet entrepreneur who founded the popular website WorldStarHipHop.com, featuring a mix of music videos and street fights, [died this week at 43]. • U.S. stocks [were mixed] on Thursday. Here’s a snapshot of [global markets]. Noteworthy • Tick, tock. [The Doomsday Clock], a symbolic instrument run by atomic scientists to gauge the possibility of imminent disaster, is now the closest to midnight since 1953. • A ballerina’s life. Every day, [Claire Kretzschmar] of the New York City Ballet goes from class to rehearsal to performance at a breathless pace. [Our 360 video] follows her busy day. • At the movies. We reviewed “[Gold],” with Matthew McConaughey playing a 1980s mining executive; and “[A Dog’s Purpose],” a string of stories told from the canine point of view. The movie has drawn the ire of animal rights activists and our critic, who calls it “clumsily manipulative dreck.” Last, a belated congratulations to “[4.1 Miles],” a film in our Op-Doc series about Greece’s efforts to rescue migrants and refugees stranded at sea. It was nominated for an Oscar in the [documentary (short subject)] category. • A new look at “1984.” We mentioned a few days ago that sales of George Orwell’s classic were spiking. Our literary critic [offers a reappraisal]. • Working through a mystery in Brooklyn. Six years ago, our reporter found an old photo album in the trash. Intrigued by its depiction of black lives in an earlier era, she decided to uncover its story. “I thought it would be simple. But chasing the album would become something of a journey,” [she writes]. • Finally, if you need a break … … some U.S. zoos started a #[cuteanimaltweetoff]. There were no winners or losers in the standoff — [just fuzzy animals]. Smarter Living: Morning Edition • Struggling at the gym this week? Try [pumping up the music]. • A former circus trainer has [welcomed horses, pigs and dogs to her farm in New York], where she plans to pair them with children and older adults in a rehabilitation program. • Recipe of the day: Consider this [baked mustard chicken] dinner for the weekend. It takes about two hours to bake. (Yes, two hours.) Back story Hundreds of millions of people are gathering with family this weekend to celebrate the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Rooster. If you’re among them, you’ll most likely give, or receive, artfully decorated red envelopes filled with cash. Giving “hong bao,” as the envelopes are called in Mandarin, or “lai see,” as they are known in Cantonese, comes with many rules. Break them, and you risk causing family rifts. [Lunar New Year decorations for sale in Hong Kong on Thursday.] Lunar New Year decorations for sale in Hong Kong on Thursday. Lam Yik Fei/Getty Images Typically, only married relatives hand out envelopes, and only unmarried, younger family members receive them. At work, they are usually given to subordinates as a sign of recognition. Sometimes, giving too much can be as disrespectful as giving too little. Ideally, the money inside should be unused. Before the holiday, banks struggle to accommodate long lines of customers seeking fresh bills. Technology is changing the tradition. WeChat, a widely used social platform on smartphones, allows for the digital transfer of red envelopes. The practice is increasingly popular. On the eve of Lunar New Year in 2016, eight billion cash gifts were swapped via the app. More traditionally, in parts of China, real coins are hidden in dumplings served at family parties. Whoever eats the dumpling risks cracking a tooth but is promised a year of riches. Patrick Boehler contributed reporting. _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern and [updated on the web all morning]. What would you like to see here? Contact us at [briefing@nytimes.com]. You can [sign up here] to get the briefing delivered to your inbox. ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK] [Twitter] [@nytimes] Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »] | Sign Up for the [Evening Briefing newsletter »] ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Morning Briefing newsletter. 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