Gift-giving is truly an art–and selecting gifts of state can be especially fraught. When President Trump met Pope Francis on Wednesday, they partook in that age-old diplomatic tradition. Trump gave the pope a special edition of a set of books by Martin Luther King. The pope gave the president books on family and the joy of the gospel, a medal made by a Roman artist, and a work of his own with a particularly loaded meaning. –Emily Banks |
| hint, hint | Pope Lends Weight to G-7 Push to Bind Trump to Climate Deal | Pope Francis urged Trump to meet U.S. commitments on climate change. After a half-hour meeting in his private study at the Vatican, Francis gave the president a copy of his 2015 encyclical calling for urgent, drastic cuts in fossil-fuel emissions. His choice of gift suggests he is adding his voice to those pressing Trump not to renege on the Paris accord. |
| Here are today's top stories... | | Most Fed officials judged “it would soon be appropriate” to tighten monetary policy again and backed a plan that would gradually shrink their $4.5 trillion balance sheet. The statement points toward a hike as soon as the Fed’s meeting in mid-June, though FOMC voters added the caveat that “it would be prudent” to wait for evidence that a recent slowdown in economic activity had been transitory. | | Democrats asked Deutsche Bank to produce documents on Trump family loans. Lawmakers asked the lender to turn over findings on its banking on behalf of now-President Trump and trades from the bank’s Moscow operation that helped move some $10 billion out of Russia. They asked whether loans to Trump, made years before he ran for president, “were guaranteed by the Russian government, or were in any way connected to Russia.” | | Soldiers were deployed on the streets of London on Wednesday, as police hunted down the network they suspect to be behind the Manchester suicide bomber and authorities warned another attack was “imminent.” The suspected bomber's father, speaking from his home in Libya, expressed disbelief that his son had carried out the deadly attack. Hours later, he was detained. Separately, security forces said they had the alleged attacker's younger brother in custody. | | Brazil's president is struggling to suppress a revolt in his own party by lawmakers who want him to resign after last week’s damaging graft allegations. The best solution to remove Michel Temer, who is being investigated on corruption and cover-up charges, is for the top electoral court to annul the 2014 election result in which he shared a ticket with ousted President Dilma Rousseff. | | With a single drug accounting for almost all its revenue, Alexion has created enormous wealth out of an estimated 11,000 customers. The company generated $3 billion in sales in 2016, and its $24 billion market valuation puts it on par with household names such as HP and Yum! Brands. Having to rely for profits on a small number of customers who are each potentially worth millions of dollars causes side effects of its own, as illustrated by this story from Bloomberg Businessweek. | |
| The best from Vegas to Tokyo | Around the World in 30 Steaks | Restaurant food doesn't get much simpler than a properly cooked chunk of beef—and rarely delivers so much pleasure. We asked leading chefs and restaurateurs for their picks around the world, from the classics of New York to the quality meats of South America to the upstart steakhouses of London and Tokyo. | | |
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