Workers at firm owned by top Trump donors exposed to higher Covid rates

Employees at Uline, owned by billionaires Dick and Liz Uihlein, have filed numerous safety complaints, investigation finds

Employees at a private Wisconsin company owned by two top Republican donors in the US have faced significantly higher rates of Covid-19 infection and have filed numerous complaints about workplace safety to federal authorities, according to a Guardian investigation into Uline.

Related: Billionaires backed Republicans who sought to reverse US election results

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‘I’m operating’: doctor makes Zoom court appearance while in surgery

California medical board to investigate after plastic surgeon appeared at a virtual trial from an operating theatre

Medical authorities in California have said they will investigate a plastic surgeon who appeared in a videoconference for a traffic violation trial while operating.

The Sacramento Bee reported that Scott Green appeared for his trial at Sacramento superior court on Thursday, held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic, from an operating room.

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Second ex-aide accuses Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment

Move prompts New York governor to request independent investigation into allegations

A second woman has come forward to accuse New York governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment in a move that has prompted the under-fire Democrat to launch an independent investigation into the allegations.

Charlotte Bennett, who was an executive assistant and health policy adviser in the Cuomo administration until November, told The New York Times that he had harassed her last spring, during the height of New York’s fight against the coronavirus – which Cuomo led and which at the time gave him an international reputation for good leadership.

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FDA approves Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose coronavirus vaccine

  • Emergency-use authorization boosts Biden’s vaccination plans
  • J&J effort becomes third vaccine available to US public

The Food and Drug Administration has authorized Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine for emergency use, making it the third vaccine available to the US public and securing another vital step in the US fight to control Covid-19.

The decision was a formality after an independent expert advisory panel late on Friday afternoon recommended drug regulators approve the one-shot vaccine.

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Khashoggi: statement clarifying US stance on Saudi Arabia due on Monday

Biden’s announcement comes after Saudi exiles express shock over lack of sanctions against Mohammed bin Salman over killing of journalist

President Joe Biden said on Saturday that the US would make an announcement on Saudi Arabia on Monday, following an intelligence report that found that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had approved the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018.

Saudi dissidents have expressed anger and disbelief that while the US has officially confirmed the long-suspected view that Prince Mohammed “approved” the killing of the journalist, he will escape punishment. A declassified intelligence assessment released on Friday concluded that the heir to the throne “approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi”.

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Oprah with Meghan and Harry: masterstroke or disaster?

The Sussexes are the latest in a line of celebrities to try to rebuild their image by talking to the chatshow queen

You could have forgiven the British royal family for giving primetime, tell-all interviews a wide berth for the foreseeable. The evisceration of Prince Andrew by the BBC’s Emily Maitlis in 2019 managed to achieve the near-impossible: making the Duke of York appear more dubious and less sympathetic.

But if we have learned one thing about the Sussexes, Harry and Meghan, it’s that they are intent on doing pretty much the opposite of what the other royals want them to do. So next Sunday, 7 March, a 90-minute special, Oprah with Meghan and Harry, will air on the US network CBS. There is also understood to be a bidding war between UK broadcasters – though not the BBC – for the interview, which, it is promised, will be “intimate” and “wide-ranging”.

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Golden Trump statue turning heads at CPAC was made in … Mexico

Artist Tommy Zegan reveals figure was constructed in country the former president has assailed and demonized

A golden statue of Donald Trump that has caused a stir at the annual US gathering of conservatives was made in Mexico – a country the former president frequently demonized.

Related: Mitch McConnell says he'd 'absolutely' support Trump as 2024 nominee

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Coronavirus live news: Captain Tom Moore funeral takes place; Auckland to go into lockdown for seven days

Rishi Sunak warns of risk to economy; Joe Biden tells US ‘now is not the time to relax - follow all the day’s news as it happens

Attendees have been asked to stand while a verse from the war poem For the Fallen were read at Captain Tom Moore’s funeral.

