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Biden prepares to mark the Capitol riot anniversary, Mexico captures the son of 'El Chapo', and COVID-hit China readies reopening

by Linda Noakes

U.S. News

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy stands with his eyes closed at the back of the House Chamber on the third day of the 118th Congress at the Capitol, January 5, 2023

Republican Kevin McCarthy's perilous quest to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives entered the fourth day, with a scale of congressional dysfunction not seen since before the Civil War. We look at how the brawl is raising worries about Republican governance.
President Joe Biden will mark the second anniversary of the attack on the Capitol with an award ceremony for "heroes" from law enforcement and politics for their contributions to democracy that day and beyond. The estate of a Capitol Police officer who died a day after the riots has sued former President Donald Trump for wrongful death.
The United States will expand Trump-era restrictions to rapidly expel Cuban, Nicaraguan and Haitian migrants caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, Biden said in his first major speech on border security.
South Carolina's Supreme Court ruled that a state law banning abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy was unconstitutional because it violated a right to privacy, handing a major win to abortion rights supporters in the South.
A massive Pacific storm unleashed high winds, torrential rains and heavy snow across California for a second day, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and disrupting road travel with flash floods, rock slides and toppled trees.

World News

A man walks with a dog near his damaged apartment building in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, January 5, 2023

A unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin officially came into force but the hours leading up to the truce saw renewed fighting, with Kyiv rejecting the move as a trick. Here's what you need to now about the conflict right now.
Mexican security forces captured drug cartel leader Ovidio Guzman, a son of jailed kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, triggering a wave of violence. Passengers on a Mexican plane caught in the crossfire described how they threw themselves to the floor.
More countries around the world are demanding that visitors from China take COVID tests, days before it drops border controls and ushers in an eagerly awaited return to travel for a population that has been largely stuck at home for three years.
Israel's sharp tilt to what is likely to be the most hard right government in its history puts its new Arab allies in the awkward position of having to deal with ultra-nationalists while trying to do more than just pay lip service to the Palestinian cause.
Venezuela's splintered opposition, which appointed new leadership this week, faces enormous short-term challenges as it chooses a presidential candidate and tries to maintain talks with a less diplomatically isolated government.

Business & Markets

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares speaks by the Ram 1500 Revolution electric concept pickup truck during a keynote address at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, January 5, 2023

Stellantis Chief Executive Officer Carlos Tavares said that more auto plant closures will happen if high prices for electric vehicles cause vehicle markets to shrink from pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, Tesla cut electric car prices in China for the second time in less than three months, stoking expectations for a wider price war.
Samsung Electronics flagged that its quarterly profit tumbled by two-thirds to an eight-year low as a weakening global economy hammered memory chip prices and curbed demand for electronic devices.
Hackers stole the email addresses of more than 200 million Twitter users and posted them on an online hacking forum, a security researcher said. The breach "will unfortunately lead to a lot of hacking, targeted phishing and doxxing," Alon Gal, co-founder of Israeli cybersecurity-monitoring firm Hudson Rock, wrote on LinkedIn.
The U.S. economy likely maintained a solid pace of job and wage growth in December, but rising borrowing costs as the Federal Reserve fights inflation could slow labor market momentum significantly by mid-year.
Euro zone economic sentiment improved in December for the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine, European Commission data showed, with more optimism across all sectors of the economy and a sharp drop in inflation expectations.
British house prices slid in December, capping the largest quarterly drop since the financial crisis more than 10 years ago, data from mortgage lender Halifax showed. Other gauges of the housing market have also shown a sharp slowdown, reflecting rising interest rates and a worsening economy.

And Finally

A rising lava lake is seen within Halema'uma'u crater during the eruption of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, January 5, 2023

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