• Marco Rubio confirmed: The U.S. Senate quickly confirmed Mr. Rubio as secretary of state Jan. 20.
• Top Israeli general resigns: The Israel Defense Forces’ Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi resigned Jan. 21, citing the security and intelligence failures related to Hamas’ surprise attack that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.
• TikTok unavailable: TikTok remained unavailable on Apple and Google app stores in the United States Jan. 21, a day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order delaying the enforcement of a ban.
• U.S.-Taliban prisoner exchange: Two Americans were freed Jan. 21 in exchange for a Taliban figure imprisoned for life in California on drug trafficking and terrorism charges.
• Marriage equality in Thailand: A law allowing same-sex marriage will go into effect Jan. 23. Thailand becomes the third place in Asia, after Taiwan and Nepal, to give LGBTQ+ couples the same legal rights as married heterosexual couples.
• Birthright citizenship: Attorneys general from 22 states sued Jan. 21 to block President Donald Trump’s move to end birthright citizenship, amid what is likely to be a lengthy legal battle over the president’s immigration policies and a constitutional right to citizenship. 

Read these news briefs.

President Donald Trump signed a historic number of executive orders on Day 1. Here’s what he did – or so far avoided – that reflects his priorities for the economy, U.S. borders, and social policies.

What resources and time will Donald Trump’s “America First” administration devote to keeping the Israel-Hamas deal on track? The challenges may appear overwhelming, but the idea of a grand deal is enticing.

Donald Trump says he wants to leave a presidential legacy as a peacemaker. Ukrainians have some advice for him on how to go about that in their country.

Linda Feldmann’s job, as the pool reporter representing print media Jan. 20, was to track presidential movements. Typing up a pool report at one point with frozen thumbs into her iPhone, she could only think, “I’m so glad I dressed for the weather and not for the occasion!”

Parents and children in Los Angeles have seen their lives upended by fires, smoke, and evacuation alerts. Our reporter tells the story from her own experience.

The toll of guns on cities across the United States is stark. Through blacksmithing, young people can find purpose and see an alternative to violence.

When a newly emboldened Donald Trump started his second term as president Monday, the differences from his Democratic predecessor could be summed up in one way: President Joe Biden’s primary goal in outer space was to return Americans to the moon. Mr. Trump urgently wants “astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars.”

Moon shot or Mars shot? Most countries only wish they could enjoy competing goals in space exploration.

The difference might be significant in terms of the pace and scope of planetary discovery. But that misses the point. Both presidents have simply chosen to ride the current wave of creativity and ingenuity in American science and technology – each in his own way. The change in the Oval Office will shift only the approach in boosting the country’s greatest strength: innovation and inventiveness that has driven up labor productivity to rates the rest of the world envies.

Mr. Trump inherits a thriving economy driven in part by mass government spending in green technologies and semiconductor manufacturing under Mr. Biden. Yet the 47th president now seeks a greater role for private investors, reflected in the attendance of American tech moguls such as Elon Musk at his inauguration. He also calls for more use of oil and gas, new tariffs on foreign high-tech products, and less tech regulation.

“In America, the impossible is what we do best,” Mr. Trump said in his speech. “Americans are explorers, builders, innovators, entrepreneurs and pioneers. The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts.”

Ideas in innovation are infinite and, because they are infinitely accessible to most people, these ideas are unrivaled in their potential. Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress agree on what is the cutting edge in science, such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence. They both have helped improve science education and turned America into a magnet for global talent. As a result, the U.S. share of global cross-border investment projects has soared to its highest level on record, according to The Financial Times.

The political clash over different ways to stoke tech innovation – which helps dampen inflation and create jobs – is very manageable. It’s like choosing between Mars and the moon. In the discovery of ideas, the sky’s the limit. The biggest challenge is dispelling a belief in the scarcity of ideas.