News

The Guardian reports: The commanders of the Brazilian army, navy and air force – Gen Edson Leal Pujol, Adm Ilques Barbosa and Lt-Brig Antônio Carlos Bermudez – met with the president’s new minister on Tuesday morning and reportedly tendered their resignations during a dramatic and heated encounter. On Tuesday afternoon the defence ministry confirmed all three would be replaced, a …

CNN reports: The Bidens’ dog Major has been involved in another biting incident that required medical attention, two people with knowledge of the incident tell CNN. The incident, which involved a National Park Service employee, took place on the White House South Lawn on Monday afternoon. The employee was working at the time and needed to stop in order to …

Reuters reports: With the 400-metre-long (430-yard) Ever Given dislodged, 113 ships were expected to transit the canal in both directions by early Tuesday morning, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chairman Osama Rabie told reporters. He said a backlog of 422 ships could be cleared in 3 -1/2 days. The Ever Given had become jammed diagonally across a southern section of the …

The Washington Post reports: New coronavirus cases in the United States continued to rise in the past week, jumping by as much as 12 percent nationwide, as senior officials implored Americans to stick to public health measures to help reverse the trend. The seven-day average of new cases topped 63,000 for the first time in nearly a month, according to …

USA Today reports: Volkswagen’s American division appears poised to change its name to “Voltswagen,” switching the “k” to a “t” in a nod toward the automaker’s investment in electric vehicles. The German automaker’s announcement on the change appeared briefly on its media site Monday before it was removed, having apparently been released before it was ready for an official rollout. …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The vast container ship that has been blocking the Suez Canal for six days has now been freed and is moving north to an anchor point, paving the way to open the critical waterway and end days of global supply delays. Engineers raced throughout Monday to finish the job of freeing the Ever Given after …

The Washington Post reports: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro offered Sunday to pay for coronavirus vaccines doses with oil shipments, saying in a televised address that the cash-strapped yet oil-rich nation would dedicate some of its production toward acquiring the shots. “Venezuela has the oil tankers, it has customers ready to buy oil from us. It would devote part of its …

Gallup reports: Americans’ membership in houses of worship continued to decline last year, dropping below 50% for the first time in Gallup’s eight-decade trend. In 2020, 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999. U.S. church membership was 73% when Gallup first measured it in 1937 and …

The New York Times reports: The mammoth cargo ship blocking one of the world’s most vital maritime arteries was wrenched from the shoreline and set partially afloat again early Monday, raising hopes that traffic could soon resume in the Suez Canal and limit the economic fallout of the disruption. Salvage teams, working on both land and water for five days …

The New York Daily News reports: The sale of recreational marijuana would be legal for adults 21 and older in the Empire State, under a bill top lawmakers agreed to late Saturday. It’s expected to pass both chambers of the legislature as soon as next week. Coming after years of harsh penalties for marijuana possession — with many New Yorkers …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Home to less than 3% of the world’s population, Brazil currently accounts for almost a third of the daily global deaths from Covid-19, driven by the new variant. More than 300,000 have died, and daily deaths now top 3,000, a toll suffered only by the far more populous U.S. The spread of the virus in …

CNN reports: It was Thursday afternoon before a Senate recess was about to begin, and senators were in a hurry — especially Marsha Blackburn. As senators bolted from the chamber after the week’s final vote to catch their afternoon flights, the Tennessee Republican hopped in a waiting car along with an aide and made her way down Constitution Avenue. But …

The Bangor Daily News reports: The Maine Republican Party overwhelmingly voted on Saturday to reject a censure of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins after outcry from conservatives over her vote to convict former President Donald Trump on an impeachment charge. The 41-19 vote of the party’s state committee ended nearly a month and a half of behind-the-scenes wrangling over whether to …

The Week reports: A massive container ship is still stuck in the Suez Canal — and the situation could possibly take “weeks” to resolve. On Tuesday morning, the Ever Given, a cargo ship that’s about a quarter mile long, became stuck in Egypt’s Suez Canal, blocking shipping traffic. By Friday, it had yet to be successfully moved, and according to …

SFGate.com reports: In the March 12 recording, the pilot says, “Fuck this place, goddamn liberal fucks.” He then continues, making several other curse-word-laden comments before being interrupted by what seems to be an air traffic controller. “Fucking weirdos, probably driving around in fucking Hyundais, fucking roads and shit that go slow as fuck,” and, “You don’t have balls unless you’re …

Reuters reports: A container ship blocking the Suez Canal like a “beached whale” sent new shockwaves through global trade on Thursday as officials stopped all ships entering the channel and the salvage company said it may take weeks to free. The 400 m (430 yard) Ever Given, almost as long as the Empire State Building is high, is blocking transit …

The New York Times reports: AstraZeneca reiterated on Wednesday that its Covid-19 vaccine was very effective at preventing the disease, based on more recent data than was included when the company announced the interim results of its U.S. clinical trial on Monday. The company said in a news release that its vaccine was 76 percent effective at preventing Covid-19. That …

NBC News reports: The U.S. on Wednesday surpassed 30 million cases of COVID-19, highlighting the continued threat of the virus even as the country makes progress on vaccinations. While new cases per day have decreased significantly from their peak in January, positivity totals remain high, at around 55,000 cases per day. As more vulnerable people get vaccinated, the number of …

The Associated Press reports: An alliance of far-right groups including openly racist and homophobic candidates appears poised to enter Israel’s parliament, possibly as an indispensable member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, according to exit polls Tuesday. The Religious Zionist Party includes a new incarnation of the Kahanist movement, a Jewish extremist group outlawed as terrorists by Israel, the …

The Washington Post reports: Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Tuesday unveiled the largest rollback of consumer mail services in a generation, part of a 10-year plan that includes longer first-class delivery windows, reduced post office hours and higher postage prices. DeJoy presented his long-awaited strategic vision for the U.S. Postal Service during a Tuesday webinar. Portions of the initiative already …