Armed conflicts and attacks

• Somali Civil War
  • A car bombing kills at least eight people in Mogadishu. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• Ban of Twitter in Nigeria
  • The Nigerian government lifts its Twitter ban, which was implemented in June 2021, after Twitter agreed to pay an "applicable tax" and also establish a legal entity within the country sometime in the first quarter of the year. (The Guardian Nigeria)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, COVID-19 vaccination in Indonesia
      • Indonesia begins administering booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for elderly and immunocompromised people amid fears of the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. (The Jakarta Post)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia
      • Saudi Arabia reports a record 5,362 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 593,545. (Al Arabiya English)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea, COVID-19 vaccination in South Korea
      • South Korea authorizes the use of the protein-based Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for adults, making it the fifth vaccine to be approved for use in the country. (The Washington Post)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Austria
      • Austria reports a record 17,006 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 1,378,747. (Vienna.at)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria
      • Bulgaria reports a record 7,062 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 794,240. (BTA)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
      • Germany reports a record 80,430 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 7,661,811. (Euronews)

International relations

• Israel and the Argentine foreign ministry separately issue condemnations against the presence of Iranian minister Mohsen Rezai at the inauguration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. Rezai is wanted by Argentina for his alleged connections to the 1994 AMIA bombing. (The Jerusalem Post)