Bedugul Coffee: Thursday Briefing: Security tight at U.S. Capitol after police warn of possible attack

Today's top stories

A slain teen's T-shirt slogan spurs defiance, Elon Musk’s Starship rocket blows up, and the man who saves forgotten cats in Fukushima

Security has been tightened around the U.S. Capitol after police warned that a militia group might try to attack it today.

March 4 is the day when believers in the baseless QAnon conspiracy have claimed that former President Donald Trump will be sworn in for a second term in office.

The House of Representatives passed a flagship election reform bill that would update voting procedures and require states to turn over the task of redrawing congressional districts to independent commissions.

The Senate is expected to begin debating President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package today after agreeing to phase out payments to higher-income Americans in a compromise with moderate Democratic senators.

The third time appeared to be the charm for Elon Musk’s Starship rocket - until it wasn’t. The spacecraft blew itself to pieces about eight minutes after touchdown yesterday.

↑ SpaceX Starship SN10 explodes after liftoff at South Padre Island, Texas, March 3, 2021

WORLD

↑ Protesters lie on the ground after police opened fire to disperse an anti-coup protest in Mandalay, Myanmar, March 3, 2021. Among them, Angel, 19, bottom-left, also known as Kyal Sin, took cover before she was shot in the head

“Everything will be OK,” read 19-year-old Angel’s T-shirt as she joined anti-coup protesters in Myanmar. Angel was killed by a shot to the head on the streets of Mandalay as she fought for a tentative democracy in which she had proudly voted for the first time last year.

Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary groups have told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson they are temporarily withdrawing support for the 1998 peace agreement due to concerns over the Brexit deal. The 'Good Friday Agreement' ended three decades of violence between mostly Catholic nationalists and mostly Protestant unionists.

The death of South Korea’s first known transgender soldier, who was discharged last year for undergoing gender reassignment surgery, has sparked calls for better protections and acknowledgement of transgender Koreans.

Ten years after the Fukushima disaster, we visit a man who stayed behind to rescue cats abandoned by neighbors who fled the radiation clouds. He won’t leave.

Business

After a searing U.S. bond selloff, markets are laser-focused on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's next move.

But while investors will be closely watching the Fed chief, due to speak at a conference today, for any hints of concern about last week's jump in bond yields, they see a high bar for the U.S. central bank to actually take action.

OPEC, Russia and other oil producers meet today to decide whether to keep April output steady or increase it as they weigh a recent price rally against uncertainty about the economic recovery.

The global semiconductor chip shortage has led General Motors to extend production cuts at three North American plants and add a fourth to the list of factories hit. We take a look at how the shortage has spurred a run on vintage chipmaking tools.

Ahead of International Women's Day, we look at how women are struggling to regain their footing in the job market after being pushed out by the pandemic.