Tuesday, July 23, 2019 | View in browser

Good morning.

We’re covering the ballooning federal budget, the growing protests in Puerto Rico and today’s leadership transition in Britain.

By Chris Stanford

Government falls deeper in the red

White House and congressional negotiators on Monday agreed on a two-year budget that would raise spending by $320 billion over existing caps and allow the government to keep borrowing.

If passed by Congress and signed by President Trump, the deal would stop a potential debt default this fall and push the next budget showdown until after the 2020 elections.

The details: With two months left in this fiscal year, the federal deficit has reached $747 billion — a 23 percent increase from last year. Federal debt has grown to $22 trillion.

Background: Former President Barack Obama ran large deficits in his first term, but deficits fell an average of 11 percent per fiscal year in his second term. The deficit has increased an average of 15 percent in each fiscal year since Mr. Trump took office.

The police fired tear gas at protesters in San Juan, P.R., on Monday. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Puerto Rico erupts in protests

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched in San Juan on Monday, demanding Gov. Ricardo Rosselló’s resignation.

It was among the largest protests ever in the U.S. territory, reflecting frustration with years of recession, mismanagement and corruption. Watch footage here.

Background: The protests started more than a week ago after the publication of messages between Mr. Rosselló and aides that revealed a cozy relationship with special interest representatives. The governor said on Sunday that he would not run for re-election in 2020 but refused to resign.

Quotable: One protester who was recently released from prison said of the government: “I was a criminal, and no criminal does what these people do.” Read more from the demonstrators.

Tell us: The Times wants to hear from Puerto Ricans about how decades of economic problems have affected you and your family.

Either Jeremy Hunt, left, or Boris Johnson is set to become Britain's next prime minister. Odd Andersen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A new leader for Britain

The governing Conservative Party is set to announce its new leader today after a vote by the party’s 160,000 members. Boris Johnson, one of Britain’s most polarizing politicians, is heavily favored to beat Jeremy Hunt, his successor as foreign secretary.

The winner will replace Theresa May as prime minister on Wednesday and inherit perhaps the country’s greatest peacetime crisis: the withdrawal from the European Union.

What’s next: Mr. Johnson has vowed to deliver Brexit by the Oct. 31 deadline at any cost. As it has become increasingly likely that he will become prime minister, the pound has sunk to two-year lows against the dollar. Several Conservative ministers have begun quitting in protest of Mr. Johnson’s policies.

Gulf states vie for power in Somalia

Over the past two years, the war-torn nation has emerged as a battleground for Persian Gulf states competing with guns, cash and terrorism for power and profits across the Horn of Africa. Somalia’s long coastline offers access to the region’s fast-growing markets and influence over the gulf’s shipping lanes.

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar are each providing weapons or military training to favored factions, exchanging allegations about bribing local officials and competing for contracts to manage ports or exploit natural resources.

How we know: The Times obtained a recording of a phone call with the Qatari ambassador to Somalia, in which a businessman close to the emir of Qatar said that militants had carried out a bombing in Somalia to advance Qatari interests and drive out the United Arab Emirates.

If you have 6 minutes, this is worth it

The economic roots of Hong Kong’s protests

Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters

Rents higher than New York, London or San Francisco for apartments half the size. Nearly one in five living in poverty. A minimum wage of $4.82 an hour.

Anger over Hong Kong’s increasing loss of autonomy to mainland China has fueled recent protests, but there is an undercurrent of deep anxiety over residents’ economic fortunes — and fears that they will get worse.

Here’s what else is happening

Equifax settlement: The credit bureau will pay at least $650 million to settle claims over a major data breach in 2017. At least $300 million of that will go to consumers. We answered some questions about the agreement.

Fast-track deportations: Under a rule set to take effect today, undocumented immigrants who cannot prove they have been in the U.S. for more than two years could be deported without a hearing before a judge. Only 35 people were detained in an operation last week that targeted more than 2,000 migrants.

Robert Mueller’s testimony: The Justice Department warned the former special counsel to “remain within the boundaries” of the public version of his report on the Russia investigation when he appears before Congress on Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know about his testimony.

Cat declawing ban: New York became the first state in the country to ban the practice, which many consider cruel and unnecessary.

Deep Sea Productions/MMT

Snapshot: Above, an image created by merging thousands of high-resolution photographs of a 500-year-old shipwreck, whose discovery in the Baltic Sea was announced on Monday. The ship’s condition is pristine, but its name and origin have not yet been identified.

In memoriam: Christopher Kraft, the founder of NASA’s mission control, played crucial roles in the space program. He died on Monday at 95, two days after the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, which he helped oversee.

Late-night comedy: After receiving a call from Kanye West, President Trump intervened on behalf of a rapper detained in Sweden. “What’s so insane is how powerful Kanye West is in this situation,” Trevor Noah said. “It’s like he uses his MAGA hat like a magic lamp and rubs it and Trump comes out and says, ‘What do you need?’”

What we’re reading: This essay in The New York Review of Books. Adeel Hassan, on our Race/Related team, writes: “Recent prosecutions in the U.S. and Europe of those helping desperate migrants inspired the historian Manisha Sinha to look at the similarities to the legal penalties incurred by those who helped fugitive slaves in 19th-century America.”

Now, a break from the news

Linda Xiao for The New York Times

Cook: Jalapeño adds a kick to pasta with corn, feta and basil. (Our Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter has more recommendations.)

Watch: A father asks: Why is finding a decent show to watch with my daughter so hard? Our TV critic offers suggestions.

Listen: “Stranger Things” Season 3 is a portal to 1985. We have a playlist of 19 hits from that summer.

Go: The Stratford Festival in Ontario is the largest repertory company in North America. Its wide-ranging offerings this season include Shakespeare and “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Smarter Living: Geopolitical troubles can cause trouble for investors. So consider the three-part approach recommended by Ramit Sethi, the author of “I Will Teach You to Be Rich”: “conscious spending,” automatic savings and an understanding of why you are investing.

And we look at how real estate brokers and marketers track stressed homeowners in ways that some find predatory.

And now for the Back Story on …

Daniel Radcliffe after Harry Potter

He will forever be a cute boy wizard for a certain generation.

But members of that generation might be feeling their age today: Daniel Radcliffe, the British actor who for a decade brought the J.K. Rowling character to the silver screen, is turning 30.

Daniel Radcliffe was 11 when shooting began for "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Peter Mountain/Warner Brothers Pictures

He’s been busy. In the eight years since the release of the last “Harry Potter” film, Mr. Radcliffe has appeared in at least 14 movies, six TV shows and five theater productions.

He also became a published poet under the pen name Jacob Gershon; had his portrait hung in the National Portrait Gallery in London; and voiced characters in “The Simpsons,” “Robot Chicken” and “Bojack Horseman.”

On the BBC show “Who Do You Think You Are?” this week, he broke down in tears reading the suicide note left by his great-grandfather Samuel Gershon, a Jewish jeweler in London. He killed himself in 1936 at age 42, possibly after anti-Semitic accusations by the police.

In Mr. Radcliffe’s next film, “Escape From Pretoria,” he plays an anti-apartheid activist jailed with other white political prisoners in South Africa.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Chris

Thank you
To Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Victoria Shannon, on the briefings team, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Today’s episode is about the fight over Planned Parenthood’s future.
• Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Devoutly wish (four letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• Davey Alba, who won an award for a BuzzFeed article about how President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines used Facebook to fuel his drug war, is joining The Times as a technology reporter covering disinformation.