Your Tuesday Briefing

Anthony Scaramucci, John Kelly, Venezuela View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, August 1, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( Europe Edition [Your Tuesday Briefing]( By JENNIFER JETT Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: Pool photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko • American Embassy workers in Moscow [are bracing for a “shock to the system”]( after Russia ordered the dismissal of 755 employees in retaliation for U.S. sanctions. Though most are likely to be Russian nationals, it’s the harshest such move since 1986, and one that our analyst said underlined [President Vladimir Putin’s bad bet on warmer relations]( with a Trump administration. Vice President Mike Pence, traveling in Eastern Europe, said the U.S. [would not be deterred]( by the diplomats’ expulsion. The sanctions have done nothing to stop Mr. Putin’s saber-rattling, as illustrated by long-scheduled [Russian military exercises]( along the eastern edge of NATO territory. _____ Doug Mills/The New York Times • President Trump [removed Anthony Scaramucci]( above, as his communications director, relieving him just days after he had unloaded a crude tirade against other members of the president’s senior staff. Here is a [timeline of Mr. Scaramucci’s brief tenure](. The decision to remove Mr. Scaramucci apparently came at the request of the newly sworn in chief of staff, John Kelly. Mr. Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, [must now instill order on a staff whose infighting]( has grown toxic. Mr. Trump insisted on Twitter that, despite appearances, there was [no chaos in his administration](. _____ Andrew Testa for The New York Times • Crossrail, a $20 billion train line designed to [cut crucial travel times across London by more than half]( is billed as Europe’s biggest infrastructure project. But as Britain prepares to leave the European Union, the nightmare scenario is that the project ends up moving fewer people more quickly through a shrinking city. _____ Bulent Kilic/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • Syrian children born and raised under the Islamic State have experienced and witnessed astonishing brutality. Those freed are [struggling to leave the trauma behind](. At makeshift camps beyond the control of the militants, small boys wearing black bandannas still play at being Islamic State fighters. “You don’t see children living their normal age,” one observer said. “You see grown-up men.” _____ Meridith Kohut for The New York Times • Venezuela’s contentious vote over President Nicolás Maduro’s effort to rewrite the country’s Constitution has effectively [liquidated any political challenge from the opposition]( for years to come. The U.S. has added Mr. Maduro to a list of Venezuelan officials facing sanctions. Business Andy Wong/Associated Press • Apple’s decision to remove several VPN apps from its App Store in China [sets a dangerous precedent]( our tech columnist writes. • Core inflation in the eurozone [reached a four-year high]( in July, in a positive sign for the European Central Bank as it considers the future of its quantitative easing program this autumn. Unemployment in the currency bloc was 9.1 percent in June, the lowest level since 2009. • HSBC will [buy back up to $2 billion more in shares](. The London-based bank has announced $5.5 billion in share repurchases since last year as its prospects have improved. • Air travel trouble: A federal court directed American aviation regulators to address what a judge called “the Case of the [Incredible Shrinking Airline Seat]( And an airport attendant in France was caught on cellphone cameras [punching a passenger who was holding a child](. • Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Etienne Laurent/European Pressphoto Agency • Paris will host the 2024 Summer Olympics in an agreement that will give Los Angeles the 2028 Games. [[The New York Times]( • In Afghanistan, the Islamic State claimed a suicide attack on the Iraqi Embassy in Kabul, at least the third coordinated assault in the Afghan capital in recent weeks. [[The New York Times]( • North Korea’s missile test last week suggested that Pyongyang may now have the ability to strike the mainland U.S. But video analysis has thrown that into question. [[The New York Times]( • The free movement of E.U. citizens to Britain will end in March 2019, Prime Minister Theresa May said, contradicting comments by Philip Hammond, the chancellor of the Exchequer. [[CNN]( • Heinz Schaden, the mayor of Salzburg, Austria, since 1999, is resigning after being sentenced to three years in prison in connection with a provincial financial scandal. [[Reuters]( • The French interior minister, responding to a court order, said two more shelters would be opened for migrants in Calais. He also ordered a report on accusations of police abuse. [[Associated Press]( • A senior election official in Kenya was found dead, intensifying anxiety over whether the country can hold a fair and peaceful presidential vote next week. [[The New York Times]( • A 2,300-year-old vase has been seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, on suspicion that it was looted from an Italian grave in the 1970s. [[The New York Times]( • Defying an order from the E.U.’s highest court, the Polish government said that it would continue cutting down trees in Europe’s last primeval forest. [[The New York Times]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. Melina Hammer for The New York Times • Recipe of the day: If your corn looks good, [sauté some kernels with greens, bacon and scallions](. • Your summer [reading list](. • Want to drink well while traveling? Apps and Instagram can help — but so can [local servers,]( retailers](. Noteworthy Chad Batka for The New York Times • In memoriam: [Sam Shepard]( above, the avant-garde American playwright and Oscar-nominated actor, at 73; and [Jeanne Moreau]( the sensual, gravel-voiced actress of the French New Wave, at 89. • Jakub, a Polish Jew and Communist Party member, fought the German Army during World War II and later joined the secret police in Warsaw. His grandson asks what it means to be on [the right side of the war, but the wrong side of history](. • The U.S. risks being branded a “kleptocracy” under President Trump, Walter Shaub, the country’s former ethics chief, said [in an interview with The Guardian](. • David Beckham is close to [establishing a Major League Soccer team in Miami](. But does the city want one? Back Story Pete Leabo/Associated Press The Six Flags amusement park chain now has about 20 properties across North America, but it all began on this day in 1961 when [Six Flags Over Texas]( opened its doors. The park, a harbinger of a trend that has swept much of the world, included a number of milestones: The log flume, a water ride now ubiquitous at theme parks, made its debut there in 1963. The park was also the first to feature a mine train roller coaster (complete with underwater tunnel) in 1966. Theme park innovations have since climbed ever-greater heights. Steel roller coasters with multiple inversions — in which riders are turned upside down — found favor in the 1970s. [The Corkscrew at Cedar Point theme park]( outside Cleveland was the first to feature three such loops. The ’90s brought inverted coasters like [Batman: The Ride]( in which passengers are seated underneath the track with their feet dangling. The turn of the century [brought on height with giga coasters]( like [Millennium Force]( at Cedar Point, although the past decade has coincided with a return to wooden coasters as well. 3-D glasses and computer simulations have become a staple at Universal’s theme parks, and a motorbike-style vehicle was engineered for [a ride at Disney’s park in Shanghai](. What will the next decade of rides bring? We’ll have our hands up in anticipation. Mekado Murphy contributed reporting. _____ This briefing was prepared for the European morning. [You can browse through past briefings 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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