Democracy Now!

Democratic House impeachment managers laid out their case against former President Donald Trump on the second day of the Senate trial, releasing shocking video from inside the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection. The footage shows violent Trump supporters were just 58 steps away from lawmakers' offices. John Nichols, national affairs correspondent for The Nation, says impeachment managers aimed to show that Trump bears clear responsibility for what happened and that the mob attack represented "a genuine threat" to the transition of power. "This is the most important impeachment trial in American history," says Nichols. "It goes to the heart of why the impeachment power was created in 1787. It is to hold presidents to account when they act in a manner that might be that of a monarch or a king, when they take actions to perpetuate their own power that are dangerous to the republic."

On the second day of former President Trump's second impeachment trial, House impeachment managers presented detailed documentation of the events leading up to the January 6 insurrection and shared dramatic new footage of the violence as it unfolded. We air excerpts of video from security cameras, which show the pro-Trump mob searching the Capitol building for lawmakers, including Republicans like Vice President Mike Pence, coming within about 100 feet of the room where he was sheltering with his family. House impeachment managers also played audio of Capitol Hill police officers seeking backup.

"The Inciter-in-Chief": Democrats Accuse Trump of Being "Singularly Responsible" for Insurrection, Trump Attacked Pence on Twitter Minutes After Learning VP Was Evacuated from Capitol, Georgia Prosecutor Opens Criminal Probe of Trump over Election Interference, U.S. COVID Death Toll Tops 471,000; Half of All Deaths Occurred Since Nov. 1, WHO Backs Use of Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine, Saudi Women's Rights Activist Loujain al-Hathloul Released After 1,001 Days in Prison, Biden & Xi Jinping Speak on Phone as U.S. Forms Military Task Force on China, U.S. Sanctions Military Junta as Anti-Coup Protests Continue in Burma, Israel Approves $3B U.S. Arms Deal; Soldiers Demolish Palestinian Village, Journalist Says He Was Fired by Guardian over Tweet Criticizing U.S. Military Support to Israel, Biden Administration to Continue Trump-Era Policy of Turning Away Asylum Seekers at Southern Border, U.S. Sides with Haitian President Jovenel Moïse as Protesters Continue to Demand He Step Down, Outrage in Honduras After 26-Year-Old Student Dies in Police Custody, Amazon Hires Koch Bros.-Linked Anti-Labor Consultant to Fight Union Drive in Alabama, Kings Bay Plowshares Activist Clare Grady Reports to Prison, Sen. Bernie Sanders Grills Neera Tanden, Biden's Pick to Head OMB

As the U.S. deals with the aftermath of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, we speak with Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha Blain, co-editors of a new book that situates the white supremacists who rallied around Trump in the longer arc of U.S. history. "Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019" brings together prominent Black writers to collaborate on what they call a "choral history" of Black American life in 80 short essays, including by the renowned scholar and activist Angela Davis, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and others. "We wanted to bring together so many different voices from so many different backgrounds within the Black community to really share the history of this incredibly diverse and complex community," says Kendi, director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. Blain, associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh, says despite the mammoth undertaking in the midst of the pandemic, all the contributors were excited to take part. "They shared our enthusiasm," she says. "They recognized the significance of this project as a work of history — being history in and of itself."

Historians Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha Blain dedicate their new book, "Four Hundred Souls," to the "Black lives lost to COVID-19." They put the content of their book in the context of the disparate impact of the pandemic on the African American community in the United States. "This has been in the making for decades. Even though this is a new virus, … it connects to a larger history of racial inequality, and we wanted to make sure that was clear," says Blain. Kendi is a cancer survivor and notes Black and Latinx are more at risk from preexisting conditions because of a history of racist policies, but "Americans don't know that history."

As the impeachment trial of Donald Trump proceeds, we speak with two historians about the importance of accountability for the January 6 insurrection and white supremacist attacks in the United States. The scenes of violence at the U.S. Capitol were "familiar" to Black people, says Ibram X. Kendi, author, professor and founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. "We have consistently, over the course of 400 years, faced white supremacist mob violence." We also speak with Keisha Blain, an author and associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh, who says Trump must be held accountable for inciting the Capitol insurrection. "We cannot hold back and play games here," she says. "Whatever decision we make in this moment will determine the future of this nation."

Congressmember Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the lead Democratic impeachment manager in former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial, closed the first day of proceedings in the Senate with an emotional speech describing the terror of the January 6 Capitol attack. "All around me people were calling their wives and their husbands, their loved ones, to say goodbye," said Raskin.

The Senate has voted 56 to 44 to proceed with the impeachment trial of Donald Trump for inciting the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Six Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting arguments from Trump's defense team that it is unconstitutional for a former president to face an impeachment trial. Trump is the first president to ever be impeached twice and the first to be tried after leaving office. We air highlights from the first day of Trump's historic second impeachment trial, including clips from a dramatic video mixing Trump's words on January 6 with scenes of rioters breaking into the Capitol.

