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Tensions are high as the global elite gather in Davos, Switzerland. That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post, I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Wednesday, January 21st. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. Every year the World Economic Forum holds its annual meeting in the Alpine resort town of Davos. It's a place for world leaders, executives and other jet setting types to get together. But this year, the fresh Swiss air is tinged with the smell of a diplomatic crisis. That's thanks to President Donald Trump's renewed demands for the US to take control of Greenland from its NATO ally, Denmark. Two nights ago, Trump went on a posting spree bashing various European leaders who do not support his Greenlandic ambitions. Yesterday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned in his Davos speech of a rupture in the world order.
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Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition, he went on. Great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited.
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Carney got a standing ovation. It will be Trump's turn later this morning. He's set to speak at 8:30 Eastern. If you want to follow along with all the Swiss happenings, you can find live updates on our homepage and app. Today, President Trump delivered a rambling monologue in the White House briefing room. That's number two. Yesterday marked one year since Trump returned to office. To celebrate the occasion, he made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room to tout his achievements. Trump spoke uninterrupted for about 80 minutes. His tone was largely flat as he moved from topic to topic. He veered freely across grievances, threats and boasts. And he revisited some of his second term's key moments.
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And while we're at it, we also took the Gulf of Mexico and now it's the Gulf of America because we have 92% of the shoreline. It always bothered me, I'd say, you know, we have most of the shoreline. Mexico has a small percentage, talks about 8%. We have 92%. And I said, why? Why is it the Gulf of Mexico? It should be the Gulf of America. I was going to call it the Gulf of Trump, but I thought that I would be killed if I did that.
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Trump went on to clarify that he was only joking about the Gulf of Trump, but he said he thought that God was very proud of the job he has done. The freewheeling performance contrasted with Trump's recent calls for Republicans to maintain message discipline. Number three January 6th rioters have won refunds from the government after being pardoned by President Trump. Last January, Trump pardoned almost 1600 people convicted in connection with the 2021 riot at the US Capitol. The pardons not only freed the defendants from prison, they also emboldened some to demand payback from the government. At least eight defendants are pursuing refunds of the financial penalties paid as part of their sentences. That's according to a review of court records. Others are filing civil lawsuits against the government seeking millions of dollars alleging tainted prosecutions and violations of their rights. Their efforts are the latest chapter in an extraordinary rewriting of history by the president and his supporters. The Trump administration admitted that Doge staffers accessed personal Social Security data. That's number Four Months ago, a whistleblower raised concerns that members of doge, the government cost cutting operation once led by Elon Musk, had obtained hundreds of millions of Americans Social Security information. The agency had previously denied the whistleblower's allegations, but the Justice Department submitted a court filing on Friday acknowledging for the first time that members of DOGE had accessed and shared sensitive Social Security data without the awareness of agency officials. The filing said the Social Security Administration had discovered a secret agreement between a DOGE employee and a political advocacy group. According to the filing, the agreement called for sharing Social Security data with the aim of overturning election results in certain states. The agency also acknowledged that DOGE members had shared data with each other using an unsanctioned third party service. Foreign. To Minnesota officials, ICE has targeted off duty police officers in the Twin Cities. ICE has surged into Minnesota in recent weeks. Now, law enforcement leaders In Minneapolis and St. Paul are raising concerns about federal agents violating U S Citizens civil rights that includes those of off duty police officers. Mark Brulee is the police chief of Minneapolis suburb Brooklyn Park. In a news conference yesterday, he described how one off duty police officer was boxed in by ICE vehicles. ICE agents demanded to see her papers with guns drawn. Brulee said the officer was a U S Citizen and said that all the off duty police who have been targeted in his city were people of color. Other local law enforcement leaders reiterated that federal agents were targeting people based on the color of their skin and said that the federal operation was eroding trust in law enforcement. Number six A whopper of a winter storm is forecast for the weekend. If you live along a 2,000 mile stretch from the southeast to the East Coast, I hope you like shoveling snow. A major storm will spread heavy snow and ice across that entire region. Beginning on Friday and moving from the west to the east, the storm will cause dangerous travel conditions and down trees and power lines, potentially leading to long lasting power outages. And it will be very, very cold. The polar vortex will dump dangerously cold air into the Midwest, Great Lakes and New England. As that frigid air flows southward, it will meet an atmospheric river streaming from the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. That's a recipe for the biggest storm of the season so far. It might be too soon for you to find out exact snowfall predictions for your area, but it's not too soon to prepare your house and yourself for potentially hazardous conditions. So make sure you check out our winter tips in the newsletter today. Six daily habits can help slow brain Aging that's number seven. Rudolph Tansy knows a lot about the brain. He's a Harvard neurologist known for discovering genes linked to Alzheimer's, and he has written hundreds of journal articles during his 46 year career. Luckily for us, he has also created an easy acronym to help us remember the things we can do each day for our brain health. That acronym is shield. It stands for sleep, Handling Stress, interaction with Friends, Exercise, learning New things, and diet. Tansy told the Post how he fits this advice into his own daily life. For example, he makes sure to get seven hours of sleep each night. He says it's essential, as sleeping helps drain toxins out of our brains. If you didn't get enough sleep last night, don't worry too much, tansy says Power naps can help, too. You can read more details about how this certified Harvard brain genius looks after his noggin at the link in our newsletter. Find that, as always, in our show Notes. All right, you're all caught up. For your next listen, check out the latest episode of Post Reports. It dives deeper into President Trump's obsession with the Nobel Peace Prize and how that is upending geopolitics. It's perfect listening for Davos Week Find Post reports wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Hannah Jewell. I'll meet you back here tomorrow.
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