US plans sanctions against Vladimir Putin's inner circle if Russia moves on Ukraine  —  Measures would punish country's elite and come as UK warns of similar penalties  —  The US has drawn up sanctions targeting Vladimir Putin's inner circle and its ties to the west as Washington broadens …

‘Pandemic of the unboosted’: low US Covid jab uptake piles pressure on hospitals … Almost half of the US Covid-19 hospitalisations this winter could have been averted if the country had matched the vaccination coverage of leading European countries, according to a Financial Times analysis …

Book Ban Efforts Spread Across the U.S.  —  Challenges to books about sexual and racial identity are nothing new in American schools, but the tactics and politicization are.  —  In Wyoming, a county prosecutor's office considered charges against library employees for stocking books like “Sex Is a Funny Word” and “This Book Is Gay.”

Spotify's Platform Rules and Approach to COVID-19  —  A decade ago, we created Spotify to enable the work of creators around the world to be heard and enjoyed by listeners around the world.  To our very core, we believe that listening is everything.  Pick almost any issue and you will find people and opinions on either side of it.

White House braces for bad Omicron jobs numbers  —  Job growth numbers may be about to turn negative for the first time since President Biden took office, and the White House is seeking to get ahead of potential negative headlines.  —  The big picture: Vast numbers of Americans missed work …

At Texas rally, Trump all but promised a racially charged civil war if he's indicted  —  For a nation that's awakened every morning for nearly two years to a Groundhog Day of pandemic and paranoia, the scenes from Donald Trump's latest comeback rally on Saturday at a fairground …

POLITICO Playbook: Congress confronts a February deluge  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  Lawmakers return from recess this week to a massive February to-do list before President JOE BIDEN's March 1 State of the Union address.  And the pressure is on: The White House and vulnerable House Democrats …

This Year's Olympics Will Double as Xi Jinping's Coronation  —  “To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence.  Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.”  So said General Sun Tzu around 500 BC.  —  Chinese Communist Party chairman …

DMFI PAC announces first slate of House endorsements  —  Among 15 pro-Israel Democrats are 10 incumbents, four open-seat candidates and one challenger  —  JESSICA RINALDI/THE BOSTON GLOBE VIA GETTY IMAGES  —  DMFI PAC, the political arm of Democratic Majority for Israel …

What Trump Is Pushing the GOP to Do About Jan. 6 if They Win the Midterms  —  Sure, the conspiracy theory that the FBI was behind the Trump-fueled Capitol riot is bogus.  But that's not stopping Trump from encouraging the faithful to investigate it.  —  Since last year, Republicans …

Trump says he wanted Pence to overturn the 2020 election and falsely claims it was vice president's ‘right’  —  ‘He must be kidding’: Lawmaker reacts after Trump goes after Pence  —  (CNN)Former President Donald Trump in a statement Sunday said he wanted then-Vice President Mike Pence …

Rents are up 40 percent in some cities, forcing millions to find another place to live  —  Rising rents are expected to be a driving force in inflation this year and have been an ongoing policy challenge for the Biden administration  —  Kiara Age moved in less than a year ago and now it's …

Deputies investigating fight involving demonstrators wearing Nazi symbols, yelling anti-Semitic slurs  —  ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - The Orange County Sheriff's Office said its deputies responded to a fight between a group of demonstrators wearing Nazi symbols and someone not affiliated with the group.

New York lawmakers draw redistricting map that boosts Democrats  —  Democratic state legislators in New York released a congressional redistricting map Sunday that redrew House lines to give Democrats as many as three more seats at a time when the party's majority is in jeopardy.

The Jan. 6 panel's on a hot streak against Trump World.  Now what?  —  The Jan. 6 select committee is on a winning streak.  Now comes the hard part.  —  In the past few weeks, the panel has prevailed against Donald Trump at the Supreme Court, obtained pivotal documents related …

China: Media freedom declining at ‘breakneck speed’ - report  —  Media freedom in China is declining at “breakneck speed”, according to a report by a group representing foreign journalists in the country.  —  The report by the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) of China said journalists …

The Black Lives Matter scam  —  The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation did not raise a single penny for the first six years of its existence.  It couldn't.  —  The foundation wasn't even registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a charity.

Amnesty International describes Israel as an apartheid state in new report  —  Amnesty International, a widely respected human rights group, plans to release a report on Tuesday accusing Israel of committing apartheid and describing its existence as a Jewish state as a deprivation of Palestinians' basic rights.

Trump's Grip on G.O.P. Faces New Strains  —  Shifts in polls of Republicans, disagreements on endorsements and jeers over vaccines hint at daylight between the former president and the right-wing movement he spawned.  —  About halfway into his Texas rally on Saturday evening …

Last Year, I Was a Bryn Mawr Girl.  Now I'm at Hillsdale.  —  Growing up in a conservative town, I always dreamed of attending college with liberals like me.  The pandemic changed everything.  —  My family is liberal and not at all religious.  Depending on where you grew up …

Boris Johnson's Nine Lives Are Up  —  The British prime minister's lockdown hypocrisy is tanking his premiership.  —  Writes Nick Cohen  · Subscribe  —  The fall of Boris Johnson is an antidote to the despairing notion that modern electorates are so split into warring camps there is no common ground left.

Exclusive: Kamala Harris drove within several yards of pipe bomb at DNC headquarters during Capitol riot  —  (CNN)Then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris drove within several yards of a pipe bomb lying next to a bench outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters on January 6, 2021 …

Critics say Ginni Thomas's activism is a Supreme Court conflict.  Under court rules, only her husband can decide if that's true.  —  Ginni Thomas's name stood out among the signatories of a December letter from conservative leaders, which blasted the work of the House committee investigating …

US Attorney Doc: IRS Issued Grand Jury Subpoena to JPMorgan for Hunter, James Biden Bank Records In Probe into Biden Family's China Connections  —  A criminal IRS investigation into Hunter Biden — President Biden's son — appears to have convened a grand jury as far back as May 2019 …

N.Y.C. is offering free home delivery of Covid antiviral pills, though supply is limited.  —  New York City officials said Sunday that they were launching a program for residents to get antiviral Covid pills delivered directly to their homes for free, though supplies of the drugs remained limited.