Senate Votes to Proceed with Impeachment as Managers Present Harrowing Video of Jan. 6 Insurrection, Gov't to Send Vaccines to Community Health Centers as U.S. Continues Ramping Up Vaccinations, WHO Team Confirms COVID-19 of Animal Origin; Ghana Shuts Parliament After Outbreak Infects Lawmakers, Protesters in Burma Defy Bans, Escalating Crackdown by Police, Journalists Decry Raid on Progressive Indian News Site NewsClick, U.S. to Pursue Extradition of Julian Assange as Press Freedom Groups Warn of Dangerous Precedent, Fossil Fuel Pollution Causes One in Five Global Deaths, Calls Growing to Shut Down DAPL as Key Hearing on Fate of Pipeline Postponed, Chicago Teachers Vote to Return to In-Person Teaching After Battle with City Officials, Four Louisiana Officers Arrested over Police Brutality Cases and Other Misconduct, Two NYT Journalists Exit Paper Following Revelations of Improper Conduct

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deported at least 72 people to Haiti, including a 2-month-old baby and 21 other children. The deportations appear to be a contradiction of the Biden administration's order to deport only people with serious charges against them. Haiti faces an increase in political violence and ongoing protests against President Jovenel Moïse's U.S.-backed regime, and Guerline Jozef, co-founder and executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, says sending people to Haiti is putting them in danger. "We should be providing protection for those people, but we are sending them into a burning house," says Jozef.

As the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus tops 465,000, we speak with two disability rights activists about growing calls to prioritize giving COVID vaccines to people with physical and mental disabilities. Some states, including California, are failing to prioritize vaccines for people with serious physical or developmental disabilities, even though studies show they are up to three times more likely to die from COVID-19. "I use a ventilator to breathe, and I have respiratory failure," says disabled activist Alice Wong, founder of the Disability Visibility Project and host of the podcast "Disability Visibility." "If I get the virus, I will not survive. That is a certainty." We also speak with Rabbi Elliot Kukla, a disability activist who offers spiritual care to those who are ill, dying or bereaved at the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center in San Francisco. "Since the beginning of this pandemic, it's been clear that disabled lives simply don't matter as much," he says.

The historic second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump marks the first time a president will face impeachment after leaving office, and many Republicans claim the trial of a former president is unconstitutional. But most legal experts disagree. "Of course the Senate can conduct this trial," says Alan Hirsch, author and chair of the Justice and Law Studies program at Williams College. He says doing otherwise would give presidents a "get-out-of-impeachment-free card" at the end of their terms. Since the U.S. was founded, the Senate has conducted just three other presidential impeachment trials: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1999 and Donald Trump in 2020. The House's second impeachment of Trump came a week before his term ended for inciting the deadly insurrection in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, which was aimed at stopping lawmakers from counting the Electoral College votes.

Second Impeachment Trial of Donald J. Trump Opens in the Senate, Georgia's Secretary of State to Probe Trump's Efforts to Overturn 2020 Election, U.S. Mulls Plan to Require Negative COVID-19 Test for Domestic Airline Passengers, Texas GOP Rep. Ron Wright Dies After 18-Day Battle with COVID-19, FEMA to Pay Low-Income Families Up to $7,000 for Funeral and Burial Costs During Pandemic, New York Nursing Home Residents Got Experimental COVID-19 Treatments Without Families' Knowledge, Senate Confirms Denis McDonough to Lead Department of Veterans Affairs, Haitian Asylum Seekers, Including Children, Deported Despite Biden Administration's Promises, Colombia to Grant Protected Status to Venezuelan Asylum Seekers, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández Under U.S. Investigation for Bribery, Drug Trafficking, More Remains of Mexico Massacre Victims Identified, Former Chicago Teachers Union Leader Karen Lewis Dies at 67

With former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial set to begin in the Senate this week, we feature the speech Democratic Congressmember Cori Bush of Missouri made Thursday on the floor of the House of Representatives to demand accountability for the attack on the U.S. Capitol. "On January 3, we stood together to swear our oath to office, to the Constitution. We swore to defend it against all enemies foreign and domestic," Bush said. "It was attacked by a domestic enemy called white supremacy, and we must stand together now, today, to uphold that oath and hold every single person who helped incite it accountable."

As Democrats in Congress push forward on passing President Joe Biden's sweeping $1.9 trillion stimulus package, many experts say measures to combat the economic fallout from COVID-19 must address the pandemic's disproportionate impact on women — especially women of color. Women in the U.S. lost 5.5 million jobs in the first 10 months of the pandemic, nearly 1 million more job losses than men, and, combined with increased responsibilities for caregiving at home, are experiencing a "shecession," according to researcher C. Nicole Mason. "Women have been disproportionately impacted by job and income losses during the pandemic and during this economic downturn," says Mason, who is president and CEO of the Institute for Women's Policy Research, a leading voice on pay equity, economic policies and research impacting women. "The reason for this is because women are overrepresented in the hardest-hit sectors: service, leisure/hospitality, education and healthcare services."

The World Health Organization estimates there have been 51,312 confirmed cases and 522 deaths from COVID-19 in Gaza since reporting began in July 2020, and the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees warns the Gaza Strip's health system could collapse if the number of cases continues to rise. We get an update from Raji Sourani, human rights lawyer and director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, on how Gaza has been impacted by COVID-19 as an ongoing blockade has destroyed its health infrastructure. "Our equipment is unable to deal with the emerging situation," Sourani says.

