Frigid temperatures, light snow expected weekend
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"Nothing is off-limits" during Oprah's upcoming interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle—here's everything you need to know to watch it.
Live updates from the White House
Wall Street ended sharply lower on Thursday, leaving the Nasdaq down nearly 10% from its February record high, after remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell disappointed investors worried about rising longer-term U.S. bond yields. A decline of 10% from its February record high would confirm the Nasdaq is in a correction. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield spiked to 1.533% after Powell's comments, which did not point to changes in the Fed's asset purchases to tackle the recent jump in yields.
Remo Casilli via ReutersROME—Hours after Italy’s newly-minted prime minister Mario Draghi kickstarted a bout of vaccine nationalism by blocking the export of vaccines made in the Eurozone, several other European countries were threatening to follow suit. Speaking on French television station BFM Friday morning, France’s health minister Olivier Véran applauded Italy’s move to keep vaccines made in Europe at home and threatened to do likewise. “We could do the same,” he said. “The more doses France has, the happier I will be as health minister. France has the right to talk to its European neighbors to ensure that laboratories respect their commitments and contracts. That seems to me to be common sense.”A spokesperson for the health ministry of Spain, which has several facilities crucial to the global vaccine supply chain, also suggested Friday that they will look at where the vaccines produced in that country are going. Europe is the world’s largest producer of vaccine components, and all three of the main COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca) currently in use rely on companies to fill vials and distribute the vaccines both in the Eurozone and outside, mostly to Canada, Japan, Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. Facilities in Italy, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands are all crucial links in the global supply chain and could all block export under regulations put in place in the EU on January 30.Italy’s first tactical move of denying an export request for 250,000 AstraZeneca doses produced in Italy en route to Australia marks a new front line in a vaccine war that pits big pharma against state-run health systems. The European Commission approved the block, signaling it would do so if other countries followed suit to keep more vaccine doses in Europe. A source in Draghi’s government told The Daily Beast that Italy had been given assurances that the European Commission would back Italy up. “Someone had to go first,” the source, speaking on condition of anonymity said. “But Italy will not be the only country to protect its citizens this way.”According to a readout of a call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Draghi justified his actions, saying he “hoped to suffocate the drug companies” to pressure them to meet their EU commitments to deliver vaccines.Panicked Euro Leaders Threaten Trade War as Vaccine Rollout Goes to HellIn a statement to journalists, Italy’s foreign ministry explained it had blocked vials that were being prepped at the New Jersey-based drug company Catalent’s plant in the Roman municipality of Anagni, citing delays in the distribution within Italy and the rest of the EU. The statement also cited a discrepancy in “the high number of vaccine doses requested for export... compared to the amount of doses provided to Italy and, more generally, to EU countries so far.”Catalent produces around 1 million Moderna doses a day, according to a company spokesperson. Currently, most of those are distributed inside the Eurozone, but the Italian foreign ministry also has to approve any foreign exports of that vaccine as well.The ministry also said the doses were heading to Australia where they would be distributed to people the EU classifies as “not vulnerable” under current regulations while robbing those who are vulnerable in Italy and the EU of protection against the deadly virus. Australia, with a population of 25 million, has logged around 25,000 COVID-19 cases and 900 deaths. Italy, by contrast, has a population of 60 million people and has logged nearly 3 million cases and 99,000 deaths so far. On Thursday, Italy recorded 22,865 new infections while Australia had less than a dozen.The European Commission set up the framework for blocking exports of COVID-19 vaccines produced in Europe on January 30, as the vaccine battle that has largely targeted the British-made AstraZeneca vaccine heated up. The EU regulation makes it compulsory for vaccine makers to get authorization from the countries where the vaccines are physically produced before exporting them. Because of Brexit, the U.K. no longer enjoys automatic trade relationships with the EU and has thus contracted various Europe-based vaccine makers to help produce the AstraZeneca vaccines sold to European countries. But the British company has fallen short of its promised deliveries and will deliver just 40 million of the 100 million first doses ordered by the EU by the end of March, a move that has drastically compromised vaccine rollouts across Europe, risking a third deadly wave of the pandemic. The EU has vaccinated just over 5 percent of its citizens compared to more than 30 percent of the U.K. population that has received at least the first shot.The World Health Organization condemned Italy’s move, calling it “a worrying trend” that risked jeopardizing the global supply chains for the coveted vaccines since the E.U. is one of the largest vaccine producers. The ban does not impact vaccines distributed to poor nations through the COVAX plan, the Italian foreign ministry confirmed. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday that the blocked vials won’t impact the country’s vaccine rollout, which is just getting underway. “In Italy, people are dying at the rate of 300 a day. And so I can certainly understand the high level of anxiety that would exist in Italy and in many countries across Europe,” he said in a statement to the press. “They are in an unbridled crisis situation. That is not the situation in Australia.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
American attitudes toward China have soured significantly in the past three years, with 70% of those surveyed for a report published on Thursday saying Washington should stand up to Beijing over its human rights record even if it damages economic ties. Nearly 9 in 10 respondents to a Pew Research Center survey of more than 2,500 Americans conducted in February said they saw China, the world's second largest economy, as a competitor or enemy rather than a partner, the U.S.-based center said. "Americans want more focus on human rights – even at the expense of economic ties – in bilateral relations with China," the report said.
