Three Afghan soldiers are killed and four others are wounded in an attack on their vehicle by unidentified gunmen in Herat Province.
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January 20, 2021 (Wednesday)
3.3 minutes to read
Armed conflicts and attacks
Arts and culture
Dublin cancels their annual Saint Patrick's Day festival for the second year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will instead be held virtually on a special online TV channel.
Disasters and accidents
A boat carrying migrants from West Africa capsizes in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, resulting in 43 fatalities.
An explosion caused by coal dust and air in a thermal power plant in Angren, Uzbekistan kills three workers and leaves three others injured.
Health and environment
The Netherlands bans all flights from the United Kingdom, South Africa and all South American countries beginning January 23 in order to reduce the spread of more contagious variants of SARS-CoV-2.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte issues a statement that would ask the parliament to vote regarding a weekend curfew from 8.30 pm to 4.30 am in a parliamentary debate that will begin tomorrow.
Portugal reports a record 14,647 new confirmed cases and 219 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide totals to 581,605 confirmed cases and 9,465 deaths.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund files the registration of the Sputnik V vaccine with the European Medicines Agency with the first review expected in February.
Spain reports a record 41,576 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 2,412,318.
The United Kingdom reports a record 1,820 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 93,290.
The government reaches an agreement with Pfizer for an additional 12 million doses of their vaccine.
Beijing impose a partial lockdown in five neighbourhoods after two cases in Daxing were linked to B.1.1.7 variant found in the United Kingdom.
The Philippines surpasses 10,000 deaths from COVID-19.
Acting Health Director-General Patrick Amoth confirms the first cases of the variant found in South Africa. The patients are two people who had traveled to that country.
Zimbabwe's International Trade and Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo dies due to complications from COVID-19.
President Joe Biden signs a executive order mandating face masks on federal property and during interstate travel.
The United States reports a record 4,409 deaths in the past 24 hours.
International relations
The Chinese foreign ministry places sanctions on 28 members of the outgoing Trump administration, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Advisor John Bolton, and former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. The sanctions are believed to be in response to Pompeo's announcement on Tuesday that the internment of Muslim Uyghurs constitutes genocide.
Politics and elections
Kamala Harris is officially sworn in as the 49th Vice President of the United States, making her the first woman, first Indian American in United States history to hold the office.
Donald Trump becomes the first outgoing president to refuse to attend his successor's inauguration since Andrew Johnson, who did not attend Ulysses S. Grant's inauguration in 1869.
The Senate votes to confirm Avril Haines, Biden's nominee for United States Director of National Intelligence (DNI), 84-10. Haines is the first Biden appointee to be confirmed by the Senate, and the first woman to serve in the DNI.
Biden signs his first executive orders reversing several Trump administration decisions, including rejoining the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization, repealing 2017 travel bans, ending funding for the United States–Mexico border wall, and revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.
Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia are officially sworn in as Senators of the United States Senate.
Alex Padilla of California is officially sworn in as Senator of the United States Senate, as an appointee replacing Kamala Harris.
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