5 things you need to know before January 4: transition, coronavirus, congress, Iran, China

India has approved two coronavirus vaccines and is now embarking on one of the most ambitious immunization programs ever. The country of 1.35 billion plans to inoculate 300 million people by August. About 4.2 million doses of vaccine have been administered in the US and health experts say things need to be speeded up to keep pace with vaccination goals. For the past month, more than 100,000 people in the US battled Covid-19 every day in the hospital. If the infection rate gets worse, one doctor said we could be looking at a “total collapse” of the health care system. It is further evidence that a vaccine is not an immediate solution to the pandemic. In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted that coronavirus restrictions there are getting tougher as cases increase, even though vaccines are already being administered.

The 117th Congress was inaugurated yesterday and some things look a little different. First, the rooms are historically diverse, with record numbers of women, black, and Latino members, and those identifying as LGBTQ. In the House, Republicans took a net gain of 11 seats, shrinking the Democratic majority. A few members of Congress, including elected Vice President Kamala Harris, will leave their posts to take up positions in the upcoming Biden administration. Other things remain the same, though: Nancy Pelosi won a fourth non-consecutive term as a speaker of the House of Representatives, despite a few dropouts from her own party.

The US and Iran are heightening tensions in the Persian Gulf around the anniversary of the death of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, who was murdered in a US drone strike on Jan. 3. Some Iranian armed forces have been ramping up their preparedness levels in recent days. , according to US sources, including moving short-range ballistic missiles to Iraq, where they could potentially attack US bases. Similar attacks took place last year in the wake of Soleimani’s death. Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller has also ordered a US aircraft carrier to remain in the Persian Gulf region after it was scheduled to relocate.

Wall Street is set to kick out three Chinese telecom companies to comply with a Trump order prohibiting Americans from investing in companies suspected of, or owned or controlled by the Chinese military. China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom have all been listed on the New York Stock Exchange for years, but most of their business is based in China. So while trading volumes are low in the US, the decision could affect stock values ​​elsewhere. The Trump administration has been putting pressure on Chinese companies like this for a while. Trump recently signed new rules that could force Chinese companies to delist US stock exchanges if they fail to meet US auditing standards.

Sending love to a CNN legend.

Shocking. Surprising. A totally unexpected matchup never seen before.

No, you are not allowed to hitchhike.

They range in age from 75 to 97 years and their combined age is 1042 years. Those are some GOOD genes.

Whatever you expect here … it’s worse.

A British judge has rejected a US request to extradite Julian Assange to America, ruling that such a move would be “oppressive”. The US said it would appeal the decision.

That’s the number of diamonds on the ring that have just set a new Guinness World Record for, well, diamonds on a ring. The bauble weighs 5.8 oz – over a quarter of a pound – and takes up half the wearer’s hand.

Pope Francis, who criticized people reportedly going on holiday to Europe to escape the pandemic. He said he was “sad” to hear of such behavior.

It’s a long one, but this explanation of forced perspective in Disney theme parks is so fascinating. If you want to skip the math, examples of this optical illusion start around 10 minutes. (Click here to view.)