Your Thursday Briefing – The New York Times

Barr defended himself against accusations of deceit

Attorney General William Barr told a Senate committee he had not misrepresented the conclusions reached by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, despite Mr. Mueller’s newly revealed letter in which he protested Mr. Barr’s initial characterization of the Russia inquiry.

Mr. Barr dismissed Mr. Mueller’s letter as “a bit snitty.” Democrats contended that Mr. Barr had been “purposely misleading” and had even lied to Congress. Republicans focused on what President Trump has called the actual scandal, the fact that he was investigated in the first place.

What Mueller wrote: In his March letter, Mr. Mueller expressed his and his team’s concerns that the attorney general had inadequately portrayed their conclusions. Pointedly, he attached the report’s executive summaries as a reminder that his investigators had already done the work of distilling their findings.

See for yourself: Read Mr. Mueller’s letter and review key moments from the testimony.

Next: Mr. Barr is expected to skip a House hearing on Thursday, after arguing with Democrats about its format. Democrats may subpoena him.

Theresa May fires defense secretary over leak

Britain’s prime minister abruptly fired Gavin Williamson, blaming him for a leak that suggested she would give Huawei a role in designing a British telecommunications network.

Mrs. May’s announcement came after an investigation into a report in The Daily Telegraph about discussions in Britain’s National Security Council, of which Mr. Williamson was a member and where secrecy is meant to be strictly observed.

Sticking points: The Telegraph report suggested Mrs. May had overruled objections from some senior council members about Huawei. The U.S. has said equipment from the Chinese telecom giant is vulnerable to Chinese state espionage, an assertion Huawei denies, and it is pressing allies not to work with the company.

More Huawei: The company seeks acceptance in the West and is attempting to distance itself from the Chinese Communist Party. But its structure and value system could get in the way.

Biden’s potential conflict of interest in Ukraine

When Joe Biden was the U.S. vice president, one of his foreign policy roles included pushing Ukraine’s corrupt government to clean up its act.

Part of that effort, during a trip to Kiev in March 2016, was threatening to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if Ukraine’s leaders did not dismiss the country’s top prosecutor, who had been accused of being soft on corruption. It worked.

The potential conflict: Among those who had a stake in the outcome was Mr. Biden’s son Hunter Biden, who was on the board of an energy company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch who was in the sights of the fired prosecutor general.

Why it matters: The broad outlines of the story had previously been public, but new details about his son’s involvement and the decision by the current prosecutor general to reopen an investigation into the company, Burisma, have pushed the issue back into the spotlight, just as the senior Mr. Biden’s presidential campaign begins.

How food affects climate change

What we eat every day has consequences.

The world’s food system is responsible for about one-quarter of the planet-warming greenhouse gases that humans generate each year. That includes raising and harvesting all the plants, animals and animal products we eat. Climate change is also now altering the foods America grows.

What should you do? We’ve answered all your questions about how to shop, cook and eat in a warming world.

Recipes: Review our collection of climate-friendly dishes. And a correspondent who has traveled the world suggests five cuisines that are easier on the planet.

Quiz: What is the climate impact of the type of foods you ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner yesterday? Take our quiz.

Patrick Cumaiyi waved to his family with shackled hands as he boarded a plane to Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory, to face a domestic-violence complaint. Before takeoff, an argument broke out, an officer delivered a sharp blow to Mr. Cumaiyi’s head, and another officer dragged him headfirst onto the tarmac.

Medical records obtained by The New York Times suggest he was a victim not only of police brutality — a persistent problem for Indigenous Australians — but also a cover-up.

Here’s what else is happening

Venezuela: A day after the Venezuelan opposition’s call for a military uprising failed, there was a protracted standoff punctuated by violence, with the government and protesters seeking to project strength at rival May Day rallies. The failed uprising has raised questions about whether the Trump administration misread events on the ground.

Britain: Amid poisoned national politics, even candidates in local elections, which take place today, have suffered threats or physical attacks. Analysts expect the Conservatives to lose hundreds of seats.

College admissions: $6.5 million. That’s how much one family paid to secure a spot for their daughter at Stanford University. The student, who was admitted in 2017, is part of a wide-reaching college admissions scandal involving the consultant her family hired.

France: Violence flared at the traditional May Day rally in Paris as the police played cat-and-mouse with demonstrators and masked vandals. The police fired tear gas and charged protesters, but there was less violence than had been anticipated.

North Carolina shooting: A student who the police say saved many lives, by tackling the gunman at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, lost his own. Riley Howell was 21.

Estonia: A gesture made by two Estonian lawmakers as they were sworn in this week — a circle with the thumb and index finger and three fingers outstretched, usually meaning “O.K.” — has been seen by many as a white supremacist signal.

Snapshot: The rapper Slowthai, above, has made a name for himself in Britain with his stridently political tracks. His first full-length record — to be released on May 17, initially a proposed date for the country’s departure from the E.U. — is a damning critique of the all-consuming nature of Brexit.

Italy: Capri, which takes up just over four square miles, plays host to 2.3 million tourists a year, and they leave a lot of trash behind. The island is fighting back: All forms of single-use plastic have been banned.

What we’re reading: This conversation with Anjelica Huston in Vulture. “It’s as good as everyone’s saying,” writes Katie Rogers, one of our White House correspondents.

Now, a break from the news

Go: The Turner Prize, Britain’s most prestigious art award, announced four finalists. Their work will go on display in Margate, England, and the winner will be announced in December.

Listen: Three books by George R.R. Martin, including “Game of Thrones,” appear on our monthly audiobook fiction best-seller list. Listening to the unabridged versions of the three titles would take a total of 118 hours and 32 minutes.

Smarter Living: Allergies can be torture. Immunotherapy — shots that can help desensitize you to allergens — can help over time. If needles aren’t your thing, cleaning the filter of your air conditioner or furnace can keep indoor air cleaner. Vacuum often. Mattress protectors for both your mattress and box spring keep dust mites out. Pillow protectors are also an option.

And we asked you for the best advice anyone’s ever given you, and how it made an impact on your life. Here’s what you said.

And now for the Back Story on …

The power of fairy tales

A recent feature by our Berlin bureau chief tracked how Germany’s far right has adopted anti-immigrant tropes in discussing an influx from Poland of “the most notorious fairy-tale baddie”: the wolf.

Connecting nationalism and fairy tales is not new.

The Brothers Grimm, who based their tales on folk tradition, lived and worked in the 19th century, when Europe was brimming with enthusiasm for the nation-state over multiethnic empires. Artists and writers reached for ancient myths to feed the ideal of a national culture.