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Mutated virus may reinfect people already stricken once with covid-19, sparking debate and concerns

Mutated virus may reinfect people already stricken once with covid-19, sparking debate and concerns

The Washington Post reports: A trial of an experimental coronavirus vaccine detected the most sobering signal yet that people who have recovered from infections are not completely protected against a variant that originated in South Africa and is spreading rapidly, preliminary data presented this week suggests. The finding, though far from conclusive, has potential implications for how the pandemic will be brought under control, underscoring the critical role of vaccination, including for people who have already recovered from infections. Reaching…

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Are pandemics the cost of human recklessness towards nature?

Are pandemics the cost of human recklessness towards nature?

Piyush Nanda writes: In an area devastated by deforestation, an 18-month-old toddler from the nearest settlement, Meliandou in Guinea, was seen playing around a fallen tree swarming with bats. The child then contracted a mysterious illness, which spread to many who came in contact. After it had already killed 30 people, the illness was identified as Ebola. Comprehensive studies have since connected 25 of the 27 Ebola outbreaks in Africa, like the 2014 outbreak that originated in Guinea, to regions…

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Breaking with GOP, top conservative lawyer says Trump can stand trial

Breaking with GOP, top conservative lawyer says Trump can stand trial

The New York Times reports: One of Washington’s leading conservative constitutional lawyers publicly broke on Sunday with the main Republican argument against convicting former President Donald J. Trump in his impeachment trial, asserting that an ex-president can indeed be tried for high crimes and misdemeanors. In an opinion piece posted on The Wall Street Journal’s website, the lawyer, Charles J. Cooper, who is closely allied with top Republicans in Congress, dismissed as illogical the claim that it is unconstitutional to…

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After record 2020 turnout, state Republicans want to make voting more difficult

After record 2020 turnout, state Republicans want to make voting more difficult

NPR reports: After an election that saw record voter turnout, with many of those voters casting their ballots early and by mail, some GOP state lawmakers are proposing a wave of new voting laws that would effectively make it more difficult to vote in future elections. The proposals come in the aftermath of the unprecedented onslaught of disinformation about the conduct of the 2020 election by former President Trump and some of his allies in the Republican Party. “Some folks…

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UK exports to EU slashed by 68% since Brexit

UK exports to EU slashed by 68% since Brexit

The Observer reports: The volume of exports going through British ports to the EU fell by a staggering 68% last month compared with January last year, mostly as a result of problems caused by Brexit, the Observer can reveal. The dramatic drop in the volume of traffic carried on ferries and through the Channel tunnel has been reported to Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove by the Road Haulage Association after a survey of its international members. In a letter to…

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The secret history of the shadow campaign that saved the 2020 election

The secret history of the shadow campaign that saved the 2020 election

Molly Ball reports: A weird thing happened right after the Nov. 3 election: nothing. The nation was braced for chaos. Liberal groups had vowed to take to the streets, planning hundreds of protests across the country. Right-wing militias were girding for battle. In a poll before Election Day, 75% of Americans voiced concern about violence. Instead, an eerie quiet descended. As President Trump refused to concede, the response was not mass action but crickets. When media organizations called the race…

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Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion lawsuit poses a real threat to Fox News

Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion lawsuit poses a real threat to Fox News

CNN reports: “This is the definition of defamation.” That’s what CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates told Erin Burnett Thursday night when discussing Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, three of the network’s hosts (Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, and Jeanine Pirro), Rudy Giuliani, and Sidney Powell. “When you are making statements that are knowingly false, and you make them with malice, and you actually tarnish reputations and it has a financial consequence — that’s why you have defamation…

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‘We’ve learned to love the guy’: How Biden charmed the left

‘We’ve learned to love the guy’: How Biden charmed the left

Politico reports: During a call with House Democrats on Wednesday, President Joe Biden used data from a three-year-old progressive think tank to argue his case for a massive Covid-relief plan. The think tank, Data for Progress, may not have been in existence when Biden was vice president, but it’s become a mainstay for activists and lawmakers on the left. That its work product was shown love by the most establishment of Democrats did not go unnoticed among those who heard…

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Did the Proud Boys help coordinate the Capitol riot? Yes, U.S. suggests

Did the Proud Boys help coordinate the Capitol riot? Yes, U.S. suggests

The New York Times reports: When Ethan Nordean, the “sergeant of arms” for the Seattle Proud Boys, led a mob of his fellow far-right nationalists on a winding march to the Capitol last month, an angry crowd had already gathered at the barricades, facing off against a small detachment of the Capitol Police. It was then, court papers say, that Mr. Nordean had a brief exchange with a young man in the throng wearing goggles, a battle helmet and head-to-toe…

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Trump’s allies fear the impeachment trial could be a PR nightmare

Trump’s allies fear the impeachment trial could be a PR nightmare

Politico reports: Allies of former President Donald Trump are imploring his impeachment team to avoid one specific topic when they defend the ex-president at his Senate trial next week: the deadly riot that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol. Despite Trump’s likely acquittal on charges that he incited an insurrection, some of his most ardent supporters fear the trial could further damage his reputation if his attorneys wade into the events of Jan. 6, when five people were killed — including…

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Why QAnon survives after Trump

Why QAnon survives after Trump

NPR reports: Inauguration Day should have punctured the conspiracy theory at the heart of QAnon. Adherents of the discredited extremist ideology falsely believe that former President Trump is a savior who will stay in power as he wages a war against a cabal of satanic pedophiles. Indeed, for some believers, who saw President Biden get sworn in instead of Trump, the moment was a reality check. Yet even with their hero out of office, QAnon’s fiercest followers will find a…

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Nevada bill would allow tech companies to create governments

Nevada bill would allow tech companies to create governments

The Associated Press reports: Planned legislation to establish new business areas in Nevada would allow technology companies to effectively form separate local governments. Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak announced a plan to launch so-called Innovation Zones in Nevada to jumpstart the state’s economy by attracting technology firms, Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Wednesday. The zones would permit companies with large areas of land to form governments carrying the same authority as counties, including the ability to impose taxes, form school districts and…

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The mystery of India’s plummeting Covid-19 cases

The mystery of India’s plummeting Covid-19 cases

NPR reports: Last September, India was confirming nearly 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day. It was on track to overtake the United States to become the country with the highest reported COVID-19 caseload in the world. Hospitals were full. The Indian economy nosedived into an unprecedented recession. But four months later, India’s coronavirus numbers have plummeted. Late last month, on Jan. 26, the country’s Health Ministry confirmed a record low of about 9,100 new daily cases — in a country…

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Biden will sign order rebuilding refugee program that Trump nearly dismantled

Biden will sign order rebuilding refugee program that Trump nearly dismantled

Vox reports: President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he will sign an executive order to rebuild the US’s refugee resettlement program, raising the annual cap on admissions to 125,000 starting in October. In a speech at the State Department, he acknowledged that the US refugee program suffered under former President Donald Trump, who slashed the cap on refugee admissions to just 15,000 this fiscal year — the lowest number since the refugee program was created in 1980 and down from…

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