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Vladimir Putin got an earful from President Joe Biden on Tuesday. After years of relative silence from Donald Trump, who was often assailed for his reluctance to criticize the man who allegedly tried to help him win an election, it seems times have changed. The Democrat pressed the Russian leader during a call covering issues from the poisoning of opposition leader Alexey Navalny to the huge hack of U.S. computer systems linked to the Kremlin. —David E. Rovella

Bloomberg is tracking the progress of coronavirus vaccines while mapping the pandemic globally and across America. 

Here are today’s top stories  

U.S. regulators might end up scrutinizing the spike in GameStop’s shares over the past two weeks, a buying spree turbocharged by bullish touts on online forums (and now an aside by Elon Musk). Yet for the Securities and Exchange Commission, fighting online commentary that hypes stocks is an uphill struggle.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he’s ready to start moving on a new Covid-19 relief plan by next week even if Republicans continue to reject the $1.9 trillion proposal. The White House meanwhile said retroactive tax hikes aren’t its “first choice.”

On the defensive for failing to prevent the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, and the pace and severity of charges it’s filed since then, the Justice Department on Tuesday sought to defend itself.

Biden was dealt his first court defeat as a federal judge temporarily blocked his plan to pause deportations of undocumented immigrants. U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, a Trump appointee, had ordered the administration to address concerns raised by a right-wing cable show host.

U.S. Border Patrol employees detain undocumented immigrants on Dec. 11, 2019, near Mission, Texas. 

Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images North America

Confirmed coronavirus infections topped 100 million worldwide, though the actual number is likely much higher. Pfizer said it will be able to supply the U.S. with 200 million doses of its vaccine two months sooner than expected. While Biden pledged to speed up deliveries to states and order 200 million more shots, the European Union’s standoff with AstraZeneca over delayed vaccine deliveries widened. The U.K. warned against “protectionism” after EU regulators proposed drugmakers should flag exports of Covid-19 shots. Here is the latest on the pandemic. 

As China tries to push nations to avoid dealing with Taiwan, leaders everywhere are realizing just how dependent they’ve become on the island democracy. The world, it turns out, is dangerously reliant on Taiwan for semiconductors.

A broadband internet outage triggered by a surge in traffic hit a wide swath of the eastern U.S. Tuesday, causing headaches for work-from-home users of services such as Zoom and Google. Complaints centered on Verizon Communications, though customers of providers like Comcast also said they suffered problems. 

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