“The slow-moving winter disaster that pummeled Texas with snow and ice will keep creeping over the northeast through Friday, with snow forecast to fall along a 2,000-mile-long swath from northwestern and north-central Texas to northern Maine, AccuWeather said. Freezing rain, sleet and ice accumulations will make travel conditions extremely dangerous, and residents should expect power outages and the possibility of tree damage, according to forecasters. The extreme weather was blamed for the deaths of at least 56 people, with a growing toll of those who perished trying to keep warm. In Texas, 7 million people are under a boil water notice, while about 325,000 homes and businesses remained without power Thursday, though utility officials said limited rolling blackouts were still possible.” Read more at USA Today
“President Joe Biden will visit Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing facility in Michigan on Friday, where he'll continue to make the case for his nearly $2 trillion COVID-19 relief package as Democrats prepare to push it through Congress. The trip will highlight Pfizer's central hub where millions of the nation's first doses of the vaccine rolled off the production line in December. The president also will meet with workers who produce the shot. The trip was originally planned for Thursday but was postponed. White House COVID-19 response team officials said Wednesday the U.S. was on track to have enough vaccine supply available for 300 million Americans ‘by the end of July.’ Biden on Friday will also announce a $4 billion U.S. commitment to the global vaccine alliance known as COVAX, according to a senior administration official, aimed at helping poor countries inoculate their populations. Biden will outline the pledge during Friday's virtual meeting with G7 members.” Read more at USA Today
“Covid-19 was spreading in China before first confirmed cases. New evidence from China is affirming what epidemiologists have long suspected: The coronavirus was likely spreading unnoticed around Wuhan, infecting people for weeks, before it exploded in mid-December 2019.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The United States formally rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement on Friday – just 107 days after it left – after former President Donald Trump exited in 2017. The agreement aims to reduce global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. While Friday’s return is heavily symbolic, world leaders say they expect the U.S. to prove its seriousness after four years of being pretty much absent. They are especially anticipating an announcement from the U.S. in coming months on its goal for cutting emissions of heat-trapping gases by 2030. The move to rejoin the Paris climate accord came along with a slew of executive orders Biden signed on his first day in office to address what his administration calls ‘four overlapping and compounding crises’ – the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting economic damage, climate change and lagging racial equity.” Read more at USA Today
“NASA safely landed a new robotic rover on Mars on Thursday, beginning its most ambitious effort in decades to directly study whether there was ever life on the now barren red planet.
While the agency has completed other missions to Mars, the $2.7 billion robotic explorer, named Perseverance, carries scientific tools that will bring advanced capabilities to the search for life beyond Earth. The rover, about the size of a car, can use its sophisticated cameras, lasers that can analyze the chemical makeup of Martian rocks and ground-penetrating radar to identify the chemical signatures of fossilized microbial life that may have thrived on Mars when it was a planet full of flowing water.” Read more at New York Times
“Three new missions that just arrived at Mars — including the latest U.S. rover that landed yesterday — will help paint a brand new picture of the Red Planet, Axios Space author Miriam Kramer reports.
Why it matters: Scientists think that Mars was once a relatively warm and habitable world. The missions from China, UAE and the U.S. will help researchers get a more holistic view of what the planet was like billions of years ago.
NASA's Perseverance rover will hunt for any signs of past life — including microbial life — in what was once a lake billions of years ago.
‘Percy,’ as some call it, is the culmination of decades of NASA work, including an instrument that can convert atmospheric carbon dioxide to oxygen — something we might want to do if humans land there someday. Read more at Axios
Photo: NASA via Reuters
“The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech generates robust immunity after one dose and can be stored in ordinary freezers instead of at ultracold temperatures, according to new research and data released by the companies.
