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Your Thursday Briefing – The New York Occasions

Your Thursday Briefing - The New York Times

Good Morning. We are covering a vaccine supply that has become a hot spot for the EU and protesters in Myanmar are building an armed resistance.

Italian authorities found a stash of 29 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine in a factory near Rome. The discovery of so many doses raised suspicions that the pharmaceutical company was trying to figure out a way to export them to the UK or elsewhere.

The European Union has demanded that AstraZeneca keep its delivery promises to the EU. The bloc is finalizing emergency legislation that would allow it to restrict vaccine exports for six weeks in an attempt to remove supply bottlenecks.

The new rules will make it difficult for pharmaceutical companies that manufacture vaccines in the EU to export them and likely disrupt supplies to the UK.

Details: Authorities visited the construction site after receiving a warning from the European Commission stating a discrepancy between what the company said about production in EU facilities and what the facilities said themselves.

The payment: The European Union was expected to receive more than 100 million vaccine doses from AstraZeneca in the first quarter of this year, but it received only 16.6 million – a supply bottleneck that has affected vaccination efforts across the continent.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

With 90 percent of the votes counted in the general election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing alliance had 52 seats while his opponents had 56 – both sides several seats fewer than the 61 required to form a majority coalition government.

If these numbers persist, they could add months to the political deadlock that has crippled the country for two years. Tuesday’s election was Israel’s fourth in two years. The final results are expected on Friday. Some suggest that both candidates would need the support of a small Arab party, Raam, to form a majority coalition.

Time for a change: Israeli commentators and analysts were embroiled in a debate about changes to the electoral system that could break the deadlock. But for some, the impasse is rooted in deeper rifts that divide society, divisions that have contributed to political fragmentation.

As the nation’s military kills, attacks and terrorizes unarmed civilians every day, some protesters say there is no choice but to fight the army on their own terms. Groups of students, activists and office workers with weapons have mobilized to form a kind of guerrilla force.

While protesters build barricades in towns to protect neighborhoods from military raids and keep going, armed forces in the woods train basic war techniques and plan to sabotage militarily allied facilities.

The boldness and desperation of the new front are a reaction to the ruthless actions of the military, which killed 275 people. Security forces shot at bystanders, ambulances and tortured inmates. Dozens of young demonstrators were killed by single shots in the head.

How it looks: The fighters at the front have piled up sandbags and built bamboo barricades, which they defend with homemade fire bombs. In some cases, they are supported by ethnic uprisings that the Tatmadaw, as the military is known, have targeted for years.

Quote: “We have to attack them back,” said a Yangon woman who spent a week at boot camp in the forest. “That sounds aggressive, but I think we have to defend ourselves.”

In two consecutive mass shootings, people again ask themselves: Why does the US have so many? A steadily growing number of researches always comes to the same result: The astronomical number of weapons, writes our columnist.

It started in response to the pandemic: a temporary policy allowed American museums to sell art from their collections to cover operating costs. Now museums across the country are debating whether to keep the measure.

The old guidelines of the Association of Art Museum Directors allowed museums to sell items when they no longer fit an institution’s mandate and when the proceeds were used to purchase other art, not pay salaries or other bills.

Museums that prefer to keep the new arrangement say it is necessary for their long-term survival. “It is misinformed to believe that every museum has a billboard full of billionaires,” said Anne Pasternak, director of the Brooklyn Museum. During the pandemic, the Brooklyn Museum raised nearly $ 35 million from auction sales.

Last month, the Met – the largest art museum in the US – even announced that it may be selling items to pay for staff involved in maintaining collections.

Those who oppose these sales argue that they undermine the mission of these museums. “If you want to flip images, there are many other types of institutions you can do it in,” Erik Neil of the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Va., Told The Times. “And they’re called commercial galleries.”

What to cook

The pollo en fricasé offers chicken thighs and potatoes on the bone. Like so many Puerto Rican dishes, this one is very adaptable.

