First Thing: US Covid death toll will not be forgotten, Fauci says

Good morning.

As the US approaches the grim milestone of half a million Covid-19 deaths, Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious diseases expert, lamented the “historic” and “really horrible” death toll. Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union show on Sunday, Fauci said decades from now people would be talking about this “terribly historic milestone in the history of this country”. He also said it was possible that Americans would be wearing masks into 2022. Although rates of infection are dropping steadily, the US recorded 13,347 deaths and more than 500,000 new cases of coronavirus in the past week.

The good news is that the vaccine programme is progressing, with an average of 1.32m administered each day last week, according to a Bloomberg News tracker. Just under 6% of the population are fully vaccinated; you can track your state’s progress with our vaccine rollout tracker.

• Israel used coronavirus vaccines as a bargaining chip in a prisoner swap, raising alarm that the inoculations could be used as diplomatic currency. The clandestine deal was made last week and reportedly included Israel paying Russia $1.2m to send vaccines to Syria.

• What do we know about the origins of coronavirus? A member of the World Health Organization delegation to Wuhan explains what they found, including that the virus most likely came from animals but transmission did not necessarily happen at a Wuhan market.

Federal funds will be used to help pay energy bills in Texas

Authorities in Texas will divert federal funds to help citizens pay costly energy bills after a winter storm battered the state last week, a senior congressman announced on Sunday. Millions of people experienced power and water shortages as well as dwindling food supplies when the energy supply chain was disrupted, after the unprepared state grid buckled under unprecedented demand. The outages, which left many homes without heat, contributed to the deaths of dozens of people.

Passing the responsibility for the clean-up operation to the rest of the US is “a bit rich”, writes Lloyd Green, because Texas has often stepped back from helping other parts of the country in times of crisis, such as in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

A senior Republican is still refusing to admit Biden won the election

At the weekend, a Republican House leader refused to admit Joe Biden won the election, peddling baseless claims that some states “did not follow their own … laws”. Speaking on ABC on Sunday, the Louisiana congressman Steve Scalise, who is House minority whip, also said he had recently visited Donald Trump.

“Once the electors are counted, yes, he’s the legitimate president. But if you’re going to ignore the fact that there were states that did not follow their own … laws, that’s the issue at heart, that millions of people still are not happy with and don’t want to see happen again,” Scalise said, when asked if he admitted the election was not stolen.

But is the party as much to blame as Scalise himself? Those failing to toe the Trump line will feel the wrath of the GOP, write Daniel Strauss and Tom McCarthy. Just look at the censorship of Richard Burr and Bill Cassidy after they voted to convict Trump during the impeachment trial, or the searing criticism of Liz Cheney for doing the same.

• People with extreme views are less able to do complex mental tasks, researchers at Cambridge University have found. The study, of 330 US-based participants, found those with extremist views tended to see the world in black and white terms and struggled with complex tasks. The findings could be used to spot those at risks of radicalisation, the team said.

Malcolm X’s family and lawyers say the NYPD and FBI conspired in his murder

The family and lawyers of Malcom X have released evidence they claim shows the NYPD and FBI conspired in his murder. They point to a deathbed letter attributed to an undercover New York officer, who claimed he had been pressured by his supervisors to encourage two of X’s security team into committing crimes, days before the civil rights leader’s death. Their arrests meant they could not guard the door of the Audubon ballroom on the day of his murder.

• Disney+ added warnings to old episodes of The Muppet Show over “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures”. The platform said the “stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now”, but rather than remove them “we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together”.

In other news …

• Boeing has recommended that 15% of its jets are grounded after a catastrophic engine failure on a United Airlines plane in Denver. The firm said 120 of its 777 jets around the world should suspend operations until they could be inspected, after a plane scattered debris over Denver before making an emergency landing on Saturday.

• The US is in talks with Iran over detained Americans, with the White House calling the issue a “complete and utter outrage”. Iran has arrested dozens of dual nationals, including several Americans in recent years, mostly on espionage charges.

• A deal has been reached in James Franco’s sexual misconduct trial, in which the actor is accused of intimidating students at a film school he founded into exploitative sexual situations. Two former students accused him of pushing their peers into performing increasingly explicit sex scenes on camera, going beyond what is acceptable on Hollywood film sets.

Stat of the day: in one year, the number of abortions in Guam dropped from 200 to zero

After the retirement of the last abortion provider in 2018, the country went from performing about 200 a year to zero. Now, Guam’s nearest abortion clinic is in Hawaii, an eight-hour and $1,000 flight away. The American Civil Liberties Union is suing Guam officials for preventing practices that would allow doctors to prescribe and send abortion medication directly to patients.

Don’t miss this: the Uighur leaders pushed out of China

During the 1960s repression in China, tens of thousands of Uighurs fled to the Soviet Union to begin new lives. They built communities and mosques, each with its own leader. In Kyrgyzstan, they are called Dzhigit-beshchis, but now they are dying out. Reyhana Turdieva meets 10 members of the community.

Last thing: Billie Holiday was always glamorous, but was there more to it?

With a film about the star to be released this week, the significance of Billie Holiday’s glamorous style is being reassessed. The film’s costume designer, Paolo Nieddu, explores the meaning behind the singer’s fashion, from the importance of glamour as an act of resistance for black women in the late 40s and early 50s to the revolutionary act of going braless. But her fashion decisions were also tactical. Holiday, a known drug addict, is believed to have worn elegant long gloves to hide telltale needle marks from heroin use.

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