Your Tuesday Briefing

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, May 23, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( Europe Edition [Your Tuesday Briefing]( By PATRICK BOEHLER Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: Jon Super/Reuters • An explosion at a concert in England [killed at least 19 people and injured dozens](. The blast reverberated through the Manchester Arena just as a show by the American pop star Ariana Grande was ending. Panic and mayhem seized the crowd, many of whom were young teenagers. If confirmed as a terrorist attack, it would be the country’s deadliest since the 2005 London subway bombings. Follow our [live briefing]( for updates. _____ Stephen Crowley/The New York Times • President Trump, on the Israeli leg of his nine-day overseas tour, [presented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu]( with a blunt message: Solve the conflict with the Palestinians if you want to achieve peace with your Arab neighbors and contain Iran. Mr. Trump is expected to meet with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, today before leaving for Rome. [Here’s his full travel schedule](. On Mr. Trump’s first international trip in office, the [significant overlap between relatives and policy advisers]( in the White House has been on display. _____ Jim Lo Scalzo/European Pressphoto Agency • In the U.S., the Trump administration [plans to unveil the budget for 2018]( today. It [would cut deeply into programs for the poor]( and it calls for a 10 percent increase in military spending and for $1.6 billion to begin work on a border wall. Meanwhile, the top government ethics watchdog has chastised the White House for [not identifying former lobbyists who now work in the Trump administration](. And evidence emerged that Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, [misled Pentagon investigators]( about income from Russian companies. _____ Eirini Vourloumis for The New York Times • In Greece, a resurgence of social activism is effectively [filling a void in governance]( and even anarchists are chipping in. “We want people to fight back, in all ways, from taking care of refugees to burning banks and Parliament,” onesaid. Above, an anarcho-communist with Syrian children at an abandoned school in Athens. Eurozone finance ministers [didn’t reach an agreement]( on new loans for the country at talks in Brussels yesterday. _____ Nadia Shira Cohen for The New York Times • More than [54,000 migrants]( have risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean in rickety boats to reach Europe so far this year, and more than 1,300 have died. But the authorities in Sicily have also tallied [125 migrants arriving on luxury boats.]( One Afghan family of six paid $7,000 a head to travel from Turkey to Italy on a yacht piloted by Ukrainian skippers. _____ Business Adriane Ohanesian for The New York Times • In Kenya, Uber plans to introduce a discounted service. Drivers [say it may put them out of business](. • Truck driving was once a road to the American middle class. It is now low-paying, grinding, unhealthy work. [We talked with drivers about why they do it](. • Citigroup [agreed to pay $97.4 million to settle]( a long-running U.S. inquiry into money laundering. • Hotel chains are revamping rooms, and [the minibar, desks and closets are disappearing](. • Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Philippe Wojazer/Reuters • Emmanuel Macron, the French president, is set to meet unions and employers today to discuss a loosening of labor market regulations. Convincing them will be a major test for his economic agenda. [[Reuters]( • Theresa May, the British prime minister, backtracked on a proposal widely derided as “dementia tax” that would put a cap on the assets of some people requiring longtime care. [[The New York Times]( • Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s prime minister, denounced as “intolerable blackmail” a reported draft proposal by Catalonia’s regional government to unilaterally secede should a referendum on independence not be held. [[El País]( • “He’s on our money. He’s on our IDs. He’s in our heads.” Angolans prepare for life after the long rule of President José Eduardo dos Santos. [[The New York Times]( • A United Nations panel presented the first draft of a proposed global treaty to ban nuclear weapons. Nuclear powers, including the U.S., have boycotted the talks. [[The New York Times]( • An elephant killed a South African big-game hunter in Zimbabwe. It lifted the man with its trunk, then fell on him after being shot by another hunter. [[The New York Times]( Smarter Living Brian Rea • Embrace change [in your marriage]( it’s unrealistic to expect your spouse to remain the same person. • Here’s advice on finding [reliable and affordable child care on the road](. • Recipe of the day: Give [New York strip steak]( a kick with a horseradish-mint glaze. Noteworthy Atul Loke for The New York Times • “As if I was diving into a sea with no bottom to it.” — A remote village in India [discovers the internet](. • On the other side of the planet, America’s late-night television hosts are [struggling to keep up with the news](. • A new show in London [revisits the work of Joel Meyerowitz]( who is known for his iconic pictures of Americana. • Finally, there has been a lot of chatter about the premiere of “Twin Peaks: The Return.” We [rounded up the (spoiler-free) reviews]( and we have [a recipe for that cherry pie]( seen in the show. Back Story via History Channel If you’re reading this with bifocals, you can thank Benjamin Franklin. He announced the creation of multifocal lenses on this day in 1785. Like [more than 200 million]( of the world’s current population, he had to squint to see clearly. Later in life, he carried two pairs of eyeglasses: one for distance, another for reading. The American overachiever solved his vision problem by piecing together two lenses, cut in half, into a single frame. “By this means, as I wear my spectacles constantly, I have only to move my eyes up or down,” he wrote [to a friend](. Franklin, who is long credited (although debated) as the inventor of the split-lens spectacles, also sketched his D.I.Y. fix. It can be found in the [Library of Congress](. [Bifocal contacts]( came into clinical use in the 1950s, but it was decades before they were widely prescribed. In 1986, bifocal lenses cost upward of [$400]( — almost [$900]( in today’s dollars. Now, they can run $50 for a six-week supply. Other advances to help those with presbyopia, or age-related farsightedness, include the ring-like corneal inlay, which is implanted under the eye’s outer surface. And the tech-obsessed can look forward to the developing [bionic eye](. Danielle Belopotosky 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? 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