What to read

Sharon Stone writes about her life and death in a new memoir. Read a question and answer.

What should I do

A new study suggests that too much high-intensity exercise can be harmful to your health.

Something to see

The documentary “Seaspiracy” takes the viewer on a world tour that shows the many causes of the decimation of marine life.

Now is the time to play

Here’s today’s mini crossword puzzle and a clue: ___ Zhao, Oscar nominee for best director for “Nomadland” (five letters).

You can find all of our puzzles here.

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World News

Your Wednesday Briefing – The New York Occasions

Your Wednesday Briefing - The New York Times

In a two-page letter, federal health officials and an independent panel of medical experts accused AstraZeneca of collecting data on the effectiveness of its Covid-19 vaccine.

The company had said that based on its US study, the vaccine appeared to be 79 percent effective in preventing Covid-19. However, the panel said its effectiveness could be anywhere from 69 to 74 percent and blamed AstraZeneca for an overly rosy description of the trial data.

AstraZeneca defended the data released Monday, saying the interim results appeared to be “consistent” with the more recent data collected during the trial. The company said it would release more complete results within 48 hours.

The results throw a wrench in efforts by elected leaders elsewhere to rebuild confidence in the shot. Confidence in the vaccine had already fallen across Europe after it was recently reported that a very small number of recipients had developed unusual blood clots.

Supply bottlenecks: The European Union is due to enact public emergency laws today that will allow it to curb the export of block-made Covid-19 vaccines for the next six weeks. The new regulations will make it harder for companies like AstraZeneca that make Covid-19 vaccines in the EU to export them and it will likely disrupt supplies to the UK.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

Two exit polls as well as early results of the elections in Israel indicated a clear result on Tuesday evening. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his potential right-wing allies had only 60 seats, less than the 61 seats required to form a majority in the 120s. Seat of parliament.

A third poll gave an anti-Netanyahu bloc of parties a 61 seat head start, potentially blocking Mr Netanyahu’s path to victory and making the election too short to call them up. The uncertainty will likely lead to weeks, if not months, of negotiations and possibly more elections.

Mr Netanyahu campaigned to fight the coronavirus pandemic, including a vaccine rollout that the world will envy. Seeking re-election despite being on trial on corruption charges did not prove fatal to his chances.

Potential government: It was expected by many that Mr Netanyahu’s larger bloc would form a coalition with Naftali Bennett, a rival far-right who leaves Israel with one of the most conservative governments in its history, made up of ultra-Orthodox parties, ultra-nationalists, a group opposed to them fights, established gay rights and another whose leader supports the expulsion of Arab citizens of Israel who are considered unfaithful to the state.

Farmers from Punjab and other countries camped outside New Delhi for four months in protest. At the center of the dispute is a subsidy system that the government, economists and even many farmers all agree is broken.

The system was introduced in the 1960s to prevent famine by encouraging farmers to grow wheat and rice. It contained government-set minimum prices that helped farmers sell what they grow for a profit.

While the system is undoubtedly out of date, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rush to reshape it – his political party got new laws through parliament in a matter of days – could devastate large swaths of the country where farming remains a way of life. Our reporters looked at what went wrong and now they have taken stock of the protests.

Context: Almost 60 percent of India’s 1.3 billion people make a living from agriculture, although the sector only accounts for around 11 percent of economic output. For many, getting another job is not an option.

In 2017 a strange intruder came zooming through our solar system. Was it a comet? A cosmic iceberg? Or an alien space wreck?

This month’s astronomers offered the previously solid explanation: Oumuamua, as it is called, was a chip from a distant planet in another solar system. Long ago, a collision with an asteroid broke him off and sent him through space.

TikTok’s influence is selling thousands of books. Some avid readers – mostly teenage and 20 year old women – post videos of themselves reading or recommending novels. Occasionally they sob into the camera after a particularly devastating ending.

