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  • Biden news - Cuomo faces fresh allegations as Obama praises president on Covid-19 relief bill

    Follow the latest in US politics

  • Elon Musk posted a rare family photo with Grimes and their baby, X Æ A-Xii, taken in the new city he hopes to create in Texas

    Musk and Grimes have been dating since about May 2018, when they made their debut as a couple at the Met Gala.

  • Joe Manchin pledges to block Biden's infrastructure bill if Republicans aren't included

    Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), America's ultimate swing voter, told me on "Axios on HBO" that he'll insist Republicans have more of a voice on President Biden's next big package than they did on the COVID stimulus.The big picture: Manchin said he'll push for tax hikes to pay for Biden's upcoming infrastructure and climate proposal, and will use his Energy Committee chairmanship to force the GOP to confront climate reality.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for freeWhy it matters: My conversation yielded the most extensive preview yet of how Manchin — a Democrat from a Trump state, in a 50-50 Senate, who relishes standing up to a Democratic White House — will use his singular power. Manchin, 73, said Biden expects, and understands, the pushback: "He's the first president we've had to really, really understand the workings of the Senate since LBJ."Manchin said that with just a few concessions, it would have been possible to get some Republicans on the COVID relief package that passed the Senate this weekend on a party-line vote. And he said he'll block Biden's next big package — $2 trillion to $4 trillion for climate and infrastructure — if Republicans aren't included. "I'm not going to do it through reconciliation," which requires only a simple majority, like the COVID stimulus, Manchin said. "I am not going to get on a bill that cuts them out completely before we start trying."Asked if he believes it's possible to get 10 Republicans on the infrastructure package, which could yield the 60 votes needed under normal Senate rules, Manchin said: "I sure do."Manchin said the infrastructure bill can be big — as much as $4 trillion — as long as it's paid for with tax increases. He said he'll start his bargaining by requiring the package be 100% paid for.Manchin said that with all the debt we're piling up, he's worried about "a tremendous deep recession that could lead into a depression if we're not careful. ... We're just setting ourselves up."He talked up an array of tax increases, including raising the corporate tax rate from the current 21% to 25% "at least," and repealing "a lot of" the Trump tax cuts for the wealthy. Manchin, sitting down with HBO in the Energy Committee hearing room where he now holds the gavel, said he'll use his new position "to try and inject some reality" — starting with a hearing "on climate facts."Asked about Republican senators who won't say that humans have affected climate, Manchin said: "Well, I think I think they know it." Manchin warned fellow Democrats about ramming through legislation by simple majority: "I would say this to my friends. You've got power ... Don't abuse it. And that's exactly what you'll be doing if you throw the filibuster out."Watch a clip.Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free.

  • U.S. could send $1,400 COVID bill payments within days; child tax credit a bigger challenge

    With plenty of practice sending coronavirus relief payments to Americans, the federal government should be able to launch the delivery of $1,400 checks almost immediately once Congress finalizes the new aid bill and President Joe Biden signs it, tax experts say. Some Americans might see direct payments as soon as this week if the bill passes the House of Representatives on Tuesday as expected, compared with several weeks' lag in April 2020. Nearly 160 million households are expected to get payments, the White House estimates.

  • How Canadian soldiers set 2 records for longest sniper kill during the first major battle in Afghanistan

    Operation Anaconda demonstrated the skill and bravery of US special-operations forces, their international partners, and local Afghan fighters.

  • Thousands of people who visited a COVID-19 vaccination site in California received the wrong dose, report says. Officials say nobody needs a booster shot.

    An estimated 4,300 people at the Oakland Coliseum received a lesser dosage of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on March 1, KTVU reported.

  • Ohio college student dies after alleged hazing incident

    Stone Foltz, 20, a sophomore at Bowling Green State University and a new member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, was allegedly hazed during an initiation event when he was made to drink alcohol.

