Reuters Newsletter

Friday, January 22, 2021

by Linda Noakes and Hani Richter

Good morning, .

Here’s what you need to know.

'A wartime undertaking'

Joe Biden is stepping up the federal response to coronavirus, taking steps to expand testing and vaccinations and increase mask-wearing in a series of sweeping measures. Chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci praised his new boss’ willingness to “let the science speak” in contrast to the Trump administration as Biden likened the task ahead to wartime planning.

In one of his first major foreign policy decisions, Biden will seek a five-year extension to the New START arms control treaty with Russia ahead of the treaty’s expiration in early February.

A filibuster face-off between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the man he replaced, Mitch McConnell, is holding up the work of the Senate as it begins the new year with 50 senators from each party.

Investors are taking profits after a recent rally, but analysts expect losses to be short-lived as they predict a strong upswing in global growth supported by record low interest rates around the world.

Today’s biggest stories

The pandemic

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India was completely self-relianton coronavirus vaccine supplies as the world’s second-most populous country inoculated more than one million people within a week of starting a massive campaign.

Hungary has signed a deal to buy Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, the first European Union country to do so, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a briefing during talks in Moscow.

Overwhelmed by record numbers of COVID-19 patients, Portuguese hospital doctors spoke of exhaustion and despair, as the government sought to slow contagion rates by ordering all schools to close for 15 days from Friday.

Japan stood firm on its commitment to host the Tokyo Olympics this year and denied a report of a possible cancellation, but the pledge looks unlikely to ease public concern about holding the event during a pandemic.

World News

Before he returned to Russia, opposition politician Alexei Navalny and his supporters had anticipated he would be arrested and planned to force the Kremlin to release him by staging repeated protests, a close ally has said.

The Twitter account of Iran’s Supreme Leader carried the image of a golfer resembling former President Donald Trump apparently being targeted by a drone, vowing revenge over the killing of a top Iranian general in a U.S. drone attack.

The ten known survivors trapped since a deadly gold mine explosion in northern China have been using laser pointers and loudspeakers to try to find their missing colleagues, state media reported.

Indonesia’s air accident investigator is probing whether a problem with the autothrottle system, that controls engine power automatically, contributed to the Sriwijaya Air crash on Jan. 9 that killed all 62 people on board, an official said on Friday.

Business News

Google said it would block its search engine in Australia if the government proceeds with a new code that would force it and Facebook to pay media companies for the right to use their content.

The Senate Finance Committee will vote on Janet Yellen’s nomination for Treasury secretary, an early litmus test of bipartisan support for President Joe Biden’s ambitious plans for coronavirus relief, infrastructure investment and tax hikes.

Bitcoin wavered and was heading toward its sharpest weekly drop since September, as worries over regulation and its frothy rally drove a pullback from recent record highs.

It is the end of January, so time for the Davos World Economic Forum, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga are among this year’s big-name speakers. But Davos was not spared the pandemic hit; instead of gathering at the Swiss ski resort, the world’s great and good will do so virtually.

Breakingviews - How to pick the hydrogen industry’s future Amazon

Hydrogen stocks are partying like it’s 1999. The potential for the element to play a big role in decarbonisation has led shares in producers to behave like technology stocks before the dot-com crash. Investors trying to find the sector’s future Amazon.com at least have some clues to follow. Read concise views on the pandemics financial fallout from Breakingviews columnists across the globe.