Bedugul Coffee: Tuesday Briefing: U.S. calls for pause to J&J COVID-19 vaccine

Today's Top Stories

A vaccine setback, more Minneapolis protests, and the world's biggest SPAC deal

U.S. federal health agencies have recommended pausing the use of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine after six recipients developed a rare disorder involving blood clots, in a fresh setback to global efforts to tackle the pandemic.

A highly contagious variant of COVID-19 first identified in Britain does not cause more severe disease in hospitalised patients, a new study has found. The strain was identified in Britain late last year and has become the most common strain in the United States.

International agencies including the World Health Organization have urged countries to suspend the sale of live wild mammals in food markets, warning they may be the source of more than 70% of emerging infectious diseases in humans.

See our COVID-19 global tracker for all the latest on the pandemic.

U.S.

A suburban Minneapolis police officer apparently drew her gun by mistake, instead of her Taser, when she shot a young Black man to death during a traffic stop, a police chief said, hours before a second night of unrest sparked by the killing.

Family members of the slain motorist, Daunte Wright, rejected the notion that a mere accident was to blame for Sunday’s shooting in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, with Wright’s grieving brother denouncing the police as “trigger happy.”

Prosecutors neared the end of their case in the murder trial of former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin, calling George Floyd’s younger brother to the stand for emotional testimony about how his sibling grew up obsessed with basketball and doting on his mother.

President Joe Biden’s administration is backing away from a campaign pledge to swiftly create a police oversight commission, concluding that legislation would better address officers using excessive force. We look at how citizens have been leading the call for police reform since Floyd's death last summer.

Business

Southeast Asia's biggest ride-hailing and food delivery firm, Grab Holdings, has agreed a merger with U.S.-based Altimeter Growth Corp in a deal that gives Grab an initial proforma equity value of about $39.6 billion and will lead to a public listing. The merger is the biggest blank-check company deal ever.

Bitcoin hit a record of $62,741, extending its 2021 rally to new heights a day before the listing of Coinbase shares in the United States. The largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange's listing on the Nasdaq on Wednesday is considered a landmark victory for cryptocurrency advocates.

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican who has been a staunch critic of Big Tech, says he has introduced a bill that would ban all mergers and acquisitions by any company with a market value greater $100 billion, a category that includes the five biggest U.S. tech companies.

Reuters News has named one of its top editors, Alessandra Galloni, as its next editor-in-chief, the first woman to lead the globe-spanning news agency in its 170-year history. A native of Rome, Galloni, 47, will replace Stephen J. Adler, who is retiring after leading the newsroom for the past decade.