Novavax's coronavirus vaccine is 90 percent effective, study finds  —  The vaccine is one of six the U.S. bet on but is likely to have its biggest impact globally  —  Novavax, a Maryland biotechnology company that endured delays in developing a coronavirus vaccine, revealed results Monday showing …

POLITICO Playbook: Manchin and Sinema still might get their way  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  President JOE BIDEN is at NATO headquarters in Brussels today explaining his decision to pull out of Afghanistan to allies who felt blindsided.  The House is back in session and will soon be debating …

Ralph Northam Reflects on His Journey Back From the Edge  —  When a racist picture was discovered on his yearbook page, the governor of Virginia refused to resign.  Now he's leaving office with a widely praised progressive record on racial justice.  —  RICHMOND, Va. — Just two years ago …

Why The New Yorker's Stars Didn't Join Its Union  —  The 96-year-old magazine, known for its revered writers and sophisticated audience, is being consumed by a labor dispute.  —  Writers for The New Yorker have been known to refer to the editor, David Remnick, as “Dad,” …

Kayleigh McEnany Claims ‘I Never Lied’ as Trump's White House Press Secretary, Cites Belief in God  —  Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany proclaimed Sunday that her faith in God prevented her from ever telling a single lie during her tenure as former President Donald Trump's chief spokesperson.

The NYC Mayor's Race Is a Warning for Progressives  —  Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most prominent progressive politicians in the country, warned last week that her hometown is at high risk of having a decidedly moderate mayor.  Standing in New York's City Hall Park …

Westminster Dog Show 2021: Wasabi the Pekingese Wins Best in Show  —  Wasabi's victory capped an unusual Westminster, held at a riverside estate in Westchester County instead of its usual home at Madison Square Garden because of the coronavirus pandemic.  —  TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — Wasabi …

'I didn't take an oath to defend Donald Trump': Rep. Tom Rice tests whether Republican voters will support a conservative who crossed Trump  —  MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Republican Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina has been a reliable conservative during his five terms in Congress …

Netanyahu Plots Comeback Even Before New Government Sworn In  — 'We'll be back — soon,' he said before successor was sworn in  — Coalition is shaky, but comeback threat might prop it up  —  Benjamin Netanyahu, unseated after a bruising, two-year battle to hold on to his job, is already plotting a comeback.

Exclusive: US assessing reported leak at Chinese nuclear power facility  —  (CNN)The US government has spent the past week assessing a report of a leak at a Chinese nuclear power plant, after a French company that part owns and helps operate it warned of an “imminent radiological threat,” …

Biden will give Putin a list of demands.  The Russian president may ignore them.  —  But those demands raise a question that is vexing U.S. policymakers and the United States' European allies: What happens if Putin ignores the demands, as he has signaled he will do?

Exclusive: Saudi assassins picked up illicit drugs in Cairo to kill Khashoggi  —  Early on the morning of Oct. 2, 2018, a Gulfstream jet carrying a team of Saudi assassins on its way to Istanbul made a quick stopover in Cairo.  The purpose: to pick up a lethal dose of “illegal” …

‘Network’ & ‘Superman’ Actor Ned Beatty Dead at 83  —  EXCLUSIVE  —  REMEMBERING NED BEATTY  —  3:28 PM PT — Ned's manager tells us ... his client died around 7:30 AM this morning of natural causes, surrounded by friends and loved ones.  —  Ned Beatty — a veteran character actor …

What the Rich Don't Want to Admit About the Poor  —  I'm not going to pretend that I know how to interpret the jobs and inflation data of the past few months.  My view is that this is still an economy warped by the pandemic, and that the dynamics are so strange and so unstable that it will be some time before we know its true state.

Temp checks, digital menus and ‘touchless’ mustard: The maddening persistence of ‘hygiene theater’  —  At an ice cream shop in Rockville, Md., gloved servers scoop the frozen treat into cups, but a sign taped to the front window says “No cones: Covid.”  At McDonald's outlets along I-95 in Virginia …

Anatomy of the Woke Madness  —  How did such collective madness infect a once pragmatic and commonsensical America?  —  Wokeism has become our most popular secular religion—at least for a moment dethroning climate change.  It reduces all of the past and present into puerile binaries between “whites” and “non-whites.”

This is the Republicans' back-up plan in case they can't suppress enough votes  —  Like termites, destructive but largely unseen, anti-democracy forces around the country are gnawing at the foundations of America's free and fair elections.  —  State by state, the termites are trying to change …

Tom Hanks Is A Non-Racist.  It's Time For Him To Be Anti-Racist  —  First, I must note how much I love Tom Hanks as a performer, Hollywood citizen and all-around stand-up guy.  —  Of course, he's a consummate actor, with two Oscars and starring roles in landmark films such as Philadelphia and Forrest Gump.

Lobbyists for Putin's Pipeline Dodge Foreign Agent Laws  —  The State Department labels Nord Stream 2 executives as ‘foreign persons’  —  Beltway firms lobbying for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline have dodged foreign lobbying laws, even though the Biden administration has affirmed that the company behind …

In Congress, Republicans Shrug at Warnings of Democracy in Peril  —  As G.O.P. legislatures move to curtail voting rules, congressional Democrats say authoritarianism looms, but Republicans dismiss the concerns as politics as usual.  —  WASHINGTON — Senator Christopher S. Murphy concedes …

Nicaragua: Five more opposition figures detained ahead of election  —  Police in Nicaragua have detained five more prominent opposition figures, in what critics say is a crackdown on opponents of the country's president.  —  Several former allies of long-time President Daniel Ortega were among those arrested on Sunday.

Sen. Ron Johnson Claims Jan. 6 Was Not an ‘Armed Insurrection’ Because People Stayed ‘Within the Roped Lines’  —  Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) reiterated his belief Sunday that the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was a “non-violent” gathering.  —  Fox News' Mark Levin asked the senator …

House GOP prays Trump can kick his habit of 2020 grievances  —  Donald Trump just can't seem to quit 2020.  That means Republicans can't either.  —  The former president is returning to the national spotlight with plans to play a central role in the GOP's push to reclaim power …