- President Donald Trump [1] signed an executive order to begin the process of constructing a wall between [2] the US and Mexico. In an attempt to protect the country from domestic terrorism, Trump will also announce plans to temporarily ban entry of citizens from "terror-prone" countries like Syria and Somalia [3] to America, according to The New York Times. His executive actions during his first days in office align with his promises throughout the 2016 campaign.
- The House passed a bill [4] that would prohibit the use of federal funds for abortions. The Hyde Amendment, which bans taxpayer money from paying for abortions, has existed since 1970 but has always been attached as a budget rider on unrelated bills. The new law would essentially make the Hyde Amendment permanent.
- Despite picking up two Razzie nominations [5] for worst actor for Jared Leto [6] and worst screenplay, Suicide Squad was nominated for an Oscar. Leto's impressive makeup transformation into the Joker earned the film's costume team a nod from the Academy [7].
- After President Trump issued an order banning [8] the EPA and the National Park Service from "providing updates" on social media, at least one park account [9] defied the mandate. The Badlands National Park shared scientific facts about climate change on its account, only to have the tweets deleted hours later. According to the park [10], they were posted by a former employee. The National Park Service initially upset the president by retweeting images that compared Barack Obama's inauguration crowd size to his.
- For the first time in history, the Dow Jones industrial average traded over 20,000 points [11] on Wednesday. Since 2009, the Dow has been steadily rising, and it rallied substantially after Trump's election: it's risen 1,667 points since November alone. While the market has evidently reacted [12] to Trump's promise to slash taxes, it's important to note that the new president inherited a recovering economy from President Barack Obama.