“Pfizer expects to nearly cut in half the amount of time it takes to produce a batch of COVID-19 vaccine, from 110 days to an average of 60, as it makes the process more efficient and production is built out, the company told USA TODAY.
As the nation revs up its vaccination programs, the increase could help relieve bottlenecks caused by vaccine shortages.” Read more in USA Today
Protesters march during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon. Photograph: Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images
“Tens of thousands of people have poured on to the streets across Myanmar for a second day of demonstrations opposing the military coup and demanding the return of democracy.
Myanmar’s army seized power on Monday, detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a thumping election victory in November. The military has refused to accept the results of the vote and has alleged widespread fraud, a claim observers have rejected.
The junta blocked internet access on Saturday and restricted phone lines across the country in an attempt to stop protests, but large crowds continued to join the biggest demonstrations in the country since the 2007 Saffron Revolution, when thousands of Buddhist monks marched against military rule.
By mid-morning on Sunday, protesters had taken to the streets in Yangon, as well as in the city of Mandalay in central Myanmar and the coastal town of Mawlamyine in the south-east. Hundreds more camped overnight outside a police station in the town of Payathonzu in Karen state, where local NLD politicians were reportedly arrested. They remained outside in the morning, singing pro-democracy songs, Reuters reported.
‘We will protest until our lady and our president have been released and reinstated. We know it is dangerous but we will continue to protest. We want our Lady to be safe,’ said Htet Thar, who vowed to continue protesting every day.
Despite communication blocks, some footage of the demonstrations has emerged. In one video taken on Sunday, shots were heard as police broke up a protest in the south-eastern town of Myawaddy, according to Reuters. The video showed uniformed police armed with guns rushing at a crowd of a couple of hundred demonstrators. It is unclear what kind of munitions were used or whether there were any casualties.” Read more at The Guardian
Jamie Squire/Getty Images, Rob Carr/Getty Images
“The biggest event in American sports comes down to a battle of the ages.
Tom Brady, 43, will lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against Patrick Mahomes, 25, and the Kansas City Chiefs. Brady, seemingly defying nature, will be the oldest player to participate in a Super Bowl in any position. This will be his 10th championship game.
Brady and Mahomes are brilliant quarterbacks with very different approaches. We evaluate their key differences. But in the end, here’s why our Sports desk thinks the Chiefs will win.
Kickoff for Super Bowl LV is at 6:30 p.m. Eastern. Here’s everything you need to know.” Read more at New York Times
“Senior Democrats on Monday will unveil legislation to provide $3,000 per child to tens of millions of American families, aiming to make a major dent in child poverty as part of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic relief package.
The 22-page bill to dramatically expand direct cash benefits to American families was obtained by The Washington Post ahead of its release.
Under the proposal, the Internal Revenue Service would provide $3,600 over the course of the year per child under the age of 6, as well as $3,000 per child of ages 6 to 17. The size of the benefit would diminish for Americans earning more than $75,000 per year, as well as for couples jointly earning more than $150,000 per year. The payments would be sent monthly beginning in July, a delay intended to give the IRS time to prepare for the massive new initiative.” Read more at Washington Post
“The White House on Saturday said President Biden’s statement that his predecessor should not receive intelligence briefings did not represent a final decision on the matter, which will instead be resolved by intelligence officials.” Read more at Washington Post
“Opening arguments begin Tuesday in the Senate impeachment trial against Trump. Senators will vote whether to convict or acquit him after the House swiftly impeached him last month on a charge he incited an insurrection at the US Capitol. No final decisions have been made on how hard to pursue his testimony or issue a subpoena.” Read more at CNN
“The Wyoming Republican Party on Saturday voted to censure Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the latest in a series of rebukes against the congresswoman and other Republicans who joined House Democrats last month in voting to impeach former President Trump.
The Associated Press reported that the majority of the 74-member state GOP’s central committee voted in favor of the censure resolution, with only eight opposing the move.
The vote, which is largely symbolic, criticizes Cheney for voting to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot without offering the then-president a ‘formal hearing or due process,’ according to the censure document.” Read more at The Hill
“President Biden’s first immigration crisis has already begun as thousands of families have surged toward the southwestern border in recent weeks, propelled by expectations of a friendlier reception and by a change in Mexican policy that makes it harder for the United States to expel some of the migrants.
