Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday

Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday

Feb 10, 2017 - Politics & Policy

The takeaways from Trump's joint presser with Abe

Alayna Treene, Shane Savitsky

Evan Vucci / AP

The immigration ban: The president said he has "no doubt" he'll eventually prevail in court and hinted that something is coming "very rapidly" next week on national security.
TPP: Prime Minister Abe dodged multiple questions on TPP. Instead, he said he remained focused on a plan for VP Pence to begin a new economic dialogue with Japan's Deputy PM.
1 fun thing: Trump reportedly didn't wear his translation earpiece for Abe's opening statement.

President Trump

The U.S. is committed to the security of Japan: Both countries will invest heavily in "mutual defense." Trump specifically singled out the North Korean threat as "very, very high priority."
Wants a trading relationship that is free, fair and reciprocal — "benefitting both of our countries."
Asked about China's role in Asia: Trump mentions his call with President Xi yesterday, but spiraled away into a discussion on Obamacare.

Prime Minister Abe

"Some people mistakenly pronounce my name as 'Abe' which is okay," because even in Japan everyone know the name of "the great president [Lincoln]."
Large scale infrastructure investment: Abe said that Japan could help the U.S. build a bullet train from DC to NYC.

Go deeper

Marisa Fernandez

12 mins ago - Health

OIG: HHS misused millions of dollars intended for public health threats

Vaccine vials. Photo: Punit Paranjpe/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel alerted the White House and Congress on Wednesday of an investigation that found the Department of Health and Human Services misused millions of dollars that were budgeted for vaccine research and public health emergencies for Ebola, Zika and now the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why it matters: The more than 200-page investigation corroborated claims from a whistleblower, showing the agency's violation of the Purpose Statute spanned both the Obama and Trump administrations and paid for unrelated projects like salaries, news subscriptions and the removal of office furniture.

Go deeper (1 min. read)

14 mins ago - Energy & Environment

John Kerry: U.S.-China climate cooperation is a "critical standalone issue"

President Biden's special climate envoy John Kerry said Wednesday that the U.S. must deal with China on climate change as a "critical standalone issue," but stressed that confronting Beijing's human rights and trade abuses "will never be traded" for climate cooperation.

Why it matters: The last few years have brought about a bipartisan consensus on the threat posed by China. But as the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, China will be a vital player if the world is going to come close to reining in emissions on the scale needed to meet the Paris Agreement goals of limiting warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

Go deeper (1 min. read)

Zach Dorfman of the Aspen Institute, author of Codebook

51 mins ago - World

In cyber espionage, U.S. is both hunted and hunter

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

American outrage over foreign cyber espionage, like Russia's SolarWinds hack, obscures the uncomfortable reality that the U.S. secretly does just the same thing to other countries.

Why it matters: Secrecy is often necessary in cyber spying to protect sources and methods, preserve strategic edges that may stem from purloined information, and prevent diplomatic incidents.

Go deeper (2 min. read)

You’ve caught up. Now what?

Sign up for Mike Allen’s daily Axios AM and PM newsletters to get smarter, faster on the news that matters.