Key Storylines
- AFRICA: The ruling party candidate Mohamed Bazoum will face former president Mahamane Ousmane in a presidential election runoff in February, according to provisional results of the first round of Niger’s election the electoral commission announced.
- AMERICAS: An appeals court has approved the execution for the only woman on federal death row before U.S president-elect Joe Biden takes office.
- ASIA: China’s relationship with the United States has reached a “new crossroads” and could improve following a period of “unprecedented difficulty”, senior diplomat Wang Yi said in official comments published.
- EUROPE: Britain reactivated emergency hospitals built at the start of the pandemic and shut primary schools in London on Friday to counter the rapid spread of a much more infectious variant of the coronavirus.
- MIDDLE EAST: Five women were killed when a projectile exploded at a wedding held on New Year’s Day in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, Yemen officials reported.
- TECH & COMMUNICATIONS: The US Senate voted on Friday to override US President Donald Trump’s veto and pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a major national security bill worth 740 billion dollars without repealing liability protections from social media companies
Top Story
- United States: COVID-19 cases continue to increase throughout the nation.
- U.S. COVID-19 cases surpassed 20 million infections.
- About another 115,000 people could die over the next month from COVID-19, according to projections from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
- California reported 535 deaths from covid-19, the 2nd most single-day death toll for a state, topped only by New York set in mid-April.
- U.S. Senator Mitt Romney urged the U.S. government to immediately enlist veterinarians, combat medics, and others in an all-out national campaign to administer COVID-19 vaccinations and fight the rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths.
- Reporting: Reuters, CNN, WaPo, Reuters,
Africa
- Region: Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that the friendship between China and Africa emerged stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic. (Xinhua)
- Niger: The ruling party candidate Mohamed Bazoum will face former president Mahamane Ousmane in a presidential election runoff in February, according to provisional results of the first round of the election announced by the electoral commission. (Reuters)
- Rwanda: A curfew is imposed to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kigali. (Xinhua)
Americas
- Brazil: The nation’s COVID-19 death toll totaled 195,411 after 462 more patients died in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health reported. (Xinhua)
- United States: State Sen. A. Benton Chafin Jr., a Southwest Virginia cattle farmer and lawyer who went against fellow Republicans by agreeing to expand Medicaid in 2018, died at VCU Medical Center of COVID-19. (WaPo)
- United States: An appeals court has approved the execution for the only woman on federal death row before president-elect Joe Biden takes office. (The Guardian)
- Venezuela: The nation will implement a week of hard lockdown starting on Monday to slow down the spread of the new coronavirus, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez reported. (DPA)
Asia
- China: The country’s relationship with the United States has reached a “new crossroads” and could improve following a period of “unprecedented difficulty”, senior diplomat Wang Yi said in official comments published. (Reuters)
- India: The nation staged nationwide drills to begin one of the world’s biggest COVID-19 programs as the government prepared to approve the first vaccine. (AFP)
- Kazakhstan: The nation abolished its death penalty, making permanent a nearly two-decade freeze on capital punishment in the Central Asian country, a notice on the presidential website announced. (AFP)
- Vietnam: The nation has detected its first imported case of the new COVID-19 variant that is spreading rapidly around Britain, the health ministry reported. (Reuters)
Europe
- Germany: On New Year’s Day, health authorities reported 12,690 new coronavirus cases and 336 new deaths linked to the disease, lower than on previous days. (DPA)
- Russia: Oil production declined last year for the first time since 2008 and reached its lowest level since 2011 following a global deal to cut output and sluggish demand caused by COVID-19, statistics reported. (Reuters)
- United Kingdom: The nation reactivated emergency hospitals built at the start of the pandemic and shut primary schools in London to counter the rapid spread of a much more infectious variant of the coronavirus. (Reuters)
Middle East
- Region: Members of the OPEC group of oil producers and their partners will meet via videoconference on Monday to decide on production levels for February, hoping to move on from a difficult year. (AFP)
- Iran: 1st anniversary of the death of Qasem Soleimani is being acknowledged in an event in Tehran. (Xinhua)
- Yemen: Five women were killed when a projectile exploded at a wedding held on New Year’s Day in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, officials reported. (AFP)
Tech & Communications
- Cybersecurity: The US Senate voted to override US President Donald Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), without repealing liability protections from social media companies. (DPA)
World
- Cyclones:
- Tropical Storm Danilo
- Location:10.5S 72.2E
- Movement: NNE
- Wind:50 mph
- MAP
- Tropical Storm Danilo
- Hurricanes: Nothing to report.
- Earthquakes: Nothing to report.
- Volcanoes: Nothing to report.
- Global Disease Outbreaks:
- COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease: Global
- Confirmed Cases as of 02JAN21: 83,543,928
- Total Recovered Cases as of 02JAN21: 47,382,143
- Deaths as of 02JAN21: 1,829,018
- Countries with Confirmed Cases: 191
- Sourcing: John Hopkins University
Tomorrow’s Outlook (03JAN21)
- Global: OPEC Joint Technical Committee meeting
- Global: 1st anniversary of U.S. killing Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad airport drone strike
- Asia: 3rd anniversary of North and South Korea reopening hotline
- United States: Opening Day of the 117th Congress
END