Good Morning.
Donald Trump lobbied a senior Georgia official to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in state elections. In the recording, obtained by the Washington Post and released in full on Sunday, Trump tells Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that “I just want to find 11,780 votes” and that “there is nothing wrong with saying … that you recalculated ”. Trump also tries to intimidate Raffensperger by suggesting that he could face criminal charges. Helen Sullivan has six main lessons from the amazing recording.
The recording generated widespread outrage among lawyers and political opponents, with some calling for a second impeachment and others warning that Trump may have legal problems when he leaves the White House on January 20.
All 10 of the former U.S. defense secretaries alive, including two who worked for Trump, asked the president and his supporters to accept that he lost the election. In an unprecedented joint letter, they warned that Trump could try to unleash military intervention in a final attempt to retain power. The ex-secretaries said that such a move “would take us to dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional territory”.
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There are still 12 Republican senators who will not ratify the result of the electoral college this week, but none agreed to defend their decision on television, according to a CNN presenter.
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A new Congress was installed on Sunday at his 117th session, with Nancy Pelosi re-elected mayor. All eyes are currently on Georgia and run-off races, where a Democratic victory in both seats would give them control of the Senate.
Fauci contradicted Trump’s claims about coronavirus, again
Leading public health expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, was again forced to reject Trump’s claims about the coronavirus this weekend. Trump tweeted on Sunday morning that the death toll was “too much,” but Fauci said coronavirus skeptics should “go into the trenches” to see what was going on, insisting it was “real numbers, real people and deaths.” real “.
Fauci also said that “there are no excuses” for the poor distribution of the coronavirus vaccine in the United States. The Trump administration had promised that 20 million Americans would have received their first dose of the vaccine in early January, but two days in 2021, just over 4 million were administered. However, according to Fauci, the pace is accelerating, with an average of 500,000 people vaccinated each day.
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Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi’s homes were vandalized this weekend, apparently because of the way the government handled the coronavirus pandemic. McConnell appears to have been the target of his refusal to increase stimulus payments from $ 600 to $ 2,000, while Pelosi’s home was vandalized with a pig’s head and messages including “cancel the rent”.
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University campuses are to reopen personally despite the increase in coronavirus cases in the United States, although the lack of national education means that they will operate in different ways. At least 85 colleges across the country have reported more than 1,000 cases.
Tensions are rising between Iran and the US
The US reversed the decision to bring one of its aircraft carriers back from the Persian Gulf due to “recent threats” from Iran. On New Year’s Eve, acting US Secretary of Defense Christopher C Miller announced that the USS Nimitz would be returning home, with reports saying the move was aimed at easing tensions with Iran. However, the Pentagon said on Sunday that, as a result of threats by Iranian leaders to Trump, its routine deployment would be halted. “No one should doubt the determination of the United States of America,” warned Miller.
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How will world politics change in 2021? From the climate crisis to global relations with China, from the future of the EU to the rising voices of young people in Africa, our correspondents analyze what this year holds for global politics.
In other news …
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Greta Thunberg “is not telling anyone what to do”, she said in an interview for her 18th birthday. The young climate activist is vegan, doesn’t buy new clothes and stopped flying years ago, but said she doesn’t judge other people whose lifestyle is less environmentally friendly.
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Illegal occupants invaded the ruins of the oldest city in the Americas and made death threats against the Peruvian archaeologist who discovered them. The group allegedly killed a local worker’s dog as a warning.
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Families of detainees in Syrian prisons are routinely forced to bribe officials be allowed to visit or secure his release, with sums of up to $ 2.7 million, a report said. About a quarter of respondents said they had received extortion requests.
Stat of the day: authorities have still not been able to find the parents of 628 separated children on the United States border
Records suggest that more than 5,500 children have been separated from their parents on the border with the United States since 2017, hundreds of whom were under the age of five. While groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have helped bring together thousands of families, a court-appointed committee has yet to locate the parents of 628 children. Sam Levin writes about the continuing impact of Trump’s globally doomed migration policy.
Don’t miss it: how the pandemic in the United States disproportionately affected women – and what needs to be done to recover
The United States is going through a “recession”, an economic recession in which job and income losses are being suffered more by women than men. The term was coined by C Nicole Mason, president and chief executive of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. She spoke to Amanda Holpuch about how the United States can recover and build gender equality.
Last thing: a giant sculpture of a vagina sparked debate in Brazil
A 33-meter concrete vagina caused a reaction in Brazil, with supporters of the country’s far-right president criticizing the sculpture and many left figures embracing it. Juliana Notari, the visual artist behind the play, said the intention was to stimulate the debate about “gender problematization”, but a Facebook post explaining the art was inundated with thousands of angry comments.
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