The week
10 things you need to know today: January 17, 2021
1. State houses across the United States support demonstrations in support of President Trump and his baseless allegations of election fraud Sunday. Security officials identified Sunday as a potentially ‘big flash point’, reports Reuters, which has asked more than a dozen states to activate the National Guard troops to protect their capital buildings. Some states have erected fences or other barriers around their state houses while also aboard windows, and others, including Kentucky and Texas, have closed their capital lands to the public simply. The nationwide measures come after a pro-Trump mob invaded the U.S. capital earlier this month, and the FBI quickly warned of the potential for subsequent violence, though increased security could deter larger rallies. According to Reuters, some militias and extremist groups have already told supporters to stay home this weekend. [The Associated Press, Reuters] 2. President-elect Joe Biden plans to spend his first ten days in the Oval Office issuing dozens of executive orders, has a memorandum circulated on Saturday by incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and by The New York Times obtained, revealed. The memorandum appears to have previously reported on how Biden envisioned the early stages of his presidency. On its first day alone, according to President Trump’s travel ban on majority memberships in several Muslim countries, Biden will rejoin the Paris climate change deal, expand the pandemic on evictions and student loan payments, a mask mandate for federal property and interstate issue trips and reunite children separated from their families while crossing the border between the United States and Mexico. He will also allegedly pass immigration legislation from Congress that provides citizenship to 11 million people. [The New York Times] President-elect Joe Biden’s inaugural address will outline how he intends to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent economic downturn while he is in office, and he will also urge Americans to continue from their current political divisions and to unite, advisers and allies told Bloomberg. . While these sources expect Biden to acknowledge the problems of the moment, they expect the overall tone of the speech to be optimistic as opposed to President Trump’s “American massacre” speech in 2017. “People want to know that someone is in charge “Help is on the way, there’s chaos behind it now,” said Matt Teper, who served as Vice President Biden’s keynote speaker at the beginning of his term as former president Barack Obama’s vice president. recognition that things are not great at the moment, but there is certainly hope that things will get better. ” [Bloomberg] 4. President-elect Joe Biden on Saturday officially introduced members of his administration’s scientific and technological policy office, led by his candidate to lead the team, Eric Lander, who will be a presidential scientific adviser. cabinet member for the first time. “In a way … this is the most exciting announcement I have had to make in the entire cabinet, and in one case raise it at a cabinet level,” Biden said. Lander, considered a pioneer in the field of genomic science, is the president and founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and was an adviser to the Obama administration. Biden also proposes Alondra Nelson, who has been elected the OSTP deputy director for science and society, as well as Maria Zuber and Frances Arnold, who will co-chair the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. [CNN, CBS News] 5. Alexey Navalny, a Russian opposition leader and fierce Kremlin critic, left Berlin on Sunday and is on his way to Moscow, several months after he was nearly killed after an alleged poisoning by the Russian FSB spy agency. Navalny, who accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his assassination, is likely to be arrested when he lands, reports The Guardian. The Moscow prison service says he has ordered the detention of Navalny for violating the conditions after he was found guilty of embezzlement and given a suspended sentence. He could face up to three and a half years in prison. Navalny has constantly motivated the matter as political, and he says he never considered not returning home. He appealed to his supporters to greet him at the airport, although Russian police said they had begun detaining people traveling to Moscow for the “illegal” rally. [The Guardian, BBC] 6. Judge Sonia Sotomayor, High Court, will swear Deputy President Kamala Harris during the inauguration ceremony. A source with knowledge of Harris’ thinking told ABC News that she was inspired by Sotomayor, who, like her, once served as prosecutor. Harris will make history as the first female, black and South Asian vice president in the US, while Sotomayor was the first Spanish and third female judge to sit on the Supreme Court. Other information about Harris’ swearing-in has also become available, including the report that she will take her oath of office using two Bibles – one belonging to a former neighbor and family friend, Regina Shelton, and the other to the late civil rights icon and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. [ABC News, CNN] Iran on Sunday called on the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to “not provide unnecessary details and prevent misunderstandings” about Tehran’s nuclear program. The statement did not elaborate, but it comes a day after France, Germany and the United Kingdom urged Iran to withdraw from its plan to develop uranium metal. “Iran has no reliable civilian use for uranium metal,” European powers said in a joint statement, hinting at fears Tehran is preparing to build a nuclear weapon. “The production of uranium metal could have military consequences.” Iran denies developing a bomb, and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Saturday described the allegations as “absurd nonsense” and in turn criticized European countries for destabilizing the Middle East. [Reuters, The Associated Press] Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller ordered National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone to immediately install Michael Ellis, a former Republican politician, as the NSA’s chief executive, a civilian post. Miller gave Nakasone until 6 p.m. Saturday to carry it through, reports The Washington Post, but he did not act and is allegedly not in favor of Ellis’ choice, leaving it unclear how the Pentagon will proceed . Ellis was hired for the job in November after pressure from the White House, where he had previously worked. The Trump administration has been criticized for appointing Ellis, and Miller’s recent order is seen as worrying, as Nakasone and others reportedly see it as an attempt by the White House to “dig” into the post before the government of Biden takes over. [The Washington Post] 9. Unknown armed men killed two female judges from the Supreme Court in Afghanistan in Kabul on Sunday morning. The victims were not named. The attack took place when the judges were driving in a court vehicle to their office. Two armed men riding a motorcycle led them into a trap. The driver of the judge’s car was injured. Afghan officials blamed the Taliban for the attack, although the group denied involvement. The shooting is the latest in a series of assassinations in recent months across Afghanistan, even though the government has been holding peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar. [Reuters, The Guardian] 10. The NFC’s leading Green Bay Packers are back for the conference championship for the second consecutive season after defeating the Los Angeles Rams 32-18 on Saturday. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, a leading candidate for the MVP, put together a typically efficient, error-free performance for 296 yards and two touchdowns. The Packers host the winner of Sunday’s match between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New Orleans Saints at Lambeau Field next week. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills beat the Baltimore Ravens 17-3 to advance to their first AFC title game since 1993. They await the Cleveland Browns or Kansas City Chiefs who are square on Sunday afternoon. 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