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Health

Biden Covid workforce holds briefing after securing extra vaccine doses

Biden Covid team holds briefing after securing more vaccine doses

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President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 Response Team is holding a press conference on Friday on the pandemic that infected more than 27 million Americans and killed at least 475,457 people in about a year.

Biden announced Thursday that his administration had signed contracts with Pfizer and Moderna for an additional 200 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, bringing the US total to 600 million. Since both approved vaccines require two doses three to four weeks apart, a total of 600 million doses would be enough to vaccinate 300 million people.

In addition to securing more doses for states, the Biden government is using the military to support doses and is establishing mass vaccination centers across the country.

On Wednesday, the government announced it would work with Texas officials to build three new community vaccination centers in Dallas, Arlington and Houston. A few days earlier, the government had announced that it would send troops on active duty to California to help vaccination centers for Covid-19 employees.

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

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Politics

Impeachment Briefing: A Combative Protection

Hong Kong Website Doxxing Police Gets Blocked, Raising Censorship Fears

This is the Impeachment Briefing, the Times’ newsletter on the impeachment investigation. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

  • Donald J. Trump’s lawyers delivered a brief defense with only three of their 16 hours.

  • Contrary to the facts, his lawyers alleged that Mr. Trump never glorified violence, and they mistakenly equated his behavior with the Democrats’ use of combative rhetoric.

  • Senators from both parties submitted written questions that were answered by the property managers and defense attorneys for Mr. Trump.

  • During breaks, Republican senators spoke favorably of the defense. Without major changes, it is unlikely that there will be enough votes in the Senate to condemn Mr Trump.

  • Officer Eugene Goodman, hailed as a hero on January 6 for distracting the mob and saving the Senators from danger, received a standing ovation and will receive the gold medal of Congress.

  • The process has been suspended until Saturday when it is expected to be completed.

Trump’s impeachment team presented a fire defense for the former president and described the House’s charges of instigating a Capitol riot as “an absurd and monstrous lie”.

  • Shortly before the uprising, Mr. Trump said to his supporters, “If you don’t fight like hell, you will have no more land.” In an attempt to suggest the metaphorical nature of political speeches, Mr. Trump’s lawyers presented video montages of elected Democrats and some celebrities uttering the word “fight”.

  • “Suddenly the word ‘fight’ is taboo?” said Michael T. van der Veen, one of the lawyers hired in recent days to defend Mr Trump. “Spare us the hypocrisy and false indignation.”

  • “OK, you indicated that it is possible to use ‘fight’ in a metaphorical sense,” said Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court, at the Times’ live briefing. “The question is whether Trump has called for fighting in the physical sense in context.”

  • Mr. Trump’s attorneys dismissed the process as a “culture of constitutional repeal”. Bruce L. Castor Jr. said the impeachment is about “turning down 75 million Trump voters and criminalizing political positions.”

  • The lawyers alleged the riot was deliberate and pointed to pipe bombs that were planted before the rally. “You cannot goad what was about to happen,” said Mr van der Veen.

  • Mr van der Veen also said the January 6 rally was “kidnapped” by extremists, including far-left anti-Nazi activists. But the Republican leaders have denied this claim. “Some say the riot was caused by Antifa,” House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said last month. “There is absolutely no evidence of this and conservatives should be the first to say this.” (In connection with this, Mr. Trump has used false statements about Antifa as smoke protection for a growing right-wing threat.)

  • The lawyers relied heavily on Mr. Trump’s single use of the word “peaceful” when he urged supporters to march to the Capitol while minimizing the use of the word “fight” 20 times. “No thinking person could seriously believe that the President’s January 6 speech on the ellipse was in any way inciting violence or riot,” said van der Veen. “The proposal is obviously absurd. Nothing in the text could ever be construed as encouraging, condoning, or inciting for illegal activity of any kind. “

  • The defense team argued that the Senate “had no jurisdiction” to bring a former president who is now out of office to justice, that Mr. Trump’s behavior was protected by the first amendment and that it was nowhere near the legal definition for “inciting” would correspond. In a letter last week, 144 leading First Amendment attorneys and constitutional scholars across the political spectrum called this argument “legally frivolous.”