In a landmark decision, judges at the International Criminal Court say the body has jurisdiction over war crimes committed in the Palestinian territories, opening the door to possible criminal charges against Israel and militant groups like Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the international tribunal's decision "pure anti-Semitism" and rejected its claim of jurisdiction, as did the United States, while Palestinian officials and human rights groups welcome the news. Human rights lawyer Raji Sourani, director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, says the decision restores "the independence and the credibility of the ICC." We also speak with Katherine Gallagher, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights and a legal representative for Palestinian victims in front of the ICC. She says the court's ruling is "a landmark decision" that provides "some measure of accountability" when war crimes are committed in Palestinian territories. "There are just an array of violations that have been going on for years," Gallagher says.

Dems to Introduce $3,000 Benefit for Children as They Push Ahead with $1.9 Trillion Stimulus, Pentagon to Deploy Troops for Vaccination Effort as Fans Defy Warnings Around Super Bowl Parties, South Africa Halts Rollout of Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine, Wyoming GOP Censures Rep. Liz Cheney for Backing Trump's Impeachment, Judge Rules NY Republican Claudia Tenney Won Last Open House Race, Mass Protests Continue in Burma Opposing Military Coup, Removal of Aung San Suu Kyi, Indian Farmworkers Blockade Roads as Mass Protests Show No Sign of Slowing Down, Scores of People Missing and Feared Dead After Himalayan Glacier Collapse, Leftist Economist Andrés Arauz Claims Victory in First Round of Ecuador's Presidential Election, Protests Break Out in Chile After Police Shoot and Kill Street Performer, Haitian Gov't Claims It Halted a Coup Amid Dispute over Jovenel Moïse's Presidency, Ongoing Protests, Biden Says U.S. Will Not Remove Trump-Era Sanctions on Iran, Egypt Frees Al Jazeera Journalist Mahmoud Hussein, Jailed for Four Years Without Trial, Israeli PM Netanyahu Pleads Not Guilty to Corruption Charges Ahead of Fresh Elections, U.S. to Remove Yemen's Houthis from Terrorism List Amid Warnings of Humanitarian Catastrophe, Biden Ends Trump-Era "Safe Third Country" Agreement on Central American Asylum Seekers, Cameroonian Asylum Seekers in Louisiana Say ICE Threatened Them with COVID-19 Exposure, Black Sheriff's Deputy in Louisiana Dies by Suicide After Condemning Police Violence and Racism, Amazon Workers in Alabama Begin Historic Vote on Unionization, Teachers in Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco Fight for Coronavirus Safety Measures, Virginia Poised to Become 23rd State to Abolish Death Penalty

President Donald Trump broke with decades of U.S. foreign policy in the waning days of his administration and recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, a territory the country has occupied since 1975 in defiance of the United Nations and the international community. U.S. recognition came as Morocco agreed to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, becoming the fourth Arab nation to do so in recent months as part of a regional push by the Trump administration to strengthen Israel without addressing the Palestinian conflict. Now the Biden administration must weigh whether to reverse Trump's decision on Western Sahara. "It'll be very dangerous if Biden does not reverse Trump's unprecedented recognition of Morocco's takeover of Western Sahara," says Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco. "The United Nations Charter is very clear that the expansion of territory by military force is illegitimate."

President Joe Biden has pledged to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, supported by both the Obama and Trump administrations, describing it as a "humanitarian and strategic catastrophe." The six-year war in Yemen has devastated the country, killing at least 100,000 people and pushing 80% of the country into instability requiring some form of aid or protection, according to the United Nations. Biden's remarks on Yemen come amid a freeze of U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, with similar sales to the United Arab Emirates also up for review. "This is the culmination of six years of activism and advocacy to end the U.S.'s role in the war in Yemen," says Yemeni scholar and activist Shireen Al-Adeimi, an assistant professor at Michigan State University. "We have a president who finally acknowledged the devastating war that is, frankly, caused by the U.S.'s participation."

As the U.S Senate prepares its impeachment trial of President Trump for inciting the January 6 insurrection, House lawmakers took to the floor Thursday to detail their experiences and demand accountability. We air excerpts from dramatic speeches by Democratic Congressmembers Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. "Some are already demanding that we move on or, worse, attempting to minimize, discredit or belittle the accounts of survivors," Ocasio-Cortez said. "In doing so, they not only further harm those who were there that day and provide cover for those responsible, but they also send a tremendously damaging message to survivors of trauma all across this country, that the way to deal with trauma, violence and targeting is to paper it over, minimize it and move on."

Countries across the African continent are facing a second COVID-19 outbreak, linked to a variant first found in South Africa that has been detected in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Comoros and Zambia and more than 20 non-African countries so far. There is concern new variants, which scientists believe are more infectious, could spread the virus further before widespread vaccination begins. More than 40 African countries have been hit by this second wave, and just six have received relatively small shipments of vaccines. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the world faces "a moral catastrophe" without vaccine equity. "It has to be very clear that no part of the world will be safe until all parts of the world are safe," he says. "We either come out of this together or we go down together. There's no middle ground in this."

