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Today’s top stories
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died after feeling unwell and losing consciousness following a walk on Friday in the penal colony where he was held, according to the country’s prison service. He was 47. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters today that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed of his death, and prison medics are working to identify the cause of death.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan tells Morning Edition’s Steve Inskeep that, if confirmed, Navalny’s death is “a terrible tragedy” given the Russian government’s “long and sordid history of doing harm to its opponents.’
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testified yesterday in Georgia to fight off an attempt to remove her from former President Donald Trump’s 2020 Georgia election interference case. Trump and other defendants accused her of a conflict of interest stemming from a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired for the probe. They allege Willis benefited financially from the case. Read more
Needles can be scary for adults, so imagine what it’s like for kids who have never experienced getting a shot before. Pain management research suggests that needle pokes may be children’s biggest source of pain in the health care system. To lessen the sting, Dr. Stefan Friedrichsdorf, a specialist at the University of California San Francisco, recommends the following steps:
- Numb the area with numbing cream or over-the-counter topicals 30 minutes before the shot.
- Find ways to comfort babies while they’re getting poked. Giving them a pacifier dipped in sugar water or breastfeeding can do the trick.
- Distract babies from the needle using teddy bears, pinwheels or bubbles to make sure they don’t see the poke.
- Restraining a baby won’t help. Parents can hold the baby in their lap instead to make them comfortable.
Weekend picks
Check out what NPR is watching, reading and listening to this weekend:
Movies: Perfect Days stars Memoirs of a Geisha actor Kôji Yakusho. The 50-year-old cleans public toilets in Tokyo and seems a little too happy.
TV: As couples everywhere celebrated Valentine’s Day this week, Pop Culture Happy Hour paid tribute to the shows that revolve around friendship and platonic love.
Books: Fourteen Days is a COVID-19 throwback that brings together 36 American and Canadian authors to tell the story of the first two weeks of the pandemic.
Music: More than 20 years after her hit record This Is Me…Then, Jennifer Lopez released its companion, This Is Me…Now. She tells Morning Edition that falling in love with Ben Affleck was the inciting incident behind both records. Read more
Games: Mario vs Donkey Kong, the exquisitely animated and precisely engineered remake of the 2004 Gameboy Advance game, can be as frustrating as it is fun to play.
3 things to know before you go
Caitlin Clark has broken the NCAA women’s all-time scoring record last night, surpassing 3,527 points. She beat the previous record in 13 fewer games while taking fewer shots. Tattoos can be an important part of a person’s identity. (via Ideastream) Alaskan officials say a man died of Alaskapox last month. They believe it is the first fatality from the newly discovered virus.
This newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi. Mansee Khurana contributed.