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Bitcoin hit a record high above $109,000 on Monday as Donald Trump, who has signaled plans to deregulate the cryptocurrency sector, prepares to be sworn in as U.S. president.

Bitcoin surged to an all-time peak of $109,241 ahead of Trump's inauguration ceremony, before falling back to around $107,500.

On the day that Donald Trump will be sworn in for a second term as America's 47th president, one former U.S. senator predicted that he would run into a buzzsaw of expectations that he won't be able to fulfill.

During an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," before the inauguration will commence at the Capitol building due to purported weather concerns, former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) claimed a recalcitrant Congress and the reality on the ground will make the president-elect's job this time considerably harder than he seems to believe.

According to the former lawmaker, Democrats need to focus on his failures and ignore the distractions he uses as a smokescreen, and then added, "Focus on the fact that he is not accomplishing what he promised. He's not delivering for the people who take a shower after work instead of before work, he's not he's not going to concentrate on those folks, he doesn't even like those folks."

ALSO READ: Inside the parade of right-wing world leaders flocking to D.C. for Trump's inauguration

"They love him because they think he is a guy that says out loud the stuff you're not supposed to say, and they feel like they've been screwed over by the system," she continued. "He is not going to be their savior they think he is and our party, the Democratic party, has to focus on his failures, not his nonsense, and then stay focused on the cost to the American people."

by Matthew WALSH

Chinese people on the streets of Beijing said Monday they were keeping expectations low ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump, as his second White House stint could push China-US ties into a new era of uncertainty.

Oklahoma superintendent Ryan Walters has been trying to build a national profile by relentlessly pushing culture-war issues in his state's public schools.

In an editorial published by The Oklahoman, columnist William Wertz argues that Walters's antics are starting to wear thin for many Oklahoma voters as students' statewide test scores lag behind students in other states.

by Aishwarya KUMAR

Within five hours while sitting at home in India, retired professor Kamta Prasad Singh handed over his hard-earned savings to online fraudsters impersonating police.

A clandestine tunnel discovered on the US-Mexico border allowing entry from Ciudad Juarez into the Texan city of El Paso will be sealed by Mexican authorities, an army official said Saturday, adding that its construction was under investigation.

Discovered on January 10 by U.S. and Mexican security agencies, the tunnel measures approximately 300 meters (1,000 feet) in length on the Mexican side and is equipped with lighting, ventilation and is reinforced to prevent collapses.

by Akshata KAPOOR

The trial of a teenager accused of killing three young girls in a stabbing spree last year that sparked the UK's most violent riots in a decade is set to begin Monday.

South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol had his mug shot taken and underwent a physical check before spending his first night in jail as a criminal suspect, a prison officer said Monday.

Yoon was arrested in a dawn raid last week, becoming the first sitting South Korean head of state to be detained in a criminal probe on insurrection charges over his botched declaration of martial law.

The rapist and murderer of an Indian doctor was sentenced to life in prison Monday, a crime that sparked nationwide protests and widespread hospital strikes last year.

Her weeping family had called for the convicted killer to be hanged and said they were "shocked" at the sentence, for a case that highlighted the chronic issue of violence against women in the world's most populous country.

The mother of U.S. journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012, said on Monday in Damascus that the war-torn country's new leadership was committed to finding him.

Tice was working as a freelance journalist for Agence France-Presse, McClatchy News, The Washington Post, CBS and other media outlets when he was detained at a checkpoint in August 2012.

Monday's inauguration is a "dark day," a Trump family member said Sunday.

Mary Trump, a trained psychologist and Donald Trump's niece, weighed in on the upcoming ceremony on her blog on Substack.

Melania Trump on Sunday was hit with criticism from both sides of the aisle after it was announced she was releasing a "meme coin" for investors to purchase.

Melania made the announcement on Donald Trump's social media platform, Truth Social. Trump himself shared the post, but it was soon reported that the release of her investment tool caused the value of her husband's to drop by around 40%.