Super Bowl LI, Refugee Ban, Trump’s Cabinet: Your Weekend Briefing

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/05/briefing/super-bowl-li-refugee-ban-trumps-cabinet.html

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Here are the week’s top stories, and a look ahead.

1. President Trump’s executive order barring refugees and others from seven predominantly Muslim nations further roiled a divided citizenry and immigrant communities here. But his supporters see a campaign promise kept.

A federal appeals court early Sunday rejected a request by Trump officials to immediately restore the travel ban after a Seattle judge blocked it, meaning that refugees and travelers from those seven nations can still enter the United States for now. Above, the daughter of an Iraqi interpreter who helped the U.S. arrived in Boston on Friday on a special visa.

More than 1,000 American diplomats protested Mr. Trump’s executive order. And consumers, meanwhile, lashed out at Uber and Starbucks for their responses to the ban.

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2. Mr. Trump also took steps toward loosening regulations on banks and other major financial companies, saying that “so many people, friends of mine that had nice businesses, they can’t borrow money.”

Progress on the president’s cabinet remains limited because of delays with his nominations and their paperwork, as well as Democrats’ slowing some confirmations, sometimes by boycotting committee votes. A huge battle is expected over Mr. Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch.

Betsy DeVos, Mr. Trump’s nominee to be secretary of education, faces daunting odds after criticism from a wide range of opponents, including two Republican senators. Vice President Mike Pence may have to break a tie in a confirmation vote.

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3. But most of Mr. Trump’s national security team is in place.

The former Exxon chief Rex Tillerson won confirmation as secretary of state, with the most votes against a nominee for that position — 43 — in history.

Uproar continues over Mr. Trump’s decision to put his chief political strategist, Stephen Bannon, above, with Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, on the National Security Council, in a role usually reserved for generals.

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4. Canada mourned the six people killed while praying at a mosque last week in Quebec, immigrants from Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Guinea. The suspect is a known right-wing extremist, and the country, long a bastion of multiculturalism, struggled to confront a growing strain of intolerance.

Our special report shows that many terrorist attacks worldwide appear to be “remote-controlled”: ISIS-inspired “lone wolves,” guided by planners in Syria and Iraq via messaging apps.

Separately, an American commando and civilians in Yemen were killed after a chain of mishaps and misjudgments in the first counterterrorism operation authorized by Mr. Trump.

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5. Mr. Trump has embraced a deeply suspicious view of Islam that conflates it with terrorist groups, an idea that has long flourished on the far right. And in popular entertainment, too: Witness the villains as the premiere of “24: Legacy” airs on Fox tonight.

In a contrast of tolerance, the White House announced that an Obama administration order that created workplace protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people would remain.

And the Boy Scouts of America said the group would begin accepting members based on the gender listed on their application, while a Texas mayor announced that she’s transgender.

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6. Late in the week, Mr. Trump will meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, with security and North Korea on the agenda. China has assailed the White House’s new pledge to defend disputed islands controlled by Japan, delivered by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, above.

The president has also strained a crucial alliance in the region, with Australia. In addition, European leaders say that they are distrustful of him.

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7. Israel leapt onto the shortlist of top international concerns.

After the country’s repeated announcements of new settlement construction in the West Bank, Mr. Trump unexpectedly called for curbs on the projects. Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain will meet her Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Monday in London.

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8. Need help making sense of the news? Our newsroom has introduced an audio news report and a newsletter focused on global news analysis.

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9. The uncertainty caused by Congress’s rush to repeal Obamacare has caused a dip in sign-ups this year, increasing costs.

Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz, two senators who ran for president last year, will debate the fate of the Affordable Care Act and the Republican Party’s approach to health care, and take questions from viewers (Tuesday, 9 p.m. Eastern, CNN).

Here’s our look at a plan proposed by several Senate Republicans, which offers three options for altering the coverage.

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10. The New England Patriots could secure their fifth Super Bowl title in 16 years with a victory tonight in Houston. We have full coverage of the matchup with the Atlanta Falcons.

But politics infuses the game as never before. We examined the close relationship the Patriots’ owner, coach and quarterback have with Mr. Trump. Politics has even seeped into the commercials. And what will Lady Gaga do at halftime?

Kickoff: 6:30 p.m. Eastern, Fox. For snack ideas, check out our recipes.

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11. Not a football fan? Then there’s the Puppy Bowl (3 p.m. Eastern, Animal Planet). Then the competition really steps up, as more than 2,800 dogs descend on Midtown Manhattan for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the most prestigious canine competition in the United States.

Don’t tell the dogs, but for the first time, there will also be a program featuring cats.

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12. And in other not-gloomy news, a Congolese refugee family of five, exempted from new U.S. restrictions, arrived in New York after an 18-hour flight from Africa, and found their Hudson Valley home stocked with food and their dinner table set, with flowers.

A survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing is marrying the firefighter who rescued her; a nanny donated part of her liver to save a toddler’s life; and donations will allow a 110-year-old World War II veteran to stay in his home.

Have a great week.

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Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help.

Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a.m. Eastern and updated online.

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