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Good evening. Here’s the latest.
1. A mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, was the second in the US in less than a week.
Ten people were killed in a supermarket in Boulder in Monday’s attack. The victims included a police officer, a young grocer and a retiree picking up groceries from the King Soopers for an Instacart delivery. Above flowers for those lost in Boulder.
A 21-year-old man was charged with 10 murders. Police officers said the shooter used an AR-15 assault rifle. Here are our latest updates.
Boulder had bans on offensive weapons and large capacity magazines in 2018, but that month a district court judge ruled the city couldn’t enforce them. President Biden urged Congress not to “wait another minute” before passing laws renewing similar bans at the national level.
On March 16, a gunman shot and killed eight people – six of them women of Asian origin – in three spas in the Atlanta area.
2. Another blow against AstraZenecawhose vaccine was seen as critical to the global fight against the pandemic.
Federal health officials and an independent regulator accused AstraZeneca of possibly providing misleading information about the effectiveness of its Covid-19 vaccine. The company had said that based on its US study, the vaccine appeared to be 79 percent effective against Covid-19. Above: AstraZeneca vaccine administered in Milan, Italy.
In a letter, the regulator said the vaccine’s effectiveness could be between 69 and 74 percent and blamed AstraZeneca for an overly rosy description of the trial data.
The stumbling block of AstraZeneca tarnishes the European vaccination campaign amid a spate of new infections. Germany is the youngest country to tighten restrictions, announcing a five-day lockdown over Easter and the extension of existing restrictions until mid-April.
3. Texas and Georgia Open Approval for Covid-19 Vaccines to all residents aged 16 and over.
Starting Monday, Texas will join a number of states that all adults have challenged. For now, only West Virginia, Alaska, and Mississippi have done so, but the list is growing: Utah will be joining on Wednesday, Georgia just announced it will be on Thursday, and Tennessee has April 5th as the date for the list this set authorized for their recordings to be extended. Upstairs a mass vaccination site in Austin, Texas this month.
The broader vaccination campaigns come from federal officials warning of a possible fourth surge in infections as worrying new variants spread.
The vaccinated may be planning an evening at the cinema: Regal Cinemas, the second largest theater chain in the United States, will reopen in April. London-based parent company Cineworld also announced it would reopen its UK locations in May.
4. President Biden’s big bet on clean energy is a big shift.
Aiders will update Mr. Biden this week of plans to invest $ 3-4 trillion in a wide range of infrastructure efforts. The strategy represents a fundamental shift in the way Democrats talk about tackling climate change: it is no longer a side issue.
While things could still change, a fundamental clean energy transformation underpins almost every part of the plan. This includes building power lines that can deliver more renewable energy. Building electric vehicle charging stations like the one above in Victorville, California; Closing oil and gas wells to reduce emissions; and reclaiming abandoned coal mines.
Government officials say they see averting catastrophic warming and pursuing American dominance of emerging global industries as inseparable.
The plan to revitalize the country’s energy sector includes a focus on underserved communities, reflecting Mr Biden’s campaign pledge to tackle disproportionate air pollution in color communities.
5th Israel Marmot Day: on fourth election in two years.
The Israelis voted today in the hope of ending a political deadlock that has left the country with no budget or stable government. The mood is characterized by tiredness and cynicism. Above, voting at a polling station in Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ran for re-election despite being on trial on corruption charges. Polls on the exit suggest he has a path to a majority and a sixth term. Nearly final results are expected on Friday.
6. The most technologically exciting part of NASA’s mission to perseverance is set: fly a helicopter on mars.
NASA describes it as a “Wright Brothers Moment” for space exploration. Under the rover’s belly is Ingenuity, a four-pound mini-helicopter designed to demonstrate that flying on another planet is possible. NASA officials announced today that they had selected the location for this alien levitation demonstration. The test is scheduled for April 8th, possibly a few days earlier or later.
In other news from the cosmos: A strange intruder zoomed through our solar system in 2017. Was it a comet? Or an alien space wreck? This month’s astronomers offered the previously solid explanation: Oumuamua, as it is called, was a chip from a distant planet in another solar system.
7. Some Covid Patients Say You have ringing ears.
Scientists are investigating a possible link with tinnitus. It’s on the list of Long Covid Symptoms published by the UK Health Service, and some recent case reports and studies have suggested a possible link.
The suicide of Kent Taylor, founder and executive director of the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain, made research urgent after reporting severe tinnitus among his symptoms.
8. The union just before getting into Amazon can be one of the most versatile in the US
The membership of 100,000 workers in the retail, wholesale, and department store union appears to span all sectors of the economy from gravediggers to the women’s shoe department on Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
This month, 5,800 employees at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama are voting on whether to join. This is the first large-scale vote in Amazon history.
RWDSU is a “strange duck” with a history of lively organization. It is also racially and politically diverse. The President of the Mid-South Council calls it “the church union” and said one of his greatest accomplishments was negotiating paid leave for Eid al-Fitr for the end of Ramadan at a poultry factory.
9. The oldest wooden sculpture in the world is older than we thought.
As mysterious as the giant stone figures on Easter Island, the Shigir Idol, a three-meter-high totem pole made of freshly cut larch, is the only surviving wooden sculpture from the Stone Age. A new study found that it is 12,500 years old, by far the earliest known work of ritual art, and places it in the context of early Eurasian art in a time of climate change.
The idol was carved when early forests spread over a warmer, late glacial to postglacial Eurasia. The landscape changed and so did art, “perhaps to help people deal with the challenging environments they encountered,” said Thomas Terberger, archaeologist and co-author of the study.
10. And finally: the art of photo shoot of Vladimir Putin.
Most political leaders prefer images of themselves working hard in the office. Photos recently released by the Kremlin show the Russian President walking through the Siberian wilderness in coordinated cold-weather gear.
Mr Putin has always emphasized the physical over-Namby-Pamby-paper-sliding, writes our chief fashion critic, and his recent foray into the Siberian taiga, where he dons a sheepskin winter suit and an ivory turtleneck sweater upstairs while he is everything takes – vehicle when turning in the snow.
Have a fancy evening.