President Biden Pledges to End U.S. Support for "Catastrophic" War in Yemen, Johnson & Johnson Asks FDA for Emergency Authorization of Single-Shot COVID-19 Vaccine, Poll Reveals 25% of U.S. Adults Plan to Gather at Super Bowl Watch Parties, VP Harris Casts Tie-Breaking Vote to Move Ahead with Democratic COVID Relief Bill, Democrats Call on Biden to Cancel Student Debt Up to $50,000, House Removes Marjorie Taylor Greene from Committees over Violent, Bigoted Rhetoric, AOC Calls for Expulsion of Rep. Greene from House, Warns Against Dismissing Insurrection Survivors, Smartmatic Sues Fox News, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell for Election-Related Lies, Bolsonaro Investigated for Negligence in COVID Response as He Shuts Down Anti-Corruption Group, U.S. Suspends Deportations of Dozens of African Asylum Seekers Amid Claims of ICE Torture, Report Finds Dangerous Levels of Toxic Metals in Common Baby Foods, McKinsey Settles Lawsuit for $573 Million over Role in Helping Market Opioids, Imprisoned Activist Kinetik Justice Severely Beaten by Guards While Defending Fellow Prisoner, Chicago Teachers Move Closer to Strike over In-Person Teaching Amid Dispute with City Officials

China faces widespread condemnation following a BBC report about the mass rape and sexual torture of Uyghur women and other Muslims detained in the province of Xinjiang. Women who spoke with the BBC described gang rapes, routine sexual torture using electrocution tools, forced sterilizations and men outside the prison camps paying for access to the detainees. China has rejected the report as "wholly without factual basis" and claims its mass detention of Muslim minorities is part of a "vocational training" program to counter extremism. Meanwhile, The Intercept has obtained a massive police surveillance database used by the Chinese government to monitor residents of Xinjiang, confirming China collects millions of text messages, phone contacts and call records — as well as biometric data — from Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. Information collected is used to decide who to detain. We speak with Abduweli Ayup, a Uyghur linguist and poet who was detained for 15 months for running a Uyghur-language kindergarten in Xinjiang. He says he was raped, tortured with electric shocks and subjected to humiliation rituals during his detention. "What's happening there is inhuman, and the target is the Uyghur, because of their religion and because of their culture," he says. We also speak with anthropologist Darren Byler, author of two forthcoming books on China's treatment of Uyghurs and technologies of reeducation.

As the U.S. COVID death toll tops 450,000, the Biden administration is attempting to ramp up its vaccination campaign to slow the spread of new coronavirus variants. Meanwhile, health experts warn any vaccination progress in the United States will be threatened without global vaccine equity. "We need to, as quickly as possible, expand access to the vaccines, both in this country, in the United States, as well as around the world," says Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, director of the ICAP at Columbia University and professor of epidemiology and medicine at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. She argues that the U.S. needs to do more to supply the world with COVID-19 vaccines, as it did with HIV medications. "This is a model that can be emulated at this point in time in recognition of the fact that viruses know no borders."

CDC Director Warns Coronavirus Variants Could Reverse Drop in Caseload, Education Secretary Nominee Favors Return to In-Person Classes, Supports Trans Athletes, Senate Agrees to Power-Sharing Deal That Leaves Democrats in Control of Committees, Republican Leader Won't Punish Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over Racist and Violent Rhetoric, 100s of Congressional Aides Call on Senate to Convict Trump and Bar Him from Holding Office, Canada Designates Proud Boys as a Terrorist Group, Prosecutors Seek Rearrest of Kyle Rittenhouse, Wisconsin Teen Charged with Killing 2 Protesters, Tigray Opposition Say 52,000+ Killed in Conflict as U.N. Warns All of Ethiopia Faces Unrest, BBC Report Details Mass Rape and Torture of Uyghur Women in China's Xinjiang, ICC Finds Former LRA Commander and Child Soldier Guilty of War Crimes, U.N. Report Describes Widespread Torture of Prisoners in Afghanistan, French Court Finds Government Failed to Take Action to Combat Climate Crisis, U.S. and Russia Extend New START Nuclear Arms Treaty, Biden Administration Rules Out Talks with Venezuelan President Maduro, Ex-Officer Adam Coy Charged with Murdering Andre Hill in Columbus, OH, Report Details How Border Patrol Contributes to Humanitarian Crisis at Southwestern Border

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced he will step down as CEO and move into a new role as executive chairman later this year, giving up the reins after nearly three decades during which he grew Amazon from an online book retailer into a sprawling business empire and became one of the world's richest people in the process. Andy Jassy, the head of the company's cloud computing division, is set to take over the top job, but Bezos will continue to be the largest Amazon shareholder and remain on the board of directors. The news comes as calls continue to mount for lawmakers to break up Amazon and other tech giants. "There's no reason to think anything is going to change at Amazon because Bezos has taken this new role," says Robert Weissman, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. "Neither the economy nor our democracy can really function properly with fairness if Amazon is able to maintain its massive concentration of wealth and power."

