The Rundown: Top headlines today: Jan. 20, 2021

Stay up to date on the developing stories making headlines.

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  • Creator of CPAC golden Trump statue admits it was made in China, after saying Mexico

    ‘Everything is made in China,’ said a business partner behind the six foot replica

  • Former CIA chief says he is ‘increasingly embarrassed’ to be a white man

    John Brennan says ‘there are so few Republicans in Congress who value truth, honesty, and integrity’

  • General: 'Optics' led Pentagon to wait hours before sending troops to Capitol on Jan. 6

    An official in the D.C. National Guard detailed the slow response from the Pentagon to approve the deployment of troops during the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, telling senators Wednesday it was easier to get approval during last summer’s protests against police violence than during the deadly siege.

  • What is Biden doing differently at US border?

    Democrat Joe Biden has promised to undo the 'cruelty' of Donald Trump's immigration policies.

  • 5,000 National Guard troops remain in DC amid QAnon frenzy that Trump will be inaugurated again this week

    QAnon followers believe that on 4 March, which was once the inauguration date of US presidents, Donald Trump will become president again

  • China's Upcoming 'Two Sessions' Might Be Its Most Important Political Gathering in Decades

    China’s biggest annual political meetings—known collectively as the “Two Sessions”—will kick off in Beijing Thursday. The unveiling of a new Five-Year Plan means that the upcoming political meetings will be brimming with long-term goals

  • CPAC 2021: Who won the Republican civil war?

    Donald Trump's re-emergence this weekend made one thing clear - the Republican party is still his.

  • Myanmar coup crisis grows after years of US neglect

    Nearly a decade ago, the United States was touting Myanmar as an American success story. The collapse is not America’s fault, to be sure, but it follows inconsistent efforts to nudge the Southeast Asian nation further toward democracy, enthusiasm for which was diminished by a systematic campaign of repression against Muslim minorities in the country's north. After years of robust diplomacy with Myanmar under President Barack Obama focused mainly on then-opposition leader and now jailed State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, the Trump administration adopted a largely hands-off policy.

  • The Cuomo allegations matter

    Andrew Cuomo accused of sexual harassment. Texas, Mississippi end statewide mask mandate. It's Tuesday's news.

  • Rio Tinto execs quit over destroyed rock shelter

    Rio Tinto says its chair and a board director will step down. The mining giant has bowed to pressure from investors over the destruction of two Aboriginal sites in Australia.There was uproar last year when the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters were destroyed in the course of mining operations. Chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques eventually resigned over the affair. But campaigners were outraged by the board's handling of an investigation into the matter. The probe found no single person accountable. Now chair Simon Thompson and board director Michael L'Estrange will both step down in the coming months. Investors welcomed the move as a sign of accountability. Rio Tinto last year chose Danish executive Jakob Stausholm as the firm's new chief executive. Some Australian investors had pressed for a leader with strong experience of local indigenous issues.

  • Biden hits Russia with sanctions over Navalny's poisoning in another break from Trump

    The Trump administration didn't take any actions against Russia over the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin's top critic.

  • Canada vaccine panel recommends 4 months between COVID doses

    A national panel of vaccine experts in Canada recommended Wednesday that provinces extend the interval between the two doses of a COVID-19 shot to four months to quickly inoculate more people amid a shortage of doses in Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also expressed optimism that vaccination timelines could be sped up. The current protocol is an interval of three to four weeks between doses for the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.

  • Michelle Obama: Barack and I ‘can’t get a word in’ with Sasha, Malia

    During a recent interview on Good Morning America with host Robin Roberts, former First Lady Michelle Obama opened up about how she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, have open communications with their two young-adult daughters. “I always have wanted them to start practicing the power of their voices very early on,” Mrs. Obama shared of Sasha, 19, and Malia, 22.

  • Questionable whether Kawhi Leonard will be back for Clippers' first-half finale

    Paul George calls Clippers' first-half finale a "must-win" game before All-Star break, but will Kawhi Leonard be healthy enough to play?

