Portal:Current events/2021 February 4

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Yemeni Civil War, Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
  • U.S. President Joe Biden announces that the United States will end their support for Saudi Arabia in their intervention in Yemen. However, he also said the United States will continue targeting al-Qaeda operations in the country. (The Financial Times)
• Lebanese political activist and Hezbollah critic Lokman Slim is assassinated, with his body being found inside his car with multiple gunshot wounds in Sidon District. Prime Minister Hassan Diab says "this heinous crime shall not pass without accountability". (BBC News)

Arts and culture

• New Zealand announces a new floating public holiday to commence in 2022 based on the Māori celebration of Matariki. (RNZ)

Disasters and accidents

• 2021 Wooroloo bushfire
  • The number of homes destroyed rises to 81, as a new bushfire to the north threatens the Bullsbrook township. (ABC Australia)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in North America
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin
        • Governor Tony Evers issues a new mask mandate after the Legislature voted to repeal the original mandate. (AP)
      • President of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly Volkan Bozkır receives his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. (Business Standard)
      • Johnson & Johnson requests emergency approval for its vaccine from the Food and Drug Administration. (CNET)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico
      • President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says he is in "good health and recovering" after testing positive for COVID-19 in late January. (Reuters)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Cambodia
      • The Ministry of Health grants emergency use authorization for China's Sinopharm vaccine. (Khmer Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
      • Iran receives its first shipment of 500,000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. (The Times of Israel)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the State of Palestine
      • Palestine receives 10,000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. (Anadolu Agency)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan, Variant of Concern 202012/01
      • Taiwan reports its first death of a foreigner from COVID-19. The patient was a British national in his 70s. It is also the first death from the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2 reported in the country. (Taiwan News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in France, Lineage P.1
      • France reports four cases of the Lineage P.1 variant first detected in Brazil. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
      • Italy surpasses 90,000 deaths from COVID-19. (Il Messaggero)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
      • The government confirms that British nationals and non-residents returning from 30 "red list" high-risk countries will need to quarantine in hotels or government-approved accommodation beginning February 15, two weeks after it was announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. (Sky News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
    • Private gatherings in Victoria are limited to 15 people after a worker at a quarantine site for tennis players competing in the Australian Open tests positive for COVID-19. (The Guardian)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Peru
    • Peru signs a deal with Pfizer to purchase 20 million doses of its vaccine. (Gestión)
• 2019–2021 locust infestation
  • Somalia declares a state of emergency due to swarms of desert locusts. (Daily Sabah)

International relations

• 2020–2021 Indian farmers protest
  • The Biden administration calls for India to resolve the farmers' protests via dialogue. However, the Ministry of External Affairs compared reactions to the January 26th incident at Red Fort to the January 6 riot that occurred at the Capitol. (National Herald)
  • A probe by the Modi government to the source of a protest toolkit Greta Thunberg posted suggested it was put together by a Canadian pro-Khalistan organization and that the toolkit had a plan to carry forward the "malign Indian campaign" even if the government repealed the laws. (Times of India)
• Foreign relations of Guyana, Foreign relations of Taiwan
  • Taiwan announces that it will establish a Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Guyana. The United States welcomes the "milestone". (AFP via CNA)
  • After criticism from China, Guyana terminates the above agreement and says it will continue to follow the One-China policy. (The Guardian)
• China–United Kingdom relations
  • British broadcasting regulator Ofcom revokes the license of China Global Television Network (CGTN), an English-language Chinese news network, after concluding the network was "ultimately controlled" by the Chinese Communist Party. China responds to the move by accusing BBC News of spreading "fake news" about COVID-19. (Reuters)
• Turkey–United States relations
  • Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu accuses the United States of being behind the coup d'état attempt in 2016, which killed more than 250 people. The U.S. State Department says the accusation was "wholly false", and "inconsistent with Turkey's status as a NATO ally". (Reuters)
• Henry Puna becomes the new Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum replacing Meg Taylor. (RNZ)

Law and crime

• 2021 Kilmarnock incidents
  • A woman is stabbed to death outside a hospital, and another killed at a nearby street, in Ayrshire, Scotland. The perpetrator dies during a car crash while escaping from the scene. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

• 117th United States Congress
  • The United States House of Representatives votes 230–199 to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) from her assignments on the Education and Labor and Budget committees. (BBC News)

Science and technology

• 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, Censorship in Myanmar, Censorship of Facebook
  • American technology company Facebook, Inc. reports that multiple Internet service providers in Myanmar have restricted access to its social networking services, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The company has urged authorities to restore connectivity. (AFP via Deccan Herald)