“It’s going to be this very emotional 45-second video that people instantly connect with,” the Barnes & Noble book director told The Times. “We haven’t seen these kinds of insane sales – I mean tens of thousands of copies a month – with other social media formats.”

An example: “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller. Sales soared after a popular TikTok video last year, and the book now sells about nine times as many copies a week as it did in 2012 when it won a prestigious fiction award. The book currently ranks third on the New York Times bestseller list for paperback literature.

Some publishers saw the potential and started paying users with large fan bases or sending them free books. Fees range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per post. For now, however, the majority of these videos are not being sponsored and are running organically.

Crispy tofu with panko and sesame seeds goes well with a coconut and lime dressing in this vegetarian dish.

If you like the farce and fraternal conflict of “Frasier”, you might like the British comedy “Back”, which brings together more jokes and details in a single episode than some shows can manage in one season.

Lana Del Rey’s sixth major label album “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” thinks that the singer “went back to get more insights into the island,” writes our reviewer.

Here’s today’s mini crossword and a clue: Used Cars? (five letters).

You can find all of our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. I wish you a good Wednesday. – Natasha

PS The Times unveiled its 2021-22 class of fellows hailing from the US, as well as the UK and Vietnam.

The latest episode of “The Daily” shows a food critic who has lost her sense of smell due to Covid-19.

Sanam Yar contributed to the coverage. You can reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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World News

Your Monday Briefing – The New York Occasions

Your Monday Briefing - The New York Times

We report on a visit by President Biden’s Defense Minister to Afghanistan and on India’s race for a second wave of the coronavirus.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin landed in Kabul on Sunday morning and was the first member of President Biden’s cabinet to enter the country that is home to America’s longest war.

The trip comes at a crucial time: The US is expected to withdraw its forces from the country on May 1st. Mr Biden said in an interview last week that meeting the deadline was “difficult”. He has not announced any specific plans for the withdrawal.

Mr. Austin’s arrival in Kabul came on Nowruz, the Persian New Year – a date on which the Islamic State committed to launch attacks in Afghanistan. The trip was supposed to remain confidential until two hours after he left, but local reporters reported his visit after meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

The stakes: A US withdrawal could increase the risk of the Taliban’s takeover of the country’s most important cities. When asked about Afghans’ concerns about withdrawal, Mr. Austin said: “We have done a lot to work with the Afghan security forces. And I don’t want to speculate about what might or might not happen in the future. “

The payment: Around 3,500 US soldiers are now stationed in Afghanistan. American troops have been permanently present in the country since 2001.

The coronavirus is once again spread across India. Confirmed infections have increased from a low of around 9,800 in February to around 31,600 daily. In the past two weeks, deaths from the virus have increased 82 percent.

The outbreak is concentrated in the state of Maharashtra, home of Mumbai. Entire districts are closed again. Scientists are investigating whether a new strain is more virulent in the state, like variants in the UK, South Africa and Brazil.

Officials are under pressure to aggressively promote tests and vaccinations, particularly in Mumbai. Increased vaccination in India could have an impact worldwide. India is a crucial link in the vaccine supply chain: it has dispensed or sold tens of millions of doses to other countries even though it has difficulty vaccinating its own people.

The Foreign Minister has said the availability of vaccines in India will determine how many doses go overseas. India’s slow vaccination campaign has also been plagued by public skepticism.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

The Chinese government has changed the political landscape in Hong Kong. His plan to drastically overhaul the local electoral system by demanding absolute loyalty from candidates running for office leaves political groups across the political spectrum wondering what participation, if any, is still possible.

Moderates aren’t sure they would pass Beijing’s litmus test, and opposition leaders aren’t sure they will try again to run candidates. The changes are also likely to reduce the number of directly elected seats in the local legislature, meaning the majority of lawmakers will be elected by allies of the government.

Quote: “If we keep playing this game, it’s like accepting what they are doing,” said a pro-democracy activist. “That would make me feel like an accomplice.”