  • Trump team lawyers also portrayed the process as rash, claiming Mr Trump was not treated properly. “Trump attorneys seem to be complaining that they didn’t have enough time to see ‘the evidence’,” said Mark Leibovich, Times Magazine’s chief correspondent. “But of course most of the evidence was visible beforehand.”

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Health

Biden Covid response workforce holds briefing after J&J requests FDA OK for vaccine

Biden Covid response team holds briefing after J&J requests FDA OK for vaccine

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President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 Response Team will hold a briefing Friday on the coronavirus pandemic that left at least 455,875 Americans dead.

The briefing comes one day after Johnson & Johnson asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve the unique Covid-19 vaccine for use in the United States. The FDA has scheduled a meeting of its Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Related Biological Products in February 26 to discuss the vaccine, which could be distributed in the US as early as this month.

Federal and state officials are eagerly awaiting approval of J & J’s vaccine.Unlike Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines, which require two doses three to four weeks apart, J & J’s drugs only require one dose , which makes logistics easier for healthcare providers.

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

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Health

New York Gov. Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Murphy maintain joint press briefing on Covid

New York Gov. Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Murphy hold joint press briefing on Covid

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will hold a joint press conference on Friday on the coronavirus pandemic as both states gradually reopen their economies amid falling cases.

Both Cuomo and Murphy have taken steps over the past week to reopen more businesses in their states as they continue to introduce doses of Covid-19 vaccines. Last week, Cuomo said New York restaurants could reopen their limited capacity indoor eateries from February 14th.

Cuomo also said the state will take steps to allow some venues to reopen for wedding ceremonies from mid-March.

Meanwhile, Murphy announced on Wednesday that New Jersey restaurants could expand their indoor dining options from 25% to 35%. The state will also allow indoor gatherings for events such as weddings and funerals, as well as indoor venues with a 35% capacity or a limit of 150 people, he said.

New Jersey reports a weekly average of 3,973 Covid-19 cases per day, while New York reports an average of 9,722 cases per day, a decrease of more than 20% from the last one, according to a CNBC analysis of the compiled data for both states Week means from Johns Hopkins University.

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

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World News

Your Monday Briefing – The New York Occasions

Your Monday Briefing - The New York Times

The UK’s disclosure on Friday that a new variant of the virus could be more deadly than the original has silenced those who had called for a swift return to life as before.

The UK government is expected to announce in the coming days that it will extend and tighten the nationwide lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson this month. Schools can remain closed until Easter, while overseas travelers may need to be quarantined in hotels for 10 days.

For Mr Johnson, who has faced relentless pressure from members of his own Conservative Party to relax restrictions, the warning of the variant made a strong case that Britain may be in the middle of a serious new phase of the pandemic – and that it does relaxed constraints now could be disastrous.

Effects: While scholars agree that the evidence of the variant’s greater lethality is preliminary, they said it was nonetheless served government purposes in the lockdown debate in which Mr Johnson, drawn between science and politics, is often Has shown an aversion to tough steps.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

  • Larry King, who interviewed presidents, movie stars and people from all walks of life, died on Saturday in Los Angeles at the age of 87. He had recently been treated for Covid-19.

  • Israel will suspend most air travel in and out of the country for at least a week from midnight on Monday to block the invasion of emerging variants.

  • Egypt began vaccinating health workers in isolation facilities, pulmonary hospitals and fever wards on Sunday in the country’s first wave of vaccine rollouts.

  • Protesters in the Netherlands clashed with police in two cities on Sunday and a coronavirus testing facility burned down on Saturday as fury over a nationwide lockdown grew.

  • The European Union said it would take legal action if necessary to ensure that pharmaceutical companies fulfill contracts to supply vaccines to the block after manufacturers announced possible delays.

Some right-wing extremists, united around the world by a racist ideology charged by social media, were spurred on by the January 6 events at the U.S. Capitol.

While many online users disapproved of storming the Capitol as an amateur botch, others saw it as a teaching moment – how to pursue their goal of overthrowing democratic governments in a more concerted and concrete way.

