Politics: House of Representatives Elects New Speaker and Representative
After 15 rounds of voting, Kevin McCarthy reached the minimum number of votes required to become the speaker of the House of Representatives. According to the New York Times, McCarthy received backlash from other members of the Republican Party, but by the end of the voting process, many representatives supported him. Furthermore — despite lying about his employment history —
George Santos of New York has officially been sworn in as a House Representative for the Republican Party.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/01/04/us/politics/house-speaker-vote-tally.html
https://www.congress.gov/member/kevin-mccarthy/M001165
Sports: Soccer Legend Pelé Dies At 82
Pelé, a former Brazilian soccer player who, over the course of his life, won three world cups with his national team, has passed away. According to the New York Times, Péle was 82 years old at the time of his death. He played, most notably, for Santos in Brazil but also played for the New York Cosmos. In 1967, he traveled to a warring Nigeria to showcase his soccer playing and temporarily brought a halt to the country’s political turmoil.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pele-Brazilian-athlete
Sports: State of Damar Hamlin Improving
CNN reported that NFL player Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills, who fell into cardiac arrest during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 2, is on his way to recovery and now can breathe without aid. Hamlin has been active on Twitter, especially recently after the Bills won over the Patriots.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/09/sport/buffalo-bills-damar-hamlin-recovery-monday-spt/index.html
Internet: Year in Search
As 2022 came to an end, Google released their annual Year in Search, showcasing some of the most searched words in a variety of categories. According to Google Trends, the most searched word in the world over the course of 2022 was ‘Wordle.’ The popular game, now owned by the New York Times, was created by Josh Wardle, who sold it to the popular newspaper for over a million dollars. Other popular phrases were: ‘Ukraine’ under the News category, ‘Johnny Depp’ in the People category, ‘Domestic short-haired cat’ in the Pets category, ‘Euphoria’ from the TV shows category, ‘Philodendron’ in the Plants category, and ‘Antonio Brown’ as the most searched athlete.
https://trends.google.com/trends/yis/2022/GLOBAL/
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/business/media/new-york-times-wordle.html
Politics: Violent Protests in Brazil End with a Number of Arrests
On January 8, Brazilian protesters stormed three major government offices, which resulted in over 200 arrests. The Associated Press reported that the reason behind the protest was a presidential election, which protesters believed to be fabricated. The demonstration showed their support to former president Jair Bolsonaro. Many find the events of January 8 as reminiscent of the 2021 January 6 attacks on the United States Capitol. The number of arrests are likely to increase within the following weeks.
War: Ukraine Prepared to Fight Back Against Russian Forces
Updates from the New York Times say that Ukraine is now facing war head-on in an effort to reclaim territory seized by Russia. They report that Ukraine wants to defend and take back their land and end the war that has been raging for almost a year now. In another article, the New York Times mentioned that data from Russian cell usage has also been tactically exploited by the Ukrainian military, and in spite of their ban, it is continuing to be a problem for Russian forces.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/world/europe/ukraine-bakhmut-strategy.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/world/europe/ukraine-russia-cellphones.html
