Your Friday Evening Briefing |
Good evening. Here's the latest. |
 | | Cameron Pollack for The New York Times |
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1. Johnson & Johnson announced that its one-dose vaccine provided strong protection against Covid-19 in clinical trials. |
But the results came with a significant cautionary note: The vaccine's efficacy rate dropped from 72 percent in the U.S. to 57 percent in South Africa, where a highly contagious variant is driving most cases. |
The company said it planned to apply for emergency authorization of the vaccine from the Food and Drug Administration as soon as next week, putting it on track to receive clearance later in February. |
The variant from South Africa, B.1.351, may also blunt the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Novavax. It has spread to at least 31 countries, including the U.S., where the first two known cases of the variant were identified in South Carolina this week. Above, a vaccination site in North Charleston, S.C. |
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, said that Johnson & Johnson's trial results were a "wake-up call," and warned vaccine manufacturers to be ready to reformulate the vaccines if needed. |
 | | Carl Recine/Reuters |
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2. In Europe, the vaccine wars intensified. |
The E.U. authorized AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine for use across its member states, but moved to temporarily restrict doses made in the bloc from being shipped abroad. The decision, intended to ensure that the E.U. has an ample vaccine supply, came amid a dispute with the company over delivery delays. |
Britain, a former bloc member, has been receiving a steady flow of vaccine doses from AstraZeneca since approving it well ahead of the E.U. in early December. |
Separately, the World Health Organization abandoned its opposition to immunization for most expectant mothers unless they are at high risk, aligning its policies with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
 | | via Youtube |
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3. Blame "Roaring Kitty." |
That's the social media handle of a Massachusetts man — Keith Gill, 34, a former financial educator for an insurance firm — who helped fuel the frenzy around GameStop. His $53,000 investment in the company briefly reached $48 million in value this week. |
Amid the chaos, the world's richest man egged on disruption, securing Elon Musk's status as a "capitalist hero, a glossy magazine celebrity and a bomb-throwing troll with 44 million Twitter followers," our colleague David Gelles writes. |
 | | C.B. Schmelter/Chattanooga Times Free Press, via Associated Press |
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4. Ties between extremist groups and some Republican lawmakers are under scrutiny after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. |
It is not clear whether any elected officials played a role in directly facilitating the attack. But in signaling either overt or tacit support, they provided legitimacy and publicity to extremist groups and movements that supported former President Donald Trump's efforts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election and the attack on Congress. |
Among the lawmakers are Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, pictured above in September with the so-called Three Percenters, an extremist offshoot of the gun rights movement. Her supporters were among the most visible during the mob attack. |
 | | Philip Cheung for The New York Times |
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5. Fewer than 1 percent of cars on America's roads are electric. But a seismic shift is underway. |
General Motors' surprise decision to phase out gasoline vehicles by 2035 is only the latest move toward plug-in, zero-emission cars. Tesla, Ford and Volkswagen plan to introduce dozens of new electric models in the years ahead. |
G.M.'s push for electric cars could also put China in the driver's seat. With government support and lavish subsidies, Chinese companies have come to dominate the market for batteries, motors and other essentials that Detroit may need for its new fleets. |
 | | Ahmad Al-Rubaye/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
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6. American airstrikes killed the top Islamic State leader in Iraq. |
Jabbar Salman Ali Farhan al-Issawi, 43, also known as Abu Yasser, was killed Wednesday near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, American-led military coalition and Iraqi officials said Friday. A coalition spokesman called Mr. al-Issawi's death "a significant blow" to the Islamic State's efforts to regroup. Above, Iraqi federal police forces in Baghdad today. |
The Islamic State no longer holds territory in Iraq but has continued to carry out deadly attacks, including a double-suicide bomb in Baghdad last week. This week's joint operation with Iraqi forces illustrates Iraq's continued reliance on the U.S. military even as the two countries negotiate reducing the American troop presence. |
 | | Ben Sklar for The New York Times |
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7. We remember Cicely Tyson, the stage, screen and television actress who refused to fit the mold that American entertainment tried to box her into. |
In her remarkable career spanning seven decades, Ms. Tyson broke ground for serious Black actors by refusing to take parts that demeaned Black people, and urged her colleagues to do the same, propelling her to stardom and fame as an exemplar for civil rights. Ms. Tyson died on Thursday at 96. |
"No Black woman had ever performed this reliably with this much elegance and surety," writes Wesley Morris, our critic at large, adding that "she walked with her head high, her chest out, her shoulders back as if she were carrying quite a load that never seemed to trouble her because she knew she was carrying us." |
 | | Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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8. The greatest breakthrough of 20th century art was something you probably did in elementary school. |
Collage (from the French "coller," to paste) in its modern form was invented in 1912 — by either Pablo Picasso or Georges Braque, Cubism's dynamic duo. But the first artist to exhibit a collage was Cubism's third wheel: the young Spaniard Juan Gris. |
Our critic Jason Farago breaks down Gris's "Still Life: The Table," made from newsprint, wallpaper and several other paper stocks, to explain the Cubist revolution. "For the first time in Western art since the Renaissance," writes Farago, "the picture is no longer an act of perception. It's an act of imagination, with a life and a logic of its own." |
 | | Nasuna Stuart-Ulin for The New York Times |
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9. The orange beef? "Not that good." The chicken? Don't bother. |
"We are not 100% satisfied with the flavor now and it will get better really soon," the menu advises about a cold dish called mouthwatering chicken, before quickly adding: "PS: I am surprised that some customers still order this plate." |
 | | Margeaux Walter for The New York Times |
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10. And finally, Sundance from your couch. |
Like so many film festivals in the Covid era, the Sundance Film Festival, which started Thursday, has gone virtual this year. For the price of $15 you, too, can attend. Here are some recommendations from this year's slate of 73 feature-length films and 50 short films that recall the great films of Sundances past. The festival runs through Wednesday. |
And after what feels like the longest January on record, we'll welcome the shortest month of the year on Monday. Get ready to cozy up with some new books. Here are 13 titles to watch for in February, including show-business biographies of Mike Nichols and Tom Stoppard, environmental treatises by Bill Gates and Elizabeth Kolbert, debut novels of life online and more. |
Have a leisurely weekend. |
Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. |
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