New England Patriots, the Louvre: Your Friday Evening Briefing

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/briefing/new-england-patriots-the-louvre.html

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Good evening. Here’s the latest.

1. President Donald Trump signed executive orders aimed at rolling back Obama-era financial regulations.

The rules of the Dodd-Frank Act were intended to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis. Democrats and consumer groups called Mr. Trump’s orders a gift to Wall Street.

A government lawyer said more than 100,000 visas were revoked by the Trump administration as part of the president’s ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The State Department said the number was “fewer than 60,000.”

And Kellyanne Conway, the president’s adviser, said she erred when she talked about a “Bowling Green massacre” that never occurred.

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2. Confirmation hearings for Mr. Trump’s cabinet nominees will pick up next week.

Betsy DeVos, the nominee for education secretary, is expected to have a final, nail-biting confirmation vote on Tuesday.

After Ms. DeVos seemed ignorant of major provisions of education law, some Senate offices reported receiving more calls opposing Ms. DeVos than any other Trump nominee.

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3. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump questioned a deal to bring migrants held by Australia into the United States as refugees. But on Thursday, his spokesman said he would honor the deal.

Here is a video of what daily life looks like for one of them, a Kurdish dissident from Iran. He has been held on Manus Island for over three years.

“Take us from this hellhole prison,” he pleads.

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4. As the New England Patriots seek their fifth N.F.L. championship this weekend, controlling the explosive Atlanta Falcons — who are looking for their first title — will be a major challenge.

Here is a look at the championship matchup in Houston and who we think will win.

Now, what to cook for the game. Our collection of Super Bowl recipes includes dips, chicken wings, potato skins, chilis, cheese steaks, nachos and vegetarian options.

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5. A little more than a week ago, François Fillon seemed all but certain to become France’s next president.

Now he’s in deep trouble for payments of nearly $1 million from the public payroll to his wife and children.

The scandal has tapped a wellspring of anger in the French electorate and called into question the standard operating procedures of the political class.

The country has been in a state of emergency since the 2015 terror attack in Paris. Early Friday, a man shouting “God is great” in Arabic, tried to attack soldiers outside the Louvre. He was shot and no one else was injured.

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6. Photos and video from a spectacular sight off the coast of Hawaii circulated on social media this week.

The images showed hundreds of millions of gallons of lava flowing into the ocean, like blood from a ruptured artery.

Visible lava streams usually last only a day. This one began on New Year’s Eve and ended on Thursday, when a seacliff collapsed and cut it off.

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7. More young women are smoking pot while they’re pregnant.

Most think it’s harmless. But preliminary research suggests otherwise.

Experts say marijuana’s main psychoactive ingredient, THC, can cross the placenta to reach the fetus, potentially harming brain development, cognition and birth weight.

(If you’ve used marijuana while pregnant, we’d like to hear from you. We won’t publish any of the information without your permission.)

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8. We’re doing a series on the “lions of New York,” the movers and shakers who helped shape the city’s comeback from the depths of crisis in the 1970s and ’80s.

This week we speak with Harry Belafonte, the best-selling singer and a pillar of the civil rights movement. At 89, he is anxious about voting rights, police violence and the state of the movement he helped build.

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9. Sales of George Orwell’s “1984” are up since the election. And now it’s coming to Broadway.

Producers plan to bring an adaptation of the 1949 novel to the Hudson Theater in June. It was previously staged in Britain.

There’s no word on the cast yet.

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10. Finally, if you’re planning on warming up the couch before the Super Bowl, here are the latest recommendations from “Watching,” our team of TV and movie experts.

They’ve compiled a list of the best movies and TV shows on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and HBO in February, and a guide to your options depending on how much time you have.

One of their top picks is Netflix’s “Santa Clarita Diet,” starring Drew Barrymore, above, as a zombie.

Have a great weekend.

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Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.

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