First Thing: Biden leads with a jab as Congress passes aid bill

Good morning.

Congress has passed a $900bn coronavirus aid package, after months of gridlock in Washington and both parties working yesterday long into the night. The package includes a temporary jobless benefit, $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans and subsidies for businesses, as well as funds for schools, healthcare providers and renters. At a whopping 5,593 pages, it is probably the longest bill in US history.

Last night’s vote came as data suggested that the US was on track to record more than 3.2 million deaths this year, at least 400,000 more than 2019. If it comes to fruition, the 15% increase would mark the biggest jump in a year since 1918, the year of the flu pandemic.

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Joe Biden receives coronavirus vaccine – video

President-elect Joe Biden received his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine live on TV on Monday, in keeping with efforts to alleviate public fears around its safety. He thanked healthcare workers for their “just amazing” work, and also made a surprise nod to the White House, saying that “the administration deserves some credit getting this off the ground”.

• Hospitals in Los Angeles are drawing up emergency plans to ration care as they struggle to cope with the scale of the coronavirus pandemic in the state. Four hospitals in the county have circulated a document among doctors instructing them that rather than trying to save every life, their goal is to save as many as possible – meaning those less likely to survive will not receive the same care.

Dozens of treasury email accounts were compromised in the government hack

New information about the recent government hack reveals that dozens of email accounts at the treasury department were compromised by agents thought to be working for the Russian government. Systems used by the department’s highest-ranking officials were also penetrated. Senator Ron Wyden said while there was no reason to believe that taxpayer data was compromised, the hack “appears to be significant”, admitting that the treasury still did not know exactly what information was stolen.

• A statue of the civil rights activist Barbara Johns will replace a pro-slavery Confederacy leader in the US Capitol building, officials said on Monday. Aged just 16, Johns led classmates at her all-black Virginia high school in protest of substandard conditions, eventually playing a key role in the supreme court decision to outlaw segregation.

• Every monkey held by Nasa was killed on one day last year, which has been condemned by animal rights advocates who say they should have been moved to a sanctuary. In total, 27 monkeys were killed.

William Barr won’t name a special counsel to investigate voter fraud

The outgoing US attorney general, William Barr, said on Monday that he has no plans to appoint a special counsel to investigate Donald Trump’s claims of electoral fraud in the presidential election. During his final news conference at the Department of Justice, Barr also said he would not be appointing a counsel to investigate the business interests of Hunter Biden, the son of the president-elect who has long been attacked by Trump over claims of corruption.

Over at the White House, lawyer and conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell was spotted on Monday. Powell, who was axed from Trump’s legal team after peddling wild conspiracies, was reportedly there to pitch Trump an idea about seizing voting machines. She remains a loyal follower of the president, with both Trump and Powell continuing to dispute the election result, despite it being confirmed by the electoral college last week.

• Trump issued a decree that all federal buildings should be “beautiful” yesterday, a move which the Pulitzer prize-winning architectural critic Paul Goldberger said was “just a chance [for Trump] to lob another grenade on his way out the door”. When the draft order first emerged in February, both the American Institute of Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation objected.

• Conservatives are steering controversial cases towards the supreme court now that Amy Coney Barrett is on the bench, from the rights of same-sex partners in Indiana to abortion in Mississippi. State officials are making strategic appeals and lower court judges are tailoring arguments in hopes of gaining a supreme court hearing for controversial cases, writes Tom McCarthy.

In other news…

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Navalny apparently dupes FSB agent into revealing agency’s role in novichok plot – video

• Alexei Navalny tricked one of his would-be assassins into revealing the plot to kill him, following the novichok poisoning with which left him in hospital in August. The Russian opposition leader, who is recovering in Germany, apparently called up one of the operatives involved in the plot pretending to be one of his superiors. The operative told him how they had poisoned Navalny by putting novichok in his underwear and theories about why he survived.

• The Kansas City Star has apologized for past decades of racist coverage and posted a series of stories exploring its role in keeping the city segregated by ignoring the concerns and achievements of Black residents.

• Apple is planning to make a self-driving car in 2024, which could include its own battery technology. The tech giant’s car plans are not yet public, but sources said the company aims to build a personal vehicle for the mass market, unlike the robo-taxi style vehicles being built by its rivals.

Stat of the day: 71% increase in psychotic symptoms among Lesbos island refugees during the pandemic

The Greek island of Lesbos has seen a 71% rise in the number of refugees experiencing psychotic symptoms, and a 66% rise in self-harm since March. “We have not seen a mental health care emergency like this one, even in Moria,” said Thanasis Chirvatidis, a child psychologist with Médecins Sans Frontières on Lesbos. MSF has treated 49 children on Lesbos for suicidal thoughts or attempts this year.

Don’t miss this: America’s year in pictures

This powerful photo gallery is not to be missed, documenting the US’s journey through the coronavirus pandemic, the Black Lives Matter demonstrations and the presidential election, among other national milestones.

Last Thing: A Thai rescuer saved a baby elephant by performing CPR

Just the story we need this morning: Thai rescue worker Mana Srivate was called to action while off duty on a road trip after a baby elephant was hit by a motorbike while crossing the road. Despite not even being sure where the animal’s heart was, Srivate performed CPR on the elephant, which stood up after about 10 minutes. It was later reunited with its mother. “When the baby elephant starting to move, I almost cried,” Srivate said.

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