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- The Independent
Giuliani suspended from YouTube over election conspiracies again, days after returning to platform
Giuliani is facing a $2.7 billion lawsuit from a voting technology company for spreading election conspiracies
- The Telegraph
Monday morning UK news briefing: Brazil variant found in Britain
If you want to receive twice-daily briefings like this by email, sign up to the Front Page newsletter here. For two-minute audio updates, try The Briefing - on podcasts, smart speakers and WhatsApp.
- The Independent
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has mic muted at CPAC for spouting vaccine and election conspiracies
Lindell equates getting coronavirus vaccine to receiving ‘mark of the beast’ pledging allegiance to the devil
- Reuters
Analysis: SPACs turn to 'stonks' as amateur traders take on more risk
For Jonny Coreson, $4 billion is worth $5 billion. The 32-year-old test prep business owner from Denver invested $100,000 in shares of veteran hedge fund manager Bill Ackman's special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd, after they soared 25% in December with no imminent deal in sight. This valued the blank-check acquisition firm at $5 billion, when on paper it was worth only the $4 billion it had raised in an initial public offering in July.
- The Independent
Biden calls Mexican president an ‘equal’ partner amid surge in border crossings
President’s warm tone towards Mexico has translated to substantial policy changes
- Yahoo Acquired Video
Golden Globes 2021: Taylor Ledward accepts award for late husband Chadwick Boseman
An emotional Taylor Simone Ledward accepts the best actor Golden Globe Award for her late husband Chadwick Boseman for his performance in "Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom." Golden Globe© Awards clips provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and DCP Rights, LLC.
- BBC
Golden Globes: Ben Stiller's baked trophy and 8 other highlights
Hollywood actor Ben Stiller didn't need much more than flour and eggs at Sunday' Golden Globes.
- The Independent
Fact-checking the wildest claims from Trump’s CPAC speech
The president returned to some of his favourite debunked theories about the election, and much more
- The Independent
Merrick Garland could be confirmed as Biden’s attorney general this week
Biden AG pick passes out of committee by bipartisan 15-7 vote
- NBC News
Mom reports 6-year-old missing, but police say she ran him over and threw him in the Ohio River
Brittany Gosney told investigators she tried to abandon her son in a wildlife area and ran over him when he attempted to get back into her vehicle, according to court documents.
- Business Insider
Rep. Adam Kinzinger tore into Sen. Josh Hawley for his 'smug' CPAC speech, saying 5 people died because of 'what you did'
Like, there are five people dead, two that took their own life on top of that as a result of what you did," Kinzinger said of Hawley.
- USA TODAY Opinion
For Andrew Cuomo, there can be no sexual harassment double standard. He should resign.
If Democrats are to hold the moral high ground on issues of gender equity, they cannot apply standards just to those on the opposite side of the aisle.
- USA TODAY
Royal Caribbean will offer 'fully vaccinated' cruise with sailings starting in Israel
Royal Caribbean's new ship, Odyssey of the Seas, is set to debut with departures from Israel with all passengers and crew over age 16 vaccinated.
- The Week
The Trump administration reportedly quietly funded Operation Warp Speed with money set aside for hospitals
By late summer last year, Operation Warp Speed accounts were running dry, so the Trump administration appears to have used a financial maneuver allowing Department of Health and Human Services officials to divert $10 billion from a fund meant to help hospitals and health care providers affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Stat News reports. Congress granted the HHS permission to move pandemic-related money between accounts, though the agreement stipulated the agency had to give lawmakers a heads up. In this case, it appears the HHS siphoned the funds quietly, albeit with permission from its top lawyer. Other attorneys told Stat that the agency likely did have the wiggle room to carry out the action. Former Office of Management and Director Russ Vought defended the decision and said "we would do it again," telling Stat that not only did the administration have the authority, it was also "the right thing to do in order to move as quickly as possible because lives were on the line." Other Trump officials seemed to agree, per Stat, arguing that successful vaccines would reduce hospitalizations, making Warp Speed the more consequential outlet. It's still unclear whether the decision has resulted in less money for health care providers, as the Biden administration remains mum on the subject, Stat reports. Read more at Stat News. More stories from theweek.comManhattan DA investigators are reportedly focusing on the Trump Organization's chief financial officerHistorian: Biden's support for Amazon workers voting to unionize is 'almost unprecedented'The myth of the male bumbler
- Business Insider
Biden refused to sanction MBS over Khashoggi's murder because he doesn't want his relationship with Saudi Arabia to get worse, officials say
A US intelligence report released Friday found that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman directly approved the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
- Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Why stop at $1,400? These Democratic senators want Biden to back recurring stimulus checks
A group of Democratic senators is urging President Joe Biden to go beyond the $1,400 payment included in his COVID relief package.