Context: The changes to the voting system signal the exemption of a promise central to Hong Kong since its return to Chinese control in 1997: that its residents could one day choose their own leaders instead of being subject to the whims of London or Beijing.

Chandro Tomar may look like your typical Indian grandmother, but she is anything but: at 89, she is considered the oldest professional sniper in the world, and she has dozens of medals to show off. She is also a feminist icon in India.

In memory: Nawal el Saadawi, an Egyptian author, activist and doctor who became a symbol of the struggle for women’s rights in the patriarchal Arab world and who campaigned against female genital mutilation. She was 89 years old.

Caity Weaver, a member of the Times styles desk, ventured to Santa Fe, New Mexico to try Equus, a horse riding experience with a long list of famous clients including Bette Midler and Jeff Bezos. The program’s website encourages customers to imagine creating the life you truly deserve. In a recent conversation she reflected on her experience researching a story about whether we can learn from horses.

What did you know about Equus before you arrived in Santa Fe?

Little. They purposely don’t have a lot of photos on their website. The founders told me that they don’t want people to come up with a certain idea of ​​what their experience will be, because if it doesn’t work out, customers might be disappointed.

So what increased it to “I have to try”?

One thing that you keep asking yourself when you have an interesting experience is: is someone actually paying for it? And often the answer is no. But the customer list was so impressive – Margaret Atwood, Microsoft, many other names I recognized. So I was curious to probably get out whatever they wanted to get out. I would love if my life was as good as Bette Midler’s – I think.

What is something fun or unexpected that you learned?

Candace Croney, professor of animal behavior and wellbeing at Purdue University, told me to think of horses the way you think of cats – they are not like a dog that wants to be with you and want attention. A horse doesn’t really want to be the main thing – maybe it wants to be petted and petted, maybe not. I didn’t learn this before I left, but if I ever meet another horse I’ll just picture it like a big cat.

That’s it for today’s briefing. Until next time. – Carole

PS The New York Times Climate Hub, a 10-day event of live journalism, thought leaders and action on climate change, will be held in Scotland this November, alongside the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26).

The latest episode of “The Daily” is about the career of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

You can reach Carole and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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World News

Your Thursday Briefing – The New York Occasions

Your Thursday Briefing - The New York Times

Despite accusations of “vaccine nationalism” and protectionism, the European Union has exported 34 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to dozens of countries in the past few weeks, though it lags behind the US, UK and Israel according to internal documents from The Times seen.

The news, EU officials privately admitted, was bound to outrag European citizens in 27 countries who were still waiting to be shot as they watched people in other countries rush past them to reopen and reopen their economies to resume safer, more normal public life.

By the numbers: Only 6.5 percent of people in the EU received at least one shot, compared to nearly 58 percent of Israelis, 33 percent of British and 19 percent of Americans.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

  • A protest in Greece turned violent as anger mounted over tactics used by police officers enforcing lockdown restrictions.

  • The Biden government plans to procure an additional 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine by the end of this year.

  • According to RDIF, a Russian sovereign wealth fund, Kenya and Morocco have approved the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, Reuters reported.

President Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package was finally approved in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. Mr Biden is expected to sign the bill on Friday.

The American Rescue Plan provides direct payments of up to $ 1,400 to Americans and an additional $ 300 per week of unemployment benefits extended through early September. The bill also offers significant benefits to low-income Americans, including an expanded child tax credit, and funds pandemic priorities like testing, contact tracing, and genome sequencing.

The measure, which was passed with 220-211 votes, cemented one of the largest injections of federal aid since the Great Depression. Republicans have attacked the plan as wasteful and excessive, but according to a poll by Pew, 70 percent of Americans support it.

Connected: Merrick Garland was confirmed as attorney general with strong support from both parties. The Senate vote was 70-30, with 20 Republicans in support.