The bugler is now playing The Last Post.

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Raising the US minimum wage: what just happened and what comes next?

A Senate official has ruled that the plan for a $15 minimum cannot be passed with only a simple majority but the fight is far from over

It was a major plank of the Democratic plan to “build back better” – raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour as a way of boosting the economy during the pandemic and tackling poverty and income inequality. But on Thursday the much-vaunted plan hit a roadblock in the US Senate, which has knocked the proposal sideways.

Related: 'We need $15': US minimum wage ruling a personal blow for millions of workers

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Parents of 112 children separated at US-Mexico border contacted, court hears

Figures were provided as part of lawsuit brought by ACLU which in 2018 ended family separations under Trump policy

The parents of 112 children separated at the US-Mexico border by Donald Trump’s administration have been contacted since January, lawyers told a court on Friday, as the judge expressed optimism about reunification efforts now being the responsibility of Joe Biden’s administration.

The new figures were provided as part of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which in 2018 ended family separations under Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy about unlawful border crossings and ordered the government to reunite families. On Friday, the government’s position in the case was represented publicly for the first time by Biden’s administration instead of Trump’s.

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Electricity needed to mine bitcoin is more than used by ‘entire countries’

Bitcoin mining – the process in which a bitcoin is awarded to a computer that solves a complex series of algorithm – is a deeply energy intensive process

It’s not just the value of bitcoin that has soared in the last year – so has the huge amount of energy it consumes.

The cryptocurrency’s value has dipped recently after passing a high of $50,000 but the energy used to create it has continued to soar during its epic rise, climbing to the equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of Argentina, according to Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, a tool from researchers at Cambridge University that measures the currency’s energy use.

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House approves $1.9tn Covid aid bill despite minimum wage setback

Relief bill represents Biden first big legislative win but wage hike proposal to be removed from Senate version

The US House of Representatives has passed Joe Biden’s $1.9tn coronavirus aid bill in his first major legislative victory.

Related: Criticism builds over Biden's failure to lift Trump sanctions on ICC prosecutors

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Lady Gaga’s bulldogs returned unharmed after kidnapping

Dogs were dropped off at a police station in Los Angeles, while dog walker shot in the attack is recovering

Two French bulldogs belonging to Lady Gaga that were stolen at gunpoint earlier this week have been recovered unharmed, police in Los Angeles have said.

A woman brought the dogs to the LAPD’s Olympic community police station on Friday evening, said Jonathan Tippett, commanding officer of the robbery-homicide division.

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Johnson & Johnson one-shot Covid vaccine gets nod from FDA advisory panel

Vaccine, along with those from Pfizer and Moderna, should provide US with more than enough supply to vaccinate every person

The battle against Covid-19 took a major step forward on Friday as the US moved closer to distributing its first one-shot Covid-19 vaccine, after an independent expert advisory panel recommended drug regulators authorize the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for emergency use.

The authorization would be a significant boost to the Biden administration’s vaccination plans, making Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine the third available to the public. Janssen, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine subsidiary, told a congressional hearing this week that it expects to deliver 20m doses by March and a total of 100m doses before the end of June.

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Named, shamed but unscathed: Saudi crown prince spared by US realpolitik

Analysis: The US has sanctioned 76 people linked to Khashoggi’s murder, but not Mohammed bin Salman, future king of a strategic Middle East ally

Friday was the day that Joe Biden’s vaunted drive to put human rights back at the centre of US foreign policy slammed, as such drives usually do, into the brick wall of great power realpolitik.

As it had promised, the new administration obeyed the law laid down by Congress and ignored by its predecessor. It published an unclassified summary of the intelligence assessment that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, “approved” the murder and dismemberment of the Saudi reformer and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

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Report finds Saudi crown prince approved killing of Jamal Khashoggi – live

As Biden tours a food bank in Houston, Republicans are taking turns railing against his administration at the annual CPAC conference. David Smith sends another virtual report from the gathering.

