Top Items:
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: MTG plays cat and mouse with McCarthy — DRIVING THE DAY — Just a few days after Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE called KEVIN MCCARTHY “weak” and said he needed to earn her vote to become speaker, the Republican lawmaker from Georgia took a different tone toward the GOP leader Friday night.
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Carl Zimmer / New York Times:
New Virus Variant Stokes Concern but Vaccines Still Likely to Work — The Omicron variant carries worrisome mutations that may let it evade antibodies, scientists said. But it will take more research to know how it fares against vaccinated people. — Scientific experts …
Erin Banco / Politico:
New Covid variant triggers urgent moment for Biden health team — The emergence of the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 has sparked urgent conversations among top Biden administration health officials about how to fend off a potential new surge in the U.S. and about the need to significantly ramp …
Discussion:
NBC Boston, Politico, BBC and Reuters
Reuters:
U.S. President Biden calls for intellectual property protection waivers after Omicron discovery — U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday called on nations expected to meet at the World Trade Organization next week to agree to waive intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines in the wake …
The Guardian:
South Africa accuses UK and others of ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to new variant — Travel restrictions on southern African states imposed by countries after discovery of B.1.1.529 already harming economy — Nick Dall in Cape Town and Lizzy Davies — South Africa has angrily condemned travel …
Discussion:
Telegraph, Slate, Simple Flying, HotAir and Politico
Carl Campanile / New York Post:
Gov. Kathy Hochul orders halt on elective surgery amid COVID spike, Omicron — Here we go again. — Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Friday to postpone elective hospital surgeries — something that hasn't been done since the worst of the initial coronavirus outbreak last year.
Discussion:
The Guardian and Trending Politics
World Health Organization: WHO:
Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern
Discussion:
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Sarah Mervosh / New York Times:
In Minneapolis Schools, White Families Are Asked to Help Do the Integrating — In a citywide overhaul, a beloved Black high school was rezoned to include white students from a richer neighborhood. It has been hard for everyone. — MINNEAPOLIS — When Mauri Friestleben learned that Minneapolis …
NBC News:
Laser-focused on 2020, Trump seeks a Michigan Legislature that could help him in 2024 — Jon Rocha was settling in to watch the new “Ghostbusters” with his young daughter at the movies last week when he got the news: Former President Donald Trump had endorsed his bid for state representative in Michigan.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Bruce Weber / New York Times:
Stephen Sondheim, Titan of the American Musical, Is Dead at 91 — He was the theater's most revered and influential composer-lyricist of the last half of the 20th century and the driving force behind some of Broadway's most beloved and celebrated shows. — Stephen Sondheim …
Danny Lee / South China Morning Post:
BA to temporarily suspend passenger flights to and from Hong Kong — Two separate sources say British flag carrier took decision after at least one of its aircrew members tested positive for Covid-19 at Hong Kong airport Most of the BA staff on flight were then taken to Penny's Bay quarantine centre …
Discussion:
Bloomberg
Associated Press:
Court blocks Covid-19 vaccine mandate for California prisons — WHO calls Omicron strain a ‘variant of concern’ as U.S. adds travel restrictions — A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked an order that all California prison workers must be vaccinated against the coronavirus or have a religious or medical exemption.
Discussion:
HotAir, The Hill and National Review
New York Times:
Seeking Backers for New Fund, Jared Kushner Turns to Middle East — Former President Donald J. Trump's son-in-law is trying to raise capital for his investment firm and is turning to a region that he dealt with extensively while in the White House. — As a White House adviser …
Discussion:
Insider, POLITICUSUSA, Digby's Hullabaloo and Raw Story
The National Interest:
Russian & Chinese Ambassadors: Respecting People's Democratic Rights — Anatoly Antonov, Qin Gang — The upcoming American-led online Summit for Democracy will stoke ideological confrontation. Faced with an array of global challenges, countries urgently need to strengthen coordination and cooperation for common progress.
Discussion:
TASS
Sonam Sheth / Insider:
Trump says top US general should be ‘tried for treason’ for intervening to prevent a war with China — Trump ripped Gen. Mark Milley and the journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa in a new statement. — He accused Woodward and Costa of making up information in their blockbuster book “Peril.”
Discussion:
HuffPost
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The Daily Beast:
Former Trump Adviser Steve Cortes Out at Newsmax — Tensions have long simmered between the cable channel and Cortes, a diehard Trump loyalist whose public criticism of Newsmax's vaccine policy may have been the last straw. … Former Trump campaign adviser Steve Cortes is out at Newsmax …
Discussion:
Joe.My.God., Raw Story, BizPac Review and Insider
Sarah Kaplan / Washington Post:
Oil and gas companies should pay more to drill on public lands and waters, Interior Department says — In an effort to boost revenue and protect the environment, the Biden administration on Friday laid out plans to make fossil fuel companies pay more to drill on federal lands and waters.
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