  • Joe Biden just yanked away stimulus checks from 17 million Americans

    During the campaign for the two Georgia Senate races, Joe Biden repeatedly promised to pass $2,000 stimulus checks if the Democrats won. After they did, the administration argued that $2,000 really meant $1,400 in addition to the $600 that had already gone out in the December rescue package. Whether that is true or not, now Biden is inarguably breaking his promise. Under pressure from moderate Senate Democrats, he has reportedly agreed to cut down the formula under which the checks will be sent out. In the previous packages, the amount started phasing out at $75,000 in income for individuals and $150,000 for joint filers, and vanished entirely at $100,000 and $200,000 respectively (as of 2019). Now the phase-out will start start in the same place but end at $80,000 for singles and $160,000 for couples. The $1,400 promise clearly implied at least that the checks would go out according to the previous formula used under Trump. But now singles making between $80,000-100,000 and couples making between $160,000-200,000 will get nothing. The Washington Post's Jeff Stein reports that roughly 17 million people who previously got checks now will not. The supposed justification here is that moderates want the aid to be more "targeted." In fact this formula is horribly inaccurate, because the income data the IRS uses is from the year before the pandemic (unless people have already filed their taxes — and by the way, if your income decreased in 2020, you should do that immediately). This formula is therefore doubly wrong — there are no doubt millions of people who have lost jobs and should qualify but won't, and a smaller number that have gotten raises and shouldn't qualify but will. And this change will only save a pitiful $12 billion. The survival checks are one of the most popular government programs in American history. Polls have them at something like 4-1 approval. "Moderation," for Senate Democrats, apparently means breaking their party's promises in the service of unpopular, pointless actions that make their president seem less generous than Donald Trump. More stories from theweek.com7 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's CPAC appearanceHouse passes sweeping voting rights and elections reform billThe complicated quagmire of Dr. Seuss

  • U.S. issues warning after Microsoft says China hacked its mail server program

    All federal government agencies have until noon Friday to download the latest software update to block the perpetrator.

  • Meghan ignored advice and wore Prince Salman earrings three weeks after Jamal Khashoggi murder

    The Duchess of Sussex wore earrings given to her by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia three weeks after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, against advice from palace aides, The Telegraph understands. The Duchess, 39, had been given the Butani earrings as an official wedding present from the Saudi Royal Family. When she wore them to a formal dinner in Fiji in October 2018, during a royal tour, the media were told that they were “borrowed” but unusually, declined to offer further information or guidance. The dinner took place three weeks after Mr Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Duchess’s lawyers insisted that at the time of the dinner, she was unaware of speculation that the crown prince was involved in the murder of the journalist. However, a royal source claimed that palace staff had advised the Duchess not to wear the jewellery. “Members of Royal Household staff sometimes advise people on their options,” one said. “But what they choose to do with that advice is a very different matter.” The earrings were accepted as a wedding gift by the prince, known as MBS, in March 2018, when he had lunch with the Queen during a three-day visit to London. They were among a series of wedding gifts that were then transferred to Kensington Palace in June, the month after the wedding, which was when the Sussexes first knew of their existence. A source close to the Duchess said members of her staff were aware that the earrings had been chosen as part of the Duchess’s tour wardrobe. Saudi Arabia admitted on October 20, three days before the dinner in Fiji, that its officials were responsible for Khashoggi’s death. Staff in London were concerned when they saw the Duchess’s earrings in the media and alerted Kensington Palace, according to The Times. But it was claimed they decided not to take it up with the Sussexes while they were on tour “for fear for what their reaction would be." The following month, the Duchess wore them again to the Prince of Wales's 70th birthday party at Buckingham Palace and at that point, an aide is said to have confronted the Duke about the issue. He reportedly looked "shocked" when approached about the concerns. Lawyers for the Sussexes’ denied he was questioned about their provenance, which they said was well known.

  • Biden cuts 16 million people off from stimulus checks after striking deal with moderate Senate Democrats, study says

    Biden approved phasing out direct payments entirely for individuals making above $80,000 a year and married couples earning more than $160,000.

  • The Trumps are trying to sell a Florida home for $49 million after buying it from the former president's sister for $18 million in 2018

    Eric Trump tweeted a listing for a home that the family is trying to sell through a limited liability company for more than twice its 2018 value.

  • Vanessa Bryant says Kobe, Gianna ‘motivate’ her, but pain is ‘unimaginable’

    Vanessa Bryant, on the latest cover of PEOPLE Magazine, says that her pain is still “unimaginable” after the loss of her husband Kobe Bryant and her daughter Gianna Bryant, but that they still “motivate her.” It’s been over a year since Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, 13, tragically passed in a helicopter crash last Jan. 26. While the world publicly mourned the loss of an icon, Vanessa is opening up to the outlet about her terrible loss and how she has coped through the past year.