Hundreds have been deported in the last week, even as President Biden signed several executive orders Tuesday to undo the Trump administration's hard-line anti-immigration policies. The orders include a push to reunify families torn apart under Trump's "zero tolerance" policy and a review of the Trump policy known as "Remain in Mexico" that requires non-Mexican asylum seekers to wait in Mexico as their immigration cases wind through court, leaving tens of thousands waiting in dangerous conditions along the border. Reporter Aura Bogado says that despite the Biden administration's new "tone," continued deportations of vulnerable people demonstrate "a continuation of the same practices that happened under President Trump and previously under Obama." Erika Pinheiro, an immigration attorney and the policy and litigation director of Al Otro Lado, a binational nonprofit helping immigrants on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, says many migrants left waiting in Mexico are losing patience with assurances that the new administration will have a plan for them. "If we don't have an answer for these people, other groups will fill that information void, like cartels and like smugglers, and ultimately the lack of a plan is going to result in more migrant deaths," says Pinheiro.

We speak with a Burmese dissident about the military coup underway in Burma as de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been arrested. The coup unfolded hours before lawmakers were to take their seats in the opening of parliament, following a November election in which Aung San Suu Kyi's party won over 80% of the contested seats in the Burmese parliament and the military made unsubstantiated claims of fraud. Hundreds of lawmakers, activists and human rights defenders have also been detained since the coup, and telecommunications have been cut in parts of Burma, which the military calls Myanmar. "The military decided that they could no longer play this democracy game with Aung San Suu Kyi," says Maung Zarni, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition and the Forces of Renewal for Southeast Asia. "The military is completely outfoxed legally, as well as at the polls. That's why the military decided to wreck the game." He says the coup could also worsen the outlook for members of the Rohingya Muslim community, who have faced mass detention, killings and expulsion from Burma in a campaign widely recognized as genocide.

Democrats Say Trump "Singularly Responsible" for Jan. 6 Insurrection in Impeachment Brief, U.S. to Start Sending Vaccines to Pharmacies; Single AstraZeneca Shot Cuts Transmission by 67%, Senate Confirms Alejandro Mayorkas as DHS Chief, Pete Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary, Senator Warren to Introduce Wealth Tax on Households Worth Over $50 Million, Kevin McCarthy Weighs Removing Marjorie Taylor Greene from Education Committee After Bipartisan Condemnation, Alexei Navalny Receives 3.5 Years in Prison Amid Mass Protests, Healthcare Workers in West Bank Receive Vaccines from Israel While Other Palestinians Made to Wait, Israel and Kosovo Establish Diplomatic Ties, Kosovo to Open Embassy in Jerusalem, Mexican Police Officers Arrested over Massacre of 19 People on U.S.-Mexico Border, Jeff Bezos Steps Down as Amazon CEO After Amassing Huge Personal Fortune, Amazon to Pay Contract Drivers $61.7 Million After FTC Probe Finds It Stole Tips to Pay Wages, Two FBI Agents Shot Dead While Executing Search Warrant in South Florida, Black Missouri Father Dies After Being Denied Emergency Room Treatment 3 Times, New York Repeals Anti-Transgender "Walking While Trans" Law

Russian authorities have arrested thousands of people during anti-government protests in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been held in jail since returning to Russia on January 17 after recovering in Germany from an attempt on his life in August using the nerve agent Novichok. Navalny has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind the poisoning that nearly killed him. While Navalny has emerged as Russia's leading opposition figure and anti-corruption campaigner, his political roots have links to right-wing nationalist and anti-immigrant causes. Joshua Yaffa, Moscow correspondent for The New Yorker, says that Navalny has been willing to change and adapt his views to court public opinion, including through his "flirtation" with Russian nationalism. "We'll only know what sort of politician Navalny is when he's actually allowed to participate in formal politics."

Russia has been one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, recording about 73,000 deaths and over 3.8 million infections over the past year. Meanwhile, there is widespread skepticism over the domestically developed Sputnik V vaccine, with many Russians reluctant to get the shot. Now a peer-reviewed study published in the respected Lancet medical journal has confirmed the vaccine's 91.6% efficacy, as developers of the shot have long maintained. "That's good news for the developers of the vaccine in Russia. That's good news for Russia writ large, which certainly has plenty of geopolitical ambitions surrounding the vaccine," says Joshua Yaffa, correspondent for The New Yorker in Moscow. "And it's frankly good news for the world."

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Black and Latinx people in the United States have died at higher rates, and new data shows that they are getting vaccinated at much lower rates than white people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports more than 60% of those vaccinated were white, while just 11.5% were Latinx, 6% were Asian, and just over 5% were Black. The CDC data is based on details gathered during the first month of the U.S. vaccination campaign that saw nearly 13 million Americans get a shot, though race and ethnicity was only known for about half of the recipients. Black and Latinx people continue to face a disproportionate risk for COVID-19 in their jobs as essential workers and are more likely to have preexisting conditions. "What we're seeing illustrated is about 150 years of medical neglect," says Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA School of Medicine. "These disparities didn't suddenly appear nine months ago at the beginning of the pandemic. These disparities have been built in, decision by decision."

