Key Storylines
- AFRICA: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the agreement on a new interim executive authority for Libya.
- AMERICAS: Guatemala announced that the U.S. government is ending an agreement that sent asylum-seekers who reached U.S. borders back to the Central American nation with an opportunity to seek protection there instead.
- ASIA: The United Nations human rights office asked Indian authorities and protesting farmers to exercise “maximum restraint” hours before the growers enforce a nationwide road blockade to seek a repeal of new agricultural laws.
- EUROPE: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine announced solidarity with the diplomats of Germany, Sweden, and Poland, whom Russia expelled from the country yesterday for aiding unauthorized actions on January 23 in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
- MIDDLE EAST: The State Department announced that it is lifting a terrorist designation against Houthi rebels in Yemen that the Trump administration had issued in its final days.
- TECH & COMMUNICATIONS: Fox Business has canceled “Lou Dobbs Tonight” one day after the host was cited in a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit against the network and its parent company.
Top Story
- Myanmar: The military initiates crackdowns after citizens protest against the recent military coup.
- Myanmar is currently having a “national-scale internet blackout,” a monitoring group reported, as thousands of people take to the streets to protest a coup that unseated a democratic government.
- Twitter condemned Myanmar’s effort to block access to its platform as part of a new crackdown on social media, days after a coup that imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders.
- Protesters, including factory workers and students, called for the release of those detained by the army in Yangon, including elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
- According to AFP reporters on the scene, around 1,000 protesters joined the march against Myanmar’s military in Yangon, in the biggest show of disapproval so far against a coup that removed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
- Sean Turnell, an Australian economic adviser to Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, said in a message to Reuters he was being detained as well, days after San Suu Kyi was overthrown in a coup.
- Reporting: Reuters, AFP, BBC, AFP, Reuters,
Africa
- Region: African leaders will begin a two-day virtual summit to discuss the continent’s Covid-19 response as well as security issues that have been overlooked during the pandemic. (AFP)
- Libya: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the agreement on a new interim executive authority for the nation. (Xinhua)
- Rwanda: The nation’s Biomedical Center (RBC) launched COVID-19 testing targeting people working in the public transport sector in Kigali as part of efforts to assess the prevalence of the virus in the capital. (Xinhua)
Americas
- Brazil: The Governor of São Paulo state João Doria, announced strict lockdown restrictions on non-essential activities will be lifted as the hospitalization rates of COVID-19 patients have decreased. (Xinhua)
- Chile: Violent riots broke out in the south after a police officer fatally shot a street performer. (DPA)
- Guatemala: The country announced that the U.S. government is ending an agreement that sent asylum-seekers who reached U.S. borders back to the Central American nation with an opportunity to seek protection there instead. (AP)
- United States: President Joe Biden will not grant former president Donald Trump continued classified intelligence briefings. (DPA)
Asia
- Australia: A devastating bushfire in the Perth hills has been downgraded from an emergency warning to “watch and act” due to rain relief being expected. (The Guardian)
- China: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told top diplomat Yang Jiechi in a phone call the United States will stand up for human rights and democratic values in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, the State Department reported. (Reuters)
- India: The United Nations’ human rights office asked authorities and protesting farmers to exercise “maximum restraint” hours before the growers enforce a nationwide road blockade to seek a repeal of new agricultural laws. (Reuters)
- North Korea: Only 26 percent of the population is presumed to have had access to electricity in 2019, a recent estimation by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reported. (YNA)
Europe
- Region: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine declared solidarity with the diplomats of Germany, Sweden, and Poland, whom Russia expelled from the country yesterday for aiding unauthorized actions on January 23 in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. (Interfax)
- France: The number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the nation slowed for the second day in a row but stood well above the 5,000-case threshold to unwind restrictions, while deaths caused by the pandemic increased by 78,603, the health authorities reported. (Xinhua)
- Ukraine: The nation is set to receive 12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Novavax, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office reported. (RFE)
Middle East
- Saudi Arabia: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone to the kingdom’s foreign minister for the first time, state media reported. (Reuters)
- United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi, the capital of the nation, has brought back some restrictions on workplace capacities and leisure activities, including closing cinemas, to curb a rise in COVID-19 cases. (Reuters)
- Yemen: The State Department announced that it is lifting a terrorist designation against Houthi rebels in the nation that the Trump administration had previously issued. (NYT)
Tech & Communications
- Media: Fox Business has canceled “Lou Dobbs Tonight” one day after the host was cited in a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit against the network and its parent company. (AP)
World
- Cyclones:
- Tropical Cyclone Faraji
- Location:13.2S 80.3E
- Movement: WSW
- Wind:60 mph
- Map
- Tropical Cyclone Faraji
- Hurricanes: Nothing to report.
- Earthquakes: Nothing to report.
- Volcanoes: Nothing to report.
- Global Disease Outbreaks:
- COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease: Global (as of 05FEB21)
- Confirmed cases: 105,447,720
- Total recovered cases: 58,645,012
- Deaths: 2,300,427
- Countries with confirmed cases: 192
- Sourcing: John Hopkins University
- COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease: Global (as of 05FEB21)
Tomorrow’s Outlook (07FEB21)
- Africa: African Union Heads of State and Govt Summit concludes (virtual).
- Ecuador: General elections.
- Cambodia: The nation receives the first shipment of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine.
- Japan: Northern Territories Day.
- Liechtenstein: Parliamentary elections.
- United States: President Biden’s first network television interview since taking office airs on CBS, as part of Super Bowl pregame show.
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