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President Donald Trump signs first bill into law

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump signed his first bill into law Friday, moments after being sworn in, clearing the way for his defense secretary to be confirmed.
The 45th President signed a bill passed by Congress earlier this month that would allow retired Gen. James Mattis to serve as defense secretary by waiving the legal requirement that he be out of the military for seven years before doing so, according to White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
Mattis will still need to be confirmed by the Senate, which is expected Friday afternoon.
    Cameras rolled as Trump signed his first orders as President in the Capitol, surrounded by congressional leaders.
    According to Spicer, the other papers Trump was signing included formal nominations for his Cabinet and a proclamation for a national day of patriotism.
    The ceremony took place moments after Trump left the podium outside the Capitol building where he was sworn in and delivered his inaugural address.
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    Small protests ahead of Trump's inauguration

    Washington (CNN)Several demonstrations broke out Friday morning hours before Donald Trump's swearing in after protesters and Washington police scuffled Thursday night outside a meeting of conservatives.
    At one check point, about 50 protesters sat down in the street Friday in an attempt to block Trump supporters from entering a secure area to watch the swearing in. Not far away, a group of immigration backers staged a "pop up" protest near another check point.
      On Thursday night, protesters gathered on 14th Street outside the National Press Club to demonstrate against "DeploraBall," an event organized by some of Trump's most fervent supporters. The name riffs off the campaign description of some Trump backers by his defeated opponent, Hillary Clinton, as a "basket of deplorables."


      As attendees -- some of whom were clad in suits and red hats, others dressed in gowns -- entered the event, demonstrators chanted "Shame" and "Nazis go home" behind a phalanx of police. Some held signs that read "No Alt Reich" and "No Nazi USA."
      Other protesters chanted against the "alt-right," "fascists" and "Nazi scum," though it could not be immediately determined who was attending the event.

      The chants were screamed when attendees entered or left the event, but died down when there was no one coming or going. Some demonstrators threw eggs at the National Press Club building and at revelers, though not at police.
      A protester has her eyes flushed with water.
      Elsewhere in the demonstration, some protesters could be seen setting small fires in the streets, though it was unclear what was set ablaze. A motorcycle was damaged on the street, and police could be seen pepper-spraying some protesters.
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      Eugene Cernan, last man on the moon, dies

      (CNN)Eugene A. Cernan, the last astronaut to leave his footprints on the surface of the moon, has died, NASA said Monday.
      He was 82.
      "We are saddened by the loss of retired NASA astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon," the US space agency said on Twitter.


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      These 8 men are richer than 3.6 billion people combined

      Eight men now control as much wealth as the world's poorest 3.6 billion people, according to a new report from Oxfam International.


      The men -- Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Carlos Slim, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Amancio Ortega, Larry Ellison and Michael Bloomberg -- are collectively worth $426 billion, the anti-poverty group said on Sunday.
      "Such dramatic inequality is trapping millions in poverty, fracturing our societies, and poisoning our politics," said Paul O'Brien, Oxfam America's Vice President for Policy and Campaigns.
      The release of the group's annual inequality report coincides with the World Economic Forum in Davos. The annual meeting in the Swiss mountain resort brings together political and financial leaders and some of the wealthiest people in the world.
      Eight men now control as much wealth as half of the world's population.
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      First Bumblebee Declared Endangered in U.S.

      The rusty patched bumblebee population has declined 87 percent over the past two decades.

      The rusty patched bumblebee is the first bumblebee to be designated as an endangered species in the United States. PHOTOGRAPH BY ALAMY

      For the first time in the United States, a species of bumblebee is endangered.
      The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday on its website that the rusty patched bumblebee (Bombus affinis), once a common sight, is “now balancing precariously on the brink of extinction.” Over the past two decades, the bumblebee’s population has declined 87 percent, according to the announcement.
      The news comes just a few months after the first ever bees were declared endangered in the U.S. In September, seven species of Hawaiian bees, including the yellow-faced bee (Hylaeus anthracinus), received protectionunder the Endangered Species Act. (Read “For the First Time, Bees Declared Endangered in the U.S.”)
       The threats facing those seven species are similar to the ones that have depleted rusty patched bumblebee populations: loss of habitat, diseases and parasites, pesticides, and climate change. This is a big deal not only for bees but for humans, too—after all, bees pollinate a lot of our food.
      “Bumblebees are among the most important pollinators of crops such as blueberries, cranberries, and clover and almost the only insect pollinators of tomatoes,” according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s rusty patched bumblebee profile. “The economic value of pollination services provided by native insects (mostly bees) is estimated at $3 billion per year in the United States.” (See seven intimate pictures that reveal the beauty of bees.)
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