U.S. Tops 26 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Shots, Surpassing Confirmed Coronavirus Cases , Biden Takes Executive Action to Reverse Trump Immigration Policies as Deportations Continue, Senate Republicans Meet at White House to Press Far Smaller Coronavirus Relief Bill, South Africa Receives First COVID-19 Vaccines; New Variant Linked to Reinfections in Brazil, WHO Team Probes Virus Origins in Wuhan; Australia Puts Perth on Lockdown After Single COVID-19 Case, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reveals She Is a Sexual Assault Survivor in Video Recalling Jan. 6 Capitol Attack, Trump Hires New Lawyers. One Declined to Prosecute Bill Cosby. Another Met Jeffrey Epstein in Jail, Senate Republican Leader Blasts Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's "Loony Lies and Conspiracy Theories", Salvadoran President Bukele Inflames Tensions After Attack That Killed Two Leftist Activists, U.N. Condemns Military Coup in Burma, Calls for Restoration of Democracy, Top Turkish Official Attacks Students as "LGBT Freaks" over Rainbow Flag Artwork, Former Guantánamo Prisoners Urge Biden to Close Military Prison , Biden Releases Hurricane Recovery Funds for Puerto Rico Withheld by Trump Admin, Police Union President Defends Officer Who Handcuffed, Pepper-Sprayed 9-Year-Old Girl in Rochester, NY, Oregon Becomes First U.S. State to Decriminalize Low-Level Possession of All Drugs

A highly anticipated new feature film, "Judas and the Black Messiah," tells the story of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton and William O'Neal, the FBI informant who infiltrated the Illinois Black Panther Party to collect information that ultimately led to Hampton's killing in 1969 by law enforcement officers. The film is premiering at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and stars Daniel Kaluuya as Hampton, LaKeith Stanfield as O'Neal and Martin Sheen as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Shaka King, the film's director and co-writer, says focusing on Hampton and O'Neal was a way "to make 'The Departed' inside the world of COINTELPRO," referring to the decades-long illegal FBI program to undermine Black and radical political organizations. "I just thought that that was a very clever vessel and intelligent way to Trojan-horse a Fred Hampton biopic."

Newly unearthed documents have shed new light on the FBI's role in the murder of the 21-year-old Black Panther leader Fred Hampton on December 4, 1969, when Chicago police raided Hampton's apartment and shot and killed him in his bed, along with fellow Black Panther leader Mark Clark. Authorities initially claimed the Panthers had opened fire on the police who were there to serve a search warrant for weapons, but evidence later emerged that told a very different story: The FBI, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office and the Chicago police had conspired to assassinate Fred Hampton. FBI memos and reports obtained by historian and writer Aaron Leonard now show that senior FBI officials played key roles in planning the raid and the subsequent cover-up. "It was approved at the highest level," says attorney Jeff Haas. We also speak with attorney Flint Taylor. Both are with the People's Law Office and were the lead lawyers in a landmark civil rights case over the deaths of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark.

Republicans face increasing pressure to strip Georgia Congressmember Marjorie Taylor Greene of her post on the House Education Committee. Greene was elected in November 2020 and is a far-right conspiracy theorist who has promoted QAnon, supported the execution of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and claimed the school shootings in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida, were staged — as was the September 11 attack on the Pentagon. She also has a history of racist, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic comments. Bee Nguyen, a Democratic state representative in Georgia, recently joined other lawmakers in signing a resolution that calls on Greene to resign. "The congresswoman has proven to be dangerous, not just to our state, but to our country," says Nguyen. We also speak with Michael Edison Hayden, senior reporter for the Southern Poverty Law Center, who says media discussions of QAnon and other far-right conspiracy theories tend to focus on how outlandish they are rather than on their hateful content. "While some of these ideas are crazy-sounding to people, I think it's very, very helpful to start reframing it in your mind as something that is part of this drift toward anti-democratic, hard-right, authoritarian tendencies in the Republican Party," says Hayden.

CDC Orders Mask-Wearing on Public Transportation as Experts Urge Speedy Vaccination to Combat Variants, Johnson & Johnson Says One-Shot Vaccine Is Effective, Especially in Preventing Severe Cases, Major Racial Disparities Emerge in Vaccine Recipients as Latinx Deaths in L.A. Jump by 1,000%, Biden Meets with GOP Leaders to Discuss Stripped-Down Counter Bill to $1.9 Trillion Package, Burmese Military Stage Coup, Detain Aung San Suu Kyi, Police Arrest Over 5,100 in Pro-Navalny Protests Across Russia, Car Bomb Blasts Kill at Least 12 in Aleppo, Syria, U.N. Calls for Repatriation of 27,000 Children Stranded in al-Hol Camp, Hotel Attack in Mogadishu Kills at Least 9 People, FBI Uncovers Evidence Jan. 6 Attack Was Premeditated as More Far-Right Rioters Face Charges, Trump Faces More Businesses-Related Woes as His Legal Team Departs a Week Before Impeachment Trial, Federal Appeals Court to Allow U.S. Deportations of Unaccompanied Children, U.S. Deports Survivor of 2019 Massacre in El Paso, TX; ICE Reports 2nd COVID Prisoner Death Since Oct., Water Protectors Target Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline with Nonviolent Direct Actions

We spend the hour looking at the life of one of the most pivotal figures in the history of struggle for gender equality and racial justice, Pauli Murray, whose story is told in the new documentary "My Name Is Pauli Murray," premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Murray was a trailblazing Black, nonbinary, queer, feminist poet, lawyer, legal scholar and priest, who influenced the likes of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Thurgood Marshall and is viewed as a hero to many in the trans rights movement. We feature excerpts from "My Name Is Pauli Murray," which features new footage and audio recordings of Murray in their own words and interviews about Murray with Ginsburg and Bishop Michael Curry, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, and speak with the filmmaking team behind the documentary, directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen. We are also joined by Dolores Chandler, a social worker and equity facilitator and trainer in Durham, North Carolina, who is featured in the film and is the former coordinator of the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice. "The fact is most of us were not taught about Pauli Murray," says Cohen. "This is a person who influenced so many different movements in the U.S."

