Arts and culture

• Sandro Botticelli's Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel is sold at auction for $92.2 million at Sotheby's in New York City, making it the second most expensive painting by an old master ever sold at public auction. (AFP via New Straits Times)

Business and economy

• Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 recession
    • The Philippines' GDP contracts 9.5% in 2020, its first annual contraction since 1998 following the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the country's worst economic performance since records began in 1947. (Nikkei Asia)
  • Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, COVID-19 recession
    • The United States's GDP contracts 3.5% in 2020, its first annual contraction since 2009 following the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the country's worst economic performance since 1946. (Reuters)
  • Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism
    • The World Tourism Organization reports that the global tourism sector lost $1.3 trillion in revenue in 2020, calling it "the worst year in tourism history". The organization attributes the loss to COVID-19. (AFP via i24NEWS)
• GameStop short squeeze
  • GameStop stock briefly tops US$500 before dropping 36% from Wednesday's closing. Trading was halted multiple times due to the climb and the crash. (CNBC)
  • Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, and Webull restrict the trade of heavily shorted stocks such as GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry, Nokia, and Koss on their platforms. (CNET)
  • A class action lawsuit was filed against Robinhood in response to shutting down the buying of stocks at the center of the short squeeze. US Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) has called for an investigation into the ban on stock sales. (Newsweek)

Disasters and accidents

• 2021 Georgia poultry plant accident
  • Six people are killed and nine others hospitalized due to a leak of liquid nitrogen at a poultry plant in Gainesville, Georgia, United States. (BBC News)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in North America
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Arizona
        • COVID-19 pandemic in the Navajo Nation
          • The Navajo Nation surpasses 1,000 deaths from COVID-19. (The Arizona Republic)
      • COVID-19 pandemic in South Carolina, 501.V2 variant
        • South Carolina reports the United States' first two cases of the 501.V2 variant first detected in South Africa in people with no known travel history. (NPR)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico
      • Mexico surpasses India to have the third-highest death toll in the world. (Reuters)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal
      • Portugal reports new daily records for both cases and deaths, with 16,432 new cases and 303 deaths, bringing the nationwide cumulative totals to 685,383 confirmed cases and 11,608 deaths. (DGS)
      • The government announces the closure of its border with Spain for two weeks beginning January 31. (El Periódico)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Andorra
      • The number of deaths from COVID-19 in Andorra reaches 100. (Andorra Difusió)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, 501.V2 variant
      • Spain reports their first case of the 501.V2 variant in a 30-year-old man who travelled from South Africa to Vigo. (ABC.es)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
      • The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I receives the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. (Greek City Times)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia
      • Indonesia reports a record 476 deaths in the past 24 hours, 200 of which are from West Java, bringing the nationwide death toll to 29,331. (Bisnis)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
      • Japan reports a record 113 deaths in the past 24 hours. (The Japan Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines
      • The Food and Drug Administration approves the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use in the Philippines. (Bloomberg)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam
      • Vietnam reports their first two locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in 55 days in Hải Dương and Quảng Ninh provinces, with one of them linked to the B.1.1.7 variant. (ABC Australia)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Africa
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Morocco
      • Morocco begins its COVID-19 vaccination campaign with King Mohammed VI receiving the first dose. (Morocco World News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Senegal, Variant of Concern 202012/01
      • Senegal reports their first case of a more contagious variant of SARS-CoV-2 that originated in the United Kingdom. (AFP via Yahoo News)
    • Africa secures another 400 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. (AP)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
    • Australia extends the suspension of their travel bubble with New Zealand for another 72 hours due to concerns about new variants of SARS-CoV-2. (NZ Herald)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
    • Brazil surpasses nine million cases of COVID-19, becoming the third country to do so after India and the United States. (Reuters)
  • COVID-19 vaccine
    • Vaccine developer Novavax announces that their vaccine candidate is 89% effective in preventing severe COVID-19, based on trial data from the United Kingdom; their vaccine was less effective against new variants of the virus, based on data from South Africa. (Reuters)

International relations

• Decolonisation of Africa
  • Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute
    • The United Nations' International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea rules that the United Kingdom has no legal sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, and must return control of the islands back to Mauritius. The British Foreign Office rejects the ruling, saying that "Mauritius has never held sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory and the UK does not recognise its claim". (BBC News)

Law and crime

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on long-term care facilities, COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)
  • New York Attorney General Letitia James releases a report accusing the state of undercounting the number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes. (AP)
• Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19 pandemic in Lebanon
  • One protester is shot dead and many more are wounded after attempting to storm a government building during an anti-lockdown riot in Tripoli, Lebanon. The municipality building was set on fire before protesters pulled back to the city's main square. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Politics of Kyrgyzstan
  • Sadyr Japarov is sworn in as President of Kyrgyzstan. (Eurasianet)

Science and technology

• Criticism of Google
  • Google removes major Australian news sites from some of its search results in an "experiment" in reaction to the Australian government's calls for Google to pay these sites for their content. (The Guardian)
  • The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission releases a report accusing Google of misusing its advertisement system to promote Alphabet Inc.'s own financial interests. (The Guardian)

Sports

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports
  • Super Bowl LV, COVID-19 pandemic in Florida
    • Tampa Mayor Jane Castor issues an outdoor mask mandate for the city during Super Bowl LV. (ESPN)