The findings provide strong arguments in favor of delaying the second dose of the two-shot vaccine, as the U.K. has done. They could also have substantial implications on vaccine policy and distribution around the world, simplifying the logistics of distributing the vaccine.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Senator Ted Cruz and his wife hastily planned a family trip to a luxury resort in Cancún, Mexico, while the storm battered Texas. After intense criticism, Cruz flew back home.” Read more at New York Times
“The NYT’s Shane Goldmacher and Nick Fandos have the goods with text messages Cruz’s wife sent to friends inviting them on the Cancun excursion.… Cruz, appearing on the local ABC affiliate in Houston, said the trip to Cancun ‘was a mistake’ and he wouldn’t have done it if he knew how it would be perceived.
Cruz spoke with Fox News' Sean Hannity. Hannity said Cruz's plan was ‘to drop [his family] off and come home.’ Minutes later, Cruz said that he had planned to stay through the weekend.” Read at Punchbowl
“The brutal winter storm that turned Texas roads to ice, burst pipes across the state and left millions of residents shivering and without power has also damaged the reputations of three of the state’s leading Republicans.
Sen. Ted Cruz was discovered to have slipped off to Mexico on Wednesday night, only to announce his return when he was caught in the act. Gov. Greg Abbott came under fire over his leadership and misleading claims about the causes of the power outages. And former Gov. Rick Perry suggested Texans preferred power failures to federal regulation, a callous note in a moment of widespread suffering.
It’s more than just a public relations crisis for the three politicians. The storm has also battered the swaggering, Texas brand of free-market governance that’s central to the state’s political identity on the national stage.” Read more at POLITICO
“Robinhood, Citadel CEOs grilled by lawmakers. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev apologized to customers for restrictions that prevented them from buying shares in GameStop and other hot stocks, while Citadel’s Ken Griffin urged regulatory reforms to help public exchanges recapture a larger share of market activity.” Read at Wall Street Journal
“The Biden administration offered to restart nuclear talks with Iran, a potential step toward restoring the 2015 accord that Donald Trump abandoned. It’s unclear if Tehran will accept.” Read more at New York Times
“Stepping up its attacks on social science theories that it says threaten France, the French government announced this week that it would launch an investigation into academic research that it says feeds ‘Islamo-leftist’ tendencies that ‘corrupt society.’’
News of the investigation immediately caused a fierce backlash among university presidents and scholars, deepening fears of a crackdown on academic freedom — especially on studies of race, gender, post-colonial studies and other fields that the French government says have been imported from American universities and contribute to undermining French society.
While President Emmanuel Macron and some of his top ministers have spoken out forcefully against what they see as a destabilizing influence from American campuses in recent months, the announcement marked the first time that the government has moved to take action.
It came as France’s lower house of Parliament passed a draft law against Islamism, an ideology it views as encouraging terrorist attacks, and as Mr. Macron tilts further to the right, anticipating nationalist challenges ahead of elections next year.” Read more at New York Times
“U.K. and Canada sanction Myanmar junta leaders. The United Kingdom and Canada have joined the United States in imposing sanctions on Myanmar’s generals following the Feb. 1 coup that has led to mass protests across the Southeast Asian nation. On Friday, the first death linked to the protests was reported after a 20-year-old woman, Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, succumbed to a bullet wound to the head sustained during last week’s demonstrations.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“A British court ruled that Uber drivers are entitled to minimum wage and vacation days.” Read more at New York Times
“China may ban the export of rare-earths refining technology to countries or companies it deems a threat to state security and is exploring sanctions on firms including Lockheed Martin.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Ivanka Trump, daughter to former President Donald Trump and one of his top advisers in office, will not seek the Florida Senate seat held by Marco Rubio in 2022, according to reports.
Trump, whose family's move to Florida fueled speculation she would run for state office, spoke with Rubio and offered her support for his re-election, Rubio's spokesperson told the New York Times.” Read more at USA Today
“2.7 — The years by which Black Americans’ life expectancy fell during the first half of 2020, to an average of 72, according to recently released federal data. Overall, the life expectancy of Americans declined by one year, to 77.8, with researchers attributing the drops to the effects of the pandemic and rising drug-related deaths. When the full-year life expectancy data become available in May or June, demographers expect to see a further decline.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“425,000 — The approximate number of workers whose pay Walmart, the largest private employer in the U.S., has promised to raise after a year when the pandemic has boosted its business. The company employs about 1.5 million hourly workers in the U.S., where it said it would raise wages to an average above $15 an hour, up from above $14 in January 2020, while keeping its minimum U.S. starting wage at $11 an hour.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“20% — The share of the populations of the world's 92 poorest nations to which the World Health Organization aims to distribute Covid-19 shots, through its Covax program. The group has currently negotiated deals for 2.27 billion doses to be donated this year, with most countries that are set to benefit from the effort expected to receive their first shipment of doses in March.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not be returning as working members of the royal family, Buckingham Palace has said.
