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 …

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,” …

Putin dismisses criticism of hacking and internal crackdowns ahead of Biden summit … MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin denied ordering a hit on political rival Alexei Navalny, but in an exclusive interview with NBC News he did not guarantee that the jailed Kremlin critic …

Yup, the Wuhan Institute of Virology Kept Live Bats within Its Walls  —  On the menu today: New evidence shows that despite the contentions of Peter Daszak, the Wuhan Institute of Virology did indeed have live bats within its walls; a spectacularly inaccurate op-ed attempting to dispel the lab-leak theory …

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 …

These 25 rainbow flag-waving corporations donated more than $10 million to anti-gay politicians in the last two years  —  This month, corporations are plastering their social media avatars with rainbows, sponsoring Pride parades, and declaring their unwavering commitment to the LGBTQ community.

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,” …

Justice Dept. Official to Step Down Amid Uproar Over Leaks Inquiry  —  John Demers, a Trump appointee who remained in the department, would typically have been briefed on investigations like those involving the secret collection of journalists' phone records.

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 …

The Delusions of the Radical Centrist  —  Thanks to various defects in our system of government, there are only two viable political parties in the United States.  The leadership of one is currently trying to take money away from capitalists and invest it in public infrastructure …

Demonizing Critical Race Theory  —  Critical race theory is the political right's new boogeyman.  —  The theory, born in the 1970s among legal scholars, uses race as a lens through which to examine structures of power.  It was, I would argue, a relatively obscure concept — not because it lacked merit, but because it was novel.

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” …

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.

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 …

'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 …

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 …

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 …

McConnell warns he's willing to intervene in 2022 GOP primaries  —  Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned on Monday that he and his allies are willing to step into Republican Senate primaries to try to prevent a candidate they view as unelectable in November 2022 from advancing.

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.”

Biden reassures NATO on security: ‘The United States is there’  —  At start of summit, US president tells Europe that America has its back.  —  U.S. President Joe Biden voiced a strong commitment to European security at a NATO summit on Monday, describing the alliance's collective defense clause as a “sacred obligation.”

‘Full of s—’: Candidates warned not to fake Trump endorsement  —  Lynda Blanchard donated nearly $1 million to pro-Donald Trump political committees, served as his ambassador to Slovenia and launched her Alabama Senate campaign with a video spotlighting her Trump bumper sticker-adorned pickup truck.

Media Alarmism Is the Real Threat to Democracy  —  It has now become all but impossible on any given day to find a major media news outlet that doesn't feature at least one apocalyptic opinion piece warning us that democracy is under attack by the diabolical Republican Party and its sinister leader Donald Trump.

Breyer's Departure Could Make the Supreme Court More Conservative  —  Progressives are pushing the 82-year-old justice to clear the way for a more liberal replacement  —  The recent left-wing push for Justice Stephen Breyer to retire in favor of a younger liberal justice is likely …

Contested Elections Are a Danger to Our Military  —  Mr. Ackerman, a former Marine and intelligence officer who served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, is a contributing Opinion writer.  —  The first presidential election I witnessed as a member of the military was George W. Bush vs. Al Gore in 2000.

We should rethink how we think about Vice President Harris  —  Much of the press coverage and broader narrative about Vice President Harris is embedded with two assumptions: She is a uniquely interesting figure in U.S. politics, and she is a bad politician.  Both of these are wrong.