Your Wednesday Briefing

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, March 8, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( Europe Edition [Your Wednesday Briefing]( By JENNIFER JETT Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: Larry Downing/Reuters • WikiLeaks’ latest release, if confirmed, would [worsen tensions between U.S. intelligence agencies and Silicon Valley](. [The so-called Vault 7 documents]( offer details of C.I.A. hacking tools used to break into smartphones, computers and even internet-connected televisions and to bypass encryption on messaging services like Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram. WikiLeaks said the source was raising policy questions that “urgently need to be debated in public.” Here’s a look at how [vulnerable your smartphone might be]( to hacking. _____ Andy Rain/European Pressphoto Agency • The House of Lords voted to approve an amendment [giving Parliament a much greater say]( over the outcome of talks on Britain’s withdrawal from the E.U. Instead of an up-or-down vote, the Lords want to be able to send Prime Minister Theresa May back to the negotiating table if they are dissatisfied with the deal. Their amendment may be overturned in the House of Commons. The British government will present its first budget plan today since the “Brexit” vote last year. _____ Kim Won-Jin/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • North Korea’s provocations are creating a [difficult balancing act]( for the Trump administration and its allies South Korea and Japan. China [warned of a nuclear arms race]( after the U.S. began delivering parts of an advanced missile defense system, known as Thaad, to South Korea in response to the North’s launch of four ballistic missiles this week. _____ Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times • Far-right figures in Europe like Geert Wilders of the Netherlands, above, are [getting financial help from American conservatives]( attracted to their anti-E.U. and anti-Islam views. Some Dutch see the help as an assault on national sovereignty as they prepare to vote in parliamentary elections on March 15. Mr. Wilders is holding a protest today against Turkish officials’ campaigning in the Netherlands for a referendum at home that would expand the Turkish president’s powers. _____ Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images • More than 330,000 acutely malnourished children, 3.3 million people in need of medical care, 7,731 cases of cholera. The U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, listed data points of desperation as he visited Somalia to make an urgent appeal for [$825 million in aid for about half the population](. _____ Business  • President Trump and his allies have for years accused China and much of Europe of protectionism. [Our correspondents analyze that claim]( and what the Trump administration might do to reduce the U.S. trade deficit, which [rose 9.6 percent in January]( to a four-year high. • China’s [$300 billion plan to become self-sufficient]( in a number of industries, including planes, computer chips and electric cars, is raising alarms among international companies over unfair competition. • A Syrian refugee whose selfie with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany was used in fake news posts about terrorism [lost a case against Facebook]( seeking the removal of all copies. • Ms. Merkel is scheduled to testify today before a parliamentary panel investigating the Volkswagen emissions scandal. The excess air pollution resulting from the fraud could lead to [1,200]( deaths in Europe]( researchers say. • Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • Iraqi forces pushed into western Mosul, retaking a major bridge and a ransacked archaeological museum from the Islamic State. [[The New York Times]( • The Hungarian Parliament approved the detention of asylum seekers, including children, in guarded camps, in what rights advocates called a breach of international law. [[The New York Times]( • Australian police officers in Queensland State saved a British woman who had been held captive by a former boyfriend for months. [[The New York Times]( • George Michael, the English singer-songwriter, died of a heart condition, a coroner said. [[The New York Times]( • A 4-year-old rhinoceros was killed and its horn sawed off in a wildlife park near Paris. [[The New York Times]( • No skiers were killed in an avalanche that hit a popular resort in the French Alps. [[The Guardian]( Smarter Living Karsten Moran for The New York Times • Do you eat before you exercise in the morning? It might be worth [reversing that order](. • [Readers responded]( to a touching essay by a writer who, after learning she will soon die, composed [a dating profile for her husband](. • Recipe of the day: Will your St. Patrick’s Day be far from a New York deli? [Making your own corned beef]( takes just a little planning. Noteworthy James Hill for The New York Times • The libretto for an opera in Moscow called “Pushkin: Poet and Czar” was written by a British descendant, above, of both Alexander Pushkin and Czar Nicholas I, [who]( not exactly get along](. • Paris Fashion Week is over. [Then there’s Moscow. Shanghai. Berlin](. It seems as if every country now has a fashion week — or two, like Kazakhstan, or three, like Indonesia. • The Netherlands — with the help of talented young players from two of its former colonies, Aruba and Curaçao — is a favorite to win its pool at the [World Baseball Classic]( in South Korea. Team Netherlands plays Taiwan today. • Europe was well represented in [this year’s U.S. News & World Report survey]( of the best countries in the world. Switzerland took the top spot for the first time, while Sweden was ranked the best country for women and children. Back Story Lionel Healing/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Today, for [International Women’s Day]( let’s see which country tops [the list]( of female representation in Parliament. Rwanda. Out of 80 seats in the lower house, 49 are held by women (61 percent), as are 10 of the 26 in the upper house (38 percent), according to an international organization of parliaments. Since 2003, the country has required that at least 30 percent of representatives be female. Next: [Bolivia]( where a 2009 measure requires women to occupy at least 50 percent of elected positions. Women now hold 69 of the 130 seats in the lower house (53 percent) and 17 of 36 in the upper house (47 percent). Cuba, in third, [uses “positive discrimination,”]( putting women in almost half the seats in the National Assembly. Iceland, Nicaragua, Sweden, Senegal, Mexico, Finland and South Africa fill out the top 10. The U.S. is No. 104, with 83 women out of 435 representatives and 21 of 100 senators. “The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them,” the Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, told a Harvard graduating class in 2011. “If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.” Caryn A. Wilson contributed reporting. _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online. What would you like to see here? 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