It is difficult to say exactly how deep and lasting the ties are between the American right and its European counterparts. However, officials are increasingly concerned about a web of diffuse international connections, and fear that the networks that were encouraged back in the Trump era have become more resolute in recent weeks.

Germany: Following the violence in the US, German authorities tightened security around the parliament building in Berlin, where far-right protesters, waving many of the same flags and symbols as the Washington rioters, tried to force their way out in August. 29. No specific plans for attacks have currently been identified in Germany.

As the world nears 100 million coronavirus cases – with 25 million in the US as of Saturday and nearly 30 million in Europe – questions are emerging about new variants of the virus that could slow or even reverse progress in ending the pandemic as well about the uneven adoption of vaccines around the world.

One of these questions is how effective the current vaccines will be against these modified versions of the virus that originally appeared in the UK, South Africa, Brazil and the US. Some seem more contagious than the original version, and all of them are little known.

At the same time, failure to distribute Covid-19 vaccines to poor countries is likely to lead to global economic devastation in which wealthy countries will be hit almost as badly as in developing countries, according to a new study commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce is released today.

By the numbers: In the most extreme scenario – with rich nations fully vaccinated by the middle of this year and poor countries largely closed – the study concludes that the global economy would suffer losses of more than $ 9 trillion, a sum , which is above the annual production of Japan and Germany combined.

On the impoverished northeastern Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, the predominantly indigenous population is dependent on fishing – and high-priced lobster is one of the most sought-after quarries.

But lobster there is an amazingly dangerous pursuit. Hundreds of fishermen are paralyzed from hunting for lobsters and other delicacies such as clams and sea cucumbers found deep in the ocean.

Trump impeachment proceedings: The House of Representatives will file its indictment against former President Donald Trump with the Senate today, but the trial won’t begin until February 8.

Asia’s “El Chapo”: Tse Chi Lop, allegedly the leader of a billionaire drug consortium, was arrested on Friday in Amsterdam and is about to be extradited to Australia.

Chinese miners: Two weeks after an explosion trapped a group of miners underground in Shandong Province, at least eleven were found alive and lifted to the surface on Sunday.

Snapshot: Above, supporters of the imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei Navalny held banners in Moscow on Saturday with the inscription: “Do not be afraid. Do not be still ”and“ One for all and all for one. “On Saturday there were demonstrations in more than 100 cities, the largest protests in Russia since at least 2017. Analysts say the stalemate between the Kremlin and its critics seems to be worsening.

Cosmically lost and found: Missing: a very, very large black hole. One of the largest galaxies in the universe appears to be missing the dark centerpiece – and despite the efforts of astronomers, they are no closer to finding it.

“That was for Nepal”: A group of climbers from Nepal earlier this month became the first people in the world to climb K2 in winter, a mountaineering challenge that many thought was impossible.

What we read: This GQ piece by Douglas Emhoff about his role as the first “second gentleman”. It’s interesting read about reinvention.

Knit: Artisans in search of Harry Styles ‘colorful cardigan and Bernie Sanders’ housewarming gloves are redesigning their own patterns.

Clock: Repeat – or maybe enjoy for the first time – five films that define the romantic comedies of the 1980s.

You can stay safe and take your time. At Home offers a comprehensive collection of ideas for what to read, cook, see, and do while inside.

With reporter-manned offices in around 30 countries, The Times can quickly cover breaking news that occurs almost anywhere. At the heart of this effort are our three main hubs for the newsroom – New York, London and an Asia hub located in Hong Kong but moving to Seoul. Here’s a look at how it works.

At the end of the working day in New York, the editors will pass the coverage to the editors in Hong Kong and Seoul, who are currently 13 and 14 hours in advance. While the editors in Asia wind down their day, a lively London newsroom will act as the main hub. A few hours later that team will return the baton back to New York and everything repeats itself again, a rotation that is vital to a 24 hour news operation.

“There is a lot of overlap,” said Adrienne Carter, Asia editor for the Times, “so there are probably only a handful of hours that a group is alone.”

When Asia hands the reporting over to London, a newsroom with around 70 employees on four continents will have to keep watch. Journalists begin with the newsroom’s coverage of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, often coordinating the early morning US news with the international, national, and academic desks, as well as the Washington office.

