--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Monday, January 25th. I'm Shamita Basu. And I'm Duarte Giraldino. This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: House Democrats are sending impeachment charges to the Senate today, setting the stage for Trump's trial to begin in two weeks. A lot of people are going to be watching Senator Mitch McConnell. The former Senate majority leader walked in lockstep with Trump for four years until the election and the insurrection at the Capitol. Now he's facing a difficult decision. Cut ties with Trump altogether or keep supporting the man who still has so much influence with Republican voters.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Jane Mayer captures the complexity of these Washington power plays really well. In The New Yorker, she writes, Mitch McConnell is focused on one goal and one goal only, winning back the Senate in 2022. Right. Well, right now, McConnell is clearly signaling that he's done with Trump. He has said plainly that Trump was responsible for provoking the riot at the Capitol. But he hasn't been clear about whether he'll vote to impeach in the Senate.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And already we're seeing Republicans who turned on Trump in the House pay a price. Yeah, they're being punished. House members who voted to impeach the former president are facing primary challenges. In Arizona, the Republican Party censored three high-profile Republicans. These are names you know. Governor Doug Ducey, former Senator Jeff Flake, and Cindy McCain. Even McConnell himself is facing opposition now. Senator Lindsey Graham criticized him. Sean Hannity is calling for him to step down.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, there is an upside for McConnell if he supports convicting Trump in the Senate. If McConnell plus 16 other Republicans vote to convict him, although let's be clear, that's a big number, so that's a big if. The Senate could also decide to permanently bar Trump from running for any federal office in the future. And this move could strengthen McConnell's position within the GOP and help to reestablish the traditional Republicans as the centerpiece of the Republican Party.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Mayor points out another one of McConnell options is to just lay low, wait it out. Pray Democrats shoot themselves in the foot with this trial. A Senate trial could be really unpopular with voters. It may also undercut Biden's message, his bipartisanship goals, and delay or harm his agenda. And this might not be a bad choice. Yeah. And Mayer says that kind of political strategizing is what McConnell is best at. He knows how to play the long game and to do whatever it takes to hold on to power.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in 100 days. This is what President Biden is promising and what his administration is calling an ambitious plan. Meaning, yes, this is a tough goal, but they can do it.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: However, when you look at the numbers and start to break it down, that goal may not be as ambitious as it sounds. Yeah, the thing is, a million doses a day sounds like a lot, but it turns out that's about the same pace we were going in the final days of the Trump administration. According to Bloomberg's vaccine tracker, nearly 983,000 shots a day were administered on average last week. And since then, we have topped a million doses a day.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the thing is, this isn't even that fast. At the current rate, it would take almost 18 months to vaccinate 80 percent of the U.S. population. That's a vaccination rate that could allow us to start getting back to normal. But to get to that range by the summer, we'd need to more than double the speed at which we're giving shots.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And that's why some people are saying if Biden really wants to be ambitious, he's got to accelerate the vaccine campaign. And we're hearing the same push from Republicans like Steve Scalise to political commentators like Fareed Zakaria. They're all saying Biden should double this goal to 200 million doses in 100 days.
--:-- Shamita Basu: To make that happen, the U.S. needs to not only get a lot more vaccines, but also more efficiently and transparently distribute them to states. A possible vaccine from Johnson & Johnson would help if the vaccine proves effective and the FDA approves it. By the way, this is a single shot vaccine. And with the U.S. topping 25 million confirmed COVID infections, J drug might be a game-changer.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: People across Russia took to the streets this weekend to support jailed Russian activist Alexei Navalny. These were the biggest protests the country has seen in years. And the pictures are incredible. Just masses of people gathered in Moscow's Pushkin Square and in many other cities. They're linked arm-in-arm, facing off with riot police. And by the way, it was freezing out. In some cities, temperatures were as cold as negative 58 degrees Fahrenheit.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Police arrested more than 3,000 people, including Navalny's wife. And activists say they're prepared for more action in the weeks ahead. If you haven't been following this story, let me quickly get you up to speed. Alexei Navalny is a prominent Russian opposition leader and Vladimir Putin's most vocal critic. He's known for his work exposing corruption in the Russian government. Last year, he was poisoned with a nerve agent and spent months recovering in Germany.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Kremlin denies responsibility for the poisoning, but Navalny has a Kremlin agent on tape admitting to the crime. Earlier this month, Navalny returned to Russia and was quickly put in jail. He's facing a possible three-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Now, you might be wondering if Navalny was in fact poisoned by the Russian government and almost died, why would he go back to Russia? What is his endgame?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Al Jazeera's Leonid Rogozin offers his analysis, and he's a journalist living in Latvia who's been closely following this story. First, Rogozin says, And that's all to say, Navalny knows exactly what he's up against. Rogozin says he's under no illusion that the Putin regime will suddenly fall or that his movement will find any quick victories. But he does believe Russia has reached a tipping point and that he can get Russians of all ages to join his cause to unseat Putin and his party.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: There are many Russians who are fed up with Putin. They're ready to risk everything to see his regime come to an end. That going to be challenging because Putin still has millions of dedicated supporters. Plus, Rogozin writes, many Russians still remember the lean times of the Soviet era, and most now enjoy what he calls a modest standard of living. They worry political upheaval could disrupt that. Many people in Russia fear if Putin falls, they could lose more than they'd gain.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You just heard some highlights from the weekend's NFL games. Now Kansas City is going head-to-head with Tampa Bay at the Super Bowl. And this year, the big game is going to be historic because a glass ceiling is being shattered. For the first time ever, a woman will officiate in the Super Bowl. That's right. Sarah Thomas will be part of this year's crew.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Getting chosen for the Super Bowl is the highest honor in her field. The league reviews every single call officials make in every game during the season, and only the best get a shot at the biggest game of the year. Reaching the top means you have to earn the respect of players, coaches, hold your own when you disagree with powerful personalities, and you have to master all the fine print of the NFL's 87-page rulebook. And that book changes year to year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Not to mention, it's a real workout keeping pace with these super fast athletes. There is one story that a lot of people mention when they talk about her reputation for being really dedicated. There was one game where a player, I mean, he's like 265 pounds, right? Accidentally slammed into her and she ended up, she actually broke her wrist and doctors pulled her out just to check if she had a concussion. She didn't, but she insisted on going back and finishing the game. And later on, she had surgery on her broken wrist.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Now she's earned a groundbreaking spot in the biggest game in American sports. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And while you're there, check out some of our audio stories. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