Chinese leaders are releasing tens of billions of dollars to allow the country’s tech industry to borrow. With a projected 7 percent annual increase in research and development spending for five years, China’s goal is not to be indebted to anyone – especially not to the United States.

The Trump administration angered the Communist Party leadership by restricting access to American technology for corporate giants like Huawei, and Beijing believes the U.S., under President Biden, will continue to question China’s technological advancement. The first face-to-face diplomatic meeting under the Biden administration is scheduled for March 18 in Anchorage.

Microchips: China only covers 15.9 percent of its chip demand domestically. That could change, however: Premier Li Keqiang last week made detailed proposals to accelerate semiconductor production that are part of a broader strategy that includes processors, cloud computing and AI

Connected: China and Russia announced Tuesday that they had agreed to jointly build a research station on or around the moon to set the stage for a new space race.

A year ago this month, the city famous for never sleeping began to close. Retailers closed their doors. Wealthy residents fled to second homes. The nightly subway service has been discontinued.

We spent months documenting the city when its economy was frayed and divided during the pandemic. These images tell the story of a broken city – and of resilience.

Russia and Twitter: The government said it slowed down access to Twitter and accused the social network of failing to remove illegal content. The restrictions are a marked escalation of an ongoing offensive against American internet companies that have long been a haven for free speech.

Prince Harry and Meghan: Although the aftermath of her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey reverberated around the world and caused a rare public schism in the British press, many members of the British political class have avoided dealing with it. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has not yet issued a comment.

Under: While the US film industry is slowly chugging, Hollywood has temporarily moved to Australia. Dozens of international film productions have been lured to the country where there are few cases of Covid-19. In return, actors have found something that resembles paradise.

Sarah Everard: A UK police officer is being held on suspicion of murder in connection with the disappearance of the young woman who disappeared in south London after leaving a friend’s house. Detectives investigating the case have found human remains in a wooded area in Kent.

Snapshot: A decade after an earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 19,000 people and triggered a catastrophic meltdown, many former residents of Fukushima, Japan have still not returned. What’s waiting for those who do it upstairs is often more eerie than inviting.

Mysterious manuscript: In 1883, 15 fragments of manuscripts found near the Dead Sea and written in an ancient Hebrew script caused an international sensation. Although denounced as forgeries, a young scholar is now arguing that they are not only authentic, but also older than the First Temple-era book of Deuteronomy.

What we read: This Irish Times article about the Meghan and Harry interview is a decidedly Irish take on their revelations about racism and the royal family. One selected quote: “After Harry and Meghan, the monarchy looks archaic and racist. Well duh “

China’s crackdown on Hong Kong has taken place swiftly: a rising power asserted its authority over global finance capital through a tough national security law passed last summer. Our China correspondent Vivian Wang spoke to the Morning Newsletter about the new Hong Kong. Here is an excerpt.

Why did Xi Jinping and the rest of the Chinese leadership decide to act now?

Vivian: The short answer is the massive anti-government protest movement in 2019 in response to a government proposal that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.

The scale of the protests really shook Beijing. All previous protest movements had lasted a few months at the most. This time there was great support and it didn’t die on its own.

Did the process work from Beijing’s point of view? And has it caused problems for the central government?

In many ways, it absolutely worked. There are no more street protests. There is extensive self-censorship. Virtually every prominent pro-democracy activist is in exile, in prison, awaiting trial, or has disappeared from public life.

But there is a lot of simmering anger among Hong Kongers, even if they no longer dare to express it publicly.

Do people see reasons for optimism in the movement?

Since the Security Act came into force, the mood within the democracy movement has been gloomy. I expected at least some people to offer fiery defiance, reminding people that there is still hope – if only as a rally, whether they believed it or not. But everyone I speak to is pretty much agreed that there isn’t much they can do to change the situation, at least for now.

Thank you for coming to me. And look forward to our redesign, which starts on Tuesday.

