Good morning.
The Senate has voted to proceed with the historic second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, after a debate over whether it was constitutional on Tuesday. The debate marked the opening of the Senate trial over Trump’s role in inciting the deadly violence at the Capitol on 6 January, and senators voted 56 to 44 on whether there was a constitutional basis for putting a former president on trial, with six Republicans voting with Democrats.
In practice, the vote simply means the trial will go ahead and arguments will be heard. But it also marks a wider victory for the prosecution: alleging that the trial is unconstitutional has been a central part of Trump’s defence, and the argument of many Trump loyalists. While the trial appears to be a foregone conclusion, with Republicans widely expected to acquit the former president regardless of the merits of the case, the impeachment trial and its rituals are a symbolic attempt to show the world that America respects “accountability, stability and rule of law”, writes David Smith in his analysis of the events.
House Democrats opened the trial with chilling video footage of the Capitol attack and the president’s incendiary rally speech the same day, which you can watch in full here. All this unfolded in the very chamber where rioters had swung from balconies as they smashed and looted the building, with senators cowering behind furniture and fearing for their lives.
You might notice that Trump wasn’t present; he was reportedly watching TV coverage of his trial from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. But he isn’t the only character worth looking into at the trial. From Trump’s lawyers to the House impeachment managers, Sam Levine explains who the key players are. Still got questions? This explainer tells you what you need to know about the proceedings.
Some Republicans were unimpressed with Trump’s legal team on the first day of the trial yesterday. Bruce Castor and David Schoen tried to persuade the Senate to dismiss the trial as unconstitutional, but several Republican Senators said they did not understand the arguments and that Castor in particular “did not seem to make any arguments at all” and “just rambled on and on”.
Palm Beach council will decide if Trump can keep living in Mar-a-Lago over an alleged 1993 agreement which said Trump would be banned from living there if the town allowed him to convert it from a residence to a club, which he did. However, the promise was never written down.
The battle over the Dakota Access pipeline has stepped up again
A coalition of celebrities, indigenous leaders and environmental groups have written to the president and vice-president urging them to suspend the Dakota Access pipeline which is operating without a legal permit and threatens ecological damage.
Stars including Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr and Cher put their name to the letter, which warns that the oil pipeline risks environmental damage to tribal lands, waterways and wildlife, alongside cultural and religious practices. It comes ahead of a court hearing on Wednesday that could shut down the pipeline’s oil operations while an environmental impact review is conducted.
A similar fight is taking place in Canada over the Bluebird Valley ranch in Alberta, where rules protecting the wildness were rescinded last year. The retraction enabled drill sites and exploration roads to be built, as mining companies and local government attempt to extract the land’s resources.
Hippos illegally imported by Pablo Escobar must be culled to prevent a biodiversity disaster, scientists have warned. The hippos were brought to the drug lord’s private zoo in Colombia, but have gone feral in the nearby countryside, and scientists fear they could wipe out indigenous flora and fauna.
Black and Latinx Californians are being vaccinated at much lower rates
Black and Latinx residents in California have received the coronavirus vaccines at a much lower rate than other groups. Latinx people have been vaccinated at half the rate of white residents, despite making up the bulk of infections and deaths, with just 15% of the state’s coronavirus vaccines going to Latinx Californians. Black residents have received just 2.7% of vaccine doses, despite being 6% of the state’s population.
“Unfortunately, because of the history of racism and discrimination in the United States, what we see is that those community resources are not evenly allocated,” said California’s surgeon general, Dr Nadine Burke Harris.
California is set to surpass New York as the state with the highest coronavirus death toll, as it averages about 450 deaths each day. On Tuesday, the Golden State recorded 44,494 lives lost to the virus, with New York’s death toll standing at 44,969.
A theory that coronavirus originated in a lab is ‘extremely unlikely’, the WHO said, as it shared the findings of a two-week investigation in Wuhan, China, where the virus was first discovered. The theory was popular with Trump. Instead, they said that evidence about the origins “continue[s] to point toward a natural reservoir”.
Japan has ditched millions of coronavirus vaccine doses because of a shortage of specialist syringes, setting back its inoculation programme. Standard syringes in Japan are unable to extract the sixth and final dose from each vial manufactured by Pfizer.
In other news …
A man, 100, has been charged over 3,518 Nazi concentration camp murders amid allegations he worked as Nazi SS guard at a concentration camp during the second world war. In line with German data laws his name has not been released.
Five people were shot and wounded at a health clinic in Minnesota on Tuesday, and a 67-year-old local man was taken into custody. He was well known to authorities before the attack, police said, and “some improvised explosives” were involved. The motive is unclear.
Hong Kong dual nationals cannot seek help from foreign consulars, authorities confirmed, with the chief executive, Carrie Lam, saying dual nationality was not recognised in Hong Kong under Chinese nationality laws. Diplomats are scrambling to work out what this means for their dual nationality citizens living there.
Stat of the day: fossil fuels were responsible for one in five deaths in 2018
Air pollution, coming from the burning of fossil fuels, was responsible for 8.7 million deaths around the world in 2018, one in five of all people who died that year, according to research. The impact of air pollution was not even-handed, however. In the US and Europe, one in 10 deaths were caused by fossil fuel pollution, rising to almost a third in eastern Asia.
Don’t miss this: the people who ditched social media
Social media has gained new importance during the pandemic, but it can come at a high price for our self-esteem, attention span and even sleep. As she considers giving it up for good, Soo Youn speaks to those who’ve already made the jump about life without social media.
Last thing: a Texas lawyer left a cat filter on during a zoom call with a judge
A lawyer in Texas accidentally left on a cat filter during a video conference with a judge, and was unable to change it, leading him to assure the judge: “I’m here live. I am not a cat.” The filter moved around with the face, nodding when the lawyer did and moving its mouth in time with his, with a worried expression on the cat’s face. The video has caused much hilarity online, and seems destined to go down in internet history.
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