WorldReutersUK's Johnson says he looks forward to working with Biden on shared goals
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday he looked forward to working with U.S. President Joe Biden on their shared goals, including tackling climate change. Johnson used his first phone call with the U.S. president to welcome Biden's announcements that the United States would rejoin the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate and the World Health Organization, and they discussed the prospects of a free trade deal. "Great to speak to President Joe Biden this evening," Johnson said on Twitter.
PoliticsThe WeekThe Senate is effectively deadlocked over McConnell's filibuster demand
Senate Democrats are drawing a line at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) demand that a power-sharing agreement in the 50-50 Senate include a pledge to retain the legislative filibuster. "If we gave him that, then the filibuster would be on everything, every day," Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) told NBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday's Meet the Press.
U.S.Associated PressTeen held in Indiana killings of 5, including pregnant woman
Indianapolis police arrested a 17-year-old boy Monday in the killings of five people, including a pregnant woman, who were shot to death inside a home in what the city's mayor called a “devastating act of violence.” The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that the name of the suspect in Sunday's killings was “not being released at this time since the suspect is a juvenile." As officers were investigating, police received information about 4:40 a.m. that led them to a nearby home, where they found multiple adults dead inside from apparent gunshot wounds, Sgt. Shane Foley said Sunday.
U.S.NBC NewsSupreme Court wipes out lower court rulings in Texas abortion battle
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to advocates of abortion rights, wiping lower court rulings off the books that had upheld a Texas order banning nearly all abortions in the state during the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Greg Abbot ordered a halt to nonessential medical procedures in late March of last year to conserve hospital resources and personal protective equipment. Attorney General Ken Paxton then said the order applied to "any type of abortions," including medical abortions that do not involve surgery.
PoliticsAxiosBiden's latest executive order will require the federal government to "buy American"
President Joe Biden will continue his flurry of executive orders on Monday, signing a new directive to require the federal government to “buy American” for products and services. Why it matters: The executive action is yet another attempt by Biden to accomplish goals administratively without waiting for the backing of Congress. The new order echoes Biden's $400 billion campaign pledge to increase government purchases of American goods.
U.S.ReutersCalifornia to lift stay-at-home orders on Monday: report
California Governor Gavin Newsom's office has decided to lift the orders as ICU availability in the regions that remained under the stay-at-home order, including the Bay area and Southern California are projected to rise above the 15% threshold that triggered the lockdown measures, according https://bit.ly/3sSPOfp to San Francisco Chronicle. California has reported over 3.1 million cases and 36,745 deaths so far, a Reuters tally showed. Strict stay-at-home orders were renewed for much of California in December to avert a crisis in hospitals.
PoliticsThe WeekLiz Cheney spokesperson tells Matt Gaetz to 'leave his beauty bag at home' as he heads to Wyoming
Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-Fla.) attacks on Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) have drawn some sharp pushback from her spokesperson. Gaetz has been slamming Cheney over her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump in the House of Representatives, and he's planning a trip to her home state of Wyoming for an event as he demands she step down as House Republican Conference chair. Now, a spokesperson for Cheney is hitting back.
U.S.NBC NewsWinter storms alerts issued for 23 states
The country is expected to be hit with a slew of storms this week with winter weather alerts in effect Monday for 60 million people across 23 states, stretching from Southern California to the Midwest and mid-Atlantic. Heavy snow was expected to fall Monday from the Central Plains to the Midwest and Great Lakes where cities like Omaha, Nebraska; Des Moines, Iowa; and especially Chicago could see their biggest snowstorm of the season. For the Chicago area, heavy snow occurring around Monday evening's rush hour could also be met with lakeshore flooding from Lake Michigan.
PoliticsThe IndependentBiden news – live: US travel restrictions tightened, as Russia told to free Navalny and protesters
Joe Biden signed an executive order that reverses a Trump-era military transgender ban in a widely expected move to overturn the ban on troops and military recruits from transitioning to another sex. It comes as Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani over his baseless about election fraud, and the Bidens brought their dogs Champ and Major to Washington DC. Meanwhile, as the Senate moves toward the second impeachment of Donald Trump, Supreme Court's Chief Justice Roberts reportedly withdrew from overseeing proceedings.
