Today's top stories

An emotional day in the Senate, bitcoin's dirty baggage, and some surprising mathematics

A divided U.S. Senate voted largely along party lines to move ahead with Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, but conviction appears unlikely barring a major shift among Republicans.

The 56-44 vote capped a dramatic day, as the trial opened with senators being shown a graphic video interspersing images of the January 6 Capitol violence with clips of Trump’s incendiary speech to a crowd of supporters moments earlier.

Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin, who led a team of nine House members prosecuting the case, wept as he recounted how relatives he brought to the Capitol that day had to take shelter. “They thought they were going to die,” he said.

As the Pentagon faces pressure after military members were found to have joined the Capitol riots, hate symbols appearing on U.S. warships have sparked Navy condemnation. A noose was left on a Black sailor’s bed and hate speech graffiti was discovered in a bathroom.

U.S. House lead impeachment manager Representative Jamie Raskin speaks of his family's experiences inside the Capitol building during the siege on January 6

CORONAVIRUS

Technicians work at a coronavirus laboratory in Rehovot, Israel, February 9, 2021

Did you know that all the COVID-causing virus in the world would fit in a coke can? A British mathematician has done the sums.

Israel’s swift vaccination rollout has made it the largest real-world study of Pfizer’s vaccine. Results are trickling in, and they are promising.

Meanwhile, researchers have found a common asthma drug cuts the risk of hospitalization and also recovery time.

The World Health Organization has wrapped up its Wuhan trip, but China and the U.S. are still sparring over the origin of the virus. We explain the WHO's theories here.

Business

It's an eighth day of gains for world shares on the prospect of U.S. fiscal stimulus and vaccine rollouts. “The path of least resistance still seems to be upward at this stage,” said UBS strategist Kiran Ganesh.

Tesla boss Elon Musk is a poster child of low-carbon technology. Yet the electric carmaker’s backing of bitcoin could turbo-charge global use of a currency that’s estimated to cause more pollution than a small country every year.

Meanwhile, Musk's bitcoin bet is fueling gains in companies that have already invested in the soaring digital currency.

Africa's miners and winemakers are toasting China's row with Australia. Beijing hit a range of Australian goods with punitive duties, created new layers of red tape and banned some imports outright, giving African suppliers of anything from coal to beef to copper a boost.

Video

Yangon youth amp up Myanmar's anti-coup protests

Michael Caine and Elton John team up for COVID ad