| Legal woes | A Manhattan grand jury charged the Trump Organization and Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg yesterday, the first indictments from a multiyear investigation of the former president's company. Neither Donald Trump nor his sons are expected to be included in the case, which sources say will remain sealed until today, but it may put pressure on Weisselberg to turn on his boss. - Trump went to the southern U.S. border yesterday, where he criticized Biden's immigration policies.
Taking time | Biden has fallen behind even Trump's record-slow pace in picking envoys to take his message of "America's Back" to the world. Ambassador posts in countries including China, India and Mexico are vacant and, as Nick Wadhams and Jennifer Epstein report, foreign officials and career diplomats are wondering why it's taking so long to announce nominees. Strong rhetoric | President Xi Jinping struck a defiant tone today in a speech marking the Communist Party's 100-year anniversary, calling China's quest to gain control of Taiwan a "historic mission" and warning the country's adversaries to avoid standing in the way of his government. He vowed Beijing would not listen to "sanctimonious preaching," comments likely to further alarm nations embroiled in tensions with his administration.  Demand for meat has waned with previous financial downturns, but what's different now is the plant-based boom. The twin forces of inflation and food trends are coming together to signal a seismic shift away from animal-based protein consumption in the world.
Excess doses | Romania and Bulgaria are desperately trying to avoid wasting Covid-19 vaccines as low public demand leaves stockpiles that officials must use before their expiry dates. Shots are being sold or donated to other countries, and both governments want to delay more deliveries to avoid oversupply; Romania has 4.4 million due to arrive in the next two months. Oil uncertainty | OPEC and its allies meet today for talks that will be crucial for oil prices, focused on whether to keep increasing production amid a resurgence of the coronavirus in some regions. The debate has big implications for the global economy, with a recovery in demand outpacing the revival of OPEC+ supplies after last year's deep cuts. What to Watch - Excess deaths in South Africa's commercial hub of Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria, rose to their highest level since the pandemic began.
- Chile's pro-business economic model can be improved from within and doesn't need radical reform, according to a center-right candidate who is rising in opinion polls before November's presidential election.
- Amazon said its carbon emissions rose 19% in 2020 due to pandemic-fueled growth, highlighting the challenge of balancing expansion with pledges to minimize environmental harm.
The newsletter yesterday incorrectly indentified the building in the first photograph as the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney, when it was the Strand Arcade. We apologize for the error.
And finally ... Millions in Southeast Asia are in no rush to get a Covid-19 vaccination or are just saying no, swayed by local disinformation as well anti-vaccination movements in the U.S. One Facebook group in the local Filipino language said the inoculation would brand people with the "mark of the beast," alluding to the Antichrist in Christian eschatology. It got more than a thousand views, and as Andreo Calonzo and Kwan Wei Kevin Tan report, it is just one in a sea of fake posts undermining vaccine efforts.  A drive-thru vaccination site in Manila, the Philippines. Photographer: Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg | 
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