BBC:
Four senior aides to Boris Johnson resign from No 10
Director of communications Jack Doyle confirmed his exit shortly after the departure of policy head Munira Mirza.
They were followed by the chief of staff Dan Rosenfield and senior civil servant Martin Reynolds.
...
The wave of resignations comes at a tumultuous time for Mr Johnson as backbench unrest is growing within the Conservative Party.
More on Northern Ireland here (it’s a Brexit posturing thing to juice upcoming electoral chances).
BBC:
IS chief al-Qurayshi: Why getting him mattered so much to the US
Last year, its offshoot in Afghanistan IS-K drew far more attention, particularly for the deadly attack in Kabul as the US and allies were pulling out.
But there have been concerns in recent months from counter-terrorism officials that the group was trying to reconstitute in Iraq and Syria and build greater capacity. That was witnessed in ambushes and attacks and particularly a significant attempt at a massive prison break in north-east Syria last month as well as renewed propaganda.
Washington will hope the killing of al-Qurayshi will halt any resurgence in its tracks.
The reality is often that groups normally simply find a new leader but the hope will be that the effort any new leaders needs to go to in order to stay alive will also make it harder for the group to operate and organise.
Guardian:
Russia plans ‘very graphic’ fake video as pretext for Ukraine invasion, US claims
Officials say they have evidence of plot to mock up scenes of attack using corpses, Turkish-made drones and actors playing mourners
US officials claim they have evidence of a Russian plan to make a “very graphic” fake video of a Ukrainian attack as a pretext for an invasion.
The alleged plot would involve using corpses, footage of blown-up buildings, fake Ukrainian military hardware, Turkish-made drones and actors playing the part of Russian-speaking mourners.
“We don’t know definitively that this is the route they are going to take, but we know that this is an option under consideration,” the deputy national security adviser, Jonathan Finer, told MSNBC, adding that the video “would involve actors playing mourners for people who are killed in an event that they would have created themselves”.
Finer added: “That would involve the deployment of corpses to represent bodies purportedly killed, of people purportedly killed in an incident like this.”
Politico:
So long, Omicron: White House eyes next phase of pandemic
Biden and his top health officials have already begun hinting at an impending “new normal."
The preparations are designed to capitalize on a break in the monthslong Covid-19 surge, with officials anticipating a spring lull that could boost the nation’s mood and lift President Joe Biden’s approval ratings at a critical moment for his party.
Biden and his top health officials have already begun hinting at an impending “new normal,” in a conscious messaging shift meant to get people comfortable with a scenario where the virus remains widespread yet at more manageable levels.
But it’s a delicate operation. The White House is wary of declaring victory too early, only to get hit with another catastrophic variant, a half-dozen administration officials and others close to the Covid response said. Officials are also anxious that voters will be disappointed by the idea of living with an endemic virus under a president who once pledged to shut it down completely. And they realize that it will take vigilance — and billions more dollars from Congress — to prevent the nation from backsliding into crisis once again.
Umair Irfan/Vox:
Why young children have waited so long for Covid-19 vaccines
Covid-19 vaccines for young children are coming. But it’s complicated.
Children under 5 years old, who make up one of the largest unvaccinated groups in the US, could soon become eligible to receive Covid-19 shots. The US Food and Drug Administration will consider whether to authorize two small doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines for these children on an emergency basis, the companies announced this week.
Approval could come as soon as this month. But Pfizer and the FDA have a tricky needle to thread, moving quickly while trying to maintain public trust in the process.
Greg Sargent/WaPo:
Why are Democrats struggling with working-class voters? Don’t blame ‘wokeness.’
With President Biden set to meet New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday, pundits will spin this as a sign of profound political failure on Democrats’ part, an act of ritual penitence for failing to treat rising crime as a serious issue.
The basic idea is this: Adams won the mayoralty by vowing toughness on crime. Other Democrats are playing catch-up, after flirting with “defund the police” and getting caught flat-footed by voter backlash. The broader claim: Democrats are besotted with many “woke” obsessions that alienate working-class voters.
But the debate over these problems suffers from profound defects that are hampering development of a constructive way forward. The issue isn’t that the diagnosis is wrong. It’s that the solutions we keep hearing are largely unhelpful in the real world.
AJC:
Fulton DA details next stage of Trump probe
Unlike a regular grand jury, which hears information on dozens of felony cases on any given day, this group will focus solely on the Trump investigation.
Selection of the 16 to 23 jurors will begin May 2. They can hear testimony directly from witnesses and issue subpoenas for documents and information but can’t indict. The jury will instead issue a report at the end of its service laying out recommendations, including possible charges that prosecutors could pursue before a regular grand jury.
Willis’ probe is centered on the phone call that Trump placed to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, during which he urged the Republican to “find” the 11,780 votes to overcome President Joe Biden’s win in Georgia. The inquiry is also examining the abrupt resignation of former Atlanta-based U.S. Attorney BJay Pak; a November 2020 call U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., placed to Raffensperger; and false claims made by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani during a state Senate hearing.