First Thing: US Senate releases draft bill to secure aid to Ukraine and Israel

Biden urges Congress to pass bill that includes measures to temporarily close US-Mexico border if more than 5,000 undocumented people cross a day. Plus, why we should prioritize friendships

Good morning.

US senators released the details of a highly anticipated $118bn package yesterday evening that pairs federal enforcement policy on the US-Mexico border with wartime aid for Ukraine, Israel and others, launching a long-shot effort to push the bill past sceptical, hard-right House Republicans – whom Democrats accuse of politicizing immigration while being in thrall to Donald Trump.

The proposal is the best chance for Joe Biden to bolster dwindling US wartime aid for Ukraine – a major foreign policy goal that is shared by both the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, and top Republican, Mitch McConnell. The Senate was expected this week to hold a key test vote on the legislation, but it faces a wall of opposition from conservatives.

Joe Biden urged the US Congress to pass the legislation, for the sake of immigration reform and aid for US allies.

The bill “includes the toughest and fairest set of border reforms in decades,” he said in a statement issued by the White House.

• What has the impact of the stall been? With Congress stalled on approving $60bn in Ukraine aid, the US has halted shipments of ammunition and missiles to Kyiv, leaving Ukrainian soldiers outgunned as they try to come out on top of a grinding stalemate with Russian troops. “The United States and our allies are facing multiple, complex and, in places, coordinated challenges from adversaries who seek to disrupt democracy and expand authoritarian influence around the globe,” Schumer said in a statement.

‘Life-threatening’ storm system batters California, with flooding and high winds

An enormous atmospheric river-fueled storm unleashed rain and furious winds across California yesterday, leaving destruction and hazards in its wake.

Howling winds tore down power lines and trees, and scattered debris in communities across the state, prompting officials to issue the first hurricane-force wind warning along the coast. By late afternoon, streets in both northern and southern regions of California were left submerged, with far more rain on the way.

Roughly 36 million people were under flood watches on Sunday evening as large metro areas, including the city of Los Angeles – where the star-studded Grammy awards are being held – braced for impact.

The storm also pummeled mountain communities with snow and whipped up steep waves along the coast. By 6pm, nearly 850,000 homes and businesses were without power, mostly concentrated along the coast and in snow-inundated districts at the center of the state.

• What has The National Weather Service said? “This is a DANGEROUS SYSTEM [sic] with major risks to life and property,” NWS Los Angeles warned in a Sunday afternoon forecast discussion, adding that roads and highways would become inaccessible, rockslides were likely through canyons, and rising waters would surge into homes and businesses in low-lying neighborhoods.

Antony Blinken due in Saudi Arabia to push for Gaza ceasefire and aid

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is set to arrive in Saudi Arabia on his fifth visit to the region since October in the coming hours.

His visit comes after the US carried out retaliatory strikes against Iranian-linked targets in Iraq and Syria, and on Houthi rebel sites in Yemen, in the latest escalation of the conflict that is spreading across the Middle East.

The trip also comes as the Biden administration gradually shows some frustration with Israel, with sanctions imposed Thursday on extremist settlers, although the US has brushed aside international calls on Israel to end its military campaign.

A ceasefire proposal under discussion – drafted during talks a week ago in Paris involving the CIA chief and Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian officials – would pause fighting for an initial six weeks as Hamas frees hostages seized on 7 October in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, according to a Hamas source.

• What’s happening in Gaza? At least 20 Palestinians were killed over the weekend in Israeli strikes on Rafah, the Gaza city previously designated a safe zone by the Israeli military and to where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had fled, according to the UN agency humanitarian agency OCHA. The death toll in Gaza since 7 October is now 27,365. The majority of those killed are women and children.

• Will the US carry out further strikes on Iran? US airstrikes on Iranian-backed militias in the Middle East were only the beginning of a sustained response, the White House national security adviser warned yesterday, as he refused to rule out strikes on Iranian soil.

In other news …

• Women ruled the Grammys this year with Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, SZA and Miley Cyrus taking home the night’s major awards. Swift made history as the first artist to win album of the year for the fourth time, taking home the award for Midnights.

• CNN is facing a backlash from its own staff over editorial policies they say have led to a regurgitation of Israeli propaganda and the censoring of Palestinian perspectives in the network’s coverage of the war in Gaza. Journalists in CNN newsrooms in the US and overseas say broadcasts have been skewed by management edicts.

• The Australian academic Yang Hengjun has been given a suspended death sentence by a Chinese court, after five years in detention on espionage charges. Penny Wong, Australia’s foreign minister, said the government was “appalled by this decision,” which could mean life in prison.

• The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he is considering replacing several senior officials, including state leaders. In an interview with Italian TV, Zelenskiy said “a reset is necessary,” adding that “I have in mind something serious that does not concern a single person, but the direction of the country’s leadership.”

Stat of the day: Cosmonaut sets world record for most time spent in space after logging more than 878 days

A Russian cosmonaut has set a world record for the most time spent in space, after logging more than 878 days, or nearly two-and-a-half years. As of yesterday morning, Oleg Kononenko overtook the record set by his compatriot Gennady Padalka, according to Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos. Padalka logged 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes and 48 seconds during five space flights before retiring in 2017.

Kononenko, 59, broke the record while orbiting 263 miles (423km) from Earth during his fifth space flight. “I fly into space to do my favourite thing, not to set records,” he told the state news agency Tass in an interview from the international space station (ISS).

Don’t miss this: ‘Face-to-face, hip-to-hip’ friendships help us live longer – so let’s prioritize them

Almost four years after Covid imposed long-term social isolation, many of us are rethinking the value of friendship, including Gyan Yankovich, the author of Just Friends. “So many of the things we do and milestones we celebrate revolve around the idea that the nuclear family and marriage should be valued above all else,” she tells me. “The way society is set up doesn’t make prioritizing friendship easy.”

Our hyperconnected culture has resulted in massive social alienation, with loneliness now a health epidemic. Social isolation increases the risk of early death from all causes. Research states that a lack of social connection is as harmful as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, but friendships can lower blood pressure and cardiovascular reactivity – and make us happier

Climate check: How do you stop a glacier from melting? Simple – put up an underwater curtain

Scientists are working on an unusual plan to prevent Antarctic glaciers from melting. They want to build a set of giant underwater curtains in front of ice sheets to protect them from being eroded by warm sea water. Ice in polar regions is disappearing at record rates as global warming intensifies, and urgent action is needed to slow down this loss, the international group of ­scientists has warned. Their proposed solution is the construction of a 100km-long curtain that would be moored to the bed of the Amundsen Sea. It would rise by about 200 metres from the ocean floor and would partially restrict the inflow of relatively warm water that laps at the bases of coastal Antarctic glaciers and undermines them.

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