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Europe Edition

Hungary, Mars, Artichokes: Your Wednesday Briefing

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Good morning.

U.S. allies are annoyed, Europe debates funding and NASA is heading to Mars. Here’s the latest:

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Credit...David Hecker/EPA, via Shutterstock

• A sword of Damocles over the global economy.

European leaders are annoyed, not grateful, with the Trump administration’s last-minute decision that spares their countries from punitive aluminum and steel tariffs for another month.

They find it absurd that Mr. Trump would risk a trade war with Europe, the United States’ biggest trading partner, rather than joining forces to rein in Chinese trade practices they both oppose. Above, a steel factory in Germany.

Washington is already considering prohibiting Chinese citizens from performing sensitive research in the U.S. that could further strengthen China’s move to high tech.

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Credit...Attila Kisbenedek/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

• The European Union is trying to hit member countries that have flouted democratic values where it hurts: in the pocketbook.

Challenged by increasingly autocratic governments in Poland and Hungary, Brussels is considering using aid cuts to punish populist attacks on the rule of law and judicial independence.

Money could be a particularly effective weapon in Hungary, a major recipient of E.U. funding, where the recent resignations of judges have raised fears that the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban is further undermining the country’s judiciary. Above, an anti-government protest in Budapest in April.

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Credit...Will Oliver/EPA, via Shutterstock

• A royal cold shoulder.

Only one reporter will be allowed into St. George’s Chapel for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19.

Our correspondent in London says the restricted access marks a turning point in the historically symbiotic relationship between the royal family and England’s infamous tabloids.

Harry and his brother, Prince William, harbor a deep mistrust of the paparazzi, who were pursuing their mother when she was killed in a car crash. And some tabloids have published acid-tongued criticism of Ms. Markle.

Separately, the British Labour Party has an unusual strategy for winning upcoming elections: campaigning in London’s superrich neighborhoods, traditionally conservative strongholds. But growing discontent with Britain’s conservative government is giving Labour hope for victory.

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Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

• President Trump responded to our publication of more than 40 questions that the special counsel, Robert Mueller would like to ask him. He said it was “disgraceful” that the questions had been “leaked.”

The special counsel’s investigators read the questions in March to Mr. Trump’s lawyers, who wrote them down. That list was provided to The Times by a person outside the president’s legal team.

The reporter who obtained the list speaks about what they mean on our news podcast, “The Daily.”

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• Mission to Mars.

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NASA’s InSight spacecraft, scheduled to launch on Saturday, aims to discover the red planet’s deep interior, and will be listening intently for “marsquakes.”

Explore the history of the many missions to Mars here (and if you’re on a smartphone, you’ll get the augmented-reality version).

And not to be outdone, the European Space Agency released a 3-D map of the Milky Way, containing more than a billion stars, the most detailed survey ever produced of our home galaxy.

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Jean-Noel Frydman spent decades turning France.com into a thriving business. The French government took it away (and redirected it to a portal, above, run by the French tourism agency). Now they’re locked in a legal battle (and going to court in America).

Tone deaf: The head of the British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s apologized for singing “we’re in the money” before a TV interview about a merger that many fear will lead to job losses and higher grocery prices.

Apple announced an enormous stock buyback as it reported quarterly earnings, saying it would return $100 billion to shareholders.

Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, announced a new privacy control that will allow users to erase their history, similar to the way you might clear your web browser. (Also in the works: a new dating service.)

Instagram added a new bully filter to weed out comments aimed at harassing its 800 million users. The filter will also hide comments attacking a person’s appearance and alert the social network to repeat offenders.

Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

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Credit...Gleb Garanich/Reuters

The Armenian opposition leader called for nationwide strikes after the governing party thwarted his bid to become prime minister, setting the stage for more protests against the ruling elite. Above, his supporters reacted to the vote in the capital of Yerevan. [The New York Times]

President Trump’s longtime physician said he was aggressively cut out of the Trump orbit early last year and that two aides seized Mr. Trump’s medical records without authorization. [The New York Times]

The Paris police arrested nearly 200 masked demonstrators who smashed shop windows and burned cars during annual May Day protests. [BBC]

Iran blocked Telegram, the country’s most popular messaging app, claiming that the service endangers national security. (Twitter is also blocked.) [The New York Times]

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

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Credit...Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Recipe of the day: Chocolate chip cookies are a midweek smile.

Should you fix a small space or trade up for a bigger house?

Declutter your computer and organize those open windows.

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Credit...Jason Horowitz/The New York Times

Is this artichoke kosher? Since an Israeli rabbi put the kibosh on Italy’s Jewish-style fried artichokes, its supporters have mounted a fierce defense of their beloved treat, for centuries a symbol of Rome’s ancient Jewish community. Above, the Festival of the Artichoke in Ladispoli, Italy.

A very German love story: We visited a married couple who are political enemies having the dialogue their divided country is not. (And yes, it gets awkward).

The happiest guy in the world: Two decades ago, Mario Salcedo went on a cruise — and never came back. He’s part of an elite cabal of cruise passengers who choose to live at sea permanently. Dive into his life of endless buffets, tropical islands and a sense of freedom not found on land.

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Credit...Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, via Associated Press

The newspaper Pravda officially began publishing in Russia this week in 1912, as Vladimir Lenin’s megaphone for communist thought. (Pravda, which means “truth,” was “probably history’s most inaccurately named publication,” The Times once noted.)

One of Pravda’s early editors was Joseph Stalin, and, along with Izvestia, which means “news,” the two papers became the main tools for propaganda in the Soviet Union. They also became an ironic refrain in Soviet life: “There is no news in Pravda and no truth in Izvestia.”

With a circulation of 11 million at its peak — aided by mandatory subscriptions for government organizations — Pravda spoke with the “absolute, leaden authority of the Kremlin,” The Times wrote.

After the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, Pravda lost its captive audience. The next year, it lamented in a note to readers the market forces that led to a brief shutdown:

”Under the Czar the newspaper was closed nine times, then four under the Provisional Government, and then in August 1991. The time has come to put us on our knees once again. Some politicians think that 80 years of Pravda can be struck out of history.”

The paper was later bought by two Greek capitalists, but it still struggled, briefly shutting down again in 1996. (Today, its circulation is about 100,000.)

Robb Todd wrote today’s Back Story.

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Follow Dan Levin on Twitter: @globaldan.

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