Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports Real Madrid announces that their coach Zinedine Zidane has tested positive for COVID-19.
Organisers of the Tour de Normandie cancel the annual seven-day bicycle race that was scheduled for May due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This is the second year that it has been cancelled.
British Athletics cancels its annual indoor championships that were set to begin in Glasgow in February due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alphabet Inc. Alphabet Inc. announces that it will shut down its subsidiary Loon, which provides an aerial wireless network through high-altitude balloons, saying that it is not "commercially viable".
Aftermath of the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol TikTok announces that they have banned Baked Alaska, the far-right activist who was arrested by the FBI for participating in the attack on the United States Capitol.
Suspends Twitter suspends an account linked to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei after Khamenei threatened to assassinate former U.S. President Donald Trump in revenge for the assassination of Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
Mass media in Australia In response to a bill proposed by parliament to require dot-com companies to compensate local news outlets for hosting their content, Google threatens to block Australians from using its web search engine should the current draft of the bill become law.
Cabinet of Joe Biden The U.S. Senate votes 93–2 to confirm Lloyd Austin as Secretary of Defense, making him the first African-American to lead the The Pentagon.
Sam Gor Sam Gor drug lord Tse Chi Lop is arrested by police at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Amsterdam. The Australian Federal Police are seeking to extradite him to face trial. Twenty law enforcement agencies assisted the operation, known as "Operation Kungur".
Police in Russia Police in Russia arrest five aides of Alexei Navalny ahead of planned protests. Navalny has been under arrest since returning to Russia on January 17.
Bosnian Army Former Bosnian Army general and deputy Minister of Defense Sakib Mahmuljin is sentenced to ten years in prison for failing to prevent or punish foreign Islamist fighters who murdered and tortured Serbian prisoners during the Bosnian War.
Corruption in the mining industry of Guinea Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz is sentenced by a Geneva court to five years in prison for corruption in obtaining mining rights to an iron ore deposit in Guinea, and is ordered to pay a fine of CHF 50 million (US$56 million) to the canton of Geneva.
Essex lorry deaths Seven culprits involved in the deaths of 39 Vietnamese unlawful immigrants smuggled in a refrigerator lorry in Grays, Essex in 2019 have been sentenced on multiple counts of manslaughter. Five people received sentences of between 3 to 18 years in prison, while the two main leaders of the smuggling operation received 20 and 27 years respectively.
Aftermath of the 2021 United States Capitol attack A magistrate judge orders Oath Keepers member Donovan Crowl to be detained on charges for his role during the attack on the United States Capitol.
Indian farmers' protest Farmer leaders allege a conspiracy to kill four of them and create disturbance during their proposed tractor rally on Republic Day in Delhi.
Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic In Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox town near Tel Aviv, ultra-Orthodox Jews attack an unmarked police vehicle while officers were inside it, causing a riot in which at least six people were arrested. Israel is currently in a lockdown.
Cannabis in the United States Arizona begins legal sales of recreational cannabis, making it the 15th state to do so.
Nuclear arms reduction The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons enters into force, banning the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons in 51 countries. However, the world's major nuclear powers have not endorsed this international agreement.
COVID-19 pandemic Pfizer says that they will supply 40 million doses of their vaccine to lower- and middle-income countries.
Myanmar receives its first 1.5 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
Malaysia reports a record of 18 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 660.
For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, Hong Kong will impose a lockdown in the Yau Tsim Mong District beginning this weekend. Negative COVID-19 testing results will be required in order to leave one's residence.
A panel of scientists that advises the British government announces that a variant first discovered in the United Kingdom is 30% more deadly than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Belgium declares a ban on non-essential travel in and out of the country from January 27 through March 1 in order to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants.
Portugal also reports their first case of the 501.V2 variant that originated in South Africa. They do not indicate whether the individual travelled.
Portugal reports a record of 234 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 9,920.
Germany reports their first case of the more contagious B.1.1.248 variant in a person who travelled from Brazil to Hesse.
Panama reports their first case of a variant from South Africa in a 40-year-old Zimbabwe native who entered the country from there.
Cuba reports their first case of a variant from South Africa in an asymptomatic person who travelled from the country.
The United States surpasses 25 million cases of COVID-19, with about one in every 13 Americans testing positive for the virus.
Florida reports 277 deaths in the past 24 hours, tying their previous state record set in August of last year.
World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization rules that the United States violated the organization's rules when it significantly raised the tariff on some South Korean goods, from 9.49% to 59.72%, in May 2016.
Syrian civil war An Israeli airstrike in the city of Hama, Syria, destroys five Syrian military sites. According to SANA, four people from the same family, including two children, are killed in the strikes.