WorldReutersIndia to give homegrown vaccine in seven more states this week
India said it will administer homegrown coronavirus vaccine COVAXIN in seven more states from Monday as it seeks to inoculate 30 million healthcare workers across the country. The government this month gave emergency-use approval to the vaccine, developed by Bharat Biotech International Ltd and state-run Indian Council of Medical Research, and another licensed from Oxford University and AstraZeneca PLC that is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. The expansion from the 12 states now administering COVAXIN includes the southern state of Kerala, which has a high COVID-19 caseload, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat, the government said late on Saturday.
PoliticsThe WeekDOJ watchdog will investigate if officials tried to 'improperly' overturn the 2020 election
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is planning to probe whether current or former department officials tried to overturn the 2020 election. Reports over the weekend detailed former President Donald Trump's alleged plan to oust former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen after he apparently refused to help cast doubt on Georgia's presidential election results. Horowitz's Monday announcement seemed to be a direct response to those reports, saying he would investigate whether any officials "engaged in an improper attempt to have DOJ seek to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential election."
PoliticsBusiness InsiderBiden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill is in trouble, and Democrats might not be able to pass the next round of stimulus until March
As Insider's Joseph Zeballos-Roig reported last week, Manchin in particular will wield substantial influence over any major legislation pushed by Biden and the Democrats. Manchin is a moderate who holds several positions at odds with the Democratic consensus, particularly when it comes to deficit spending and climate change. He supports the coal industry and has expressed skepticism over an overly broad use of direct payments.
BusinessReutersMerck ends COVID vaccine program, cites inferior immune responses
Merck was late to join the race to develop a vaccine to protect against the coronavirus, which has so far killed more than 2 million people and continues to surge in many parts of the world including the United States. The company will record a pre-tax discontinuation charge in the fourth quarter for vaccine candidate V591, which it acquired with the purchase of Austrian vaccine maker Themis Bioscience, and V590, developed with nonprofit research organization IAVI, Merck said in a statement. In early trials, both vaccines generated immune responses that were inferior to those seen in people who had recovered from COVID-19 as well as those reported for other COVID-19 vaccines, the company said.
PoliticsThe IndependentIvanka Trump stays silent on social media as Rubio warns she’ll have ‘tough’ fight if she goes for his seat
Over the weekend Republican senator for Florida Marco Rubio shrugged off rumours that Ms Trump could challenge him to a primary in the 2022 midterm elections. Ms Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, who was also an adviser to the 45th president, recently acquired a $30m (£22m) lot of land on Indian Creek Island in Miami. They are planning to build a new home for themselves there, indicating their intention to stay on in the Sunshine State, where Mr Trump himself now resides at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
U.S.CBS NewsCouple forced to adopt biological babies born through surrogacy
A Michigan couple is being forced to adopt their biological babies after they were born through surrogacy because of a decades-old anti-surrogacy law in the state. Jordan and Tammy Myers' twins were born two weeks ago, but two judges denied them the legal rights to the infants, citing the law. Jordan and Tammy hoped for a sibling for their 2-year-old daughter when Tammy was diagnosed with breast cancer nearly six years ago.
WorldReutersEU to hold off on new Russia sanctions if Navalny released
The European Union will hold off from imposing fresh sanctions on Russian individuals if the Kremlin releases pro-democracy campaigner Alexei Navalny, EU foreign ministers said on Monday, sending the bloc's top diplomat to Moscow next week. Despite calls from Baltic countries, Italy and Romania for sanctions on Russian officials in response to Navalny's detention as he returned to Russia from Germany on Jan. 17, Germany pushed to give the Kremlin more time. "We have agreed today to wait for the court's decision, to wait to see ...
