Your Wednesday Briefing

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, April 26, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( Europe Edition [Your Wednesday Briefing]( By PATRICK BOEHLER Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: Pascal Bastien for The New York Times • Anger over the effects of globalization drove French voters to support candidates on the fringes of both the left and the right in the first round of the presidential election. That unlikely common ground [could haunt Emmanuel Macron]( the centrist candidate, though he is still expected to prevail over Marine Le Pen, his far-right opponent, in the second round of voting in less than two weeks. Our Interpreter columnists came up with [an interesting analogy for Western populism]( It is entering its awkward teenage years, they say, forceful enough to influence the household but too young to run it. _____ Martin Bureau/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • President Trump has been conspicuously silent about France’s election since Ms. Le Pen, above, put herself within striking distance of the Élysée Palace. Our White House correspondent [argues that her victory would be a headache for Mr. Trump]( especially since he has adopted more conventional positions on NATO and the E.U. Separately, a U.S. visit by Milos Zeman, the Czech president who endorsed Mr. Trump last year, [has been postponed]( because of the diplomatic crisis over North Korea’s nuclear program. _____ Kyodo, via Reuters • Pyongyang’s decision to hold [only artillery drills]( for national celebrations yesterday, not a nuclear test, did not end fears of a military confrontation. The [full U.S. Senate]( is to be briefed on the crisis today at the White House, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to lead a [special meeting of the U.N. Security Council]( on Friday. _____ Doug Mills/The New York Times • President Trump made a [forceful speech]( at the annual Holocaust remembrance ceremony in Washington, apparently [seeking to end criticism]( that he had minimized the suffering of Jews. Earlier in the day, Mr. Trump backed off his demand for immediate funds to [build a wall along the Mexican border]( easing the path of a spending bill to keep the government running past Friday. And a federal judge blocked his administration [from cutting funds for “sanctuary cities.”]( _____ [Mark Zuckerberg.]Spencer Lowell for The New York Times. Illustration by Mike McQuade. • Facebook is contending with some of the unintended consequences of hyperconnectivity — fake news, misinformation, echo chambers. Our technology reporter met with Mark Zuckerberg to find out if the most powerful tool for connection in human history is [capable of adapting to the world it created](. The social media platform has struggled to manage the huge number of videos broadcast on its site, including some showing gruesome crimes. This week, [a man in Thailand broadcast himself murdering his 11-month-old daughter]( and [a court in Sweden sentenced three men to jail]( for live-streaming and participating in a gang rape. _____ Business Antonio Calanni/Associated Press • Aviation: Alitalia, the Italian airline, [said it would start bankruptcy proceedings](. And in Russia, two flight attendants sued Aeroflot, alleging [age and sex discrimination](. • Nearly half of the largest U.S. corporations have [set their own emissions reduction targets]( even as the Trump administration retreats from environmental priorities. The solar industry [employs many more Americans than coal](. • Financial markets soared on reports that President Trump [aims to cut corporate taxes](. The Nasdaq passed 6,000 for the first time. • Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Sean Gallup/Getty Images • Ivanka Trump drew groans and hisses from an audience in Germany for defending her father’s treatment of women and calling him a “tremendous champion of supporting families.” [[The New York Times]( • Russia said it would supply electricity to separatist-controlled areas in eastern Ukraine after the Ukrainian government cut off power to the about three million people living there. [[Associated Press]( • The Turkish military bombed Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria, including pesh merga troops allied with the U.S. [[The New York Times]( • Our correspondent in Turkey explores how recent changes in the country’s electoral commission have undermined its credibility in overseeing this month’s historic referendum. [[The New York Times]( • Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, canceled a meeting with the visiting foreign minister of Germany, Sigmar Gabriel, after Mr. Gabriel met with nongovernmental groups critical of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. [[Haaretz]( • The police in Spain arrested nine men in and around Barcelona in connection with the March 2016 terrorist attacks in Brussels. [[The New York Times]( Smarter Living Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times • One of the most crucial keys to being successful at work: [taking time off](. • Recipe of the day: [Eggs, chorizo and asparagus]( are a good option any time of day. Noteworthy Sofie Lindberg • The Museum of Failure, soon to open in Helsingborg, Sweden, will showcase [products that flopped](. ([Remember Google Glass]( Innovation, after all, requires that some things go wrong. • Speech language therapists are catering in growing numbers to [transgender clients seeking to retrain their voices](. • Salt has a greater impact in cooking than anything else, and layering it is a terrific way to build flavor, [the author and chef Samin Nosrat writes](. • And Bill Murray, the actor we [once declared a secular saint]( is [venturing into golf wear](. Back Story Hilary Swift for The New York Times Last weekend, protesters in the U.S. [marched in defense of scientific inquiry]( spurred by a president who casts doubt on climate change. They might have been pleased by today’s tale, of a government that turned to a citizen-scientist for answers. On this day in 1803, a shower of 2,000 to 3,000 meteorites fell upon L’Aigle, France. The French Academy of Sciences sent Jean-Baptiste Biot, a physicist, to assess the origin of the debris. Mr. Biot found that the meteorites did not resemble anything on Earth and, considering accounts of “[a rain of stones thrown by the meteor]( confirmed they must be from outer space. He thus established the field of study called [meteoritics](. (Meteorology, the study of the atmosphere and its phenomena, was already claimed.) Mr. Biot’s findings didn’t persuade everyone, however. Four years later, [a meteor and its debris were seen in Connecticut](. Two scientists from Yale concluded that they came from outer space. However, the American president at the time, Thomas Jefferson, greeted the news with caution. (Still, [a quote that has been widely attributed to him is likely apocryphal]( It’s “easier to believe that two Yankee professors could lie than to admit that stones could fall from heaven.”) It wasn’t until later in the 19th century that meteorites’ extraterrestrial origins became widely accepted as scientific fact. Thomas Lotito contributed reporting. _____ This briefing was prepared for the European morning. We also have briefings timed for the [Australian]( [Asian]( and [American]( mornings. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters [here](. Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online. What would you like to see here? Contact us at [europebriefing@nytimes.com](mailto:europebriefing@nytimes.com?subject=Briefing%20Feedback%20(Europe)). ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW NYT [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nytimes]( Prefer a different send time? Sign up for the [Americas]( or [A]( and Australia]( editions. | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Morning Briefing: Europe newsletter. 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