Jim Yardley, the Europe editor, said the way the international newsrooms are structured makes the collaborative effort seamless. “One of the things about London and Hong Kong is that they emerge primarily from the international desk, but in many ways they are part of every desk,” he said. “It’s an attempt to actually make the work more collaborative and less silly.”

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

– Natasha

Many Thanks
To 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 final installment is about President Biden’s instructions and how to deal with government by decree.
• Here is our mini crossword puzzle and a clue: Champ or Major for the Bidens (three letters). You can find all of our puzzles here.
• Marcela Valdes, who has been reporting on politics, culture, immigration and more for the New York Times Magazine for many years, joins the magazine as a contributor.

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World News

Your Friday Briefing – The New York Instances

Your Friday Briefing - The New York Times

A day after he was sworn in, President Biden rushed to set up his administration and dismantle some of the Trump administration’s most controversial policies.

Mr Biden released a national pandemic response plan that included 10 executive orders to increase capacity for coronavirus testing, wear masks on federal properties, and expand production of Covid-19 consumables. However, experts say that vaccine production facilities are already full or almost full and that production capacity will not increase significantly until April. Others fear that the president’s plan for 100 million shots in 100 days is far too modest.

Masked faces in a crowd: Our interactive graphic shows in more detail who attended Mr Biden’s inauguration.

Climate policy: Pete Buttigieg, Mr. Biden’s nominee for Secretary of Transportation, promised to make climate change a priority in policy-making. Here’s how he could do that.

The already overburdened UK National Health Service has taken increasingly desperate measures in the face of rising coronavirus hospitalizations, including urging the military to move patients and equipment, suspend urgent operations at organ transplant centers, and reduce patient oxygen levels by saving congested tubes.

Although vaccinations continue rapidly, deaths are increasing. The UK has suffered more per capita deaths from the coronavirus in the past week than any other country, hospitals continue to fill and for the second time in a year overwhelmed health workers struggle to keep patients alive.

Warning signs of a winter swarm had been evident, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeatedly avoided acting quickly, defying government scholars’ calls for a lockdown and other measures for weeks or months.

Quote: “It just didn’t have to be like that,” said a London ambulance. “The first time you could say that it was inevitable. It just feels completely avoidable, and it’s a lot harder to take. “

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

The Russian government is threatening Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty with fines of several million dollars and possible criminal charges. The news organization’s editors fear that for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union they will be forced to shut down in the country.

Given the growing public discontent in Russia, generally available non-Kremlin content has become a problem for President Vladimir Putin. For example, the outlet has invested in reporting on the anti-government protests in neighboring Belarus.

Context: The escalation of the government’s pressure campaign against the news agency shows how Putin is stepping up his stance in his conflict with Washington just as President Biden takes office.

Details: According to RFE / RL, the Russian government has reported dozens of violations of new requirements in the past few weeks, according to which all content has been flagged as created by a “foreign agent”. The editors say this would detract from the outlet’s credibility.

Robert Thomas Bigelow, a Las Vegas outsider, real estate and aviation mogul with billionaire appeal, offers nearly $ 1 million in prizes for the best evidence of “survival of consciousness after permanent body death.”

In other words, did Hamlet have the right to call death the inescapable frontier, “the undiscovered land from whose homeland no traveler returns”? Or does consciousness survive physical death in some form – as the Dalai Lama called it, as we just “change our clothes”?

Brexi; Britain apparently refuses to grant the ambassador of the European Union the same diplomatic status as other ambassadors because it is an international federation and not a nation-state.

Iraq bomb attack: Two suicide bombers detonated explosive vests in a crowded market in central Baghdad Thursday morning, killing at least 32 people in the largest such attack in years.

Canadian politics: Julia Payette, who represented Queen Elizabeth II, who represented Canada’s governor general and official head of state, a high-profile but largely ceremonial role, resigned Thursday after a report sharply criticized her treatment of staff.

Australia detention: Dozens of refugees and asylum seekers have been detained in Melbourne hotels for more than a year, often spending only an hour a day outside their rooms. Many seemed shocked when they were finally released this week.

