Good morning.
Joe Biden accused Donald Trump of blocking his access to national security information, saying his security team was hindered by political leaders in the Pentagon. The president-elect warned that he and his team “just don’t get all the information we need” in key national security zones, describing it as “nothing less than … irresponsible”. Earlier this month, the Pentagon unexpectedly suspended the briefings with the Biden transition team.
Trump was humiliated yesterday when more than 100 Republicans joined the Democrats in the House of Representatives to reject his veto of a $ 741 billion defense bill. If the Senate follows suit next week, which it is expected to do, it will be the first time Congress has punished its presidency.
-
Stock markets around the world made profits after Trump signed a $ 900 billion aid package to boost the US economy during the coronavirus pandemic, following its threats to reject it. On the first day of trading since Christmas, and following the UK Brexit agreement 24 hours earlier, US stock indices reached their highest points.
-
What does the coronavirus help package offer? Amanda Holpuch explains from the package’s $ 600 incentives for individuals to funds for schools.
Why California is so hit by coronavirus?
Each of the 35 prisons in California is now struggling with cases of coronavirus, with nearly 9,500 inmates carrying the virus across the state. In Los Angeles, businesses came under fire for hosting New Year’s Eve events, despite the fact that one in 95 residents is believed to be contagious with the coronavirus. In total, California has lost more than 24,000 lives, with ICU capacity falling to 0% in the southern parts of the state this month. But the Golden State was the first to shut down and was able to manage to overwhelm its hospitals in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. From the inactivity of leaders to institutional inequalities, Maanvi Singh looks at California’s struggle with Covid and asks why it seems to be losing.
As the US death toll rises, what can we learn from countries that are better able to handle the pandemic? Laura Spinney argues that Vietnam learned from its Sars pandemic in 2003, and Senegal from its fight against Ebola, to deliver more capable responses than the US and UK. Here she analyzes what the country did right and where the USA and the UK went wrong.
-
Public health experts have warned US to start another wave from coronavirus to travel during the holidays. The Transportation Security Administration said more than 1.28 million travelers nationwide were screened at U.S. airports on Sunday, the highest number since mid-March.
-
The World Health Organization has warned that a bigger pandemic could follow, and said that although coronavirus was ‘very bad’, it ‘is not necessarily the big one’. Officials also said rather than being eliminated, coronavirus is likely to become an endemic virus that poses a constant low-level threat driven by vaccines.
No motive is known for the Nashville Christmas Day bombing
Federal authorities are working together in an effort to discover the motive behind the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville that damaged dozens of buildings and injured three people. Anthony Quinn Warner, 63, was found responsible for the attack in which he died. Officials said hundreds of tips and clues had been submitted to law enforcement. David Rausch, the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said that while authorities are hoping to get an answer as to why Warner decided to detonate the blast, “it’s sometimes just not possible.”
-
Ghislaine Maxwell‘s latest request for bail denied, new court documents were announced yesterday. Maxwell, a socialite who was arrested in July for allegations that she helped disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein obtain sex from underage girls, has made a number of unsuccessful bail requests.
In other news …
-
The actor Lori Loughlin was released from prison yesterday after spending two months behind bars after admitting she paid half a million dollars in bribes to get her two daughters to university as part of a sensational bribery.
-
The jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold claimed it a woman assaulted his son after falsely accusing him of theft. In a video widely viewed by Harrold online, it appears that a white woman becomes aggressive after his son is accused of stealing her phone, which according to Harrold was later returned by an Uber driver.
-
A white police officer in Ohio has been fired after showing on camera footage that he was fatally shot Andre Hill, a black man holding a cell phone, and then refusing to help him. Adam Coy remains under criminal investigation for the incident last week.
State of the day: only 9% of all plastics ever produced are recycled
New international rules are introduced to reduce global trade in plastics, in which waste is regularly loaded into the poorer by affluent countries. Only 9% of all plastics ever produced were recycled, with about 12% incinerated. The rest, a striking 79%, accumulated in landfills, landfills and the natural environment. The UN hopes the rules will lead to cleaner oceans within five years.
Don’t miss it: Newt Gingrich accuses Democrats of trying to “brainwash” the next generation
Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich has long been accused of sowing the seeds of division responsible for Trump’s rise. In this interview with our head of the Washington DC office, David Smith, he accuses the Democrats of using cultural wars to brainwash people, he describes the presidential election as a departure and he hedges his commitment that Trump will be for years to come.
Last thing: Roman relics returned in result of repentance
Italian museum curators noticed a trend that tourists years later returned artifacts they had taken from cultural sites in Rome, with heartfelt letters of confession. So many remains have been returned that a museum displaying them has been set up. Angela Giuffrida looks at some of the most memorable stories.
Sign in
Sign up for the US Morning Information Session
First thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. Sign in now if you are not already logged in.