Good morning.
The United States braces for a new era of disruption and division on Monday with Donald Trump scheduled to be sworn in as its 47th president, promising a blitz of executive orders and radical shake-up of the global order.
Trump’s inauguration ceremony has been moved inside to the rotunda at the US Capitol building because of the bitterly cold weather in Washington DC. The high sandstone hall at the Capitol’s centre is the same spot where some of his supporters rioted on 6 January 2021 in an attempt to overturn his election defeat.
Few imagined then that Trump, twice impeached and a convicted criminal, would set foot inside the White House again. But over the weekend the 78-year-old revelled in his improbable political comeback with Maga supporters.
What did Trump promise yesterday? “We’re going to stop the invasion of our borders … We’re going to unlock the liquid gold that’s right under our feet … We’re going to bring back law and order to our cities … We’re going to get radical woke ideology the hell out of our military.”
How are some assessing the Biden administration? Joe Biden was a “remarkably consequential one-term president”, writes Katrina vanden Heuvel. Internationally, Biden “was assuming a world that no longer existed” – with calamitous results – but domestically, Biden “consolidated the break” with “failed market fundamentalism”.
90 Palestinians released by Israel as Gaza ceasefire enters second day
About 90 Palestinian prisoners have been released in exchange for three Israeli hostages handed over by Hamas to Israel, as part of the ceasefire deal aimed at ending 15 months of war.
The prisoners, most of whom were freed in the early hours of Monday from Ofer prison in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, were welcomed by thousands of people celebrating, waving the flags of Palestine and Hamas.
Mothers, fathers, siblings and friends had waited for hours in the cold to embrace their loved ones as part of the agreement.
What is the status of the three Israelis? On Sunday, three women held hostage by Hamas in tunnels beneath Gaza – Emily Damari, 28, Romi Gonen, 24 and Doron Steinbrecher, 31 – were released and reunited with their mothers. Videos showed them in apparently reasonable health.
Were there any obstacles? Yes, a three-hour delay to the start of the truce, during which Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded the Gaza Strip. The delay meant a further 13 people were killed, Palestinian health authorities said. At least two missiles hit a family travelling on a donkey cart as they tried to return home, Al Jazeera reported.
California wind forecast worsens as red flag fire weather warning expected on Monday
As firefighters in Los Angeles made progress on Sunday containing wildfires that have destroyed much of the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods, forecasters warned that fire weather was likely to return on Monday.
There will be widespread critical and extremely critical fire-weather conditions across much of southern California on Monday, the National Weather Service said.
The Palisades fire is about 56% contained, with 23,713 acres burned, and the Eaton fire is about 81% contained, with 14,021 acres burned.
How many people are still under evacuation warnings? About 82,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders and 90,000 remain under evacuation warnings due to the fires.
In other news …
TikTok said it was restoring its service in the US following Donald Trump’s pledge on Sunday to halt its ban, after the ByteDance-owned app stopped working for its 170 million US users the night before.
A Nato flotilla has assembled off the coast of Estonia, with the military alliance seeking to protect European undersea cables and pipelines from sabotage.
An Iranian court has sentenced the singer Tataloo to death on appeal. The artist, whose real name is Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, was convicted of blasphemy.
At least 80 people have been killed and thousands displaced in north-east Colombia after the collapse of a fragile truce between rebel groups.
Stat of the day: Wealth of world’s billionaires grew by $2tn in 2024
The wealth of the world’s billionaires grew by $2tn last year, three times faster than in 2023, amounting to $5.7bn a day, a report by the NGO Oxfam found. The latest inequality report from the charity reveals that the world is on track to have five trillionaires within a decade.
Don’t miss this: Brooke Shields on abuse, ageing and telling her own story
Brooke Shields, sexualised child star at 11, is now 59. Shields speaks to the Observer’s Eva Wiseman on how she ended up so… normal. “Shit happens and it sucks, but what are you going to do about it? Instead of this ‘poor me’, it’s like OK, now what?”
Climate check: Wealth of US ‘oil-garchs’ went up 15% in nine months
A report from the Climate Accountability Research Project revealed that US fossil fuel billionaires’ wealth increased by 15% over the past nine months. It comes as Harold Hamm, the billionaire oil and gas executive who founded Continental Resources (net worth $18.5bn), will host an exclusive inauguration party today.
Last Thing: ‘We tried banning our son from YouTube … it just led him to recreate its annoying content offline’
“In 2025, for a while at least, we’ve banned YouTube completely. Our son’s adapted by creating lo-fi versions of that same content for himself, and us,” writes Séamas O’Reilly. He’s taken to ranking everything in lists, a practice he’s borrowed from his favourite YouTubers. “He says lasagne is A-tier, but spaghetti and meatballs are B.”
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