More than 1,000 people who had been detained after crossing have been released into the country in recent days in a swift reversal from the Trump administration’s near shutdown of the border. Many more people are gathering on the Mexican side, aggravating conditions there and testing America’s ability and willingness to admit migrants during a pandemic.” Read more at New York Times
“The Biden administration said on Saturday it was immediately suspending Trump-era asylum agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, part of a bid to undo his Republican predecessor’s hardline immigration policies.” Read more at Reuters
Protesters attend a rally to have airline and airport workers considered essential and eligible for a Covid vaccine. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA
“California’s coronavirus death toll is continuing to climb. Its vaccination rates remain low. And some of its residents are losing faith in their governor.
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has found himself in an increasingly precarious political position: a Republican-led recall movement is garnering support from far-right groups as well as mainstream Republicans and some Silicon Valley bigwigs. And while the effort is unlikely to succeed in unseating him, even long-term allies are publicly questioning his leadership through this latest, most deadly phase of the crisis.
He was hailed as a national hero in the early months of the pandemic, but Newsom’s job rating has plunged in recent weeks. Just under a third of voters polled by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies rated the governor’s overall handling of the pandemic well, while 44% said he was doing badly. It’s a complete reversal from September, when 49% of those polled by the institute said Newsom was doing an excellent or good job – and 28% rated him poorly.
Criticism has come from all sides. Legislators have been divided over his decision to lift regional stay-at-home orders a week after the state surpassed 3m coronavirus cases. Health workers have been dismayed that some of his recent health directives have diverged from established and emerging scientific research. He has bickered with teachers unions and parents over when and how to reopen the state’s public schools. Activists say he is failing Latino and Black residents, Californians with disabilities and essential workers who are dying at disproportionate rates. And jobless Californians, struggling to access unemployment benefits, have cursed the administration’s bureaucratic inertia.” Read more at The Guardian
“The Trump Organization negotiated on behalf of then-president Donald Trump to make Parler his primary social network, but it had a condition: an ownership stake in return for joining, according to documents and four people familiar with the conversations. The deal was never finalized, but legal experts said the discussions alone, which occurred while Trump was still in office, raise legal concerns with regards to anti-bribery laws.
Talks between members of Trump’s campaign and Parler about Trump’s potential involvement began last summer, and were revisited in November by the Trump Organization after Trump lost the 2020 election to the Democratic nominee and current president, Joe Biden. Documents seen by BuzzFeed News show that Parler offered the Trump Organization a 40% stake in the company. It is unclear as to what extent the former president was involved with the discussions.” Read more at Buzzfeed
“Amid the bustle of beggars and patients outside the crowded hospital here, there are sellers and buyers, casting wary eyes at one another: The poor, seeking cash for their vital organs, and the gravely ill or their surrogates, looking to buy.
The illegal kidney business is booming in the western city of Herat, fueled by sprawling slums, the surrounding land’s poverty and unending war, an entrepreneurial hospital that advertises itself as the country’s first kidney transplantation center, and officials and doctors who turn a blind eye to organ trafficking.
In Afghanistan, as in most countries, the sale and purchase of organs is illegal, and so is the implanting of purchased organs by physicians. But the practice remains a worldwide problem, particularly when it comes to kidneys, since most donors can live with just one.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Demonstrators angered by the fatal police shooting of a popular street juggler set several public buildings ablaze in southern Chile Friday night, leaving a city of almost 34,000 people practically without public services.
Ten public offices in the city of Panguipulli burned to the ground, including the municipal government building, the post office, the civil registry, a local court and a water management company, the authorities said.
A police officer has been detained in the shooting, the head of the regional homicide unit, Rodrigo Morales, said on Saturday, adding that investigators were gathering video evidence from witnesses. The officer was not publicly identified and did not appear on Saturday at a court hearing, where he was represented by a lawyer.
