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.