Your Tuesday Briefing

What you need to know today. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, February 20, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( Europe Edition [Your Tuesday Briefing]( By PATRICK BOEHLER Good morning. The latest from the Winter Olympics, Iran’s secretive war in Syria and the resurgent popularity of opera music in Europe. Here’s the news: James Hill for The New York Times • Curling, a sport not accustomed to high-profile controversy, has been [rocked by a failed doping test by a Russian medal winner]( at the Winter Olympics. The French ice dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron [won silver]( a day after [gracefully skating through a wardrobe malfunction](. And our Pyeongchang team looked at the [German Olympians’ sport drink of choice]( beer, of course (but nonalcoholic). Here are the full [Olympic medals table, results and schedule](. _____ Satellite images by Bing • Iran is training thousands of militiamen in Syria, in an effort to expand its network of militant proxies in the Middle East. (Above, satellite imagery of bases in Syria.) Its goals, according to analysts, are [changing the region’s strategic map]( and building a united front in a possible future war with Israel. Our correspondent in the city of Kobani writes about how Kurdish fighters are [using the v]( of the war dead]( as a potent recruiting tool. (And in a not-very-subtle act of defiance, Turkey [renamed the U.S. Embassy’s street in Ankara]( after its military offensive in Syria against Kurdish forces.) _____ Alexey Furman for The New York Times • Ukraine’s conflict with pro-Russian separatists is slowly mutating in the public mind from a heroic struggle into yet another sinkhole of profiteering and graft. (Above, a protest camp in Kiev.) Our correspondent [took a closer look at the sale of military ambulances]( meant to assist wounded troops. Sold to the armed forces by a friend of President Petro Poroshenko, the vehicles were unsuitable for the front lines. _____ Al Drago for The New York Times • In Washington, the White House indicated that [President Trump was open to supporting a bipartisan effort]( to revise federal background checks for prospective gun buyers in the wake of last week’s deadly shooting at a school in Florida. Around the U.S., teachers are [reflecting on whether they are prepared]( to take a bullet for their students. “I think about it all the time,” one said. Social media bot swarms tied to Russia [rushed to inflame]( the American debate on gun control. Our fact-check found that claims by a Facebook executive, whose tweets about Russia’s disinformation effort received widespread attention after they were cited by Mr. Trump, [were only partly true](. _____ François Guillot/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • In Europe, opera music is hip again, in part thanks to a new focus on theatrical performance (and discounted tickets). Nearly 100,000 people younger than age 28 [went to see the Paris Opera last season](. London’s Royal Opera also had a large younger following. (Above, a scene from Romeo Castellucci’s production of Schoenberg’s “Moses und Aron” in Paris.) In other classical music news, Ping-Pong [made its philharmonic debut in New York](. Business Alex Goodlett for The New York Times • At Google, Facebook and other tech companies, executives are making statements about [priorities with their office seating arrangements](. (One example: A.I. researchers get to sit next to the boss.) • Spain’s economy minister, Luis de Guindos, is [poised to become vice president]( of the European Central Bank, raising hopes in Madrid for more clout in the E.U.’s halls of power. • The European Central Bank [froze payments by one of its biggest banks]( amid accusations, which it denies, of doing business with North Korea. The Baltic country’s central bank chief, who is facing separate bribery charges, [has been released from detention on bail](. • An enviable job dilemma: A reader retired early but now feels adrift and wonders whether to get back into the work force. [And if so, how]( • Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News • In Germany, the far-right [AfD party]( overtook the Social Democrats for the first time in a poll. Rank-and-file Social Democrats begin to vote on a new coalition deal today. [[Politico]( / [Deutsche Welle]( • President Trump’s lawyer made headlines over his $130,000 payment to silence a pornographic film actress. But that’s just one example of his behind-the-scenes efforts to protect his employer. [[The New York Times]( • A Spanish trial of a Russian lawmaker and 17 others on [money-laundering charges]( could shed light on ties between organized crime and Russia’s elite. [[ProPublica]( • Readers, including a former member of the Hungarian Parliament, share their opinions on Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s increasingly [autocratic rule](. [[The New York Times — Letters to the Editor]( • Oxfam, one of Britain’s largest charities, said three employees who were the subject of a 2011 inquiry into sexual misconduct in Haiti physically threatened a witness. [[The New York Times]( • In memoriam: Günter Blobel, the Nobel laureate who laid some of the foundations of modern cell biology, died at 81. [[The New York Times]( Smarter Living Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. Ed Alcock for The New York Times • A Paris-style hamburger [respects, but doesn’t replicate]( steak tartare. • What to do with a day off? [Nothing]( is one of our newsletter’s (best!) suggestions. • At any age, hangovers are trying to [tell you something](. Noteworthy Yasuyoshi Chiba/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • “Black Panther” is not only a [blockbuster]( at cinemas worldwide, its soundtrack is also a hit, [opening at No. 1 on the Billboard chart]( in the U.S. ([Here’s our critic’s review]( of the album, which includes work by Babes Wodumo and other South African artists.) • The artist Geta Bratescu, 91, spent most of her career in obscurity in Communist Romania. She has come to international recognition late in life and [now has a major show in Los Angeles](. • At London Fashion Week, [we tagged along with Adwoa Aboah]( the model and activist, as best we could. (At the end of two jam-packed days, she headed home for a Thai green curry, some knitting and a long bath.) • There’s a new wave of reasonably priced restaurants in the Parisian quarter of Montmartre. Here are five places [worth your appetite](. • And good news in education: Students from anywhere in the world, even Britain, [can now qualify for]( Rhodes scholarship]( to study at Oxford University. Back Story Mary Lou Foy/The Miami Herald, via Reuters The Florida high school that was the site of last week’s mass shooting is named for her. But Marjory Stoneman Douglas, pictured above in 1987, has [a much longer legacy in the history of Florida]( and the fight to preserve the Everglades, the tropical wetlands that once covered the southern part of the state. Born in Minnesota in 1890, she graduated from Wellesley College and for a period worked as a newspaper reporter for her father, the editor of The Miami Herald. She was later asked to contribute to a book series about U.S. rivers. In researching the Miami River, she became interested in the Everglades and persuaded her publisher to let her write about them instead. “The Everglades: River of Grass” was published in 1947. An environmental classic, the book changed the way the U.S. viewed its wetlands, as important ecosystems and surge buffers rather than worthless swamps more useful when drained. But despite Mrs. Douglas’s warning that “There are no other Everglades in the world,” development has continued to encroach. The school now in the news [was named in her honor in 1990]( commemorating her 100th birthday. She [died eight years later]( in [the same Miami cottage]( in which she’d lived since 1926. Chris Stanford contributed reporting. _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online. [Sign up here]( to get it by email in the Australian, Asian, European or American morning, or to receive an Evening Briefing on U.S. weeknights. Browse our full range of Times newsletters [here](. 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