February 1, 2022

YEAR OF THE TIGER | UKRAINE | U.S. COURTS |NORTH CAROLINA | COVID-19 | MYANMAR | ECUADOR | NOBEL PRIZES | VIDEO GAMES | HIV

February 1, 2022
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YEAR OF THE TIGER | Lunar New Year is being celebrated around the world today, marking the end of the Year of the Ox and the start of the Year of the Tiger, according to the Chinese zodiac calendar. [more]

UKRAINE | U.S. and Russian diplomatic officials are expected to talk by phone today, following a meeting of the U.N. Security Council yesterday to discuss global concerns about Russia's troop buildup along its border with Ukraine. [more]

U.S. COURTS | A U.S. federal judge on Monday rejected a plea deal on federal hate crime charges for Travis McMichael and Gregory McMichael — two of three men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery. [more]

NORTH CAROLINA | An estimated 6,000 residents of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, have been evacuated from  areas surrounding a fertilizer plant that caught fire earlier today. Officials fear that the fire could cause an ammonium nitrate explosion at the plant. [more]

COVID-19 | Drugmaker Pfizer is expected to apply for emergency use authorization in the U.S. today for its COVID-19 vaccine to be used in children six months to five years old. [more]

MYANMAR | Opponents of military rule in Myanmar are taking part in nationwide strikes and business closures today to mark the one-year anniversary of the military’s seizure of power. [more]

ECUADOR | Officials in Ecuador say at least 11 people were killed and 40 were injured in severe flooding Monday around the capital city of Quito. [more]

NOBEL PRIZES | Nominees for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize include British nature broadcaster David Attenborough, the World Health Organization, Pope Francis, environmental activist Greta Thunberg, and Belarusian dissident Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, amongst others. The 2022 peace prize laureate will be announced in October.
[more]

VIDEO GAMES | Tech giant Sony has announced plans to purchase video game maker Bungie for $3.6 billion. Bungie is the maker of the popular Destiny and Halo game franchises.
[more]

HIV | The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and drugmaker Moderna have announced the start of a Phase I trial of an experimental HIV vaccine. The vaccine candidate is based on the same mRNA technology Moderna used to develop its COVID-19 vaccine. [more]

More About Today:

  • The 2022 Winter Olympics get underway this Friday in China.
  • Today marks the beginning of Black History Month in the United States.
  • American writer Langston Hughes, one of the foremost interpreters to the world of the Black experience in the United States, was born on this date in 1902.
  • On this day in 2003, while returning to Earth from an orbital mission, the U.S. space shuttle Columbia broke up catastrophically at an altitude of about 40 miles over Texas, killing all seven crew members.
  • The private army of Blackshirts that had helped Benito Mussolini come to power in Italy was officially transformed into a national militia, the Voluntary Fascist Militia for National Security, on this date in 1923.

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