The shooting took place after the juggler, identified as Francisco Martínez, did not comply with a police officer’s request to provide identification as he performed at a busy intersection in the center of Panguipulli, a popular lakeside community, witnesses said.” Read more at New York Times
“Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl at 2 p.m. today will feature 70 pups from nearly two dozen shelters competing for the "Lombarky Trophy." If cats are more your thing, Hallmark Channel will have a feline-powered Kitten Bowl of adoptable cats at the same time.” Read more at CNN
“The town of Palm Beach, Florida, is holding a council meeting Tuesday to review the use of Mar-a-Lago as former President Donald Trump's permanent home. When he turned the private residence into a social club, he had agreed with the town to limit his stays there, and some residents say he's violating that agreement.” Read more at CNN
“A hearing is scheduled Thursday in the Britney Spears conservatorship case. The singer's financial affairs have been monitored by a judge since early 2008, when she exhibited bizarre public behavior. Jodi Montgomery, her care manager since 2019, is now her temporary conservator.” Read more at CNN
“The Texas Republican party has endorsed legislation that would allow state residents to vote whether to secede from the United States.” Read more at The Guardian
“The nation’s mail service is slower and more erratic than it’s been in generations, via the confluence of an abrupt reorganization and pandemic-era anomalies that has fueled demands for reform and fundamentally different ideas on how to achieve it.
On one side is Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who, with the backing of the U.S. Postal Service’s governing board, is expected as soon as next week to outline a new vision for the agency, one that includes more service cuts, higher and region-specific pricing, and lower delivery expectations.
But congressional Democrats are pressing President Biden to install new board members, creating a majority bloc that could oust DeJoy, a Trump loyalist whose aggressive cost-cutting over the summer has been singled out for much of the performance decline. The fight over the agency’s future is expected to be fraught and protracted, leaving Americans with unreliable mail delivery for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, customers are fuming on social media and to postal workers about late holiday packages and days-long delivery gaps. Only 38 percent of nonlocal first-class mail arrived on time in late December, compared with 92 percent in the year-ago period, according to data reported in federal voting lawsuits. The agency has not disclosed performance data in 2021.” Read more at Washington Post
“Four skiers are dead and four others injured after an avalanche in Utah, authorities said.” Read more at CNN
“Top baby food manufacturers knowingly sold products with high levels of toxic metals, report shows. “ Read more at CNN
“In India, two people died and 157 others are missing after a burst glacier caused massive floods.” Read more at CNN
“President Donald Trump’s onslaught of falsehoods about the November election misled millions of Americans, undermined faith in the electoral system, sparked a deadly riot — and has now left taxpayers with a large, and growing, bill.
The total so far: $519 million.
The costs have mounted daily as government agencies at all levels have been forced to devote public funds to respond to actions taken by Trump and his supporters, according to a Washington Post review of local, state and federal spending records, as well as interviews with government officials. The expenditures include legal fees prompted by dozens of fruitless lawsuits, enhanced security in response to death threats against poll workers, and costly repairs needed after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. That attack triggered the expensive massing of thousands of National Guard troops on the streets of Washington amid fears of additional extremist violence.
Although more than $480 million of the total is attributable to the military’s estimated expenses for the troop deployment through mid-March, the financial impact of the president’s refusal to concede the election is probably much higher than what has been documented thus far, and the true costs may never be known.” Read more at Washington Post
“The long-assumed is now the assured. Peyton Manning will be enshrined and immortalized in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Indianapolis Colts icon and NFL legend was officially selected Saturday night as one of five Modern Era inductees of the Class of 2021.
Among others elected were Packers and Raiders defensive back Charles Woodson and Lions receiver Calvin Johnson.” Read more at USA Today
“Boxing legend Leon Spinks died at the age of 67 on Friday night in a Henderson, Nevada, hospital near his home after battling with prostate cancer for several years, according to family friend Joe Bernal.
Spinks served in the Marine Corps before he rocketed to international fame in 1978 when he beat Muhammad Ali in a split decision to earn the undisputed world heavyweight title in what was considered one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
‘It was considered a mere joke,’ fellow boxing great George Foreman told USA TODAY Sports when reflecting on that historic bout. ‘Why in the world would they put (Spinks) in the ring with Muhammad Ali with such a short boxing career?’
‘He beat the devil out of Muhammad, from pillar to post, even Muhammad was surprised.’
‘(Spinks) was legitimate, and he has his rightful place in the history of heavyweight boxers.’
Spinks' gap-toothed smile became his trademark as he burst on the scene as an amateur. Fighting alongside his brother Michael and a charismatic light welterweight by the name of Ray Leonard, they became most successful U.S. Olympic boxing team in history.
All three fighters won gold at the 1976 Summer Games, as did countrymen Howard Davis and Leo Randolph. Teammates Charles Mooney won silver and John Tate bronze.” Read more at USA Today