- The Daily Beast
Harry and Meghan Are Begged to Delay Oprah Broadcast While Prince Philip Is Gravely Ill
DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / Getty ImagesPrince Harry and Meghan Markle are being urged by some commentators in the U.K. to ask CBS to postpone the airing of its Oprah Winfrey interview, in which they are expected to mount a stinging attack on the royal family, as concern mounts over Prince Philip’s prospects of beating an infection.Prince Harry Tells Oprah He Left the Royals Because He Feared Meghan Markle Would Suffer Like Princess Diana Philip, 99, was moved to a specialist heart hospital on Monday and royal sources have been quoted by British newspapers saying the family is “pretty appalled” at the idea of the interview, which Oprah has said sees Meghan saying “pretty shocking things” being broadcast while Philip is so unwell.Penny Junor, author of Prince Harry, Brother, Soldier, Son, told The Daily Beast that airing the interview while Prince Philip was undergoing very public health travails risked making the interview look inappropriate, saying: “Anything could hijack this interview. Philip is ill. He is 99 and could die at any time. They were not to know he would get ill, but it could be seen to be the wrong time. But I doubt it is in their gift to postpone the interview. The control is in the hands of CBS and Oprah.”Robert Lacey, historical consultant for The Crown and author of the definitive royal biography Majesty, told The Daily Beast: “I think it would be a marvelous turnaround for Harry’s image if he took the brave step of canceling the whole thing this weekend—or, if that’s not practical, postponing it at least.”Royal commentator and former editor of Who’s Who Richard Fitzwilliams said it would “surely be appropriate” to postpone the interview.He told MailOnline: “Oprah is their friend and neighbor and would undoubtedly comply if asked and the gesture would I am sure be appreciated by the royal family. If an interview has been extended, as this recently has, it can also be postponed, as this undoubtedly should be.” Royal biographer Robert Jobson told the Mail: “With the Duke of Edinburgh clearly very unwell, the fact that the couple plan to go ahead with airing their self-indulgent, no-holds-barred interview with chat show queen Oprah Winfrey makes them appear heartless, thoughtless, and supremely selfish.“For U.S. broadcast network CBS, this interview is a coup, all about securing big viewing figures and big advert sales around the airing of their exclusive interview. So even if they wanted to Harry and Meghan probably couldn’t dictate terms to Oprah Winfrey and the network now. Too much has been invested.”A TV industry insider told the Mirror: “CBS has sold millions of dollars worth of advertising around the interview, but bosses are aware of the delicacy of the Duke’s heath. They have no loyalty to the royal family, although some feel as though they do to Harry and Meghan. For it to run if Philip’s condition worsened would be like setting off a diplomatic bomb. It would be grossly insensitive and hugely disrespectful.”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 Guardian
New Orleans Catholics told to avoid Johnson & Johnson vaccine on religious grounds
Archdiocese statement says use of abortion-derived cells in development means believers should prefer Pfizer and Moderna Melissa Owens, operations plant manager for the McKesson Corporation, signs the first shipping box of the Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccine in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, on Monday. Photograph: Timothy D Easley/EPA The archdiocese of New Orleans has told local Catholics to avoid the Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot Covid-19 vaccine, because its early development used “morally compromised cell lines created from two abortions”. It said two other vaccines in use in the US, made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, were acceptable despite having been developed with “some lab testing that utilised the abortion-derived cell line”. The archdiocese made the announcement on Friday. The statement put the archdiocese at odds with Pope Francis. In December, the Vatican said it was “morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted foetuses in their research and production process”, as the use of such vaccines “does not constitute formal cooperation with the abortion from which the cells used in production of the vaccines derive”. Cells derived from an elective abortion in the Netherlands in the 1970s are commonly used in medical research. Last October, it was widely reported that an experimental Covid-19 therapy given to Donald Trump, Regeneron, was developed using such cells. Like most Republicans, the then president had courted anti-abortion groups and moved to restrict use of fetal tissue in research. Fetal tissue research has led to a number of important medical advances, especially in vaccine development. Cell lines derived from aborted tissue were used in the development of the polio, chickenpox, hepatitis A and shingles vaccines. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine subsidiary Janssen used PER.C6 cells, a proprietary cell line derived from aborted tissue in 1985. The New Orleans archdiocese said it maintained “that the decision to receive the Covid-19 vaccine remains one of individual conscience in consultation with one’s healthcare provider. We also maintain that in no way does the church’s position diminish the wrongdoing of those who decided to use cell lines from abortions to make vaccines. “In doing so, we advise that if the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine is available, Catholics should choose to receive either of those vaccines rather than to receive the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of its extensive use of abortion-derived cell lines.” The diocese’s comments come as the US undertakes national distribution of three coronavirus vaccines authorized for emergency use by drugs regulators. Vaccine hesitancy has been a major concern throughout the pandemic, as vaccines need to reach a vast majority of adults to protect those ineligible to receive vaccines, such as children under 16 and the immune-compromised. More than 28.6 million people in the US have been infected by the coronavirus and 515,000 killed since the pandemic began. Joe Biden and Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and chief medical adviser to the president, are both Catholic. Asked about vaccine efficacy, Fauci told NBC: “All three of them are really quite good, and people should take the one that’s most available to them. People need to get vaccinated as quickly and as expeditiously as possible, and if I would go to a place where they had Johnson & Johnson, I would have no hesitancy whatsoever to take it.” Anti-abortion groups and Catholic leaders in the US and Canada have raised ethical objections to the origin of cell lines throughout the pandemic. In June, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote a letter urging the Trump administration to “incentivize” the development of vaccines that do not use such cell lines. “It is critically important that Americans have access to a vaccine that is produced ethically,” the letter said. “No American should be forced to choose between being vaccinated against this potentially deadly virus and violating his or her conscience.” New Orleans is not the only diocese to engage in anti-abortion rhetoric. In January, Joseph Strickland, bishop of Tyler, Texas and “host of The Bishop Strickland Hour on VMP Radio”, tweeted: “All the political posturing on vaccines is truly disgusting. “The fact remains that ANY vaccine available today involves using murdered children before they could even be born. I renew my pledge … I will not extend my life by USING murdered children. This is evil WAKE UP!” Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at the New York University School of Medicine, told Science magazine in June: “There are better ways to win the abortion wars than telling people not to use a vaccine. These are long-over abortions. These cells are decades old, and even major religious leaders like the pope have acknowledged that for the greater good it’s not worth the symbolism to put the community at risk.” According to Johns Hopkins University, by Tuesday morning Louisiana had recorded 430,504 Covid-19 cases and 9,628 deaths. According to one vaccinations tracker, nearly 700,000 people had received at least one shot in the state.
- Business Insider
10 Senate Democrats tell Biden to implement recurring stimulus checks after $1.9 trillion bill is passed
A group of senators thinks direct payments should be sent out regularly as the US economy gets back on its feet.
- Chicago Tribune
Heidi Stevens: Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment allegations got a whole lot ickier when he threw the word ‘mentor’ in the mix
A life hack: If you’re 63 and she’s 25 and you’re her boss, the flirtation is always, every time, definitely unwanted. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, facing sexual harassment accusations from two former aides, released a statement Sunday acknowledging that his interactions at the office “may have been insensitive or too personal.” “I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been ...