  • Republican Sen. Roy Blunt will not seek re-election in 2022

    Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), widely seen as a member of the Republican establishment in Congress, will not run for re-election in 2022, he announced on Twitter Monday.Why it matters: The 71-year-old senator is the No. 4-ranking Republican in the Senate, and the fifth GOP senator to announce he will not run for re-election in 2022 as the party faces questions about its post-Trump future.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for freeThe other GOP senators who have announced their retirement are:Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala., which Trump won in 2020 by +25.4%)Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio, Trump +8.1%)Sen. Richard Burr (N.C., Trump +1.3%)Sen. Pat Toomey (Pa., Biden +1.2%)What to watch: Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) are also considering retiring in 2022.Background: Blunt was first elected to the Senate in 2010, after serving in the House for 14 years and as Missouri secretary of state for eight. In addition to being a member of leadership as chair of the Republican Policy Committee, Blunt is the top Republican on the powerful Senate Rules Committee.More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free

  • Meghan Markle said she had to hand over her keys, passport, and driver's license when she joined the royal family

    Meghan Markle told Oprah Winfrey that giving up these things trapped her at a time when she was having suicidal thoughts.

  • Fully vaccinated people can gather without masks, CDC says

    Fully vaccinated Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing, according to long-awaited guidance from federal health officials. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the guidance Monday. “We know that people want to get vaccinated so they can get back to doing the things they enjoy with the people they love,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, in a statement.

  • Column: Newsom hits home run as the effort to recall him gets closer to making the ballot

    Helping to unlock baseball stadiums as season openers approach is guaranteed to be popular and bipartisan.

  • CNN’s Chris Cuomo called out after saying he’s ‘Black on the inside’

    During the handoff from his show, Cuomo, singing the ‘Good Times’ theme, made the joke causing cringes. The Cuomo brothers are having a bad week. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been besieged by sexual misconduct accusations from at least two former female staffers plus three others, not to mention a persisting inquiry into his handling of moving elderly people between nursing homes and hospitals at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

  • The Queen emerges unscathed as Meghan and Harry lavish praise on his grandmother

    The Duke and Duchess of Sussex unloaded on Prince Charles, The Duchess of Cambridge, and the tabloid press in their extraordinary tell-all with Oprah Winfrey. But despite the numerous allegations levelled at named and unnamed members of the Royal family, The Queen emerged unscathed, and instead received glowing praise from the couple. Meghan described how "everyone" welcomed her to the royal set-up initially, but singled out the Queen as making her particularly comfortable. In another sign of their positive relationship, the Duchess said: “I just pick up the phone and I call the Queen - just to check-in. Meghan said the Queen has "always been wonderful" to her and that she reminded the Duchess of her own grandmother. "She’s always been warm and inviting," the Duchess added. The Duchess shared a touching anecdote on how her future husband’s grandmother gave her "some beautiful pearl earrings and a matching necklace" for the couple's first joint engagement together, and that the monarch also shared her blanket while travelling together between visits. The pair attended a ceremony for the opening of the new Mersey Gateway Bridge, in Widnes, Cheshire in June 2018 and travelled north on the Royal train.

  • Tesla is making a giant battery to plug into the Texas power grid, and it could store enough energy for 20,000 homes

    Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized Texas' power-grid operator after February's blackouts left millions in the state without power and water.

  • Forget hiding behind the sofa, the Royal family needed a bullet-proof vest as Harry and Meghan let rip

    It was both everything we had come to expect - and not what we were expecting at all. We knew it was going to be blockbuster TV. But what we didn’t anticipate about the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ Oprah interview is how unvarnished their “truth” was actually going to be. From Meghan’s revelation that she was almost driven to suicide by being in the Royal family, to the astonishing claim that Harry was questioned about the potential colour of Archie’s skin, it’s fair to say this two-hour tell-all represented a worst-case scenario for what the couple kept referring to as The Firm. Talk of Royals “hiding behind the sofa” ahead of the primetime, no-holds-barred chat appeared to underestimate quite what the couple had in store. At first, it seemed as if Meghan casually letting slip that she and Harry were secretly “married” by the Archbishop of Canterbury three days before their actual wedding day in Windsor in May 2018 would be the biggest marmalade dropper of the morning. But viewers had only just settled into the cosy tete-a-tete in someone else’s Santa Barbara back yard when the blows quickly started raining down on the Duchess of Cambridge. Dressed in a black Armani dress with a distinctive white splodge and with her hair tied back in a matronly bun, the pregnant mother-of-one, 39, unleashed on her sister-in-law as the UK entered the second hour of International Women’s Day. Contrary to reports, which first surfaced in the Daily Telegraph in November 2018, that Meghan had made Kate cry during a bridesmaids’ dress fitting, the former actress insisted it was actually the other way round. Implying a distinct lack of sisterly support from the mother-of-three, even when “everything was going on with my Dad”, Meghan insisted: “I’m not sharing that in any way to be disparaging about her,” adding: “I would hope that she would want that to be corrected.”

