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Europe Edition

Barcelona, Steve Bannon, Jerry Lewis: Your Monday Briefing

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)

Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

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Credit...Samuel Aranda for The New York Times

• The Spanish authorities said that the attacks that killed at least 14 people in Barcelona and Cambrils appeared to be part of a terrorist cell’s extensive plot that could have resulted in far more devastation. The country has been the target of Islamic State propaganda for years.

Behind the attacks was a terrorist recruiter who worked as an imam in the mountain town of Ripoll. He may have died a day before the attacks when explosives that the group was manufacturing accidentally detonated.

At least four suspects have been arrested, but the search for the Barcelona driver continues.

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Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

• In the U.S., Steve Bannon, above, returned to Breitbart News, the right-wing website, after leaving his post as President Trump’s chief strategist.

“I can be more effective fighting from the outside,” he said. Some of his protégés are said to have already been sidelined in the White House. The Daily, our podcast, has more analysis, and here’s a timeline of his career.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of demonstrators denounced Nazism at rallies across the U.S. amid widespread criticism over Mr. Trump’s somewhat muted reaction to violence at a rally of white supremacists. But many of Mr. Trump’s supporters stood by him.

And our reporters found that Rinat Akhmetshin, a lobbyist who met last summer with senior Trump officials, has much deeper ties to the Russian government than previously known.

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Credit...Ahmad Al-Rubaye/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Iraqi forces began a new offensive to retake Tal Afar, one of the last big cities in Iraq under the control of the Islamic State. Above, paramilitaries advance toward the city.

Meanwhile in Afghanistan, our correspondent notes that the violent squabbling among warlords is reminiscent of the Taliban’s rise to power in 1996. The White House said that President Trump would announce a new strategy in Afghanistan in a speech on Monday evening.

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Credit...Andreas Friese/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

• Germany’s troubled ties with Turkey soured further.

The two governments are feuding over a Turkish request to Spain to extradite a German writer to Turkey. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, at a town hall event ahead of general elections next month, criticized Turkey’s use of an Interpol arrest warrant to seek the rendition of the writer, who is a government critic.

Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey called on ethnic Turks in Germany to boycott Ms. Merkel’s party, along with the Social Democrats and the Greens, in next month’s election, calling them “enemies of Turkey.”

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Credit...Sam Morris/Las Vegas News Bureau, via European Pressphoto Agency

• A farewell to beloved comedians: Jerry Lewis, who rose to fame with films like “The Nutty Professor,” died at 91. Our critic writes that Mr. Lewis’s work shaped generations of his colleagues.

The English entertainer, host and quizmaster Bruce Forsyth, who was a television presence for 75 years, died at 89. And Dick Gregory, the American black satirist who used humor to explain the civil rights struggle to white audiences, died at 84.

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Credit...Ilvy Njiokiktjien for The New York Times

• Eneco, a Dutch utility firm, is trying to prepare for a world where its customers produce their own power by offering new services like the repair of solar panels.

• C.E.O.s are increasingly speaking out on moral issues as their companies are adapting to meet new social and political expectations.

• The stock markets have been unusually calm this year. Our columnist expects that to change.

Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

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Credit...Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva, via Associated Press

• The Finnish police are investigating Friday’s knife attack in the city of Turku as a terrorist attack. Two people were killed and eight wounded. Above, Hassan Zubier, a British paramedic who was injured while trying to help a victim. [The New York Times]

• In Russia, a man stabbed and wounded seven people in the Siberian town of Surgut on Saturday. The police later shot and killed the attacker, the authorities said. [The New York Times]

• A quiet suicide epidemic has hit French farmers as their physically demanding, solitary existence is increasingly precarious. [The New York Times]

• Far fewer migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to reach Italy this summer compared with previous years. Experts said the lull was unlikely to last. [The New York Times]

• Grace Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s first lady, was whisked out of South Africa after the government granted her diplomatic immunity. A model had filed assault charges against her. [The New York Times]

• Some 500 neo-Nazis gathered in Berlin to observe the 30th anniversary of the death of Rudolf Hess, the onetime deputy to Hitler, but were far outnumbered by counterprotesters. [The New York Times]

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

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Credit...Melina Hammer for The New York Times

• Recipe of the day: Make poundcake with whipped cream and fresh fruit.

• Here are tips for wearing, storing and cleaning your clothes.

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Credit...Josep Lago/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

• “No tinc por” (I’m not afraid): That’s what soccer fans chanted at Barcelona’s triumphant first match since the terrorist attack. Players swapped their names on their shirts for the city’s name.

• In a Serbian refugee center, a 10-year-old Afghan artist has won acclaim as a “Little Picasso.”

• Our “Game of Thrones” recap of the latest, thrilling episode comes with a spinoff idea.

• Some travel inspiration: Our 36 Hours guide to Baden-Baden, the historic German spa town.

• Rather than taking you out of the moment, snapping photos may sometimes help you better remember it.

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Credit...Hannah McKay/Reuters

After striking noon today, Big Ben is set to fall silent for as many as four years, part of a $37 million maintenance program at the London landmark.

In fact, Big Ben, the main bell that tolls every hour, doesn’t need fixing. But the clock tower containing it — called Elizabeth Tower and commonly referred to as Big Ben — is showing signs of aging, like the rest of the crumbling Palace of Westminster, the seat of Britain’s Parliament.

Since its completion in 1859, Big Ben has had only one major breakdown, in 1976. It was silenced during the world wars — although it rang throughout the Blitz, Germany’s aerial bombing of British cities in 1940-41 — and also for occasional maintenance.

The BBC, which has regularly broadcast the bell’s toll since 1924, still begins two radio broadcasts a day — at 6 p.m. and midnight — with the ringing.

In an interview last week, a BBC official said the search for a replacement bong led back to the original.

Denis Nowlan said, “We decided in the end that the only substitute for the most majestic, most evocative bell in the world is Big Ben.” So the BBC will use an earlier recording rather than a live broadcast from Westminster.

Palko Karasz contributed reporting.

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This briefing was prepared for the European morning. You can browse through past briefings here.

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Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online.

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