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President Joe Biden’s stimulus plan is on the verge of being cleared by the House of Representatives in a vote on Wednesday morning, providing a lifeline for millions of American families and businesses. The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has hailed the $1.9tn Covid relief bill as “transformative”, and Biden said he would rubber-stamp the sweeping bill – which, if it passes, will be the president’s most significant early legislative achievement – as soon as it lands on his desk.
The House vote on the bill, which will mean most American households receiving checks of up to $1,400, comes after the Senate passed a modestly reworked version of the package on Saturday. “It’s a remarkable, historic, transformative piece of legislation, which goes a very long way to crushing the virus and solving our economic crisis,” Pelosi said during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. “I’m so excited – I just can’t hide it,” she added, as several Democratic leaders likened the measure to the Affordable Care Act, Barack Obama’s signature healthcare legislation.
Buckingham Palace breaks silence on Meghan and Harry claims
The Queen has attempted to draw a line under the crisis engulfing the British monarchy after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex aired allegations of racism in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.
As Buckingham Palace broke its silence on Tuesday evening, the monarch expressed her “concern” over the claims made by Meghan and Harry and emphasised the whole family’s sadness on learning how challenging the couple had found life as working royals, though she added that “some recollections may vary”, in an apparent sign that the palace disputes some of the claims. In the two-hour TV interview, Meghan revealed she was left feeling suicidal, while the couple said a member of the royal household had asked about how dark their unborn son’s skin would be.
Winfrey’s Sunday primetime interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex giving glimpses into their new lives since they resigned as working royals drew more than 17 million viewers on the night, and has triggered national conversations about racism and the future of the British monarchy in the US and the UK. US media have largely praised the couple for deciding to speak out.
Piers Morgan has quit as co-host of ITV’s breakfast show Good Morning Britain after controversial remarks he made about the Duchess of Sussex’s mental health and credibility prompted an on-air row with a colleague and a barrage of complaints from members of the public.
US far-right extremists making millions via social media and cryptocurrency
Dozens of extremist groups and individuals, including some involved in the Capitol attack, have used social media platforms, cryptocurrencies, tax-exempt status and other fundraising tools to rake in about $1.5m in the last year, according to experts.
The growing threat posed by far-right extremists is underscored by two recent studies tracking extremist financing, the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which showed that the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys and others with bias on the white supremacy and anti-immigrant spectrum reaped windfalls via the streaming platform DLive, cryptocurrencies and other fundraising methods.
Arkansas bans nearly all abortions in sweeping measure
Arkansas has passed a law banning nearly all abortions in the state, a sweeping measure that supporters hope will force the US supreme court to revisit Roe v Wade. But opponents vow to block before it takes effect later this year.
The state’s Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, said he was signing the bill because of its “overwhelming legislative support and my sincere and long-held pro-life convictions”, despite having earlier expressed reservations about the bill, which only allows the procedure to go ahead to save the life of the mother, and does not allow exceptions for those impregnated as a result of rape or incest.
In other news …
Employees at Teen Vogue have sent a letter to publisher Condé Nast to protest against the hiring of Alexi McCammond as editor-in-chief of the influential magazine, after a series of racist tweets written by McCammond 10 years ago resurfaced this week.
Jury selection got under way on Tuesday in the high-profile trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is accused of killing George Floyd, a Black man whose death sparked protests around the globe.
Rupert Murdoch, co-chairman of Fox Corporation and the owner of the Sun, the Times and the Wall Street Journal, may be turning 90 on Thursday, but according to associates who have met with the media mogul recently, he shows no sign of slowing down.
An attack on a San Francisco Uber driver over the weekend by a passenger who allegedly refused to wear a face mask has drawn outrage after video of the incident emerged on Tuesday.
Stat of the day: US urged to cut 50% of emissions by 2030 to spur other countries into action
The US needs to commit to cutting its planet-heating emissions by at least half by the end of the decade to halt disastrous changes to the climate and spur other countries to greater action, a coalition of American environmental groups has said. The Biden administration is set to unveil a new national emissions reduction target at a climate meeting with other major economic powers on Earth Day, 22 April, in the hope to galvanize countries that are lagging in their efforts to halt the climate crisis.
Don’t miss this: Is this the end of forests as we’ve known them?
Trees lost to drought and wildfires are not returning. Climate change is taking a toll on the world’s forests and radically changing the environment before our eyes. In western North America, huge swaths of forested areas may become unsuitable for trees owing to climate change, researchers say.
Last Thing: Bagels, pizza and egomania – five things California does better than New York
California bagels are better than their east coast counterparts, a New York Times article has claimed in an article unapologetically titled The Best Bagels Are in California (Sorry, New York). The cheeky affront to the newspaper’s home town has sparked an east coast-west coast flame war that has been described as “the perfect storm of internet drama”.
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