Your Thursday Evening Briefing

Your nightly rundown of the day's top stories delivered straight to your inbox. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, March 2, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Thursday Evening Briefing]( By KAREN ZRAICK AND SANDRA STEVENSON Good evening. Here’s the latest. Doug Mills/The New York Times 1. Attorney General Jeff Sessions [recused himself from any investigation]( into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but denied that his newly revealed contacts with a Russian official were related to the presidential campaign. Democratic leaders called on Mr. Sessions to resign. Republicans [confronted a widening split]( in their ranks over how to proceed amid a growing uproar over questions about the Trump team’s ties to Russia, even as they mostly resisted calls for a special prosecutor or select committee. The White House disclosed that Michael Flynn, the national security adviser, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, [also met with the Russian ambassador]( in December. As we reported, [the outgoing Obama administration scrambled to preserve intelligence]( about the campaign’s possible contacts with Russia by spreading it across the government. _____ Interior Deparment, via Associated Press 2. On Capitol Hill, Ben Carson, the neurosurgeon-turned-politician, [was confirmed as secretary of housing]( and urban development. And Rick Perry, the former Texas governor, [got final approval to lead]( the Energy Department, a role that puts him in charge of the country’s nuclear arsenal. Another administration official, the new secretary of the interior, Ryan Zinke of Montana, arrived at his new office [on horseback](. _____ Spencer Platt/Getty Images 3. Republican lawmakers in at least 16 states [are trying to rein in protests]( with bills to make them more orderly or to toughen penalties when they go awry. Some of the bills are backed by the president’s supporters, and some appear to be responses to demonstrations against him and his policies. One activist called the proposals “intimidation from the right.” _____ Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters 4. Shares of Snap Inc., valued at $24 billion in its public offering, [jumped 41 percent]( in the company’s first day of trading. That’s a powerful showing for Snap’s money-losing messaging service, Snapchat. Wall Street has been on an upward trajectory since Election Day. Our columnist looks at what the [booming markets mean for the global economy](. _____ Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 5. Syrian government forces again [drove Islamic State militants out of Palmyra]( the ancient city that was prewar Syria’s leading tourist attraction. The Islamic State had used the city as a propaganda windfall, making a sport out of pilfering and vandalizing prized antiquities it considered heretical, and using the Roman theater for public beheadings. _____ Eirini Vourloumis for The New York Times 6. A year after the European Union closed its borders to asylum seekers, tens of thousands of refugees [languish in camps in Greece]( many of them children. Their lives in limbo have taken on an air of permanence. “Everyone here feels depressed,” said a young Afghan. _____ Reuters 7. China has at least 10 White Houses, four Arcs de Triomphe, a couple of Great Sphinxes and at least one Eiffel Tower. [But a replica of London’s Tower Bridge]( celebrated as “even more magnificent” than the original, has set off a debate over whether these buildings — created as publicity stunts and popular as photo backdrops — are actually denigrating Chinese culture. _____ Travis Dove for The New York Times 8. A few prominent artists are working to preserve [the three-room house where Nina Simone was born]( in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. A previous owner had invested in period 1930s details, hoping to make it into a museum for the legendary singer and civil rights icon, who died in 2003 at age 70. But the project languished. “She formed a lot of who I am and my sense of history,” said one of the artists. “And I think of the town as a portal to a woman who influenced so many.” _____ Damon Winter/The New York Times 9. New Orleans may be known for Mardi Gras, but Mobile, Ala., dates its Carnival celebration to 1703, making it the oldest in the U.S. More than 70 so-called mystic societies celebrated this year, most of which remain segregated by race and class. [Join us inside]( the wild-looking festivities. _____ Zach Gibson/The New York Times 10. Finally, the iconic cherry blossom trees that ring the Tidal Basin of the National Mall have heralded the coming of spring for nearly a century. This year, they are one more sign of climate change. The National Park Service says the blossoms could burst and reach their peak [as soon as March 14]( a full three weeks earlier than normal and the earliest date on record. The jump has set off a scramble to adjust [a festival schedule]( expected to involve up to 1.5 million people. _____ Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing [this version]( of the briefing should help. 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. Want to look back? Here’s [last night’s briefing](. 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). 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