5 things to know for January 26: Covid-19, White House, impeachment, India, Puerto Rico

Send us your questions to President Biden’s Covid-19 team: Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith are joining Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta for a CNN Town Hall tomorrow at 8 pm ET, and they will answer questions from readers and viewers like you. Submit questions here.

Biden took 33 executive actions in his first six days in office and there is more to come. Some of them aim to support economic stimulus initiatives, which can affect Americans who have not yet received the stimulus money or are waiting for unemployment or housing assistance. Other events: Janet Yellen has been officially confirmed as the first woman to serve as Treasury secretary, and the government says it will have an American Sign Language interpreter at all White House press conferences. Meanwhile, the Senate is finally moving forward on a power-sharing deal after Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell demanded that Democrats not dismantle obstruction, the classic technique of legislative blocking. Now, the 50-50 Senate can officially organize itself so that Democrats can take control of the main committees.

Former President Trump is assembling a full legal team for his Senate impeachment trial, which begins in early February. Biden says that while he doubts that enough Senate Republicans will vote to condemn Trump and disqualify him from office in the future, the process should happen. In addition, nine prominent Republican lawyers, including two former Trump administration officials, signed a letter urging Republican senators to “consider the evidence” before deciding how to vote, which strongly implies that if the evidence gets them there, they will not. they must choose partisanship over conviction. Elsewhere in the Trump circle, Dominion Voting Systems is suing Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani for defamation for $ 1.3 billion in damages. The electoral technology company has been at the center of unfounded conspiracy theories about electoral fraud, promoted by Giuliani.

Hundreds of thousands of farmers drove their tractors to the Indian capital of New Delhi today as part of ongoing protests across the country against the controversial agricultural laws that farmers say put their livelihoods at risk. Some farmers camped outside the city in protest for up to two months. The massive displays of discontent have been a significant challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Months of demonstrations across the country so far have resulted in a stalemate in negotiations between farmers and their government. The protests planned for today coincide with India’s Republic Day, a national holiday that marks the first time that India’s constitution came into force in 1950 after independence from British colonial rule.

Puerto Rico is declaring a state of emergency because of gender-based violence after a wave of murders against women and transgender people. Newly appointed governor Pedro Pierluisi announced an executive order to prevent and protect against gender-based violence through a series of programs, including a committee charged with providing education, support and rescue around gender-based violence. The order is the result of years of efforts by activists and defense organizations to demand action in the U.S. against the increase in gender-based violence, which has worsened in the face of the pandemic and natural disasters like Hurricane Maria 2017. Pierluisi says the state of emergency will last until the end of June 2022.

The invisible hand moves out of malice.

He says he can help tourism, but Bigfoot probably doesn’t agree.

For when you want to be so awake, you can taste the sound.

What is the style of Detroit? Rectangular, covered to the brim with cheese and, like all regional pizza variations, angrily defended by Cariocas.

That’s the number of black US senators in the Senate’s nearly 232-year history. Newly elected Raphael Warnock, from Georgia, is 11th. Only two of these senators are women.

Uganda presidential candidate Bobi wine, who came out of house arrest after Ugandan security forces sealed him in his home for 11 days. Wine says the country’s recent election, during which President Yoweri Museveni was declared the winner for a record sixth term, was fraudulent.

At least one person is dead after a large and dangerous tornado hit the Birmingham, Alabama, area.

These glass sculptures are the result of an intense and rare type of crafts. They are also very beautiful to look at. (Click here to view.)