| Economic vision | Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus proposal is the opening salvo in a legislative battle that could be prolonged by a go-big price tag and the inclusion of measures, like more than doubling the federal minimum wage, opposed by many Republicans. Still, the plan has elements that would likely appeal to enough moderates to gain favor in the Senate — including a $400 billion effort to contain the coronavirus and facilitate the economy's reopening, as well as $1,400 in additional direct stimulus payments, Erik Wasson reports. It includes $130 billion to speed school reopenings. Fortress Washington | Ahead of Biden's inauguration, downtown Washington increasingly looks like it's preparing for war. A huge swath of the area is blocked off, patrolled by uniformed National Guard forces as part of a buildup not seen since the Civil War. And the capital is getting even more fortified as federal, state and local officials brace for a worst-case scenario of violence tied to the Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony. - Trump plans to fly to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida the morning of Biden's inauguration, where several current White House staff are expected to keep working for him or son-in-law Jared Kushner, Jennifer Jacobs and Saleha Mohsin report.
- Lawmakers from both parties are demanding investigations into how a mob of Trump supporters managed to overwhelm security at the Capitol, including whether they got any assistance from inside the building.
German contest | Delegates from Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union begin a virtual meeting today to elect a new party leader in a ballot with implications for all of Europe. The winner, to be announced tomorrow, will take the helm as polls show the CDU with a strong lead going into federal elections this fall. But polls also show little voter enthusiasm for the three candidates on offer, raising the prospect that the leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, Markus Soeder, will be tapped instead to run as Merkel's successor, Arne Delfs reports. Frightening benchmark | The world, led by the U.S., is about to cross a threshold of 2 million people killed by Covid-19, and there's little sign the numbers will taper anytime soon. With the rollout of vaccines slow from Asia to America — Biden has called it a "dismal failure" — the odds of controlling the outbreak before the middle of the year at the earliest are slim.  Cars line up at a Covid-19 drive-thru testing site in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg Check out our Virus Update that is refreshed throughout the day. Under fire | Rebel members of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party are threatening his leadership by demanding that he chart a clear path out of the lockdown that's damaging an economy at risk of falling into a double-dip recession, Tim Ross and Kitty Donaldson write. What to Watch -
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is racing to forge a new parliamentary majority to stay in power after a junior ally abandoned him in the middle of the virus crisis. -
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, one of Africa's longest-serving rulers, took an early election lead over his main rival, pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine. -
Poland's Supreme Court is due to rule today whether to send a businessman who is a Falun Gong practitioner to China for trial on financial crimes. Pop quiz, readers (no cheating!). The leader of which country unveiled a $500 billion project for a city with no cars, roads or carbon emissions? Send your answers to balancepower@bloomberg.net And finally ... Authorities in Brazil's Amazon region have imposed a curfew and started airlifting patients to other states because of severe shortages of a vital weapon in the coronavirus fight: oxygen. As Julia Leite and Martha Beck explain, with a sharp rise in cases and patients dying of asphyxia, both private and public hospitals — especially in the capital Manaus — are scrambling to open new beds and find supplies.  Members of SOS Funeral carry a coffin at the Sao Francisco cemetery in Manaus. Photographer: Andre Coelho/Getty Images South America | 
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