First Thing: House Republicans decide against punishing congresswomen

Good morning.

House Republicans decided not to take action against two congresswoman who had riled the party in very different ways, at a marathon meeting over the future of the GOP on Wednesday night. The party had faced calls to punish both Liz Cheney, the third most powerful Republican in the House, who voted to impeach Donald Trump, and Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has been criticised for embracing extremist views and conspiracy theories.

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House Republicans take no action on extremist Greene after saying she denounced QAnon – video

While neither will face party action, the pair received very different receptions, according to several accounts of the meeting. Cheney was reportedly admonished for her impeachment vote, with Greene, who has expressed support for QAnon and the assassination of prominent Democrats, received a standing ovation after a brief speech apologising for her past remarks – although she is yet to apologise in public.

But it isn’t over just yet. Today, a floor vote will force Republicans to decide whether to punish or defend Greene, who is popular among some of the party’s base, but has been roundly criticised by political opponents and even senior Republicans.

Schools can reopen even if teachers haven’t been vaccinated, the CDC has said

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday that schools in the US can reopen even if teachers haven’t received a coronavirus vaccine. It comes after teaching unions resisted the move over concerns about their members’ safety. Meanwhile, Dr Anthony Fauci said that wearing two masks wouldn’t do any harm. This is not official government advice, and Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’s director, said that more data on the success of “double-masking” would be coming soon.

Jeff Zients, the head of the White House coronavirus taskforce, brought some good news: on average, 1.3m coronavirus shots are being administered in a day. Zients said the government was on track to meet the president’s goal of 100m shots in his first 100 days.

• One dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine gives 90% protection from coronavirus after 21 days, according to analysis of the mass vaccination programme in Israel. In total, the US has ordered 200m doses of the vaccine.

Canada has designated the Proud Boys a terrorist organisation

Canada has categorised the Proud Boys as a terrorist organisation alongside Isis and al-Qaida, as concerns about the spread of white supremacist groups in the country mount. The public safety minister, Bill Blair, said the group was a “serious and growing threat”, describing it as a “neo-fascist organization that engages in political violence”. Officials told reporters ahead of the announcement that the organisation’s “pivotal role” in the Capitol attack had contributed to their decision to list it.

So what does this mean practically? The decision doesn’t automatically make it a crime to be a member of the Proud Boys, but it means the organisation’s assets could be seized or forfeited by authorities. It could also have consequences for individual members: according to one expert, banks will be unlikely to want to do business with anyone known to be a member.

• Social media platform Parler has ditched its CEO, as it faces uncertainty after being effectively forced offline following the attack on the US Capitol. The site is a favourite among the far right, and has not introduced the same checks and limits on misinformation, meaning it became a hotbed of rightwing organisation.

• Prosecutors are seeking a new warrant for Kyle Rittenhouse for allegedly breaking his bail conditions. The Illinois teenager was charged with shooting three people, two fatally, during a protest over police brutality in Wisconsin following the shooting of Jacob Blake. Some conservatives have revered him as a symbol for gun rights and a hero in the pushback against anti-racism protesters.

The US ‘disturbed’ by the reports of systemic rape in China’s Xinjiang camps

The US government said it is “deeply disturbed” by reports of systemic rape and sexual torture of women held in Chinese camps for ethnic Uighur and other Muslims. A statement from the state department said that “these atrocities shock the conscience and must be met with serious consequences”. The statement came in response to a BBC report which detailed allegations of rape, torture and sexual abuse based on interviews with multiple former detainees and a camp guard.

More than 180 human rights organisations have called for a boycott of the Beijing winter Olympic Games next year, in protest against China’s repeated and widespread violations of human rights. The groups, predominantly regional organisations supporting Tibet, Taiwan, the Uighur community and Hong Kong, accused the president, Xi Jinping, of unleashing “an unrelenting crackdown on basic freedom and human rights”.

• US lawmakers nominated Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement for a Nobel peace prize, describing the campaigners as a global inspiration. In a letter to the Nobel committee released yesterday, nine cross-party lawmakers said they hoped the prize could “shine a light on those struggling for peace and human rights in China”.

In other news …

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Crash survivor speaks after world-first face and double hand transplant – video

• New York doctors have completed the first successful face and double hand transplant, on 22-year-old Joe DiMea, a nightshift worker who suffered third-degree burns over 80% of his body during a car accident in July 2018.

• Myanmar’s army has blocked access to Facebook in an attempt to stamp out resistance to its coup, which saw the de facto leader of the democratically elected government, Aung San Suu Kyi, detained earlier this week.

• The head of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics committee has refused to resign over sexist remarks made about “talkative” women in sports. Yoshiro Mori, a former Japanese prime minister, said that meetings attended by too many women “dragged on” because they spoke too much. He has apologised for the comments but dismissed calls to resign.

Stat of the day: Coronavirus is killing Native Americans at twice the rate of white Americans

Native Americans are dying from coronavirus at a faster rate than any other community in the US, and nearly twice the rate of white Americans, new figures reveal. Across the US, one in every 475 Native Americans has died from coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, compared with one in every 825 white Americans and one in every 645 Black Americans. The true death toll is likely to be higher due to poor data on Native American lives lost to coronavirus.

Don’t miss this: more Americans are living in vans than ever before

With rent pushing many Americans towards poverty, an event like job loss, divorce or the coronavirus pandemic can be the final straw. One man forced to live in his van founded the Home on Wheels Alliance, which gives vehicles to those who need them to avoid homelessness. Stevie Trujillo meets the man behind it, and a woman the programme helped, to find out more.

Last thing: a woman was caught smuggling 1,000 plants strapped to her body

A woman has been sentenced in New Zealand after she was caught attempting to smuggle nearly 1,000 cacti and succulents into the country from China, inside stockings and strapped to her body. Wenqing Li was spotted by a detector dog as she arrived into Auckland international airport, and attempted to dispose of her haul, worth around $10,000, in the toilets. But it wasn’t her first rodeo — in July 2019, Li was found to have hidden 142 seeds in iPad covers in her luggage, along with more than 200 plant pots.

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