Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
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Good evening. Here’s the latest.
1.$11 billion.
That’s how much the five-week government shutdown cost the U. S. economy, with nearly a quarter of that total permanently lost, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The number was released as hundreds of thousands of federal employees returned to work. After returning to work, subway traffic picked up in Washington, above. Now, a 17-member bipartisan panel has less than three weeks to come up with an agreement on border security.
In the meantime, investors and economic policymakers, including the Federal Reserve, are operating without government analyses of retail sales, manufacturing, housing and other parts of the economy.
And the State of the Union address is set for Feb. 5.
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2. To say it’s really cold in the Midwest just scrapes at the (iced over) surface. The polar vortex is back with a level of cold that a generation of Midwesterners has never experienced. Above, the scene in Appleton, Wis.
Punches of snow and life-threatening cold temperatures are crippling much of the region, with school closings and canceled flights. The danger is only expected to grow, with forecasts of highs in the negative teens, and wind chills as low as minus 50 in Chicago and minus 60 in Minneapolis.
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3. The Trump administration took steps against two international companies, one in China and one in Venezuela.
The Justice Department unveiled sweeping charges against the Chinese telecom firm Huawei, several subsidiaries and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, accusing the company of stealing trade secrets and Ms. Meng of helping banks evade sanctions on Iran.
And the Treasury Department announced it would impose sanctions on Venezuela’s state-owned oil monopoly, the most forceful challenge to the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
In a side note to the Justice Department’s announcement, the acting attorney general announced that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation was nearing an end.
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4. The U. S. and the Taliban agreed in principle to the framework of a peace deal, the biggest tangible step toward ending the 17-year conflict. Many, many details remain to be worked out.
Above, Afghan National Army soldiers and American soldiers during an operation to destroy a known Taliban firing position in Kandahar Province in 2013.
