 |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing |
Friday, January 29, 2021 by Linda Noakes and Farouq Suleiman |
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| | Today’s biggest stories  The coronavirus Britain is banning direct passenger flights from the United Arab Emirates, shutting down the world’s busiest international airline route from Dubai to London. Britain said it was adding the UAE, Burundi and Rwanda to its travel ban list because of worries over the spread of a more contagious and potentially vaccine-resistant COVID-19 variant first identified in South Africa.
Mexico surpassed India in confirmed COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, giving the Latin American country the third-highest toll worldwide, according to a Reuters tally of official data.
AstraZeneca offered 8 million more doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the European Union to try to defuse a row over supplies, but the bloc said that was too far short of what was originally promised, an EU official told Reuters.
New York state’s health department may have undercounted the COVID-19 death toll among state nursing home residents by as much as 50%, according to a report released by the state attorney general’s office.
South Korea has delayed until Sunday any easing of social distancing measures because outbreaks involving mission schools are threatening to undermine efforts to keep new infections under control ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays.
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 World News President Joe Biden promised after November election’s that he and Vice President Kamala Harris would govern as a “simpatico” team. In their first days at the White House, the two are crafting a partnership that recalls Biden’s own service as Barack Obama’s No. 2. The first major lawsuit hit Biden’s administration two days after he took office, providing an early test of his strategy in fending off such challenges.
Thousands of Indian farmers marched overnight to reinforce protesting colleagues camping out on the outskirts of the capital, New Delhi, to press the government to withdraw three new farm laws that they say will hurt their livelihoods.
Pakistan’s government petitioned the Supreme Court to review its decision to free an Islamist and his co-accused convicted of kidnapping and beheading U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, the Pearl family’s lawyer Faisal Siddiqi said.
No Plan B: Japan’s Olympic sponsors are scaling back advertising campaigns and delaying marketing events for this year’s Summer Games, concerned that public sentiment toward the event is souring amid a fresh wave of COVID-19. |
 Business News The U.S. oil industry is seeking to forge an alliance with the nation’s corn growers and biofuel producers to lobby against the Biden administration’s push for electric vehicles, but is so far meeting a cool reception, according to multiple sources.
Executives in Hyundai Motor are divided over a potential tie-up with Apple, with some raising concerns about becoming a contract manufacturer for the U.S. tech giant, dimming the outlook for a deal.
A suitable suitor? So what now for French supermarket group Carrefour, forbidden from wedding its wealthy Canadian admirer, just as it needs to renovate? The deal, worth close to $20 billion, was killed off by French ministers who said the food sector was of strategic national importance. Financial sources familiar with Carrefour say it expects a European bidder could elicit a friendlier response from France.
Roblox has postponed plans to go public because of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s scrutiny of how the video game platform recognizes revenue in its finances, according to a memo the company sent to employees. |
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| | Video of the day  The WHO kicks off investigation into COVID-19 origins A World Health Organization-led team of experts investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic began meeting with Chinese scientists, and the WHO said the group plans to visit labs, markets and hospitals in Wuhan. | |
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