Good morning. We’re covering the first news conference of the Biden presidency and a major reduction in Covid-19 vaccine exports from India. |
 | | President Biden took questions from reporters for more than an hour.Doug Mills/The New York Times |
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President Biden’s first news conference |
During a question-and-answer session with journalists that lasted more than an hour, President Biden called Republican efforts to limit voting rights “sick” and “un-American,” saying that the party’s own voters viewed actions that make it harder for people to cast ballots as “despicable” attempts to undermine democracy. |
Mr. Biden said the filibuster — a rule under which 60 votes are needed to pass most legislation in the Senate, rather than a simple majority — was being “abused in a gigantic way” and signaled that he would be open to more aggressive steps to limit or abolish it, starting with a proposal that would require senators to keep talking in order to block legislation. |
“I strongly support moving in that direction,” he said. “If there’s complete lockdown and chaos as a consequence of the filibuster, then we’ll have to go beyond what I’m talking about.” |
Answering later questions, Mr. Biden said he expected to run for re-election in 2024, with Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate, and reiterated that it would be hard to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by May 1, as his predecessor, Donald J. Trump, had agreed to do. |
 | | A resident of the Dharavi slum was vaccinated in Mumbai, India, this week.Divyakant Solanki/EPA, via Shutterstock |
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India cuts back vaccine exports |
More than 70 countries have received vaccines made in India, notably the AstraZeneca shot. But as a second wave hits, and with fewer than 4 percent of its 1.4 billion people having gotten shots, India is drawing up its gates: The size of its shipments abroad has greatly diminished in the past two weeks, according to data from the foreign ministry. |
The slowdown could derail the world’s vaccination drive: Covax, the global initiative on which many low-income countries are relying, warned of delays because of India’s increased demand. Production issues at AstraZeneca facilities in Europe have led a host of countries to rely on the Serum Institute, making the company even more critical to the global vaccine supply chain. |
 | | The Suez Canal is blocked by a large container ship.EPA, via Shutterstock |
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‘A very heavy beached whale’ |
Dozens of ships laden with oil and goods destined for ports around the world are stranded in the canal, and with each passing hour, the economic cost of the disruption grows more consequential. |
The stuck ship has been wedged in the canal since being driven aground by the heavy winds of a sandstorm on Tuesday. Its bow is lodged in the canal’s eastern bank, its stern in the western bank. |
Back story: The 120-mile-long artificial waterway known as the Suez Canal is a vital international shipping passage. Here are some basics on the history of the canal, how it operates, how the vessel got stuck and the likely repercussions if it isn’t freed soon. |
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson is riding high on a strong vaccine rollout, despite earlier pandemic missteps and Britain’s bumpy departure from the European Union.
- AstraZeneca released new data reaffirming that its Covid-19 vaccine is highly effective. The findings, showing a 76 percent efficacy rate, strengthen the company’s scientific case, but they may not repair the damage to its public image caused when U.S. health officials rebuked it for not counting some Covid-19 cases when it announced initial findings this week.
- President Biden doubled the vaccine goal for his first 100 days in office to 200 million shots. The U.S. is on track to meet that goal.
- Schools in Romania will close for four weeks starting next month as the country fights to curb its latest wave of Covid-19 cases.
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- Aleksei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who is being held in a penal colony months after an attempt on his life, is in deteriorating health with unexplained ailments and has received substandard medical care, his lawyers said on Thursday.
- The University of Southern California will pay more than $1.1 billion to hundreds of former patients of a campus gynecologist who was accused of preying on them sexually.
- Major Western clothing brands are facing anger from some Chinese consumers. Egged on by the Communist Party, Chinese online activists want to punish companies that joined a call to avoid using cotton produced in Xinjiang, where the authorities are repressing members of the Uyghur minority group.
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 | | Bank of England |
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- Above, the new 50-pound bill unveiled by the Bank of England on Thursday, featuring the code breaker Alan Turing. It is one of a series of recent efforts by Britain to posthumously right some of the wrongs inflicted on Mr. Turing during his lifetime.
- A one-of-a-kind digital collectible item created out of a New York Times technology column sold for more than $500,000 in an auction, the first such sale in the newspaper’s history. (Proceeds will go to charity.)
- The torch relay for the 2021 Olympics began on Thursday in the Fukushima prefecture of Japan. But many are still questioning whether the Games should go on in spite of the virus, ballooning costs and other challenges.
- In an effort to contain costs and save jobs amid a slump in tourist dollars and donations, Pope Francis has ordered across-the-board pay cuts for the cardinals and other higher-ranking clerics working in the Vatican.
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 | | Amr Alfiky/The New York Times |
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Elie Kligman is a star high school baseball player, good enough to realistically entertain his dream of playing Major League Baseball, or at least top-level college ball. |
But he is also shomer Shabbat, meaning he observes the strict rules of the Jewish Sabbath and cannot — and will not — play ball on Friday nights, or on Saturday afternoons before the sun goes down. He knows his devotion to his faith could shatter his big-league dream before it starts, and he is ready to accept that. |
From scientist to journalist |
As a science reporter for The New York Times, Apoorva Mandavilli knows the world of research, labs and technical papers. She talked to Times Insider about her career and about covering the coronavirus pandemic. Here’s an excerpt. |
How did you start working as a science reporter? |
I went to graduate school for biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I was there for four years, and I would have gotten a Ph.D. if I’d stayed one more year. But I realized that being a lab scientist was just a little too slow, a little too specific and a little too antisocial for me. I went to journalism school at N.Y.U.’s science journalism program, and I’ve been a reporter ever since. My mom is a writer. She’s a poet and a short-story writer, and I’ve been around literature my whole life. So my job has married two very different parts of my brain — science and writing. |
How do you think your science training influences your work? |
It’s very helpful in a lot of ways. I’m not writing about biochemistry, so the exact subject matter doesn’t help, but I understand the basics of biology. Much of my career, I’ve actually written for scientists, who can be exacting readers. They want things to be clear, but they never want things dumbed down. That has pushed me to always be accurate. |
What keeps you coming back to the job? |
I’ve never stopped learning. I’ve learned so much this year. Covering Covid, I’ve had to learn viral evolution and deep immunology and epidemiology. It’s just endlessly interesting. |
 | | Heami Lee for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Rebecca Bartoshesky. |
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Embrace the workday nap. Done right, a nap won’t decrease your productivity and will actually boost your energy. |
That’s it for today’s briefing. Have a restful weekend. — Natasha |
The latest episode of “The Daily” is about the state of the U.S. vaccine rollout. On “Sway,” Glennon Doyle discusses misogyny, the power of apologies and more. |
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