Vox Sentences - Florida's environmental emergency

• Prince Hamzah bin Hussein was placed under house arrest Saturday on the orders of King Abdullah II, his half-brother, for allegedly working with “foreign entities” and plotting a coup. The former crown prince has denied the allegations. [BBC]
• Two other top officials, a former finance minister and a junior member of the Royal Family, were accused by Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi of plotting with Prince Hamzah to initiate the foreign-backed coup and threaten national security. More than 15 alleged associates were arrested over the weekend. [Financial Times / Andrew England]
• Both Prince Hamzah and King Abdullah II are sons of the late King Hussein. On their father’s death in 1999, King Abdullah made Hamzah the Crown Prince, a title he took back five years later in favor of his own son. In the years since, Prince Hamzah has spoke out against the government corruption and structural inequities. [Associated Press / Josef Federman]
• Such public turmoil is a first for the Jordanian royal family, which tends to keep its conflicts out of the public eye. Arrests of members of the royal family are rare in a state considered one of the Middle East’s most stable countries and a central ally of Western countries. [Al Jazeera]
• The Biden administration, which regards Jordan as a key player in Middle Eastern counterterrorism efforts, has publicly supported the current ruling regime. “King Abdullah is a key partner of the United States, and he has our full support,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price. [Washington Post / Joby Warrick, Sarah Dadouch and Steve Hendrix]
• On Saturday night, Prince Hamzah released a video in English denying allegations of plotting against his half-brother. In it, he accused the government rit large of being “stymied by corruption, nepotism and misrule.” The result “has been a loss of hope.” [The Guardian / Martin Chulov and Michael Safi]
• The royal discord comes at a particularly turbulent time for the Jordanian government. The state is currently grappling with a renewed wave of Covid-19 and an economy that is still grappling with how to take in the 600,000 refugees who came to Jordan in the wake of the Syrian War. [New York Times / Rana F. Sweis, Adam Rasgon and Patrick Kingsley]

[Associated Press / Brian Slodysko]

• The trial of Derek Chauvin continued Monday, with the police chief of Minneapolis taking the stand to testify that Chauvin’s “conduct was not consistent with MPD training and policies.” [Axios / Torey Van Oot]
• Stanford held off a rally by Arizona to win its first national women's basketball tournament in 29 years. The Cardinal were led by sophomore Haley Jones in a championship snatched by the thinnest of margins. [Yahoo Sports / Cassandra Negley]
• On the men's side, Gonzaga and Baylor face off Monday in a matchup between the two teams most favored to make it to the title game heading into March. [CBS Sports / David Cobb].
• All adults and children in England will now have access to two Covid-19 tests a week, as the central government looks to lift the country’s monthslong lockdown and prepare it for future outbreaks. [Associated Press / Jill Lawless]