Teen Vaccine, Israel, Pipeline: Your Monday Night Briefing

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Good night. Here is the last one.
1. The Pfizer vaccine for adolescents has come close to reality.
The Food and Drug Administration has cleared the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for use in 12-15 year olds in the United States, a crucial step in ending the pandemic and a boon for American families hungry for normality. Above, Alejandro Garcia, 16, looks on after receiving his first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in West New York, NJ on April 19.
The green light from the FDA is not the last hurdle. But if an advisory committee from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approves the vaccine for this age group, as planned, vaccinations could in theory begin immediately.
2. Israel erupted in violence after a police raid on the Aqsa Mosque.
Palestinian health officials said nine residents of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, including three children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike. The strikes came after militants in Gaza fired rockets at Jerusalem.
The exchange capped a day of violence in Jerusalem, which began when police entered the mosque compound around 8 a.m. and fired rubber bullets and stun grenades at Palestinians throwing stones. Above, a Palestinian helps another injured protester at the Aqsa Mosque today.
As of the afternoon, more than 330 Palestinians were injured, including at least 250 hospitalized, according to a representative of the Palestinian Red Crescent. At least 21 Israeli policemen were injured, police said.
The escalation of tensions was exacerbated by restrictions on Palestinians’ access to the Old City during the holy month of Ramadan, a march by far-right Jewish groups through the city center in April and street assaults by Jews and Arabs.
4. President Biden has said his administration will take steps to make it easier for employers to hire workers.
In a White House address, he also said companies need to help employees get vaccinated and pay them more, after receiving $ 1.4 trillion in Covid-19 relief from the federal government over the past l past year.
His comments follow criticism from Republicans on a disappointing jobs report released on Friday. Some criticize the increase in unemployment benefits for keeping recruitment at bay. But school closures, childcare constraints and incomplete immunization coverage played a bigger role, Biden said.
The president said the Department of Labor will work with states to restore requirements that anyone receiving unemployment benefits prove they are actively seeking work. Twenty-nine states have already reinstated the rules, which were suspended during the pandemic.
5. Health care providers cannot discriminate against transgender people, the Biden administration ruled.
The move will reverse a policy adopted under President Donald Trump that the anti-discrimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 did not apply to transgender people.
The ruling will apply to doctors, hospitals and other health care organizations that receive federal funding and is part of a larger effort by the president to include lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, gay men and those interviewed in the protections against discrimination.
6. Biden administration to start deploying $ 350 billion in support of state and local governments this month.
Details of the disbursement have been eagerly awaited by states, cities, territories and tribal governments expected to receive the money. The funds were included in the $ 1.9 trillion stimulus bill signed in March.
But several states led by the Republicans and the Biden administration are in a legal showdown over whether states can take relief funds and use it to solidify their budgets, then cut taxes.
The Treasury has made it clear today that it will insist that the relief money not be used to subsidize tax cuts and that it could recover the money that is misused.
7. The future of the Golden Globes show is in jeopardy.
NBCUniversal has said it will not air the 2022 Golden Globes, a blow to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization that hosts the film and television awards ceremony.
The group of around 86 journalists came under scrutiny as press inquiries revealed its lack of diversity and its system of paying members for their work on committees.
NBC was paying $ 60 million a year for broadcast rights. This year’s broadcast audience fell 62% from the previous year to 6.9 million.
8. Bets on the Kentucky Derby winner will stand even after failing a post-race drug test.
The reason is simple: once the payments start coming in, they become impossible to track. We explain why competitors can be stripped of their moments of triumph but not bettors. Meanwhile, the horse’s trainer launched an air blitz to deny the charges, accused “culture cancellation” and threatened to go to court. Above, a winning bet for Medina Spirit at Churchill Downs on May 1st.
In other sports news, the Boston Marathon was oversubscribed by more than 9,200 qualifiers. Organizers, who canceled the 2020 marathon due to the coronavirus pandemic, have moved this year’s race to October from April, and are now notifying runners if they made the cut.
9. In Australia, “ugg” is just a word for sheepskin boots.
But in the United States, a court said Deckers Outdoor could file it and stop Australian companies – and everyone – from selling their uggs here. Deckers has also registered the “UGG Australia” trademark in 130 other countries.
The case outraged Australians, who see the shoes as a national symbol. “It doesn’t sound moral,” said Dean Wilkie, a marketing expert at the University of Adelaide.
The owner of Australian Leather, whom Deckers sued for trademark infringement, said after the court ruling that he would take his five-year legal battle to the United States Supreme Court.
10. And finally, a new heir to the Italian throne. Just a few issues with that.
The first is that Italy abolished its monarchy 75 years ago. Another is that a different branch of the family claims the royal line.
Either way, the son of the last king of Italy called on his teenage granddaughter to ultimately lead the House of Savoy. He amended a medieval law that limited succession in his royal line to male heirs. Above, Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia with his wife, French actress Clotilde Courau, and daughters Vittoria and Luisa last year.
This would allow 17-year-old Vittoria di Savoia, a booming influencer in Paris, to be the first woman in 1,000 years to be vested with the power to run the family.
Thus began the last chapter of the dynastic dispute between the pretenders to the so-called throne of Italy. “Totally illegitimate,” said Prince Aimone di Savoia Aosta, a cousin and rival claimant.
Have an evening without a quarrel.
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