'Extreme weather forecasts'
| Joe Biden's troubles  Joe Biden marks the anniversary of his inauguration this week with his presidency in a deep hole.
Arguably, the President is coming off his worst week in office. After putting his credibility on the line on voting rights legislation, he was defied by two members of his own party and the push is all but dead. Those same two moderate senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, have also all but killed his biggest domestic priority: a sweeping social spending and climate bill.
The pandemic that Biden vowed to end is raging and there are mounting questions about his administration's strategy on testing, as well as confusing, mixed messages from US public health officials. While some economic fundamentals are strong, soaring inflation is depriving Biden of any credit. A decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine would shred Biden's global credibility given his administration's desperate attempts to deter such a move.
Politically, it looks as though the President's plight will get worse. Republicans are heavily favored in midterm elections in November that could see Biden isolated in the White House and raise questions about his reelection chances. A GOP victory would validate the party's strategy of buying into Donald Trump's lies that the last election was stolen, pave the way for the ex-President to run for the White House again and raise grave questions about US democracy.
So the question is, can Biden turn it around?
His approval rating in the low 30s or the low 40s (depending on which poll you believe) is far below the level that history suggests leads to viable presidencies, reasonable chances for a president's party in the midterm elections and good chances for reelection. Other presidents —including the previous two Democrats in the Oval Office, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — turned around midterm election drubbings to win second terms. If the Omicron variant of the coronavirus spells the last blast for the pandemic and leads to a season of hope in America, Biden's prospects could significantly improve. But has he already slipped so far into a narrative of a failing administration that it will be difficult to change public perceptions? The world and America An underwater volcano in Tonga caused tidal waves around the Pacific
Novak Djokovic was deported from Australia after losing his visa fight
The ousted former President of Mali has died
Meanwhile in America ... a British man, suspected of taking hostages at a Texas synagogue, was killed by the FBI
Another winter storm brings extreme weather to the Eastern US
An IT director foiled a ransomware attack on a hospital
Biden became a punch line on "Saturday Night Live"  'Extreme weather forecasts' The White House said Sunday that Biden, spending the weekend at his home in Delaware, had been briefed by his team on "extreme weather forecasts" for parts of the US.
Freezing rain, snow and ice spread from the Southeast up the Eastern Seaboard and through the Midwest on Sunday, with as many as 80 million people in the storm's path from Mississippi to Maine. Officials asked people to stay off the roads and thousands of businesses and homes lost power. In North Carolina alone, there was as much as 8 to 12 inches of snow.  Heavy snow had blanketed Waterloo, Iowa, and Mankato and Howard Lake, Minnesota, on Friday. (KWWL/KEYC/WCCO) Tornado snuffs out a Kentucky institution The human and economic price of environmental disasters is being laid bare by the plight of workers at a candle factory in Kentucky that was leveled in a recent monster tornado.
Mayfield Consumer Products, the firm that owns the facility, says it's no longer viable to continue business from the wreckage of the premises and is shutting it down, with the loss of 251 jobs.
When the storm hit in December, part of a devastating outbreak of 30 tornadoes in six states, employees were working to meet Christmas demand for candles. Eight people were killed.
Mayfield says it will relocate 250 staff to another factory 10 miles away but that it can't accommodate everyone, hence the job losses. The decision will be especially controversial because some staff have filed a class action lawsuit against the firm, alleging they were told they would lose their jobs if they didn't carry on working, despite storm warnings. Mayfield Consumer Products did not respond to CNN's request for comment about the lawsuit, but a spokesperson for the company that owns the factory previously said the company had spoken with supervisors working that night, who all denied any employees had been told they'd be fired if they left.
While warmer weather attributable to climate change generally is seen to create conditions susceptible to the forming of tornadoes, scientists have yet to establish direct links between global warming and such storms. Yet the situation in Mayfield is a reminder that when a place fades from the headlines after a disaster, the pain and economic deprivation often linger. And climate events more generally — including stronger storms like hurricanes — are going to have an increasing impact on daily life and politics in years to come. Thanks for reading. It's Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the US. Ukrainian lawmaker and former President Petro Poroshenko returns to Ukraine to face possible criminal charges. Teen pilot Zara Rutherford is expected to land in Kortrijk, Belgium, after making her record bid for youngest woman to fly solo around the world. View in browser | All CNN Newsletters
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