South African Coronavirus Variant Detected in U.S. for First Time, Novavax Vaccine Cut COVID-19 Cases by 90% in Trial But Lagged Against South African Variant, President Biden Expands Affordable Care Act Enrollment Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, U.S. Economy Shrank by 3.5% in 2020 as Pandemic Took Hold , "Brazen, Entitled, Dangerous": Capitol Rioter Who Looted House Speaker's Office Denied Bail, House Speaker Blasts GOP for Assigning Racist Conspiracy Theorist to House Education Committee, House GOP Leader Signals Devotion to Trump as Lawmakers Target Rep. Liz Cheney over Impeachment Vote, Indian Farmworkers Call Off Upcoming March After Violent Clashes with Police, Pakistan Court Rules to Free Men Convicted of Kidnapping and Murdering Journalist Daniel Pearl, Robert Malley, Who Helped Negotiate Iran Nuclear Deal, to Be Named Special Envoy on Iran, Russian Authorities Crack Down on Social Media Ahead of More Protests as Navalny Speaks Out , German Neo-Nazi Who Killed Official Walter Lübcke in 2019 Sentenced to Life in Prison, Dutch Appeals Court Orders Shell to Pay Damages to Nigerian Farmers for Oil Spills, GM to Phase Out Gas Cars, Aims to Go Carbon Neutral by 2040, Lawmakers Demand Probe into Trading App Robinhood After It Blocked Stock Sales That Hurt Hedge Funds, Veteran NYT Reporter Investigated for Racist and Sexist Language, CBS Suspends Two Execs over Charges of Sexist and Racist Behavior, Austin to Turn Hotel into Permanent Shelter for Unhoused People Using Diverted Police Funds, At Least 2 Mexican Nationals Among Six Dead After Nitrogen Leak at Georgia Poultry Plant , Pioneering African American Actor Cicely Tyson, Winner of Two Emmys, Dies at 96

We speak with Reuters investigative journalist Aram Roston, who has revealed a leader of the extremist hate group the Proud Boys, which played a key role in the Capitol riot on January 6, has a prolific history of cooperating with law enforcement. Court records show Enrique Tarrio was an FBI and police informant in Florida who went undercover in multiple drug and illegal gambling investigations after he was arrested in 2012. This comes as the Department of Homeland Security warns of a heightened threat posed by "ideologically-motivated violent extremists" angry over Joe Biden's inauguration.

As rich countries race to roll out their vaccination programs, leaders in the Global South and global health advocates are increasingly decrying vaccine hoarding that has pushed poorer countries to the back of the line during the pandemic. Some rich countries have secured enough COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate their populations several times over, while poorer countries struggle to secure enough doses, almost certainly prolonging the pandemic by months or even years. Public health policy expert Dr. Mohga Kamal-Yanni says an obvious way to address the issue is to share technology so more companies in more countries can produce the vaccines. "There is a supply issue," she says. "We're in a pandemic. We need to vaccinate a big percentage of the population globally if we want to be safe."

The Biden administration has vowed to increase the rate of vaccinations as COVID-19 continues to spread uncontrollably across the entire U.S., with 90,000 people predicted to die in the next four weeks. President Biden announced plans to acquire another 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech and is devising ways to allow retired nurses and doctors to administer vaccines. Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, says the Trump administration's lies and inaction around the pandemic laid the groundwork for the current explosion in cases. He also warns that a "globalized anti-science movement" has grown stronger in recent years, spreading dangerous disinformation and threatening the public health response to COVID-19. "It's a killer, because now people are tying their political allegiance to not getting vaccinated, to not wearing marks, to not social distancing."

U.S. Records Another 4,000 COVID-19 Deaths as White House Warns Vaccinations Will Take Months, DHS Warns of Threat from "Violent Extremists" as More Arrests Are Made over Jan. 6 Insurrection, Leader of Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, Was a Government Informer , Biden to Reverse "Global Gag Rule," Expand Reproductive Healthcare in U.S., Democrats Reintroduce Bill to Make Washington, D.C., the 51st State, Western Hemisphere COVID-19 Deaths Top 1 Million , 4th Zimbabwean Cabinet Official Dies of COVID-19; WHO Begins Probe into Pandemic Origins in Wuhan, Hungry Lebanese Protesters Clash with Police over Coronavirus Lockdown , U.S. Freezes Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia, Reviews Deal with UAE Made Under Trump Admin, Rights Groups Demand Release of Political Cartoonist Arrested on 10th Anniversary of Uprising, Poland Enacts Near-Total Ban on Abortions, Triggering More Protests, Honduras Locks In Total Ban on Abortions, Attacks Marriage Equality, Newark Reaches Settlement over Water Crisis, Video Showing School Officer Slamming Student into Concrete Prompts Outrage and Investigation, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Confronts Parkland Survivor David Hogg in Newly Resurfaced Video, Activists Demand a More Just Immigration System, Call for Demilitarization of Border in New Resolution, Chicago Grants Landmark Status to Childhood Home of Emmett Till