Snapshot: Police found more than 800 cannabis plants in a basement near the Bank of England after reports of a strong smell in London’s financial district, which is largely empty due to lockdown restrictions. Above is the once flourishing company.

Art Basel: The international art trade’s hopes for a return to normal were thrown back when the organizers of the flagship fair planned for June in Switzerland announced that it would be postponed to September.

What we read: Many in the UK have found this recent lockdown to be particularly damaging to their mental health. This thoughtful article by the New Statesman explores why and what can be done about it.

Cook: Harissa is added to this Bolognese and made in a frying pan from start to finish – including the pasta that cooks right in the sauce.

Clock: The final season of “Call My Agent!” is now available on Netflix. Expect observational wit, physical slapstick, and satire alongside fits of thoroughly Gallic farce.

To plan: Consider a more mindful approach to post-pandemic travel – perhaps a personal challenge to master, explore your heritage, or achieve a goal in life.

Protect yourself and keep yourself busy. At Home offers a comprehensive collection of ideas for what to read, cook, see, and do while staying at home.

President Biden inherits tricky technical questions, including how to curb powerful digital superstars, what to do with Chinese technology, and how to get more Americans online. Our OnTech newsletter offers an insight into the challenges and opportunities of technology policy.

Restrict technical forces: There have been investigations and lawsuits under the Trump administration into the power of Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and other technology companies. Tech giants can expect more of this under Mr. Biden and a Democrat-controlled Congress. The new government is expected to continue filing lawsuits against Google and Facebook.

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World News

Your Tuesday Briefing – The New York Instances

Your Tuesday Briefing - The New York Times

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Good Morning.

We cover something A Biden presidency means for Europe, As Leaders around the world failed their citizens and why thieves continue to prefer a 17th century Dutch painting.

After four years of a sometimes turbulent transatlantic relationship, the European Union is striving to achieve “political climate change” and cooperation under President-elect Joe Biden. But if the new president, as European leaders suspect, is consumed by domestic problems, the continent will not put its own agenda on hold.

Governments and public health organizations around the world were slow and ineffective in responding to the coronavirus outbreak. This emerges from an interim report by a panel of the World Health Organization, which is to be published today.

Faulty assumptions, ineffective planning, and sluggish responses all contributed to a pandemic that killed more than two million people and infected more than 95 million. Time and again, the report says, those responsible for protecting and guiding have often failed to do both.

Investigators said they failed to understand why WHO had waited until January 30 to declare an international health emergency and why these clear warning signs were often ignored.

Quote: “We have failed in our collective ability to come together in solidarity to create a safety net for human security,” wrote the Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

A video showing the chaos in a Covid ward at a hospital in El Husseineya, Egypt went viral on social media this month and has sparked outrage across the country. Footage of Ahmed Nafei, a relative of one of the four patients who died in a single night, appeared to show the hospital had run out of oxygen. The government rushed to deny the episode.

Through talking to witnesses and analyzing the footage, our investigators discovered that the lack of oxygen was the result of an avalanche of problems in the hospital. By the time the patients suffocated in the intensive care unit, an ordered oxygen release was hours too late and a backup oxygen system had failed.

Quote: “The whole world can admit that there is a problem, but not us,” said a doctor at the hospital.

In August the painting “Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer”, a 17th-century painting by Frans Hals, disappeared for the third time since 1988. The conservatively valued work, valued at more than 10 million US dollars, is usually located in a tiny Dutch museum has become a magnet for burglars.

Does the brushwork contain a hint of a hidden treasure or a secret code? Could it be coveted by a cult that adores the throat, or maybe beer? Experts say the answer is more likely for pedestrians: “They know they can make money from someone,” said the founder of Art Recovery International.

Aleksei Navalny: A judge ordered the Russian opposition leader to be detained for 30 days pending trial. Mr Navalny was arrested from Germany late Sunday after arriving in Moscow, where he was recovering from a nerve agent attack.

China: With most nations around the world grappling with new lockdowns and layoffs during the pandemic, China’s economy has recovered after the country got most of the coronavirus under control.

