Trump called aides hours before Capitol riot to discuss how to stop Biden victory  —  Sources tell Guardian Trump pressed lieutenants at Willard hotel in Washington about ways to delay certification of election result  —  Hours before the deadly attack on the US Capitol this year …

Moderna chief predicts existing vaccines will struggle with Omicron  —  Stéphane Bancel foresees ‘material drop’ in current jabs' effectiveness, sending stocks and oil prices lower  —  The chief executive of Moderna has predicted that existing vaccines will be much less effective …

The Case Against Abortion  —  A striking thing about the American abortion debate is how little abortion itself is actually debated.  The sensitivity and intimacy of the issue, the mixed feelings of so many Americans, mean that most politicians and even many pundits really don't like to talk about it.

Expanding our private information policy to include media  —  As part of our ongoing efforts to build tools with privacy and security at the core, we're updating our existing private information policy and expanding its scope to include “private media.”  Under our existing policy …

An errant op-ed: Rich Azzopardi, Gov. Cuomo and Attorney General Tish James  —  We publish lots of op-eds.  More often than we'd like, errors make it into print.  It is rare that a guest opinion essay has misstatements rooted in an author's personal recollection that we specifically sought …

New opioids, more powerful than fentanyl, are discovered in D.C. amid deadly wave of overdoses  —  Forensic analysts have identified a new and highly potent family of synthetic opioids in the District's illicit drug supply, a worrisome discovery in a city already struggling with a wave of fatal overdoses that shows no signs of abating.

GOP resistance to preschool plan could imperil key Biden proposal in many states  —  His signature universal preschool plan would depend on the participation of states, which have had uneven approaches to implementing federal aid  —  The White House's proposal to create universal prekindergarten …

Greene calls fellow Republican ‘trash’ of GOP conference  —  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) blasted Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) after the South Carolina lawmaker criticized Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) for an anti-muslim remark Boebert made about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

Red states are now paying people not to get vaccinated  —  Once upon a time, states debated whether to pay people to get vaccinated.  Now, some red states are paying people not to get vaccinated, by cutting checks to workers who quit or are fired because they refuse covid-19 shots.

Pence 2024?  —  Mike Pence spent much of his vice presidency quietly catering to the whims of President Donald Trump.  But on January 6, he broke with Trump by refusing to overturn the 2020 election results.  And now, Pence is eyeing a presidential run of his own, even though his old boss hasn't ruled out a 2024 campaign.

A shadow war in space is heating up fast  —  When Russia blows up a satellite in space with a missile (as it did this month), or when China tests a new hypersonic missile (as it did last month), the ongoing arms race in space leaps into the news.  But in between these “Sputnik”-like moments …

Metaverse Real Estate Piles Up Record Sales in Sandbox and Other Virtual Realms  —  Firms' purchases of digital land in online worlds are bets that property values will rise as more people join in  —  The latest hot real-estate market isn't on the scenic coasts or in balmy Sunbelt cities.

Lorne Michaels still lives for Saturday night … NEW YORK — Episode 4.  Season 47.  —  “I got a lot of notes here.”  —  “Chloe, you've got to play it to camera.”  —  Fifty-three minutes to showtime.  —  “James, can we get you up in the seat?”  —  You can't see Lorne Michaels behind …

‘Welcome to our world’: Muslims see disparities and dangers in Jan. 6 probe  —  “LOL!!”  Obeidallah tweeted when a rioter who bragged that she'd never go to jail ended up with a two-month sentence.  —  “FINALLY!!!” he wrote in celebration of charges against a man who allegedly punched a police officer.

Democrats' December dread builds after defense stumble  —  Senate Democrats' daunting year-end agenda started off with a face plant on a routine, popular defense bill.  That was supposed to be the easy part.  —  Senate Republicans' Monday blockade of the annual defense legislation over lack …

White House Considering Richard Cordray as Top Fed Banking Regulator  —  Ohio attorney served as the first confirmed director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau  —  President Biden is considering Richard Cordray, the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau …

Blinken warns Russian aggression in Ukraine would trigger ‘serious consequences’  —  (CNN)US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated a warning for Russia on Tuesday to stay away from aggression in Ukraine, saying “any renewed aggression can trigger serious consequences.”

Defense secretary Lloyd Austin says Oklahoma National Guard members must get vaccinated  —  Members of the Oklahoma National Guard must get vaccinated against COVID-19 regardless of their duty status or personal beliefs, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Gov. Kevin Stitt on Monday.

Powell Warns Omicron Variant Could Worsen Inflation-Boosting Bottlenecks  —  Officials could weigh whether to accelerate reduction in asset purchases at next meeting  —  Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is grappling with how to chart policy amid an inflationary surge far larger …

Tony Kushner, Oracle of the Upper West Side  —  When Steven Spielberg asked Kushner, America's most important living playwright, to take on ‘West Side Story,’ he thought, 'He's lost his mind.' But he dared.  —  To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Local news deserts are expanding: Here's what we'll lose  —  The state of local journalism is widely, and correctly, understood to be grim.  About 2,200 local print newspapers have closed since 2005, and the number of newspaper journalists fell by more than half between 2008 and 2020.