Your Friday Briefing

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, June 9, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( Europe Edition [Your Friday Briefing]( By PATRICK BOEHLER Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: Alastair Grant/Associated Press • Theresa May’s political gamble backfired. In Britain’s snap election, [results so far]( suggest that the prime minister’s Conservatives [will lose their majority]( but remain the largest party in Parliament. Here’s [a video of Mrs. May]( speech]( The [pound fell]( As a hung Parliament looks likely, here’s a [look at what that means and what could happen next](. Turnout, especially among the young, and the results in Scotland and Northern Ireland [will say much about the future]( of the nation as it prepares to leave the European Union. Check [nytimes.com]( for updates. _____ Doug Mills/The New York Times • “Lordy, I hope there are tapes.” That’s [James Comey]( the recently fired F.B.I. director, referring to President Trump’s suggestion that he may have recorded their conversations. At a Senate committee hearing, Mr. Comey accused Mr. Trump of lying and trying to derail the inquiry into his former adviser, Michael Flynn, raising the question of [whether the president tried to obstruct justice](. Here are the [highlights of the hearing]( and the [video and transcript](. Mr. Trump’s lawyer [shot back at Mr. Comey](. And the president told a gathering of faith leaders that “the truth will prevail.” [Americans across the nation]( watched the live broadcast. _____ IRIB, via Reuters • Iran’s foreign minister [denounced President Trump’s response]( to a pair of deadly assaults in Tehran this week as “repugnant.” The death toll in the attacks rose to 17, with 52 wounded. Above, surveillance cameras captured the attack. Separately in Syria, a U.S. warplane [shot down a “pro-Syrian regime” drone]( in the latest clash in a potential proxy war pitting Iranian-backed militias supporting President Bashar al-Assad against U.S.-backed insurgents. _____ David Vincent/Associated Press • The French Open nears its end. The Latvian [Jelena Ostapenko]( above, became the tennis tournament’s first unseeded women’s finalist in more than 30 years. The men’s single semifinals will be decided today, and Rafael Nadal is [hoping to make it through]( to vie for a 10th-straight title. We [profiled Gunter Bresnik]( the coach of Nadal’s opponent, Dominic Thiem. The two have worked together since Thiem was 9. Here is [today’s schedule](. _____ Universal Pictures • Finally, “The Mummy,” [a reboot of the monster franchise]( opens in theaters across much of Europe. A. O. Scott, our critic, calls it “an unholy mess.” Its best attribute, he adds, is being 20 minutes shorter than the last film he panned, “[Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.]( He can be harsh. _____ Business Carsten Snejbjerg for The New York Times • The North Sea was once a crucial source of the world’s oil. We sent a reporter and photographer to take a look now, as its towering [platforms are stripped and sold for scrap](. • The European Central Bank moved cautiously toward [easing off on the stimulus]( it has been providing to the eurozone economy. • In the U.S., Republicans in the House passed a bill to erase a number of core financial rules put in place by [the Dodd-Frank Act]( after the 2008 financial crisis. • Taylor Swift’s music catalog is [returning to streaming services]( confirming that streaming is the dominant music format. • Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Philippe Desmazes/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • Today is the last day of campaigning in France ahead of the first round of parliamentary elections on Sunday. Polls predict a victory for the party of President Emmanuel Macron. [[France 24]( Monde]( • Italy faces more political uncertainty after leading parties failed to agree on a new electoral law. [[ANSA]( • Rights activists said that Greece sent an embattled journalist and others fleeing persecution back to Turkey in an effort to placate its neighbor. [[The New York Times]( • Prosecutors in Germany said that a 23-year-old Syrian accused of working for the Islamic State’s news agency has been arrested there. [[The New York Times]( • A tax investigator only half a year into her job uncovered postwar Germany’s largest tax fraud. [[Die Zeit]( • The opening of a deluxe China-backed rail line between Nairobi and Mombasa has some Kenyans drawing parallels to the “Lunatic Express” built under British rule. [[The New York Times]( • A bizarre moment in soccer: Saudi Arabia’s national team at a match in Australia ignored a minute of silence to honor those killed in the terrorist attack in London last week. [[The Guardian]( • Scottish Anglicans have voted in favor of allowing same-sex couples to marry in church. [[The Herald]( • Starting Sunday, Ukrainian citizens will no longer require a visa to visit the European Union. [[Kyiv Post]( Smarter Living Filip Kwiatkowski for The New York Times • What’s the best thing to eat before a workout? [Maybe nothing](. • Moving from industry to industry [can be unsettling]( but can lead to new skills and relationships. • Recipe of the day: Your oven is the key to [can’t-miss rice](. Noteworthy Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts, via Getty Images • “I am a mature fruit, and I have dropped from the tree.” That’s Xabi Alonso, one of the finest midfielders of his generation, [discussing his retirement from soccer](. • A cancer drug has proved [to be effective]( against multiple tumors. • Frédéric Malle, the maker of perfumes, [shared how he makes a new scent](. • Our Frugal Traveler [loved Seville, Spain](. “If there’s a city in Europe with better weather than Seville, I’d like to visit it,” he wrote. Back Story Sara Krulwich/The New York Times The 71st annual [Tony Awards will be held Sunday]( with the actor Kevin Spacey serving as host to honor the best of Broadway. After a season of [Times theater coverage]( the only thing left to report are the winners. Here are our [critics’ predictions](. Above, a scene from “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” a nominee for best play. So let’s take a look at [Antoinette Perry]( better known as Tony, the actress, director, producer and bon vivant for whom the awards were named in 1947. It’s a life worthy of any Broadway play. Ms. Perry joined her uncle’s traveling troupe as a teenage ingénue, then left to become a stage star in 1905. She married, secretly funded a Pulitzer Prize-winning play and lost millions in the stock market crash of 1929. Later, she was said to mingle daily at Sardi’s, the thespians’ haunt in New York’s Theater District. Her daughter said Ms. Perry paid for many of her productions with winnings from the racetrack. During World War II, Ms. Perry helped found the organization behind [the Stage Door Canteens]( where stars waited tables and entertained service members. When she died in 1946, she was [$300,000 in debt](. “Theater was mother’s great love, what she lived and breathed,” her daughter said. “Her outstanding trait was that she cared. It didn’t matter if you were a janitor, cabdriver, or, on that pedestal of pedestals, an actor.” Charles McDermid 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 Edition newsletter. 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