| Brussels: A hell of a town, Trump finds | | Last year, President Trump called Brussels a "hellhole." On Wednesday, that hellhole welcomed him with open arms for a NATO summit. Trump landed in Brussels to a festive ceremony, with a military band playing the U.S. national anthem. Photo opps with Belgium's king and queen followed. Trump had criticized Brussels over policies that he said invite too many poor Muslims and refugees. In person, though, his words were more pleasant. "It's an honor to be with you," he told the nation's prime minister. The arrival followed a private meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican , where the pontiff gave the president a copy of his 2015 letter on climate change (Trump's a skeptic). Melania and Ivanka Trump tagged along, wearing black dresses and veils, customary for women meeting the pope. | | Manchester bomber's father and brother arrested, as neighbors recall him as anti-social | | Authorities in Libya arrested the father and a brother of Salman Abedi, the suicide bomber in Monday's attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England. Police around Manchester also made four arrests linked to a "network" tied to the bomber, whom one official said likely didn't act alone. As citywide searches continued, Abedi's neighbors recalled him as a quiet but abrasive young man who, one mother recalled, once threatened her daughter with violence. "He was pretty anti-social," said neighbor Nisa Akhtar. | | Use it before you maybe lose it | | From our friends at OnPolitics: The House bill passed this month to repeal and replace Obamacare would leave 23 million people without health insurance by 2026, the Congressional Budget Office found in an analysis released Wednesday. The bill would up premiums by 20% next year and 5% in 2019. Those premiums would then decrease by 2020. Just how much they would drop varies state to state. In all, bill as approved would decrease the deficit by $119 billion, about $32 billion shy of the last version of the bill. The legislation narrowly made it through the House on May 4. Senate Republicans are now meeting to compile legislation of their own. (And subscribe to OnPolitics Today, if you haven't. It's like The Short List. But politics.) | | #MustRead: Is the death of a child punishment enough? Prosecutors disagree | | The USA TODAY Network teamed up with the Associated Press to review 152 accidental gun deaths involving children over the last three years. What we found: While most tragedies unfolded similarly, the resulting punishments did not. Some parents wound up in prison. Others, prosecutors said, had suffered enough. One grieving father, whose child shot herself with a gun he left on the sofa, said he didn't fear jail time: "It was already as bad as it was going to get." Delve into the full investigation here. |  | | Trump's budget is bad for his rural voters | | Rural, working-class voters overwhelmingly backed Donald Trump last November. But the president's new budget may not back them . "Cruel" is how one senator described the new proposed White House budget, which slashes programs used disproportionately by people without college degrees — the same people who voted for Trump by six points. Crop subsidies, food assistance and education would face deep cuts, with Medicaid losing more than $800 billion over the next decade. One-third of families live paycheck to paycheck in the rural and small-town counties that backed Trump, one think tank found, and Trump vowed last year to help America's "forgotten men and women." He may get some help in the Senate, where stiff opposition will likely prevent the blueprint from becoming law. | | Magic mushrooms: Safe-ish? | | Magic mushrooms are the "safest" recreational drug available, according to a new survey. If you're shaking your head, hear this out. The Global Drug Survey found that only 0.2% of those who took psilocybin hallucinogenic mushrooms in 2016 needed emergency medical treatment. In comparison, emergency medical treatment for MDMA, LSD, and cocaine was almost five times higher than mushrooms, according to the survey of more than 120,000 people. That's not to say magic mushrooms are harmless. "Combined use with alcohol and ... unfamiliar settings increase the risks of harm, most commonly accidental injury ... disorientation and fears of losing one's mind," Adam Winstock, founder of the Global Drug Survey told "the Guardian." | | This is a compilation of stories from across USA TODAY. | |
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