Your Thursday Briefing

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, June 8, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( Europe Edition [Your Thursday Briefing]( By PATRICK BOEHLER Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: Marko Djurica/Reuters • Britain [goes to the polls](. Prime Minister Theresa May called the snap election hoping for a landslide and a strong mandate to negotiate the country’s departure from the European Union. But her campaign has [proved uninspiring](. She is still expected to win, but with her authority diminished. We [asked voters about their expectations](. “Brexit has stirred up a political rage inside me that didn’t exist before!” a teacher wrote. Expect the first exit poll at 10 p.m. local time, when polling stations close. Results should then trickle in throughout the night. _____ Omid Vahabzadeh/Fars News, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • In Tehran, assailants with assault rifles and grenades, some disguised as women, stormed Iran’s Parliament and the tomb of the country’s revolutionary founder, killing at least 12 people. Here’s [how the attacks unfolded](. The Islamic State [claimed responsibility]( if true, it was the militants’ first successful strike in Iran. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards appeared to blame Saudi Arabia and the U.S. The assaults threatened to [further escalate tensions in the]( as [President Trump grapples with the region’s complexities](. _____ Thorsten Weber, via European Pressphoto Agency • Germany said its troops participating in the NATO operation against the Islamic State [would leave Turkey]( deepening a rift between the two military allies. Turkey had refused to allow troop visits by German lawmakers, amid German criticism of Turkey’s turn toward authoritarian rule. The troops will move to Jordan. Separately, Turkey [threw its support behind Qatar]( saying it would expand its army base there, after the tiny gulf country was isolated by its neighbors including Saudi Arabia. _____ Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times • James Comey, the former F.B.I. director, plans to testify today that he [told President Trump he was not under investigation]( in connection with Russian election meddling. But he also says Mr. Trump repeatedly demanded loyalty and asked that an investigation into an adviser be dropped. Our reporters analyzed [Mr. Comey’s prepared remarks](. The public hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. E.T. (that’s 4 p.m. in Brussels). We’ll have live coverage, including video, at [nytimes.com](. Here’s a [look at the Russia ties]( of seven Trump associates. And here’s a [guide to the Trump-Comey relationship](. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump said he had [selected Christopher Wray]( a former federal prosecutor, to be his new F.B.I. director. Mr. Wray is known to be low-key and deliberative. _____ Jean-Jacques Hublin/The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology • Scientists reported that they had discovered in Morocco the [oldest known remains of Homo sapiens](. Dating back roughly 300,000 years, the bones indicate that mankind evolved earlier than had been known — and that our species evolved across Africa, not solely in the area around Ethiopia. _____ Business Andrew Testa for The New York Times • Facebook is increasingly facing scrutiny in Europe over [opaque political advertising on its platform](. Above, Sam Jeffers, one of the people behind a tool to monitor targeted ads ahead of Britain’s election. • The European Central Bank will meet today in Tallinn, Estonia. Analysts will watch for [indications of when it will start withdrawing its economic stimulus](. • Banco Santander, one of Europe’s largest banks, [said it would pay the symbolic amount of 1 euro]( for Banco Popular, its troubled competitor. It’s the first rescue in which the European Central Bank determined that a eurozone lender was about to fail. • A growing number of U.S. companies are [offering health insurance]( for their employees’ dogs, cats and even potbellied pigs. • Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Alex Majoli/Magnum, for The New York Times • Ahead of the first round in France’s parliamentary elections this Sunday, we met citizens hoping to rid Parisian banlieues of political apathy. [[The New York Times Magazine]( • Kurdish officials in Iraq said that they planned to hold an independence referendum in the country’s northern region in the fall. [[Reuters]( • We followed the path of a fake news story from a parody website to Russian television, a British tabloid and Fox News. [[The New York Times]( • A Spanish banker and a French chef are the latest victims identified as killed in the terrorist attack in London on Saturday. [[The New York Times]( • A top U.N. prosecutor warned that there is [widespread denial]( in the former Yugoslavia of the war crimes committed there in the 1990s. Case in point: An effort by Bosnian Serbs to remove references to the Srebrenica massacre from schoolbooks. [[Balkan Insight]( Smarter Living Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times • Recipe of the day: Try black pepper [chicken thighs with mango]( cashew and a little rum. • The most effective long-term strategy for happiness is to [actively cultivate well-being](. • Conflicts at work? [Try forgiveness](. Noteworthy Christophe Ena/Associated Press • French Open: Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, [lost in straight sets to Dominic Thiem](. Simona Halep [staged a comeback](. Here is [today’s schedule](. • Take a lap [in the world’s most dangerous motorcycle race](. The Isle of Man TT has claimed the lives of 146 people since 1907. • We celebrate two artists who recently passed. [Juan Goytisolo]( one of Spain’s best known writers, died at 86. And [Peter Sallis]( the British actor of “Wallace and Gromit” fame, died at 96. • It’s World Oceans Day, and Stella McCartney, the fashion designer, [announced that her label]( would use plastic collected in the Indian Ocean in lieu of polyester. Back Story Jim Wilson/The New York Times Forget, for a moment, questions about Russian meddling in current American affairs, and look back with us to Russia’s history on the North American continent. Czarist colonization began in Alaska in the 1740s, driven by the trade in sea otter fur, and was often brutal. But this month in 1788, Russia’s claim of a toehold in southern Alaska came peacefully. In a scene framed by soaring mountains, the native Tlingit tribe warmly greeted a hardy Russian mariner, Gerasim Izmailov, who made it ashore. His entourage claimed the immense surroundings for Catherine the Great and traded iron and beads for a native boy to serve as an interpreter. Russian Alaska eventually consolidated under a vast [trading corporation]( reaching to Hawaii and California before receding. It was sold to the U.S. in 1867, for $7.2 million (about $125 million today). But it enjoys an afterlife: in the Russian dialect [spoken]( in the village of Ninilchik; in the name (“Alaska” is a Russian adaptation of an Aleut word meaning “the object toward which the action of the sea is directed”); in the thousands of adherents to the Russian Orthodox faith and an onion-domed church in Unalaska, above; and in the expansionist imaginations of some Russians who still [grumble about the sale](. Penn Bullock contributed reporting. _____ Correction: Because of an editing error, [Wednesday’s briefing]( misattributed a distinction to Roland Garros, the French war hero. While his plane was fitted with a device that allowed a machine gun to be fired through the arc of the propeller, he did not invent the device. _____ 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 Edition newsletter. 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