Prince Harry and Meghan are also giving up their royal patronages. The announcement follows weeks of speculation over their future as the one-year review of their position, announced at the time they moved away from the UK, neared.
In a statement, the palace said: ‘Following conversations with the duke, the Queen has written confirming that in stepping away from the work of the royal family it is not possible to continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service.’
‘The honorary military appointments and royal patronages held by the duke and duchess will therefore be returned to Her Majesty, before being redistributed among working members of the royal family.’” Read more at The Guardian
“Former Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole, 97, has been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.” Read more at Axios
“KAMPALA, Uganda—The trial of a U.S. resident hailed as a hero and immortalized by Hollywood for saving more than 1,200 people during the Rwandan genocide began Wednesday in the country’s capital, in a case seen as spotlighting President Paul Kagame’s efforts to quell political dissent across the globe.
Paul Rusesabagina, a 66-year-old recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom who was portrayed in the Oscar-nominated movie ‘Hotel Rwanda,’ appeared with 20 other suspects to face terrorism charges, including forming a rebel group and seeking to launch an armed insurrection.
Mr. Rusesabagina, a critic of Mr. Kagame’s government who has lived between the U.S. and Belgium for more than a decade, says the charges are politically motivated. He was arrested last year after disappearing during a visit to Dubai airport, before being paraded in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, in handcuffs. Mr. Kagame, who says Mr. Rusesabagina is a fugitive responsible for funding terrorism, denied he had been kidnapped but called the operation flawless.
The trial—which has been widely condemned by human-rights groups, members of U.S. Congress and the European Parliament, among others—is being seen as a signal that Rwanda’s government is prepared to reach far beyond its borders to quash dissent.
Mr. Kagame, in power for 20 years, has won plaudits for reducing poverty, attracting foreign capital from aid agencies and private investors, and winning support from Western leaders including Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.
But he has also ruthlessly clamped down on dissent. Rwanda’s military agency has pursued opponents who have fled into exile from neighboring nations including Uganda and Burundi to South Africa, Belgium and the U.K. An exiled Rwandan journalist was shot in a bar in Kampala in 2011. Three years later, a Rwandan former spy chief turned Kagame critic was found strangled in his hotel room in South Africa. Pretoria later expelled several Rwandan diplomats following a failed assassination attempt against another prominent critic, Kayumba Nyamwasa, a former military chief who lives in South Africa. Police in the U.K. warned Rwandan dissidents that they face threats from Kigali.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Harvard University professor Cornel West, the well known philosopher, progressive political activist, and outspoken social critic, is threatening to leave the university after he said the administration disrespected him by denying his request to be considered for tenure.
If West follows through on the threat, it would be his second departure from the university, where he teaches in the law school, divinity school, and Department of African and African American Studies.” Read more at Boston Globe“A 32-year-old British man was offered a chance to jump the coronavirus vaccine queue after national health records mistakenly identified him as the most obese man to have ever lived.
A clerical error classified Liam Thorp, a political editor with the Liverpool Echo, as having a height of 6.2 centimeters instead of his actual height of 6 feet 2 inches. The resulting Body Mass Index of 28,000—or 27,960 points more than the obesity threshold—put Thorp in line for a vaccine as he qualified as an at-risk adult.
Thorp eventually queried his doctor, who apologetically explained over the phone how the erroneous vaccine invitation came about. ‘If I had been less stunned,’ Thorp wrote in the Echo, ‘I would have asked why no one was more concerned that a man of these remarkable dimensions was slithering around south Liverpool.’” Read more at Foreign Policy