Portal:Current events/2021 January 31

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Tigray War
  • Former Tigray Region president and fugitive Debretsion Gebremichael speaks out for the first time since going into hiding following the fall of Mekelle to federal forces in November 2020, saying "They [the federal government] have temporary military dominance", and "we are engaged in extended resistance". His current whereabouts are unknown. (Reuters)
• Somali Civil War
  • A suicide bomber blows himself up outside the Afrik Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, while gunmen storm the hotel and open fire. Five people are killed in the al-Shabaab attack, including a former military general; ten civilians are wounded. The three other attackers are shot dead during a gun battle with security forces. (BBC News)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, 501.V2 variant
      • Israel reports its first reinfection case of the 501.V2 variant in a 57-year-old man who recently travelled to Turkey and who previously recovered from COVID-19. (Times of Israel)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Lebanon
      • Lebanon surpasses 300,000 cases of COVID-19. (The Daily Star)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the State of Palestine, COVID-19 vaccination in Israel
      • Israel agrees to transfer 5,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the Palestinians to immunize frontline medical workers. (BBC News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea
      • South Korea extends its social distancing restrictions for another two weeks amid concern around the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays and an increase in the number of cases. (Bloomberg)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam, 501.V2 variant
      • Vietnam reports its first case of the 501.V2 variant in a 25-year-old man from South Africa who travelled to Hanoi on December 19 and tested positive for COVID-19 four days later while in quarantine. (AAP via The West Australian)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in France
      • The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in France reaches 27,613, the most since December 1. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands
      • Minister for Primary Education Arie Slob announces that primary schools and daycare centres will reopen on February 8, but secondary schools and after-school clubs will remain closed. (Dutch News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • Captain Tom, a British Army World War II veteran who raised millions of pounds for charity during the pandemic, is hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19. He has not yet received a COVID-19 vaccine. (NBC News) (BBC News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
    • Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan announces a five-day lockdown in the Perth metropolitan, Peel, and South West regions, beginning at 6:00 p.m. AWST, after a quarantine hotel security guard tests positive for COVID-19, possibly of the B.1.1.7 variant. (9 News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba
    • Cuba reports a record 1,012 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 26,686. (Presna Latina)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt
    • Egypt receives its first shipment of 50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from India. (Ahram Online)

International relations

• Russia–United States relations
  • 2021 Russian protests, aftermath of the poisoning of Alexei Navalny
    • United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemns Russian authorities for using "harsh tactics" in protests that broke out following the arrest of Alexei Navalny. (NBC News)
• Hong Kong–United Kingdom relations, immigration to the United Kingdom
  • The United Kingdom formally launches a visa scheme allowing all Hong Kong residents with British National (Overseas) passports (BNO), and their "immediate dependents", to fast-track their UK citizenship. At least 300,000 people are expected to apply. In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China says that it will "no longer recognise" BNO passports as legal travel documents. (BBC News)

Law and crime

• Protests over responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Police in Brussels, Belgium announce that they have arrested more than 400 people in order to prevent a banned demonstration against anti-COVID-19 measures. (DW)
• 2021 Russian protests
  • More than 5,000 people are detained by police at nationwide protests calling for the release of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

• Politics of Vietnam
  • Nguyễn Phú Trọng is re-elected as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam for a third five-year term as top leader in Vietnam. (Reuters)
• Shirlene Ostrov resigns as chairwoman of the Hawaii Republican Party following a series of tweets posted by vice chairman Edwin Boyette on the party's Twitter account defending people who supported the QAnon conspiracy theory. Additionally, Boyette resigned on January 24th after the tweets were posted the day before. (AP)