  • China turned on Chloé Zhao, the Beijing-born Golden Globe winner, and censored her film after people found old interviews where she slammed China

    Chloé Zhao - the first Asian woman to win a Golden Globe - said in 2013 China was "a place where there are lies everywhere."

  • Oprah said Prince Harry told her the Queen and Prince Philip were not the ones who had 'concerns' about the skin color of his and Meghan's son

    Oprah Winfrey said that Prince Harry was keen to communicate that his grandparents were not behind the racist remark.

  • Sen. Joe Manchin, a key Democratic swing vote, is open to crafting a 'more painful' filibuster

    The House is expected to clear President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill on Tuesday, after the Senate narrowly passed it Saturday morning, following a lengthy negotiation with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) over unemployment benefits. The narrow Democratic majority is now discussing how to pass other legislative priorities, and Manchin said Sunday he's open to reforming the filibuster. "The filibuster should be painful, it really should be painful, and we've made it more comfortable over the years," Manchin said on Fox News Sunday. "Maybe it has to be more painful." One solution could be to require a "talking filibuster," where senators can block legislation temporarily through feats of endurance. "If you want to make it a little bit more painful, make him stand there and talk," Manchin said on NBC's Meet The Press. "I'm willing to look at any way we can, but I'm not willing to take away the involvement of the minority." Manchin repeated that he's "not going to change my mind" on ending the filibuster, but his comments were still greeted positively by filibuster opponents. The talking filibuster "preserves some ability for the minority to slow a bill as long as they physically hold the floor, but then allows an up-or-down vote once they give up," Demand Justice executive director Brian Fallon tweeted. "This is the Jimmy Stewart model." Manchin also expressed an openness to exploring other ways to sidestep blanket GOP opposition, suggesting that perhaps the budget reconciliation process could be used to pass voting-rights legislation — it can't — or other priorities. "But I'm not going to go there until my Republican friends have the ability to have their say also," he said. "I'm hoping they will get involved to the point where we have 10 of them that will work with 50 of us." "If we continue to see obstruction from our Republican colleagues — as we saw through this COVID relief package — I think the patience is going to wear thin, even on moderate Democrats," Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said Sunday on CNN. "But we'll see." More stories from theweek.comLindsey Graham says his revived friendship with Trump is an attempt to 'harness' his 'magic'Britain's tabloids, vilified by Harry and Meghan, are all agog over the 'devastating' Oprah interview7 spondiferously funny cartoons about the Dr. Seuss controversy

  • The palace hasn't responded to Meghan and Harry's interview, but the rest of the world has

    “This is a family in crisis and they need to be helped,” Paula Rhone-Adrien, a prominent Black lawyer, said.

  • US reaction: America's fury at Royal family over Duchess of Sussex's racism accusations

    America reacted with widespread anger at Buckingham Palace following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey. Serena Williams, the US tennis star who co-hosted the Duchess's baby shower in 2019, said she was a victim of "systematic oppression". She said: "Meghan Markle, my selfless friend, lives her life - and leads by example - with empathy and compassion. "She teaches me every day what it means to be truly noble. Her words illustrate the pain and cruelty she's experienced." Ms Williams added: "I know first hand the sexism and racism institutions and the media use to vilify women and people of colour to minimise us."