A deadly fire left a Baghdad hospital in charred ruins. (Photo by Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters)
“At least 82 people died in a hospital fire Saturday night in Iraq's capital city of Baghdad, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said Sunday.
Another 110 people were injured in the blaze at Ibn al-Khatib Hospital, according to ministry spokesman Major General Khaled Al-Muhanna.
The fire started after oxygen tanks exploded, two health officials at the hospital told CNN.
Social media videos showed a chaotic scene as firefighters scrambled to put out the blaze and health workers tried to evacuate patients. People from all over Iraq are referred to the hospital in southeastern Baghdad, including many with Covid-19.” Read more at CNN
“The Democrat Troy Carter won a special election for a vacant US House seat in Louisiana, defeating a state senate colleague in an acrimonious clash that divided New Orleans.
Carter easily beat Karen Carter Peterson on Saturday in the race for Louisiana’s only Democrat-held seat in Congress, in a victory for the moderate side of the party after Peterson, who would have been the first Black woman elected to Congress from the state, planted herself in the progressive camp.
The state senators had both made previous failed bids for the seat and the race centered mainly on personality.
The second district – majority Black, based on New Orleans but extending up the Mississippi into Baton Rouge and covering areas with severe pollution problems – was open because Cedric Richmond left the position shortly after he won last year’s election to work as a special adviser to Joe Biden.
Each candidate touted high-profile endorsements.
Peterson had backing from the voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams, progressive New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell, among others.” Read more at The Guardian
“President Biden nears the end of his first 100 days in office with a slight majority of Americans approving of his performance and supporting his major policy initiatives, but his approval rating is lower than any recent past presidents except Donald Trump, with potential warning signs ahead about his governing strategy, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Overall, 52 percent of adults say they approve of the job Biden is doing, compared with 42 percent who disapprove. At this point in his presidency four years ago, Trump’s rating was nearly the reverse, with approval at 42 percent and disapproval at 53 percent. Overall, 34 percent of Americans say they strongly approve of Biden’s performance, compared with 35 percent who strongly disapprove.
Biden receives the highest marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with 64 percent of adults — including 33 percent of Republicans — giving him positive ratings. His approval rating for his handling of the economy stands at 52 percent. But 53 percent say they disapprove of the way he has dealt with the immigration situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, a problem that has vexed his administration for much of its first months.” Read more at Washington Post
“Maryland officials said they will review all in-custody death reports during the tenure of the state’s former chief medical examiner after he testified that former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was not responsible for George Floyd’s death.
Dr. David Fowler, Maryland's chief medical examiner from 2002 to 2019, was a key defense witness for Chauvin, who was convicted Tuesday of murder and manslaughter for kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes.
The announcement of the investigation came from Attorney General Brian Frosh and Gov. Larry Hogan on Friday, less than 24 hours after the attorney general’s office received a letter from D.C.’s former chief medical examiner Roger Mitchell, and signed by 431 doctors from around the country, saying Fowler’s conclusions were so far outside the bounds of accepted forensic practice that all his previous work could come into question.” Read more at Boston Globe
“The next court hearing over Britney Spears conservatorship is set for Tuesday in Los Angeles. The singer wants her father replaced as conservator of her person. The matter has drawn heightened interest since the documentary, “Framing Britney Spears,” debuted this year, prompting the hashtag #FreeBritney among celebs and others.” Read more at CNN
“President Biden is due to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, nearly 100 days after he took office. The address comes as his administration continues to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and to pitch lawmakers on his massive infrastructure proposal. Also that day, expect to hear from the Federal Reserve about how long historically low interest rates could hang around.” Read more at CNN
“Louisiana State University will bar former star running back Derrius Guice from future involvement with the school’s athletic programs and strip his name from its record books, while also cutting ties with a law firm that helped hide results of an investigation into sexual harassment allegations against former football coach Les Miles.
The moves, first reported Friday by The Advocate in Baton Rouge, are part of LSU’s ongoing response to last month’s Husch Blackwell report, which detailed LSU’s ‘serious institutional failure’ when it came to handling cases of physical and gender violence. Husch Blackwell is the outside law firm LSU hired in November to review its handling of Title IX cases after USA TODAY chronicled systemic failures.
Those included multiple sexual misconduct complaints against Guice, who still holds LSU’s single-game rushing record and is fifth on the school’s career rushing list.
USA TODAY reported in August that LSU was told that two women had accused Guice of sexually assaulting them in 2016. A third woman told USA TODAY in a November story that Guice had taken a partially nude photo of her and shared it without her knowledge or permission, also in 2016.
Federal laws and LSU’s own policies required university officials to report the allegations to the school’s Title IX office for investigation, as well as to campus police if the incidents occurred on school property. Instead, officials either doubted the women’s stories, didn’t investigate or didn’t call the police, allowing Guice to continue his football career.
The Washington Football Team took Guice in the second round of the 2018 NFL draft. The team cut him in August, after he was arrested on domestic violence charges.” Read more at USA Today
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is back in the mix.
“States across the country resumed administering Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines on Saturday, at sites including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, above, a day after the F.D.A. lifted its temporary pause over concerns about extremely rare blood clots. The single-shot vaccine now comes with a warning label about the disorder, which has been identified in 15 people out of the nearly eight million doses given out.
The label notes that ‘most cases’ of the clotting disorder have occurred in women between 18 and 49 years old.
As Johnson & Johnson shots are distributed again, a new worry about the two other federally authorized vaccines has emerged: Nearly 8 percent of those who got initial Pfizer or Moderna shots missed their second doses. In some cases, problems with shipments or scheduling may be playing a role.” Read more at New York Times
“India now accounts for nearly half of all new Covid cases in a global surge. But experts say the number is just a fraction of the virus’s real reach in the country.
As Indian officials reported nearly 350,000 new infections on Saturday, a world record, hospitals are unbearably full, oxygen supplies are dangerously low and people are dying in line waiting to see doctors. The sudden surge in recent weeks has cast doubt on India’s official Covid-19 death toll of nearly 200,000. Reports from cremation grounds, above, suggest a far greater number.
India’s crisis is wreaking havoc on the global vaccination effort, especially in Africa, after the government in Delhi restricted exports of doses to deal with its own outbreak. Now the U.S. is under pressure to release vaccine supplies that Indian vaccine makers say they need to expand production.” Read more at New York Times
“We’re also watching developments out of Elizabeth City, N.C., where seven sheriff’s deputies were put on leave after they shot and killed Andrew Brown Jr., a Black man, on Wednesday. The governor called for the release of body-camera footage.” Read more at New York Times
“President Biden recognized the killing of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, equating the violence with the scale of those committed in Nazi-occupied Europe, Cambodia and Rwanda.
The declaration by Biden, on the 106th anniversary of a brutal campaign by the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, reflected his administration’s commitment to human rights.
Biden’s predecessors have been reluctant to anger Turkey, whose leaders have denied that the killings amounted to genocide. The Turkish government, as well as human rights activists and ethnic Armenians, described the move as largely symbolic.” Read more at New York Times
Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
“Scott Rudin, the powerful Broadway and Hollywood producer, was known for his eye for talent and his vile temper. Now he is facing a reckoning.
An article this month in The Hollywood Reporter detailing his long history of bullying led Rudin to announce that he would step back from “active participation” in his projects. To gain a fuller picture of how he used and abused power at all levels, Times reporters interviewed dozens of people in the entertainment industry who had worked with Rudin.
Former employees said he had thrown things at walls, at windows, at the ground and, occasionally, toward subordinates. Screaming and swearing were routine. His comeuppance arrives as the industry looks to shape its post-pandemic future.” Read more at New York Times