January has become the deadliest month of the pandemic in the United States, with at least 80,000 deaths from COVID-19 so far, and public health experts worry new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus could make things worse. President Joe Biden has announced plans to acquire another 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, aiming to vaccinate most people in the U.S. by summer, but vaccine distribution continues to be a problem. The Daily Beast reports that of the 41 million vaccine doses handed out to states, fewer than 22 million have been administered. Meanwhile, many states report running out of vaccines. "States are telling federal officials that they believe millions of doses are lost in the distribution system," says reporter Erin Banco. "What the Biden team is trying to do now is sort of do an accounting exercise to figure out where these vaccine doses are located."

President Joe Biden is expected to issue executive orders to suspend new oil and gas leasing on federal property, reestablish a White House council of science advisers, and set a goal to protect 30% of federal land and water by 2030. He is also predicted to announce a number of initiatives prioritizing environmental justice by creating a White House interagency council on environmental justice and directing federal agencies to invest more in communities of color heavily impacted by pollution and the climate crisis. These actions, as well as executive orders to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline and put a moratorium on oil and gas permits in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, come after Biden used his inaugural address to declare the climate crisis to be one of the core issues facing the nation. Varshini Prakash, co-founder and executive director of the Sunrise Movement, says Biden is "off to a good start," but says he needs to go beyond simply undoing the damage of the Trump administration. "We're going to need to see a lot more from Joe Biden at the executive level and directing every branch of the federal government to action. But we're also going to need to see him working actively to organize his congressional colleagues to pass what we need to be the greatest green jobs and infrastructure recovery plan that this country has seen," says Prakash.

President Joe Biden was elected with massive support from people of color, and in his second week in office he issued four executive orders to advance what the White House calls his "racial equity" agenda. The orders aim to strengthen anti-discrimination policies in housing, end Justice Department contracts with private prison companies, reaffirm sovereignty of Native American tribes and combat xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Biden's racial justice push comes as COVID-19 has devastated communities of color in the U.S., who are experiencing higher rates of infection, death and unemployment during the pandemic. Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, co-executive director of the Highlander Research and Education Center, says Biden's executive orders are "a step forward" and credits social movements who have been pressuring the administration to act. "This is not just because of his good graces," Henderson says. "This is because movement made it possible that racial equity be something that is prioritized in the executive branch of our government."

Biden Ramps Up Vaccine Rollout as World Tops 100 Million COVID Cases, U.S. Records Deadliest Month, U.K. Tops 100,000 Deaths as European Nations Move Toward Requiring Medical-Grade Masks, COVID Curfew Riots Rock Dutch Cities; Canadian Mogul Fined for Receiving Vaccine Meant for Indigenous Group, 45 Senate Republicans Back Dismissal of Trump Impeachment Trial, Biden Orders DOJ to End Contracts with Private Prisons, HUD to End Discrimination in Housing, Biden Issuing Orders Promoting Environmental Justice, Combating Climate Crisis, U.S. Judge Blocks Biden Deportation Moratorium While Texas Challenge Is Reviewed, U.S. Capitol Security Officials Apologize for "Failings" in Response to Jan. 6 Insurrection, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Supported Violence Against Pelosi and Others in 2018 Facebook Posts, U.N. Secretary-General Says Neo-Nazism Is on the Rise, Spurred by Pandemic, U.S. Agencies Halt and Review Trump's Designation of Yemen's Houthi Rebels as Terror Group, Biden Admin to Restore Aid, Diplomatic Relations with Palestinian Officials, Israeli Soldiers Fatally Shoot 17-Year-old Palestinian Near Settlement, Italian PM Conte Resigns as Political Crisis Deepens Amid Coronavirus Wave, 19 Shot and Burned Bodies Found Near U.S.-Mexico Border; Victims Could Be Teenage Asylum Seekers

As the wealth of U.S. billionaires soars by over a trillion dollars during the pandemic, Oxfam is warning COVID-19 could lead to the biggest increase in global inequality on record. A new Oxfam report finds it could take more than a decade for poor people to recover from the health and economic crisis, and urges governments to take immediate action. "In every country that we looked at, inequality has gotten worse during the pandemic," says Paul O'Brien, vice president of Oxfam America. "All around the world now, we are seeing folks struggling on the wrong end of inequality, while those who have been the beneficiaries of our broken economic system have done quite well."

President Joe Biden has placed immigration at the center of his ambitious agenda, signing several executive orders reversing Trump's anti-immigrant policies and promising a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. But Biden is not only navigating the destructive legacy of his immediate predecessor, but also that of the Obama administration when he was vice president, which oversaw 3 million deportations. "These are people who had families, jobs and homes in the United States," says investigative journalist Jean Guerrero. "What he needs is not just to reverse Trump's policies and go back to Obama-era policies. He needs to actually repair the harm that was done when he was vice president." Guerrero also urges Biden not to carve out exceptions that exclude immigrants with criminal records, including members of her own family.