Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The latest from Morocco: “More than 2,680 people are dead and more than 2,500 injured after Friday night’s magnitude-6.8 earthquake in the High Atlas Mountains southwest of Marrakech, Morocco. A desperate search for survivors continues, as armed forces and international aid teams fight through rubble and devastation to reach remote mountain areas.”
* CDC approval is the next step: “The Food and Drug Administration on Monday greenlighted updated Covid boosters from Pfizer and Moderna. The shots, which are formulated to target the XBB.1.5 subvariant, are expected to be available later this week, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signs off. Anyone age 5 and older can get an updated booster shot from either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, regardless of whether they were previously vaccinated, the FDA said in a statement.”
* Speaking of vaccines, I’m struggling to understand why Threads would block searches related to Covid and vaccines, especially right now.
* As outlined at the latest G-20 summit: “President Joe Biden and his allies on Saturday announced plans to build a rail and shipping corridor linking India with the Middle East and Europe, an ambitious project aimed at fostering economic growth and political cooperation. ‘This is a big deal,’ said Biden. ‘This is a really big deal.’”
* On a related note: “President Joe Biden on Monday wrapped up a five-day diplomatic sprint through Vietnam and India that put a spotlight on imperfect partners that he believes will be crucial for global stability in the years to come.”
* I have a hunch this won’t fare well in the courts: “New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday issued an emergency order suspending the right to carry firearms in public across Albuquerque and the surrounding county for at least 30 days in response to a spate of gun violence.”
* The “Gas Hat” rioter gets arrested: “The man who federal authorities say set off a brutal battle with police at the lower west tunnel of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was arrested Friday, nearly two years after he was identified by online sleuths. Gregory Mijares was identified by online ‘Sedition Hunters’ in 2021. An FBI affidavit said the bureau received a tip in October 2021, and then interviewed Mijares in March 2023.”
* In related news: “A Tennessee man and his mother were sentenced to prison on Friday for seeking to intimidate lawmakers by marching with matching tactical vests and carrying zip tie-style handcuffs during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, federal prosecutors said. The man, Eric Munchel, 32, of Nashville, who became known on social media as ‘Zip Tie Guy,’ was sentenced to nearly five years in prison, the Justice Department said.”
* In the unlikely event that you missed this late last week: “Mark Meadows, the former Trump White House chief of staff indicted in the Georgia election interference case, just lost his effort to move his state charges to federal court. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones wrote in an order on Friday that there is ‘no federal jurisdiction over the criminal case.’”
* All is not well at Twitter (or whatever I’m supposed to call it now): “X, Elon Musk’s social media platform formerly known as Twitter, appears to be attempting to limit its users’ access to The New York Times.”
See you tomorrow.
