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Daily Briefing: Final sprint to Oscar night

Jane Onyanga-Omara   Paste BN

Stars, including Demi Moore and Timothée Chalamet, won accolades at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, a ceremony that possibly presents clear frontrunners for the Oscars. Today marks three years since the war between Ukraine and Russia began. Pope Francis remains in the hospital in critical condition.

👋🏾 I'm Jane, Daily Briefing author. TikTokers are mourning this viral anglerfish.

'Conclave,' Demi Moore, Timothée Chalamet take top honors at SAG Awards

The Screen Actors Guild could have given us clear frontrunners in a wild Oscar season. Instead, the thespians chose chaos.

Papal thriller "Conclave" won best ensemble Sunday at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards, beating "Anora" and derailing that film's best picture momentum after directors' and producers' guild wins.

  • Timothée Chalamet ("A Complete Unknown") and Demi Moore ("The Substance") picked up key best actor and actress wins – Chalamet's victory over "The Brutalist" star Adrien Brody was something of an upset. 
  • The supporting actor categories went as expected, though, with Zoe Saldaña winning for "Emilia Pérez" and Kieran Culkin for "A Real Pain."
  • Being that the actors are the largest voting body for the Academy Awards, "Conclave" could have a bit of an edge now for the top prize going into next Sunday's 97th Oscars ceremony.

Pope Francis had a 'good' night, Vatican says, remains in critical condition

Pope Francis, in critical condition battling double pneumonia, had a "good" night in hospital, slept and is resting, the Vatican said on Monday. The 88-year-old pope was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on February 14 after having trouble breathing for several days, and subsequently had pneumonia diagnosed in both lungs. The Vatican described his condition as critical for a second day on Sunday and that he had an "initial, slight insufficiency" in his kidney function that day. The pope's prognosis remained "guarded," the latest medical update said. Read more

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Ukraine enters fourth year of war with Russia 

Ukraine marks three years of war with Russia on Monday, with the nation unsure it can rely any longer on its staunchest ally, the United States. President Donald Trump blasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week as a "dictator" who needed to cut a quick peace deal or lose his country. U.S. officials opened direct talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia last week, shutting out Kyiv. "Three years of resistance. Three years of gratitude. Three years of absolute heroism of Ukrainians. Proud of Ukraine!" Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram app, as foreign leaders began to arrive to mark the anniversary. Read more

Federal agencies divided on how to respond to Elon Musk email

Federal agencies are divided in their responses to an email from Elon Musk directing their employees to email in a list of five tasks completed last week – or else. On Saturday, an email went out from the Office of Personnel Management, which Musk now controls, asking employees across the federal government, "What did you do last week?" "Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager." Workers at various agencies were told not to respond pending further guidance, according to Reuters. Read more

Today's talkers

Ovechkin vs. Gretzky: How close is Caps star to scoring record?

The countdown is on with Alex Ovechkin just 13 goals from overtaking Wayne Gretzky as the NHL's career goal leader – a mark that once seemed insurmountable and earned Gretzky the nickname The Great One. The Great Eight, as the Washington Capital is sometimes called, began the season 41 goals behind Gretzky's 894. But, perhaps, numbers fall short of conveying how dominant the two players' careers have been. See the gulf that Gretzky and Ovechkin have created between themselves and their contemporaries as they solidified their positions as two of the league's greats in our series of charts.

Photo of the day: See the stars on the SAG Awards red carpet

Each year at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, a select number of artists are bestowed with the honor of declaring to the audience, "I am an actor." And about as many stars get to say, "I am an actor on the best-dressed list."  Attendees like Millie Bobby Brown, Fran Drescher, Danielle Deadwyler and Monica Barbaro embraced shades of pink and red on the carpet at Sunday’s event. Others like Mikey Madison opted for silver-toned designs. Here are the crème de la carpet, (in no particular order.)

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Reuters contributed reporting.

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