– Natasha

Thank you
Thanks to Melissa Clark for the recipe and Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

PS
• We listen to “The Daily”. Our latest episode features a police officer’s account of the Capitol Rebellion.
• Here is our mini crossword puzzle and a hint: Send via UPS or FedEx (four letters). You can find all of our puzzles here.
• Our Brussels correspondent Matina Stevis-Gridneff discussed the EU hunt for coronavirus vaccines with BBC Outside Source.

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Health

Biden Covid staff holds briefing as U.S. plans to purchase extra J&J vaccine doses

Biden Covid team holds briefing as U.S. plans to buy more J&J vaccine doses

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President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 Response Team holds a press conference Wednesday on the coronavirus pandemic that infected more than 29 million Americans and killed at least 527,720 people in just over a year.

Two government sources told NBC News that the U.S. government plans to buy 100 million additional doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. Biden will announce the plans on Wednesday during a White House meeting with executives from J&J and Merck.

J&J currently has a contract with the US government to provide 100 million cans by the end of June. The federal government shipped nearly 3.9 million doses of the single vaccine last week and plans to distribute an additional 16 million by the end of this month.

Read CNBC’s live updates for the latest news on the Covid-19 outbreak.

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Health

Biden Covid staff holds briefing after White Home strikes up vaccine provide timeline

Biden Covid team holds briefing after White House moves up vaccine supply timeline

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President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 Response Team holds a press conference Wednesday on the coronavirus pandemic that infected more than 28 million Americans and killed at least 516,616 people in just over a year.

On Tuesday, Biden announced that the U.S. will have sufficient supplies of Covid-19 vaccines to vaccinate every adult in the nation by the end of May – two months earlier than expected. He also called on states to prioritize vaccinating teachers and school staff against Covid-19, with the aim of giving at least one shot to every educator and staff member across the country by the end of March.

“Let me be clear, we can reopen schools if the right steps are taken before staff are vaccinated,” Biden said at the White House on Tuesday. “But time and again we have heard from educators and parents who are concerned about it.”

Read CNBC’s live updates for the latest news on the Covid-19 outbreak.

–CNBC’s Will Feuer contributed to this report.

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Health

Biden Covid staff holds briefing as extra states carry pandemic restrictions

Biden Covid team holds briefing as more states lift pandemic restrictions

[The stream is slated to start at 11 a.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.]

President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 Response Team is holding a press conference Friday on the coronavirus pandemic that infected more than 28 million Americans and killed at least 520,356 people in just over a year.

On Thursday, Connecticut Democratic Governor Ned Lamont said some of the state’s businesses will be allowed to return to full capacity starting March 19. The move follows similar actions from Texas and Mississippi, both led by Republican governors.

But senior U.S. health officials, including the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Rochelle Walensky, warn against withdrawing public health measures too early. They say it could reverse the current downtrend in infections and delay the nation’s recovery from the pandemic.

Read CNBC’s live updates for the latest news on the Covid-19 outbreak.

– CNBC’s Noah Higgins-Dunn contributed to this report.

Categories
World News

Your Monday Briefing – The New York Instances

Your Monday Briefing - The New York Times

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Good Morning.

We cover Protests in Spain, Great Britain Gap with the EU and the final blow to it hopes for democracy in Hong Kong.

For more than a week, the streets of Barcelona, ​​Madrid and other Spanish hubs have erupted in sometimes violent demonstrations. What began as a protest against the arrest of the Spanish rapper Pablo Hasél has become a collective outcry from a generation that has struggled through years of economic difficulties and sees a lost future even after the end of the pandemic.

Barcelona was once one of the best and most fun places in Europe to be young. The coronavirus crisis, which devastated tourism and the economy contracted by 11 percent last year, was catastrophic for young adults in Spain. Meanwhile 40 percent of the Spanish youth are unemployed, the highest rate in Europe.

