Fwd: NYT Now: Your Friday Briefing

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• Armenia memorials.

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From: NYTimes.com <nytdirect@nytimes.com>
Date: Fri, Apr 24, 2015 at 12:16 PM
Subject: NYT Now: Your Friday Briefing
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View in Browser | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. Friday, April 24, 2015 Friday, April 24, 2015 nytnow.com » Enjoy this newsletter? Get continuous updates on today's most important stories with the NYT Now app for iPhone. Download now. A rally in Paris to commemorate the Armenian genocide that left up to 1.5 million people. Joel Saget/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images Your Friday Briefing By VICTORIA SHANNON Good morning. Here's what you need to know: • Armenia memorials. Memorial services are held today in Armenia and Turkey to commemorate the Armenian genocide a century ago. The Turkish prime minister reiterated his stance that there was no systematic attempt to destroy a people. In a much-anticipated statement, President Obama on Thursday skirted the word "genocide" to refer to the massacre, although he used it when he was a presidential candidate. Up to 1.5 million Armenians are believed to have died. • Aftermath of hostage deaths. The U.S. drone program faces repercussions after President Obama's announcement that a January strike on Al Qaeda in Pakistan had killed two Western hostages. By most accounts, hundreds of dangerous militants have been killed by drones, but independent investigations have identified more civilian casualties than administration officials admit to. • Solution on migrants out of reach. The European Union's plan to triple the budget of its border protection operation is not enough to stem the increasing deaths of migrants on their way to the Continent, outsiders organizations say. An estimated 1,727 migrants have died in the Mediterranean so far this year. Leaders' efforts are hindered by budget pressures and a simmering political backlash against immigrants. • Indonesia executions set. Australia, Brazil, France, Nigeria and the Philippines are sending emissaries to an Indonesian island in preparation for executions of nine foreigners. They were sentenced to death for drug trafficking. MARKETS • Wall Street stock futures are drifting higher, with the Nasdaq looking likely to beat the record it set on Thursday. It was the first time it surpassed its peak of the dot-com boom in 2000. European stocks are moderately ahead, and Asia ended mixed. • The Federal Communications Commission and White House positions on net neutrality were central to the undoing of the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger plan, which appeared to fall apart on Thursday, experts said. The government's commitment to a free and open Internet was at odds with a single company controlling as much as 57 percent of the public's high-speed access to the service. • European finance ministers begin a two-day meeting with a sharp focus on Greece's future in the eurozone. • There will be no lines outside Apple stores for the first day of Apple Watch deliveries today. The company is selling the high-end gadget online only to start with, though select fashion boutiques will also stock them. • A Qatari group is buying the luxury property Claridge's and two sister hotels in London, after a four-year legal battle with the two British billionaires who own them. NOTEWORTHY • Huzzahs for Hubble. NASA and the European Space Agency celebrate the Hubble telescope on the 25th anniversary of its launch today. Since then, the 44-foot space camera has made more than 1.2 million observations of over 38,000 celestial objects. It has another 22 years or so to go before it is expected to re-enter the atmosphere. • New at the movies. "Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck," Brett Morgen's family-approved documentary about the talented and troubled leader of the band Nirvana, is "an editing tour de force," our reviewer says. "The Water Diviner," also released today, has Russell Crowe playing a widowed Australian farmer who, four years after the Gallipoli campaign of 1915-16, goes to Turkey to find his three missing sons. Here's what else is coming to theaters today. • Popular reads. "Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies" by David Fisher opens at No. 1 on our Sunday Book Review best-seller rankings for nonfiction. It is a companion book for the TV commentator's Fox series on separating fact from fiction in the Old West. On the hardcover fiction list, the 33rd Stone Barrington novel, "Hot Pursuit" by Stuart Woods, starts at No. 4. The New York lawyer pursues an attractive pilot and must deal with her stalker former boyfriend, as well as intrigue in the Middle East. • British invasion. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which opens today, might be confused with a British rock fest: The two Saturday headliners are The Who and Elton John. Scores of musicians of all genres perform on more than 10 stages at the annual event. BACK STORY "All we know is that it was a documentary about coconuts that rather lost its way." That's Michael Palin, one of the members of the British comedy troupe Monty Python, riffing on the origins of their cult classic "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." The spoof of the King Arthur legend, alternately hilarious and ridiculous, is frequently on top-10 lists of the greatest comedies. Mr. Palin and the four other surviving members of Monty Python regroup at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York today for a 40th anniversary screening of "Holy Grail." Another member, Terry Gilliam, said a "lack of money" saved the film from mediocrity: "We couldn't afford real horses." The Monty Python actors, now in their 70s, rose to fame with a BBC television series, "Monty Python's Flying Circus," that ran from 1969 to 1974. Their surreal, nonconformist and irreverent humor influenced shows like "Saturday Night Live." On Saturday, they will also debut the feature-length documentary "Monty Python — The Meaning of Live," which followed the clan on their reunion performances in London last summer. Your Morning Briefing is published weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern and updated on the web all morning. What would you like to see here? Contact us at briefing@nytimes.com. Want to get the briefing by email? Here's the sign-up. ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW NYTNOW @NYTNOW NYT Now app for iPhone Now the news keeps up with you Available on the App Store Get more NYTimes.com newsletters » | Sign Up for the Morning Briefing newsletter » ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's NYT Now newsletter. As a member of the TRUSTe privacy program, we are committed to protecting your privacy. 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