Snapshot: Former climbing master Lai Chi-wai climbed a skyscraper in Hong Kong on Saturday. Within 10 hours, Mr. Lai climbed 800 feet up the glass facade of the 1,050 foot Nina Tower and raised $ 735,000 to fund research on a robotic exoskeleton for patients with spinal cord injuries.

NASCAR goes virtual: When the pandemic brought motorsport to a standstill, the industry turned to simulated racing. Ten months later, the gambling seems to be paying off.

Judicial drama: Black artists and activists in Birmingham, England, say the city’s largest playhouse, the Birmingham Repertory Theater, is sold out by renting out its auditoriums to the criminal justice system.

What we read: That long reading from the Financial Times about how lockdown caused a creativity crisis. It’s a powerful reminder of the value of serendipity and spontaneity.

Cook: Loosely inspired by spanakopita, the classic Greek spinach and feta cake, this comfortably baked pasta is possibly the most delicious way to eat your greens.

Listen: Take a trip back in time with rapper MF Doom’s 1999 debut album “Operation: Doomsday”. Our reviewer calls it “one of the most idiosyncratic hip-hop albums of the 90s”.

Interference suppression: Embrace the immediate, exhilarating relief of the annoying bag. Give up trash that gets on your nerves, then throw it in the trash.

Do not lose heart. At Home offers a comprehensive collection of ideas on what to read, cook, see, and do while staying safe at home.

How do you mark the key events when the news is already so relentlessly remarkable? One way with the New York Times is to get the headlines very big.

A banner headline usually spans the front page or website of a newspaper. It uses jumbo letters and bold face type to convey the size of a message and get other articles out of the way.

The Times front pages made headlines this winter – far more than usual, according to Tom Jolly, the newspaper’s print editor.

“It’s remarkable,” he said. “It is definitely a reflection of our world and all of the major news events that made 2020 so memorable – and will make 2021 unforgettable too.”

An “event headline” is even bolder than a banner. The only word that appeared in the print paper on Jan. 14 – “Impeached” – was discussed by several of the Times’ top editors in late-night conversations, Tom said.

While such headlines are usually reserved for presidential election results, this is an extraordinary time. This ultra-dramatic layout has been used three times in the past three months. And rising.

Here are some of the big headlines:

When former Vice President Joe Biden took the lead in Pennsylvania, the fog of a too-close election began to lift.

After President Trump falsely claimed that widespread electoral fraud stole his victory, the Times called election officials in every state.

And two days after Mr. Trump’s siege at the Capitol, the Democrats laid the groundwork to indict the president for the second time.

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow with the latest update from The Times.

– Natasha

Many Thanks
Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh took the break from the news. You can reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

PS
• There is no new episode of “The Daily” as we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday. Instead, we recommend The Sunday Read about how a group of climate activists decided to fight global warming by doing whatever it takes.
• Here is our mini crossword puzzle and a hint: “Later!” (Five letters). You can find all of our puzzles here.
• The word “legend” – here referring to figure skating champion Dick Button – appeared for the first time in The Times yesterday, according to the Twitter bot @NYT_first_said.

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Politics

Impeachment Briefing: Ready to Transmit

Hong Kong Website Doxxing Police Gets Blocked, Raising Censorship Fears

This is the Impeachment Briefing, the Times’ newsletter on the impeachment investigation. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

  • At a press conference, Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi declined to tell reporters when House Democrats could bring the article on the lone impeachment of President Trump in the Senate, and questioned when a trial could begin.

  • In her remarks at the Capitol, the speaker made it clear that her first priority was to ensure the safety of the building and the legislature before Mr Biden’s inauguration next week.

  • Behind the scenes, the Democrats worked with Republican leaders to come up with a proposal that would allow the Senate to split the time between the impeachment trial and considering Mr Biden’s agenda, including his cabinet candidates.

    Editor’s Note: This newsletter will not be published next week as much of Washington will be focused on the inauguration of President-elect Biden. We will be returning on Monday, January 25th – unless events dictate otherwise.

I asked my colleague Nick Fandos, who is covering the Congress, what we can expect in the coming days.

Nick, what are legislators working on right now?