“It’s not the same now for a person who is 60 years old – or a 50 year old with life experience and everything that is fully organized – as it is for a person who is now 18 years old and feels like every hour is against to lose this pandemic It’s like losing your whole life, ”said Enric Juliana, opinion columnist at La Vanguardia, Barcelona’s leading newspaper.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

As trade disputes mount, the UK and EU have dealt politically and diplomatically with a speed and bitterness that has surprised even pessimists about the relationship.

Tensions have increased since a new trade deal formalized Brexit on January 1st. Britain refused to grant full diplomatic status to the European Union envoy in London while European leaders responded to vaccine shortages and briefly threatened to tear up the trade deal with Northern Ireland after Brexit.

As a sign of the impending fighting, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey warned last week of a “serious escalation” in tensions if the EU tried to force banks to postpone the opening of euro-denominated derivatives trading from London to London Continent.

Analysis: “These are not just teething troubles,” said Kim Darroch, former UK permanent representative to the EU, quoting the government’s statement on the Brexit problems. “There are structural problems that arise when you are not in the internal market. This is what a ‘hard Brexit’ looks like. “

Context: As always with Brexit, much of the antagonism is driven by domestic politics, with the UK’s swift introduction of vaccines serving as ammunition for both the UK’s pro-Brexit cause and anti-UK sentiment within the bloc.

The Hong Kong authorities on Sunday indicted 47 pro-democracy people for violating the strict new national security law of Chinese territory. Police said each person was charged with a single conspiracy to commit subversion. You will face trial today in a courthouse in the West Kowloon area and could face life in prison if convicted.

The 47 helped organize an informal election in July to select candidates for office from within Hong Kong’s pro-democracy political camp. In doing so, the authorities violated the provisions of the Security Act, according to which the functions of the Chinese or Hong Kong government must not be disrupted, disrupted or undermined.

Context: The charges mark the latest escalation in the Chinese government’s efforts to bring Hong Kong firmly under control and represent the most energetic application to date of the far-reaching security law that has cemented the Communist Party’s control over the territory.

The black warriors of the separate American armed forces were called the “Harlem Hellfighters”. They were denied a farewell parade in New York and assigned to the French army because their own compatriots refused to fight by their side. Above the American cemetery and the Maas-Argonne memorial in France, where the bodies of some black Americans of the 369th Infantry Regiment were buried.

It took the U.S. Army more than a century to adopt the nickname as the official special designation for the regiment, an award that was just approved by the Army in September and announced this year by the New York National Guard on the eve of Black History Month.

Myanmar: Security forces in Myanmar opened fire on demonstrators in several cities on Sunday, killing at least 18 people. It was the largest one-day toll since the protests began after the February 1 coup.

Jamal Khashogghi: Although the US has accused the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia of ordering the assassination of the Saudi dissident, the Biden government is cautious about causing a rupture with a key Arab partner. Tensions surrounding the publication of an intelligence assessment of Mr Khashogghi’s assassination could hamper future interaction between the two countries.

Snapshot: Above, a nurse calms a patient in the intensive care unit at Homerton Hospital, London. While the UK government has been developing plans for a gradual reopening, the fight against Covid-19 in the country’s cramped intensive care units is relentless and full of patients and doctors almost in despair. Our reporters and photographers went behind the front.

Long lost letters: For more than 70 years a cache with more than 700 letters lay undisturbed in the wreck of the SS Gairsoppa, protected from the Atlantic by well-positioned mail bags. Now the restorers at the London Postal Museum are putting together these undeliverable messages from the past.

“Marijuana Light”: A once-ignored hemp derivative called Delta-8-THC has become a big seller for Americans looking for a loophole related to marijuana laws.

What we read: That bittersweet article in The New Yorker about the queer foster families who were a haven for LGBT youth in the 1970s.

Cook: Tartiflette, a casserole with potatoes and bacon from the Alps, bakes golden and wonderfully sticky thanks to its top layer of soft, spicy rind cheese.