Obama administration greatly expanded the use of drone strikes before later imposing checks
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has been cleared to return after spending two days in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol. Pittsburgh also says assistant coach Todd Reirden will resume his duties for the Penguins' home game against Philadelphia on Thursday night after spending two days in the protocol. Flyers forward Joel Farabee, meantime, was added to the COVID-19 list.
She was wearing a T-shirt that read "Everything will be OK" as Myanmar police shot her in the head, on the bloodiest day yet since last month's coup.Hundreds of people attended the funeral of Angel, a 19-year-old woman also known as Kyal Sin, in Mandalay on Thursday (March 4). Mourners, many of them young like she was, filed past her open coffin, chanting slogans and singing protest songs. Some raised a three-fingered salute of defiance.And protesters returned to the streets undeterred in towns across Myanmar, despite at least 38 deaths including Angel's on Wednesday.That violence more than doubled the death toll since the military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1.On Thursday, police opened fire and used tear gas to break up protests against military rule in Yangon.Forcing residents to cower indoors.The United Nations human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, called on the security forces to halt what she called their "vicious crackdown on peaceful protesters."At least 19 Myanmar police officers have crossed over into India, fearing persecution for disobeying orders, a senior Indian police official told Reuters.The European Union on Thursday suspended its support for development projects in Myanmar to avoid giving financial aid to the military.On Friday, the U.N. Security Council plans to hold a closed session on the crisis.
Aston Martin's AMR21 will be driven by Germany's Sebastian Vettel and Canada's Lance Stroll in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
An anonymous source who is familiar with an FBI cellphone data report says there was communication between the two.
British police said on Thursday they had ruled out a criminal investigation into the famous 1995 BBC interview with the late Princess Diana, after complaints from her brother that she had been tricked into taking part with the use of forged documents. Diana's interview with journalist Martin Bashir, watched by more than 20 million viewers in Britain, shocked the nation when she admitted to an affair and gave other intimate details of her failed marriage to heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles. Last November, her brother Charles Spencer said the BBC had failed to apologise for what he said were forged documents and "other deceit" which led him to introduce Diana to Bashir.
"This is the reality of black girls: One day you're called an icon, the next day, a threat," Gorman said in a tweet about the incident.
Nineteen-year-old Kyal Sin had proudly cast her first vote last year in the very elections Myanmar's military has tried to annul with its ongoing coup.
The day after he single-handedly delayed the U.S. Senate's debate on President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill for 11 hours, Republican Senator Ron Johnson said on Friday that he could retire from office when his term expires. The 65-year-old Republican, who was first elected to the Senate during the Tea Party surge in 2010, had pledged to spend only two terms in the Senate.
"Listen, I need all Jewish people on deck, brother," Chuck told Jimmy Kimmel about the chair lift. "Cause I can only get so skinny by Saturday, man."
When asked by a reporter Wednesday if he had taken the sexual harassment training, Cuomo said, "Short answer is yes."
Camden County JailA prominent Lake of the Ozarks real estate agent and self-described “cheer mom” has been arrested for allegedly trying to put a hit out on her former mother-in-law. Prosecutors in Camden County say Leigh Ann Bauman, 43, offered to pay $1,500 to people in St. Louis to make her former mother-in-law’s death “look like an accident.” She was reportedly concerned about the woman causing problems with her relationship with her kids.Bauman was recorded discussing the scheme, according to a press release from the Camden County prosecutor’s office. She was given multiple opportunities to change her mind when asked by a witness-turned-informant if she was sure she wanted to carry out the killing, prosecutors said, but she moved ahead with it, at one point acknowledging that she was a Christian but noting she could always ask for forgiveness later.The realtor also is said to have made no secret about her alleged plans. After sending a text message to her daughter that said, “Your grandmother will die,” Bauman allegedly plowed ahead with the plan and pushed for her former mother-in-law to be killed in the small town of Hermann.Her alleged murder-for-hire plot fell apart when an attorney for a person who was solicited to hire people to carry out the killing contacted the Missouri Highway Patrol. She was arrested on Thursday and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and is currently being held without bond in the Camden County Jail.“We’re very appreciative of what the witness did in this case,” Camden County Prosecutor Caleb Cunningham said Friday. “We encourage anyone to contact law enforcement if there’s a crime or suspected crime.” “A local realtor had several political connections and the witness was aware of these political connections,” Cunningham said. “Out of an abundance of caution, DDCC was used to avoid any hint of impropriety,” he said, referring to the Missouri Highway Patrol Division of Drug and Crime Control.Bauman, who describes herself as a realtor, an artist, an entrepreneur, and a “cheer mom” on her Facebook page, frequently posted online about her “track record of success.” While she was most well-known as a realtor, with nearly 20 years in the industry, she also apparently set a world record in a boating race last year. Her LinkedIn account also mentions work in pharmaceutical sales and an acting and modeling career, with appearances on Days of Our Lives and in Nike commercials.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
The 40-year-old "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star reshared several offensive magazine covers about her pregnancy weight gain in 2013.
Biden and Democratic leaders are pushing for passage before March 14 when unemployment benefits approved under an earlier relief bill expire.
NASA’s newest Mars rover hit the dusty red road this week, putting 21 feet on the odometer in its first test drive. The Perseverance rover ventured from its landing position Thursday, two weeks after setting down on the red planet to seek signs of past life. “This is really the start of our journey here,” said Rich Rieber, the NASA engineer who plotted the route.