New Mexico representative is confirmed as interior secretary. Plus, two Capitol rioters charged with ‘bear spray’ assault on an officer, who later died
Good morning.
Deb Haaland has made history by becoming the first Indigenous cabinet secretary in US, when she was confirmed as Joe Biden’s secretary of the interior. The Senate confirmed her by a 51-40 vote, Haaland having won over some Republican senators including Lindsey Graham and Lisa Murkowski.
Who is Deb Haaland? A member of Laguna Pueblo, one of 574 sovereign tribal nations located across 35 states, the 60-year-old is a representative for New Mexico. She has previously told the Guardian that her priorities include climate change, tribal consultation and green economic recovery – and that she is willing to reach across the aisle to put those in motion.
What will her role include? She will oversee 70,000 staffers who manage one fifth of all land in the US and 1.7bn acres (688m hectares) of coastline. Haaland will manage national parks, wildlife refuges and natural resources like gas, oil and water. She will also be responsible for overseeing tribal affairs.
Two Capitol rioters have been charged with a ‘bear spray’ assault on an officer who died
Two men have been charged with assaulting Brian Sicknick, a police officer who died after pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol on 6 January. Julian Elie Khater, 32, from Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, 39, from West Virginia, were arrested by the FBI Sunday, and charged with spraying Sicknick with a “toxic spray”, thought to be designed to protect against bears. Sicknick died in hospital the next day. The cause of his death is still unknown.
Did the FBI make an incomplete background check on Brett Kavanaugh?
The FBI is again facing questions over the thoroughness of its background check on the supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh, after a lawmaker suggested the investigation was “fake”. The FBI was called in during his confirmation process to investigate claims made by Dr Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh sexually assault her, which he denies. At the time, some Democratic senators accused the agency of being incomplete.
What are the criticisms of the check? Two key witnesses were never interviewed, Ford and Kavanaugh; some witnesses who wanted to testify allegedly were not accepted; and the FBI reportedly did not assign any individual to accept or gather evidence.
These questions resurfaced after Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator and former prosecutor serving on the judiciary committee, called on the newly confirmed attorney general, Merrick Garland, to help facilitate “proper oversight” into the process.
The situation in Myanmar is deteriorating
There have been increasing levels of violence in Myanmar since a military coup last month, with at least another 20 people killed during protests on Monday. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a local group tracking fatalities, some of those killed were bystanders, and were not participating in the demonstrations.
Sunday was the deadliest day since the coup so far, with the AAPP reporting at least 74 people dying in unrest around the country.
Meanwhile, the economic situation is also deteriorating. The UN world food programme warned of a “very serious” economic crisis in Myanmar as food and fuel prices increase rapidly. In some townships, the price of rice has risen by 35%, while fuel has increased 15% nationally.
Poverty was already a serious problem before the coup, with six out of 10 households were unable to afford a nutritious diet. The coronavirus pandemic only made this worse; by the second half of 2020, four out of five households reported losing almost 50% of their income.