Listen: For the past six weeks, the top Billboard song was “Drivers License” by 18-year-old Olivia Rodrigo. That’s how she did it.

Do: Some homeowners have turned renovation projects into a creative outlet during the pandemic, from a redesigned washroom to a new home theater.

Start March off with a bang. At home, you have ideas for what to read, cook, see, and do while being safe at home.

The Times Book Review is 125 years old – – a moment to celebrate, but also for introspection. Reviewer and former editor of the book review, Parul Sehgal, looked back critically on his legacy. This is an edited excerpt from her thoughts on why now is the right time to delve into the past.

You could say my assignment was to review the book review, to include the coverage of “women, people of color, LGBTQ writers” and the changing customs in the review. But what revelatory news could I possibly bring? The word “archive” is derived from the ancient Greek Arkheion, which is sometimes translated as “the ruler’s house”. Who walks there with any illusions?

What could these reviews contain? Some misjudgments, of course – masterpieces that were misunderstood in their day. Some supernaturally sensitive assessments. Fluorescent condescension and stereotype. Above all, the pleasant and dubious gratifications of feeling superior to the past.

And yet. For the past few years, The Times has looked at racial and gender imbalance in its reviews. A survey of nearly 750 books rated by The Times in 2011 across all genres found that nearly 90 percent of the authors rated were white.

But what about the ratings themselves: the language, the criteria? How was your work positioned when “women, people of color, LGBTQ writers” were reviewed? Which patterns can we follow, which consequences? And what do we do with this knowledge – how can it be made useful? What do we really see when we know?

That’s it for this briefing. I wish you a good start to the week.

– Natasha

Thank you
To Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the break from the news and to Parul Sehgal for the backstory. You can reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

PS
• There is no new episode of “The Daily”. Instead, listen to the first episode of “Odessa,” a new Times podcast about what happened when a high school in Texas reopened during the pandemic.
• Here is our mini crossword puzzle and a hint: it works much better when you are tired (three letters). You can find all of our puzzles here.
• Developers are working to improve the New York Times’ web accessibility using technology that improves the experience of our website and apps for everyone.

Categories
Business

Biden Covid workforce holds press briefing as U.S. each day instances start to degree off

Biden Covid team holds press briefing as U.S. daily cases begin to level off

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President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 Response Team plans to hold a press conference on Friday at which officials will announce a new partnership with top corporate groups to help with the national pandemic response, a senior administrative official told CNBC.

The aim of the partnership is to encourage businesses of all sizes to “promote public health actions to remove barriers to vaccination for employees and improve public health reporting on masking and vaccination for their customers and communities”, the official told CNBC. The New York Times previously reported on the partnership

The press conference is taking place as the US reports a slight plateau in nationwide Covid-19 cases. According to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the nation currently reports a weekly average of around 73,376 new cases per day, a slight increase compared to a week ago. The US hit a high of nearly 250,000 cases per day in early January after the winter break.

Biden’s top health officials warn that new, highly communicable variants of the coronavirus, particularly strain B.1.1.7 first identified in the UK, could delay the nation’s control of the pandemic.

– CNBC’s Will Feuer contributed to this report.

Read CNBC’s live updates for the latest news on the Covid-19 outbreak.

Categories
Health

Biden Covid staff holds briefing as U.S. demise toll reaches grim milestone

Biden Covid team holds briefing as U.S. death toll reaches grim milestone

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President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 Response Team is holding a press conference Monday on the coronavirus pandemic that killed nearly 500,000 Americans, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden would order that all flags on federal properties be lowered to half the staff for the next five days to mark the grim milestone of 500,000 American deaths from Covid-19 .

Regardless, the Chief Medical Officer of the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Americans, fight back a sense of Covid-19 complacency even as coronavirus infections are falling and some scientists predict herd immunity is just around the corner.

Read CNBC’s live updates for the latest news on the Covid-19 outbreak.