Thursday, January 20, 2022 top stories

It is Thursday, January 20. Here are today’s top stories.

Biden’s 2-hour press conference
President Joe Biden held a two-hour press conference on Wednesday afternoon to mark the first year of his presidency. He was inaugurated in office exactly last year today. Here are some highlights from the conference.

Biden said his achievements are record low unemployment, the $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill, a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, and millions of Americans getting vaccinated.

Reporters asked him about his falling approval poll numbers, with some as low as 33%. Biden said he “doesn’t believe the polls.”

Biden said he knows he has not accomplished everything he promised when he ran, but asked people to have patience with him.

On Afghanistan, Biden said he had no apologies for what he did with the military withdrawal. Biden said, “there is no way to get out of Afghanistan after 20 years easily.”

Biden said his administration has been successful with the pandemic because almost 75% of all adults have been vaccinated. He admitted that he should have done more on testing capacity, but said they are doing more testing now. He said he will not go back to lockdowns and school closures and promised that we will arrive at a time where Covid-19 won’t disrupt our daily lives.

Biden said he has no idea why there are many Americans who believe he is not mentally fit for the presidency.

Biden said he believes that Russian President Putin would soon send forces into Ukraine.

Biden said he would get involved in the 2022 midterm elections, vowing to raise a lot of money and be “out there” to help candidates.

He said the 2022 election could be illegitimate if Congress is not able to pass voting reforms laws to counter conservative states’ new laws that add rules on voting. Biden said he is concerned that votes would be thrown out because of the new laws.

Biden said he plans to run for a second term in 2024 and keep Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate.


Youngest woman to fly world solo
A 19-year-old woman named Zara Rutherford, who is a dual British-Belgian national, broke two Guinness World Records to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo. She flew over 32,000 miles and touched 41 countries using a Shark.Aero ultralight airplane. She first lifted off on August 18, 2021 and landed back in Belgium today (Thursday). Both of Zara’s parents are pilots and she first started learning to fly when she was 14. She said she hopes to raise visibility for women in aviation because only 5 percent of airline pilots around the world are women.

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“Hannibal” actor killed in ski accident
French actor Gaspard Ulliel, who starred in “Hannibal Rising” and is in a to-be-released Marvel Disney+ series “Moon Knight,” was killed in a ski accident in southeastern France on Tuesday.

Gaspard collided with another skier and he was not wearing a helmet. He had head trauma and was airlifted to a hospital, but died from his injuries. The other skier is okay.

French Prime Minister Castex tweeted, “We have lost a French actor.”

Report: Former Pope Benedict accused of misconduct
A law firm in Germany said the former Pope Benedict XVI, when he was the archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982, committed misconduct in how he handled at least four cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests. The allegation is that Benedict knew there was abuse but didn’t do anything. The investigation said there were almost 500 victims, most of them young or teenager boys. The law firm said the former pope denied any wrongdoing. He is now 94 years old.

Supreme Court rejects Trump request
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request from former President Donald Trump to block the release of over 700 pages of Trump White House records to the Jan 6. House Committee investigating the Capitol riot. Trump argued that he had executive privilege to keep the records sealed, but the Supreme Court said Trump cannot invoke executive privilege over the documents. The Supreme Court said they would have ruled the same even if Trump was still president.

The Jan 6. Committee said they have already started receiving records and that it will help them to understand what caused the Capitol violence.

That is all the top stories briefs for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/us/politics/biden-press-conference.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/joe-biden-press-conference-first-year-president/

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-no-idea-why-many-americans-doubt-mental-fitness

https://www.axios.com/biden-voting-rights-election-9688f5f8-ce7b-47ce-9b62-eab541dbe74f.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60063594

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/zara-rutherford-youngest-woman-to-fly-world-solo/index.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/europe/benedict-germany-sexual-abuse.html

https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2022/01/19/marvel-actor-gaspard-ulliel-dead-ski-accident/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10418859/Actor-Gaspard-Ulliel-stars-new-Marvel-series-Moon-Knight-dies-aged-37-ski-accident.html

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/20/europe/pope-benedict-xvi-munich-abuse-report-catholic-church-intl/index.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/19/supreme-court-rejects-trumps-request-to-block-release-of-white-house-records-from-jan-6-committee.html

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