First Thing: Washington security soars as inauguration approaches

Good morning.

Joe Biden will be inaugurated as president on Wednesday, following a bitter and contested election that culminated in a siege on the Capitol earlier this month. In the wake of the violence, Washington has been forced to introduce security measures at a level not seen since the civil war, with thousands of troops and armoured cars guarding “green” and “red” zones, and a security fence still in place around the Capitol building. The FBI is vetting all 25,000 National Guard troops arriving in Washington for the inauguration amid concerns there could be an insider attack, with commanders warned to look out for problems in their ranks and guard members trained to identify potential threats among their peers.

The battle continues online for social media sites to take down inflammatory or incendiary material ahead of the inauguration. Twitter has temporarily suspended the account of Marjorie Taylor Green, a Republican congresswoman for Georgia who has expressed support for the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon. The ban came in response to her expression of support for baseless claims of widespread voter fraud during the presidential election. And some families have been taking action at home, turning in loved ones who were involved in the mob attack on the Capitol.

We have more troops in Washington than we do in Afghanistan right now and they’re here to protect us from our own president and his mob,” Seth Moulton, a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, told the Guardian. “I expected this in Baghdad, I never imagined this in Washington.”

Against the backdrop of deep division, Biden is set to focus his inaugural speech around national unity. The incoming president is set to act quickly to undo Trump’s legacy when his time in office begins, including rejoining the Paris climate agreement and Iran nuclear deal, and axing the immigration ban on Muslim-majority countries.

• A billionaire supporter of Josh Hawley has suggested he has been deceived by the senator over his support for baseless claims of voter fraud in the presidential election and calls to overturn the result. Jeffrey Yass said he did not believe the election had been “stolen”.

• An associate of Rudy Giuliani told a former CIA officer that a presidential pardon would “cost $2m”, the New York Times reported on Sunday. The newspaper detailed an “ad hoc” system in the White House for approving pardons, saying it was run by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and bypassed the usual justice department review.

Biden’s plan to vaccine 100m people in first 100 days is doable, according to Dr Fauci

Dr Anthony Fauci has assured the public that Biden’s pledge to carry out 100m coronavirus vaccinations in his first 100 days in office is “absolutely a doable thing”. The vaccine rollout has so far been slow, and uptake cannot come soon enough: Biden’s incoming chief of staff, Ron Klain, said on Sunday that his team projected a further 100,000 deaths from coronavirus in the first five weeks of the administration.

As of this morning 397,600 individuals have died due to coronavirus in the US, with almost 24m cases recorded, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. This weekend, the global death toll from coronavirus passed 2 million people, a milestone the UN secretary general called “gut-wrenching”.

• The Florida analyst who clashed with the state governor over coronavirus data is facing arrest, after a long-running battle in which she alleges she was told to change data to support the governor’s plan to reopen the state economy despite soaring cases of coronavirus. Rebekah Jones said she would surrender after a warrant was issued for her arrest, but the charges against her have not yet been released.

• A man has been living in Chicago airport for three months because he was too scared to return home due to coronavirus, he told police. The man arrived at the airport from LA in October and never left, with passengers giving him food to sustain him.

The Trump administration has one last jab at the environment

The Trump administration is making a last-hour attempt to strip protections from California’s desert to open the land up to mining projects. The move would eliminate as much as 2.2m acres of conservation lands, and 1.8m acres designated as areas of critical environmental concern. It threatens endangered desert tortoises and Joshua trees, as well as many indigenous homestead sites.

Biden, on the other hand, is reportedly planning to cancel the permit for the $9bn Keystone XL pipeline project as one of his first acts as president. The president-elect has previously vowed to scrap the permit for the oil pipeline, which became a focal point of Trump’s time in office, if he became president. The pipeline has been met with staunch opposition by environmentalists.

In other news …

Play Video

0:46

Alexei Navalny detained after arriving at airport on return to Russia – video

• The US and EU have condemned the detention of Alexei Navalny on his return to Russia after being poisoned last year in a novichok attack thought to have been cooked up by the Russian state. The prominent opposition activist, who had been receiving treatment in Germany, was detained at a Moscow airport less than an hour after arriving.

• Richard Branson’s rocket has reached space eight months after its rocket system failed during its first flight. Virgin Orbit was released from beneath the wing of a Boeing 747 carrier aircraft off the coast of southern California, and is carrying small satellites built as part of a Nasa educational program.

• It is Martin Luther King Day and a good time to check out this documentary and its review from the Guardian’s film critic Peter Bradshaw, exploring the dirty tactics used by the FBI against the civil rights leader.

Stat of the day: coronavirus has killed twice as many Americans as both world wars combined

This visual piece tells the story of the staggering death toll from coronavirus in the US, with the pandemic now responsible for the deaths of almost 1% of all Americans over 75. More Americans have been killed from coronavirus than annual deaths from car accidents, guns, respiratory illnesses, flu and pneumonia put together, and far more than the lives lost in the first and second world wars combined. In the time it takes you to read this piece, another two Americans will have died.

Don’t miss this: why are people living near goat farms in the Netherlands getting sick?

People living near goat farms in the Netherlands have a 20% to 55% higher risk of developing pneumonia, thought to be linked to zoonotic diseases among the animals. Ten years ago, an outbreak of a respiratory infection in goats led to the culling of 50,000 of the animals, and caused the deaths of 95 people. Now another disease is causing alarm among farmers and experts.

Last thing: tennis stars ace it in quarantine

More than 100 of the world’s top tennis players and staff are in quarantine in Australia after a handful of positive coronavirus tests ahead of the Australian Open, and have been forced to get creative with their training. The sporting greats have shared videos of themselves training inside their hotel rooms, with volleys played against windows and a 5km run up and down a bedroom.

Sign up

Sign up for the US morning briefing

First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.