Donald Trump took an ordinary presidential act – rescinding orders from a previous administration of different party – and turned it into a spectacle.

After giving another winding speech – his third of the day – Trump moved to a small desk on the stage at the downtown sport arena where his indoor inaugural parade had just concluded. Then he went to work freezing new federal regulations and hiring, reversing Biden administration directives, mandating federal workers work in-office full-time and withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords.

“Can you imagine Joe Biden doing this?” he asked after signing the regulation freeze – but that could have applied to visuals of the moment as much as to the content of the orders.

He also signed more symbolic orders to end the “weaponisation of government” and instruct his administration to address the higher cost of living.

It’s just the start of what promises to be a record number of first-day executive actions, including a promised pardon of many of some who participated in the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

After the arena ceremony, Trump tossed the pens he used into the crowd – another Trumping flourish.

This is the list of executive orders signed by President Trump in front of his supporters inside the arena in Washington DC [as it was described to the arena]

• The rescission of 78 Biden-era executive actions
• A regulatory freeze preventing bureaucrats from issuing any more regulations until the administration has full control of the government
• A freeze on all federal hiring, excepting the military and a number of other excluded categories until full control of the government is achieved
• A requirement for federal workers return to full-time in-person work immediately

• A directive to every department and agency in the federal government to address the cost-of-living
• Withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement
• A directive to the federal government ordering the restoration of freedom of speech and preventing government censorship of free speech

• A directive to the federal government ending the “weaponisation” of government against the “political adversaries” of the previous administration

[BBC]

China has executed two men who committed deadly attacks that killed dozens in November, raising concerns about a surge in what are called “revenge on society crimes”, state media reported.

Fan Weiqu, 62, who rammed his car into a crowd outside a sports stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai, killing at least 35 people, was executed on Monday.

The attack was the country’s deadliest in more than a decade, according to authorities. Police said Fan was upset over his divorce settlement.

Also in November, 21-year-old Xu Jiajin killed eight people and injured 17 in a stabbing attack at his vocational school in the eastern city of Wuxi.

Police said Wu had failed his examinations and could not graduate, and was dissatisfied about his pay at an internship. He was also executed on Monday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged local governments to take measures to prevent such attacks, known as “revenge on society crimes”.

The two men’s death sentences were issued by the intermediate people’s courts in the cities of Zhuhai and Wuxi, respectively, in December, and approved by the Supreme People’s Court, according to state media.

Violent crimes are rarer in China than in many Western countries, but the country has seen a rise in recent years. Stabbings and car attacks have challenged the governing Communist Party’s reputation for strict public security and crime prevention.

They also carried a shock factor that led some to question perceived social ills such as frustration with a slowing economy, high unemployment and diminishing social mobility.

China classifies death penalty statistics as a state secret, but some rights groups believe the country executes thousands every year. Executions are traditionally carried out by gunshot, though lethal injections have also been introduced in recent years.

[Aljazeera]