Global responses to the election celebrations in Washington DC - From a German magazine yet in English with German subtitles https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/washington-d-c-eine-hauptstadt-sollte-nicht-so-aussehen-a-1d147703-812f-4e21-8627-b4609c0f75e5

Big Tech Critics Alarmed at Direction of Biden Antitrust Personnel
Renata Hesse, who has worked for Google and Amazon, is the leading candidate to run the Justice Department’s antitrust division. https://theintercept.com/2021/01/18/biden-big-tech-antitrust-renata-hesse/

New COVID variant found in Bavaria. A mutation of the coronavirus has been discovered among 35 newly infected patients in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It is different to the one found originally in the UK, but doctors do not yet know if it is highly infectious https://p.dw.com/p/3o6IR

The new variants of the coronavirus are even more dangerous than those known so far. Researchers and politicians fear a sharp increase in the number of infections, with dramatic consequences like those seen in Britain. Can Germany still stop the new killers? https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/can-germany-stop-the-new-supervirus-a-e9ffc207-0015-4330-8361-b306f6053e15

WATCH LIVE: 'Celebrating America' - A PBS NewsHour inauguration special https://youtu.be/BfIz481QlSk

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the country is "in a difficult stage of the pandemic," though she highlighted reasons for optimism. Germany extended its current lockdown to at least February 14 on Tuesday, reflecting the high daily infection rate and death count. https://p.dw.com/p/3oE7Y

World leaders have welcomed the new administration of US President Joe Biden, marking an end to the presidency of Donald Trump, who had largely rejected multilateral cooperation on global issues.
Biden signed over a dozen of executive orders on his first day in the Oval Office, including ones that saw the US rejoin the international Paris climate accord and the World Health Organization, from which the former president had withdrawn US membership. https://p.dw.com/p/3oDQ8

he dirty trafficking of rhino horns, ivory and with live animals continues: Estimates of annual revenues range from $7 billion to $23 billion. The majority of rhino horns are smuggled to Asia, where they are sold on the black market for the equivalent of up to 53,000 euros per kilogram. https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-brutal-fight-against-poaching-the-modern-day-bounty-hunters-of-south-africa-a-bf9fc4e5-69b3-40f0-8c96-575806115512

Larry King, the longtime CNN host who became an icon through his interviews with countless newsmakers and his sartorial sensibilities, has died. He was 87.
His son, Chance, confirmed King's death Saturday morning.
King hosted "Larry King Live" on CNN for over 25 years, interviewing presidential candidates, celebrities, athletes, movie stars and everyday people. He retired in 2010 after taping more than 6,000 episodes of the show. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/23/us/larry-king-dies-trnd/index.html

Loyal dog waits for six days outside hospital for her sick owner. They say a dog is a man's best friend — and that was definitely the case for one patient of a hospital in northeastern Turkey, whose loyal pet waited by the entrance for six days until he was discharged. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/22/world/dog-hospital-scli-intl/index.html

For the first time in 37 years, Budweiser is foregoing its iconic in-game Super Bowl airtime and reallocating the media investment to help support recovery in the on-premise through COVID-19 vaccine awareness and education throughout the year. This year, Budweiser will be running its ad digitally in the week leading up to and during the game. The piece, entitled “Bigger Picture,” celebrates the individual acts of resilience that sparked hope during the last year and spotlights a group of first responders who were among the first people to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. https://www.anheuser-busch.com/newsroom/2021/01/trading-one-tradition-for-another--budweiser-dedicates-super-bow.html

Minnesota lab confirms first U.S. coronavirus case associated with Brazil variant
Laboratory testing by the Minnesota Department of Health has confirmed the first known COVID-19 case in the United States associated with a more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus originally seen in Brazil, the agency said on Monday. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-brazil/minnesota-lab-confirms-first-u-s-coronavirus-case-associated-with-brazil-variant-idUSKBN29U2OC

Dutch police detained more than 180 people in a third night of unrest in cities across the Netherlands, where roaming groups of rioters set fires, threw rocks and looted stores in violence triggered by a night curfew aimed at curbing the coronavirus. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-netherlands-protes/dutch-police-detain-more-than-180-in-third-night-of-curfew-violence-idUSKBN29V0RC

Coal had a bad year last year. It was the latest in a line of tricky years, which have seen coal demand slump, coal companies declare bankruptcy and coal plants shutter.
COVID-19 added to coal’s woes, as global lockdowns cut demand for electricity. Outpaced by the growth of cheap renewable energy, increasingly shunned by banks and insurers and facing tighter government regulations, the dirtiest of fossil fuels looks to be on its last legs. https://bajanews.site/6mOqAJ

The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.
Coronavirus variants escape effects of antibody drugs
Antibody therapies and vaccines for treating or preventing COVID-19 are likely to be less effective against some of the new variants of the coronavirus circulating around the world, a new study suggests. https://a1le.xyz/YL9cYg

The only way out!! A Taiwanese man has been fined $1 million New Taiwan Dollars ($35,000) for repeatedly breaking his home quarantine.
The unnamed man, who lives in Taichung in central Taiwan, was doing a home quarantine in his apartment building after returning from a business trip to mainland China and violated it at least seven times, according to local media. https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/taichung-taiwan-man-fine-breaking-quarantine-intl-hnk/index.html

The EU has urged pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca to supply it with more doses of its Covid-19 vaccine from UK plants, amid a row over shortages.
The company has infuriated the bloc by saying it can deliver only a fraction of the doses it promised for the first quarter of the year.
It blames production issues at European plants, but the EU says doses made elsewhere should make up the shortfall.
The EU has been criticised for the slow rollout of its vaccinations. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55822602

When you retweet this, five cents will be donated to mental health initiatives in Canada. https://twitter.com/CAFinUS/status/1354632846669963266

A new coronavirus variant identified in South Africa has been found in the United States for the first time, with two cases diagnosed in South Carolina, state health officials said Thursday. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-variant-south-africa-us-2bc397370cdd44afe916ddd6edbaf870

Germany's vaccine commission said the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine should not be given to people older than 65 years, amid a bitter dispute between the European Union and the drugmaker over delayed supplies.
The Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) at Germany's Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the country's main public health authority, found there is insufficient data on the effectiveness of the vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, for this age group, according to a statement from the interior ministry on Thursday. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/28/europe/germany-astrazeneca-vaccine-coronavirus-grm-intl/index.html