Speakers at CPAC continue to pledge fealty to former president Donald Trump. Matt Gaetz, a congressman from Florida, told the audience: “My fellow patriots, don’t be shy and don’t be sorry, join me as we proudly represent the pro-Trump America first wing of the conservative movement.

“We’re not really a wing; we’re the whole body. We’re the main attraction in the greatest show on earth.”

Gaetz, a self-proclaimed “Florida man” wearing blue jacket and purple tie, lashed out at “cancel culture” and “lockdown governors” including Democrat Andrew Cuomo of New York. He also defended Republican senator of Ted Cruz of Texas.

“It was awful the way the media treated Ted Cruz,” he said. “I mean, the left and the media were more worried about Ted Cruz going to Mexico to spend his own money than about the caravans coming through Mexico to take ours.”

If Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who voted for Trump’s impeachment after the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol, were on the CPAC stage she would be booed, he predicted. The party’s true leadership was not in Washington, Gaetz said.

He also described the biggest threats to freedom as big government and big business, in particular big tech. “There are no checks and balances when they can control-alt-delete anyone for any reason,” the congressman warned.

NEWS: Several Republicans in the House have skipped Friday's votes and enlisted their colleagues to vote on their behalf, signing letters saying they couldn't attend "due to the ongoing public health emergency."

But those members are scheduled to be at CPAC

US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has announced sanctions on former Saudi intelligence deputy chief Ahmad Hassan Mohammed al Asiri and the Rapid Intervention Force (RIF), known as the ‘Tiger Squad’ which supplied much of the hit team that killed Jamal Khashoggi, the US-based dissident who was murdered by Saudi operatives in Turkey in 2018.

US Treasury announces sanctions on former Saudi intel deputy chief Ahmad Hassan Mohammed al Asiri and the Rapid Intervention Force (RIF), known as the 'Tiger Squad' which supplied much of the hit team that killed Khashoggi https://t.co/pjXruJhUxv

It hasn't been out long but so far seems like view is a mix of relief and frustration: the US calls MBS a murderer, but stops far short of taking actions against him that would in effect change the line of succession.

But that is the snap judgement. Will this report stop business leaders like Steve Schwarzman from meeting with MBS in Riyadh? Will it stop MBS from stepping foot in the US? TBD

Related: Saudi crown prince approved killing of Jamal Khashoggi, US report says

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US finds Saudi crown prince approved Khashoggi murder but does not sanction him

Biden administration to target ‘counter-dissident’ activity and Saudi official but not Mohammed bin Salman personally

US intelligence agencies concluded that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, approved the 2018 murder of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi but stopped short of personally targeting the future Saudi king with financial or other sanctions.

Related: Khashoggi confidant Omar Abdulaziz: 'I’m worried about the safety of the people of Saudi Arabia'

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Global stock markets drop as inflation fears prompt sell-off

UK FTSE was down 2.5%, its biggest one-day fall in percentage terms since the end of October

Global stock markets ended February deep in the red, as fears of higher inflation prompted a sell-off in government bonds and spread anxiety across financial markets.

The UK’s FTSE 100 index fell 168 points to 6,483, a 2.5% drop – the biggest one-day fall in percentage terms since the end of October.

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Iran threatens to quit IAEA pact over censure from west

US seeking resolution to express ‘deepening concern’ over Tehran’s cooperation with UN nuclear agency

Iran has threatened to pull out of a deal struck with UN weapons inspectors last weekend if western countries go ahead with plans to censure it over its failure to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Western leaders are planning to table a motion at the IAEA next week condemning Iran for pulling out of the overarching agreement with the UN body giving inspectors access to its nuclear sites.

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Happy ‘farmily’: portraits of people and their animals – in pictures

Photographer Tasha Hall creates what she calls ‘farmily’ portraits – featuring families and their animals. Hall, from British Columbia in Canada, says she got the idea after wanting to include all her furry friends in a family portrait. She now travels the world capturing other families with their livestock and pets

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