There have been so few impeachment trials in American history. At the beginning, the senators have to agree on the parameters of a process. How long will the indictment last? How long will the defense last? Will there be witnesses? Once they do this, a process begins. It goes on until the senators feel they have the information they need to vote or condemn.

Shall we wait a while longer?

The reason there is currently a lull is because the House and Senate will try to get this process through at a really precarious time, when a new president is sworn into office and the Senate is about to confirm his cabinet.

Even before the article goes out, the Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives, in consultation with Nancy Pelosi and the Biden team, are trying to see if they can agree to a set of rules that will allow the Senate to set up a double lane that will be half the day used for hearings and votes to confirm Biden’s cabinet, and half the day could be used for a Senate trial.

With the ongoing threat of unrest in the country, there is additional pressure to achieve this. The new administration must be able to put a team in key national security positions in the Justice Department and the Pentagon. For example, if Pelosi holds on to the item until a week after Biden’s inauguration, the Senate will have the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday after he is sworn in to vote on national security affirmations.

What kind of legal proceedings does the legislature want to hold? Is the timing important?

The property managers who will be pursuing the case are also currently debating whether to try to move really fast and have a quick action, as if they had a quick impeachment, trying to use the simple facts related to the uprising. There is overwhelming anger in the Senate and the property managers can try to get the Republicans on record quickly.

But there is a competing school of thought among Democrats that the more information comes out about the insurrection, the worse the case against President Trump becomes. They could call witnesses and evoke more Material. A stronger case might mean a more likely conviction, they would argue, but building it up also slows Biden’s agenda.

Then what can we expect next week?

The House Democrats could well submit the article shortly before or after the inauguration, and then the Senate would have to quickly move into litigation mode. But it is hard to imagine that we will deal with the flesh or substance of the process until next week.

The Impeachment Briefing is also available as a newsletter. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

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Health

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo holds a press briefing on Covid pandemic

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo holds a press briefing on Covid pandemic

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will hold a press conference on coronavirus Friday, where the state will provide coronavirus vaccines to people beyond healthcare and nursing home residents.

On Tuesday, following new instructions from the federal government, Governor Andrew Cuomo said residents 65 and older and other key workers such as teachers, police officers and transit workers could be vaccinated against the disease.

However, he warned that supplies would be an issue. The New York Department of Health announced this week that appointments for the vaccine will be booked for the next 3½ months and will fill up quickly after the state extends the eligibility.

To date, New York has received more than 1.8 million doses of vaccine, but administered around 37% of those, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state has prepared to dispense the doses in larger quantities and to use convention centers and baseball parks as temporary vaccination sites.

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

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World News

Your Friday Briefing – The New York Instances

Your Friday Briefing - The New York Times

Clock: The Swiss drama “My little sister” about a sibling’s cancer diagnosis in the end-stage. Our reviewer describes it as “big and small in heart”.

To sing: A sailor’s song. In the past two weeks, a TikTok video of a Scottish postman singing a whaling ballad has been duetted thousands of times by professional musicians, maritime enthusiasts and a puppet from Kermit the Frog, among others.

Make the most of this weekend indoors. At Home offers a comprehensive collection of ideas on what to read, cook, see, and do while staying safe at home.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel “The Great Gatsby” is now in the public domain, which means that writers can dismantle the characters and plot for their own purposes without asking for permission or paying a fee.

The book has already been converted into a graphic novel, while independently published variations of the novel include “The Gay Gatsby” by BA Baker and the zombie-themed “The Great Gatsby Undead” by Kristen Briggs. (From the promotional copy for Briggs’ book, “Gatsby doesn’t seem to be eating and dislikes silver, garlic, and the sun, but good friends are hard to make.”)

The most ambitious early entry might be “Nick,” a Michael Farris Smith novel that focuses on the life of Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald’s narrator, before arriving on Long Island and entering Gatsby’s orbit.

All of this follows several films, theatrical adaptations, and other retelling. Gatsby inspired a Taylor Swift song – “Happiness” on her latest record interweaves lines and images from the novel. And even the smallest characters had spin-offs – Pammie, 3 years old in Fitzgerald’s book, told her own story in “Daisy Buchanan’s Daughter” by Tom Carson.