鈥 Marco Rubio confirmed: The U.S. Senate quickly confirmed Mr. Rubio as secretary of state Jan. 20.
鈥 Top Israeli general resigns: The Israel Defense Forces鈥 Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi resigned Jan. 21, citing the security and intelligence failures related to Hamas鈥 surprise attack that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.
鈥 TikTok unavailable: TikTok remained unavailable on Apple and Google app stores in the United States Jan. 21, a day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order delaying the enforcement of a ban.
鈥 U.S.-Taliban prisoner exchange: Two Americans were freed Jan. 21 in exchange for a Taliban figure imprisoned for life in California on drug trafficking and terrorism charges.
鈥 Marriage equality in Thailand: A law allowing same-sex marriage will go into effect Jan. 23. Thailand becomes the third place in Asia, after Taiwan and Nepal, to give LGBTQ+ couples the same legal rights as married heterosexual couples.
鈥 Birthright citizenship:聽Attorneys general from 22 states sued Jan. 21 to block President Donald Trump鈥檚 move to end birthright citizenship,聽amid what is likely to be a lengthy legal battle over the president鈥檚 immigration policies and a constitutional right to citizenship.聽