The Morning Dispatch: Team Trump v. Trump at the Jan. 6 Hearing

Happy Tuesday! Japanese scientists have created a robot finger encased in living skin, and have big plans to improve their design with fingernails and hair. We’re prepared to believe that’s all scientifically useful—but did they have to describe the finger as “slightly sweaty”?

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • The S&P 500 fell 3.9 percent Monday, closing more than 20 percent below its all-time high set in January—the benchmark for a bear market—amid continued high inflation and fears of excessive tightening by the Federal Reserve. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has been in a bear market for a while, but the Dow is still about 4 percent above that mark. Cryptocurrency continued its plummet, with Bitcoin at one point on Monday down 67 percent from its November high. 

  • Seventy-three members of Iraq’s parliament loyal to influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resigned at his direction Sunday after seven months spent trying to form a coalition government with Sunni and Kurdish blocs in Iraq’s 329-seat parliament. Talks had broken down over who would be president, and Sadr—who has no formal political position—described the mass resignation as a sacrifice to allow the formation of a government. He has previously swapped political negotiations for street protests, sparking fears he will do so again and further destabilize Iraq.

  • Blocked by protestors, Libya’s oil output has dropped by 1.1 million barrels per day from last year’s average of 1.2 million barrels per day, Oil Minister Mohamed Oun said Monday. That’s down from about 600,000 barrels a day in April. Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and former interior minister Fathi Bashagha have rival governments each backed by militias, and protestors have targeted oil production and shipping.

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