Your Friday Evening Briefing

Davos, Mueller, Syria | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, January 26, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Friday Evening Briefing]( By KAREN ZRAICK AND SANDRA STEVENSON Good evening. Here’s the latest. Gian Ehrenzeller/European Pressphoto Agency 1. “America First does not mean America alone.” That was [President Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland]( where he invited the world’s political and financial elite to invest in what he called a resurgent United States. The room was jampacked, and the speech was shown on screen in an adjacent space, above. He was warmly received by the corporate titans at the conference, who a year ago were fretting that his election meant the demise of the global order they had built. [See our full coverage of the forum here](. Back at home, Mr. Trump is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday. ____ Doug Mills/The New York Times 2. President Trump denied that he had ordered [the firing of the special counsel in the Russia investigation, Robert Mueller]( above. Mr. Trump invoked one of his favorite refrains: “fake news.” Here’s how [writers from across the political spectrum]( reacted to the story. And we learned that a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign who was accused of sexual harassment kept his job, at Mrs. Clinton’s request. [Burns Strider, who was Mrs. Clinton’s faith adviser]( was fired from her 2016 campaign after other claims of harassment. ____ Mike Blake/Reuters 3. This year’s flu season is now [more intense than any since the 2009 swine flu pandemic]( — and it’s still getting worse. That’s the word from federal health officials, who announced that the hospitalization rate — a predictor of the death rate — has jumped. This year’s dominant virus, H3N2, is usually the most lethal of the seasonal strains, and vaccines don’t work that well against it. But let us repeat: [It’s still worth getting a flu shot]( and it’s not too late in the year. Above, a flu patient in California. ____ Ivor Prickett for The New York Times 4. Our Beirut bureau helped unpack the developments in northern Syria, where [Turkey, a U.S. ally, is attacking Kurdish militias]( backed by Washington. Those fighters disavow nationalism and envision a stateless society without gender distinctions. And they have deep ties to a group that both Turkey and the U.S. consider a terrorist organization. Yes, it’s complicated. Above, U.S.-backed fighters at a funeral for fallen comrades. ____ Kyungnam Shinmun, via Getty Images 5. In South Korea, a [fire at a hospital that doubled as a nursing home]( killed at least 37 people in the southern city of Miryang. It was the latest in a string of tragedies that have heightened public concern over the country’s safety standards. South Korea also has one of the world’s fastest-aging populations. Officials are still investigating the cause of the fire. ____ Brendan McDermid/Reuters 6. “Over the course of the trial, we became an army determined to expose the greatest sexual assault scandal in sports history. And we succeeded.” Rachael Denhollander, above left, the former gymnast and lawyer who was the first to go public about Lawrence Nassar’s abuse, [described the ordeal in an Op-Ed for The New York Times](. Now that Dr. Nassar has been sentenced, [the focus is turning to Michigan State]( which employed him for two decades. State and federal agencies are investigating who knew about his behavior, and the president and athletic director [have resigned](. ____ Stefan Claes 7. Travel with us to the land of endless night. We asked [readers who live around the Arctic Circle]( — where in some places the sun doesn’t shine for weeks after the winter solstice — to share their stories and photos of life there. Nearly 700 responded. “On a clear night, the number of stars is beyond understanding,” said a hotelier in Finland. “Sometimes when you stop in the forest, it is so quiet you think that there is something wrong with your hearing.” ____ Kevin D. Liles for The New York Times 8. Our personal finance columnist, Ron Lieber, has been on something of a crusade against Equifax since its huge data breach in the fall. One of the most frustrating aspects of the debacle, for Mr. Lieber and the many readers who got in touch with him, is that there’s no way to get the company to delete your personal information. But you might be able to get your employer to do so. As a case study, [he asked The Times to cancel its contract with Equifax]( for services like providing employment verification. After a few days of consideration, the company said it would do so. ____ Lev Radin/Pacific Press and LightRocket, via Getty Images 9. Will the Grammys have a #MeToo moment? The awards show is Sunday, and a grass-roots campaign started this week encouraging attendees to wear a white rose as a symbol of “hope, peace, sympathy and resistance.” Above, the singer Halsey spoke out against abuse at the Women’s March in New York. But [pop music has not been rocked by the #MeToo movement]( the way Hollywood was, and some observers are asking why. After all, women are still woefully underrepresented in the industry: A new report found that only 9 percent of the 899 nominees in the last six Grammys were women. Our pop music critic put together [a playlist of the Grammy gems in lesser-known categories](. (You probably won’t hear them during the broadcast.) You can sign up to listen to it on Spotify, too. ____ Atul Loke for The New York Times 10. Finally, the Taj Mahal is getting a cleaning, architects-turned-pastry chefs are taking the dessert world by storm, and we met the Pied Piper of parrots. Here’s [the week in good news](. Have a great weekend. ____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. And don’t miss [Your Morning Briefing]( posted weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a.m. Sundays. We have four global editions, timed for [the Americas]( [Europe]( [Asia]( and [Australia](. Want to catch up on past briefings? [You can browse them here](. If photographs appear out of order, please download the updated New York Times app [from iTunes]( or [Google Play](. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at [briefing@nytimes.com](mailto:briefing@nytimes.com?subject=Evening%20Briefing%20Feedback). LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. ADVERTISEMENT Sponsor a Subscription Inspire the future generation of readers by contributing to The Times’s [sponsor-a-subscription program](. For questions, email sponsor@nytimes.com or call [1-844-698-2677](. 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