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Woman wanted on 74 charges of child sex abuse extradited to Australia
Israeli authorities on Monday extradited a former teacher accused of sexually abusing her former students in Australia, capping a six-year legal battle that had strained relations between the two governments and antagonized Australia's Jewish community.
BusinessThe WeekRudy Giuliani hit with $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion over election 'disinformation campaign'
Rudy Giuliani has been hit with a $1.3 billion lawsuit over his false claims about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Dominion Voting Systems on Monday filed a defamation lawsuit against Giuliani, personal attorney to former President Donald Trump, after he baselessly alleged the voting machine company was involved in a conspiracy to change votes from Trump to President Biden in 2020, The New York Times reports. The lawsuit was filed in the Federal District Court in Washington and charges Giuliani with making "demonstrably false" claims about the company as part of a "viral disinformation campaign," according to the Times.
WorldBBCSikkim: Chinese and Indian troops 'in new border clash'
Chinese and Indian troops have reportedly clashed again in a disputed border area, with injuries on both sides, Indian media say. The incident took place in north Sikkim last Wednesday. India's army said there had been a "minor" incident that had been "resolved".
PoliticsReutersFormer White House spokeswoman Sanders running for Arkansas governor
Sarah Sanders, who served as one of former U.S. President Donald Trump's White House press secretaries, on Monday announced she would seek the Republican Party's nomination for governor of Arkansas in the 2022 election. It is rare for a former White House press secretary to launch into a political career, and her campaign will amount to a test of the pull Trump still has within the party after the tumultuous end of his presidency. In a video released on social media announcing her decision, Sanders tied herself closely to Trump and his agenda, using flag-waving video of him and herself on a presidential trip to Iraq.
U.S.Business InsiderA New York Times editor lost her job after she tweeted about having 'chills' about Biden's inauguration
New York Times editor Lauren Wolfe tweeted about having "chills" seeing Biden arrive for his inauguration. Many criticized her for appearing to show political bias, and The Times later fired Wolfe. A New York Times editor lost her job after receiving criticism for tweeting about her excitement for President Joe Biden's inauguration.
WorldINSIDERChina is spreading conspiracy theories that the coronavirus was created in an American lab and that a US-created vaccine is killing the elderly
Chinese state media is spreading a conspiracy theory that a US Army base created the coronavirus. The disinformation push comes as WHO scientists arrive in Wuhan to study the virus' origins. Chinese state media is playing up a conspiracy theory about the novel coronavirus' origins while also questioning the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine's safety in older people.
WorldBusiness InsiderNavalny has boxed Putin into a 'humiliating' Catch-22, national-security officials say
Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny has outmaneuvered Putin at every turn despite being in prison, national-security sources say. If Putin kills Navalny, it could exacerbate unrest among the public. A weekend of demonstrations against Russian President Vladimir Putin, sparked by the arrest of the opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, has boxed Putin into an odd corner, according to European diplomats and intelligence officials.
BusinessAssociated PressBudweiser joins Coke, Pepsi brands in sitting out Super Bowl
For the first time since 1983, when Anheuser-Busch used all of its ad time to introduce a beer called Bud Light, the beer giant isn't advertising its iconic Budweiser brand during the Super Bowl. Instead, it's donating the money it would have spent on the ad to coronavirus vaccination awareness efforts. Anheuser-Busch still has four minutes of advertising during the game for its other brands including Bud Light, Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade, Michelob Ultra and Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer.
PoliticsBBCTrump impeachment: When will he go on trial in the Senate?
Donald Trump has been impeached - again. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives accused Mr Trump of encouraging violence with his false claims of election fraud and egging on a mob to storm the Capitol on 6 January. Mr Trump, a Republican, now faces trial in the upper chamber, the Senate.
“By encouraging this act of terror on our capital, Trump’s legacy is destroyed.”
“Both backers and critics of Trump agreed that he remade the federal judiciary — a change that will impact America for decades.”
“He was largely responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans who did not need to die.”
“I do know what the future should hold for this country. That is to say, a policy of Trumpism without Trump.”
“It will be decades before the consequences of his tenure are fully known.”