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Yesterday, Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States and Kamala Harris was sworn in as the 49th Vice President of the United States—making history for being the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to fill the role.

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Preparations have been made on Capitol Hill in anticipation of Inauguration Day. Tomorrow, on January 20th at 12pm ET, President-elect Biden will still be sworn into office. In addition to heightened security measures in the DC area, 200,000 American flags have been placed on the National Mall ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration. The flags represent the tens of thousands of Americans and international guests who cannot attend in person. The #FieldofFlags will be lit by 56 pillars of light symbolizing the 50 states and U.S. territories.

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As the nation focuses on the domestic terror attack at the U.S. Capitol and the push to impeach Pres. Trump a second time, coronavirus deaths in the United States continue to surge at an exponential rate. For the second week in a row, more Americans have died from COVID-19 than from the 9/11 attacks, the Iraq War, and the War in Afghanistan combined. Yesterday, the U.S. set a new record for COVID-19 deaths in a single day, this time with more than 4,300 deaths, according to John Hopkins University. The overall U.S. death toll is inching closer toward a grim milestone of 400,000 roughly just one month after the country surpassed 300,000. More than 215,000 new cases were also reported—the eighth straight day with more than 200,000 new cases.

With just a week left in power, the Trump administration is still trying to speed up its vaccine rollout plan that has gone far slower than originally anticipated. This week, officials from Operation Warp Speed announced that they would expand vaccine eligibility to everyone over the age of 65 and anyone 64 or younger who has a chronic medical condition. They also will no longer hold back half of the available doses to ensure booster shots. ‘This next phase reflects the urgency of the situation we face,’ Health and Human Services Sec. Alex Azar said yesterday. ‘Every vaccine dose that is sitting in a warehouse rather than going into an arm could mean one more life lost or one more hospital bed occupied.’

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Greta Thunberg, the 18-year-old environmental activist, will be honored by her native Sweden with a postage stamp. The stamp is set to be released Thursday, January 14, according to Swedish postal service PostNord. The stamp is part of a five-stamp series called 'Valuable Nature' that highlights environmental issues that are relevant and present. 'We’re pleased that Greta, among several illustrations of important nature, will be symbolized on our stamps,' PostNord’s Kristina Olofsdotter told The Guardian. This is the latest in a long line of accolades for the young activist. Previously, she was Time Magazine's 2019 Person of the Year.

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Thousands of National Guard troops have assembled at the U.S. Capitol one week after the deadly riot. Suzanne Lynch of the Irish Times captured the surreal scene as the House voted to impeach Donald Trump for a second time https://go.nowth.is/2XC4dOz

#national guard #capitol attack #capitol riot #news #nowthis #impeachment

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Funeral homes in California are overwhelmed with bodies as the state’s COVID-19 death toll reaches 30,000 (warning: distressing)

#COVID-19 #California #news #nowthis

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It’s a girl! The Wroclaw Zoo in Poland just welcomed a newborn Indian rhino, marking the first successful birth of the endangered species in the zoo's 155-year history 🦏 (warning: graphic)

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#rhino #baby rhino #animals

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BREAKING: President Donald Trump has been impeached for ‘incitement of insurrection’ in a bipartisan vote of 232-197. 10 Republicans joined Democrats in voting in favor of impeachment, making Trump the first president ever in U.S. history to be impeached twice. 

The next phase is for the Senate to hold a trial that could lead to Trump being permanently barred from holding federal office. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who soon will cease to be majority leader, has declined to call the Senate in for a special session, so the earliest the body could take up the matter would be January 19, one day before Trump leaves office and President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated.

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Welcome to Brexit: Some British travelers were shocked to have their food confiscated when crossing into the Netherlands. ‘This is the new reality,’ a Dutch military police spokesman said. ‘Not everyone seems to have realized what Brexit actually means.’

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#Brexit

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Rep. AOC: Trump 'is a traitor to our country, a traitor to the United States. And I don’t really think there’s any other way you can put it.'

#AOC #Trump #capitol riot #news #nowthis

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Rep. Mikie Sherrill said she saw GOP members of Congress leading ‘reconnaissance’ tours around the Capitol the day before a violent mob attacked the building

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This video shows hundreds of handwritten signs inside the Capitol containing encouraging words and gratitude for U.S. Capitol Police officers

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Josiah Colt, 34, the man photographed dangling from the Senate balcony as pro-Trump insurrectionists broke into the U.S. Capitol on January 6, has turned himself into authorities, according to the Ada County Sheriff's Office.

According to local news outlet KTVB, he has been federally charged with 'knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.'

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Lisa Montgomery, 52, was put to death via lethal injection on Wednesday, January 13, at a federal prison in Indiana. She was the only woman residing on federal death row and the first woman to be executed by the federal government in 67 years. Montgomery was sentenced to death in 2008 for murdering an expectant mother in 2004, cutting the baby from the woman's womb, and kidnapping the child, who survived.

Montgomery's attorneys and her supporters argued that she lived with mental illness and experienced a personal history of trauma and abuse that contributed to her crime. On Monday, an Indiana federal judge did grant her a brief stay of execution, pending a competency hearing. However, on Tuesday, a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals panel vacated the stay, and Montgomery was executed shortly thereafter.

Montgomery's death was the 11th execution to be carried out by the Trump administration since it reinstated the use of federal capital punishment last July. Prior to that, a federal inmate had not been executed in 17 years.

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How does your dog really feel? This smart collar might be able to tell you 🐶👀

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#Dog #smart collar #tech #animals #news #nowthis

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'There need to be consequences for these actions, otherwise, you're setting a precedence for future presidents and future bad behavior' — Sen. Tammy Duckworth on calls to impeach Pres. Trump a second time

#Sen. Tammy Duckworth #Trump #impeachment

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Roughly 10,000-15,000 troops will be in Washington, D.C., by this weekend as part of the heightened security measures the District is taking before Inauguration Day, according to Gen. Daniel Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard Bureau. About 6,200 D.C. National Guard troops began arriving Wednesday in light of the recent domestic terrorist attack at the U.S. Capitol, but even more are expected ahead of the official swearing-in ceremony. The number of military personnel in D.C. by this weekend will be more than the total number of troops currently overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the FBI has also issued a warning to all state legislatures to brace for potential violence and armed protests at each of their state capitols. ‘Armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the US Capitol from 17 January through 20 January,’ according to an FBI bulletin obtained by ABC News. Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has also suggested Americans across the country avoid the District for the next week leading up to Inauguration Day. ‘Trumpism won't die on January 20,’ Bowser said, adding that she hopes to ‘encourage Americans to participate virtually and to protect the District of Columbia from a repeat of the violent insurrection experienced at the Capitol and its grounds on January 6.’