Johnson & Johnson released findings today that showed its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine was 66 percent effective (WaPo) in a global trial, while another U.S. firm, Novavax, said its vaccine was nearly 90 percent effective (NYT) in an early analysis of a trial in the United Kingdom. Both vaccines were less effective against a new coronavirus variant that has spread in South Africa.
 
The emergence of coronavirus variants has complicated global vaccination efforts. Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, whose vaccines are already being used in several countries, reported this week that their vaccines are also less effective against the South African variant. Israel, which leads the world in vaccinations, hasn’t seen COVID-19 cases dramatically decline yet (Bloomberg), likely because of the transmission of variants. Additionally, many countries are struggling with vaccine shortages. The European Union is in a dispute with AstraZeneca (BBC) after the company said last week that it had to send the bloc seventy-five million fewer doses than agreed upon. Some U.S. vaccination sites have had to cancel thousands of appointments (AP) because of shortages. Many low-income countries haven’t even started vaccinating people yet, and recent reports have warned that it could take years for them to achieve herd immunity.

China announced that it will stop recognizing (SCMP) British National (Overseas) (BNO) passports. The move is seen as retaliation for the UK’s decision to offer millions of Hong Kong residents with BNO passports a pathway to citizenship after Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong last year. The UK will formally allow Hong Kongers to start settling (FT) in the country on Sunday, though thousands were allowed to settle early.

China: The government is urging millions of migrant workers who would normally visit their hometowns for the Lunar New Year to either quarantine for two weeks or avoid traveling (NYT). The travel rush would have usually begun this week for the holiday that begins on February 12 this year. 

A Pentagon spokesperson said yesterday that the United States would not commit (TOLO) to withdrawing all its troops from Afghanistan by May because the Taliban had not honored commitments it made in a February 2020 agreement. Meanwhile, a Taliban spokesperson said U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan were in violation of the agreement (Al Jazeera).

Bangladesh: Authorities moved nearly two thousand Rohingya refugees (AP) from a camp in Cox’s Bazar to an island in the Bay of Bengal. About four thousand refugees have already been sent to the island, but human rights groups have criticized the move, contending that the relocation was forced.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council demanded that foreign forces and mercenaries leave Libya (Reuters). The acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nation specifically called out Russia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, which have backed rival factions in Libya’s war.

This CFR In Brief explains who’s who in Libya’s war.

Lebanon: The country’s president and its caretaker prime minister condemned violence (Reuters) that occurred during the fourth-straight night of unrest in Tripoli. Protesters angry over a strict lockdown amid the country’s economic crisis clashed with police. At least one protester died from a gunshot wound.

The Court of Appeal in The Hague ruled that the British-Dutch oil giant Shell must compensate (Al Jazeera) Nigerian farmers for oil spills that occurred in the Niger Delta between 2004 and 2007. Four farmers and an environmental organization initiated the case in 2008.

This CFR timeline examines ten ecological disasters involving multinational corporations.

A Russian court rejected opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s appeal (AP) to be released from prison. He was arrested and sentenced to jail for thirty days after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was recovering from nerve-agent poisoning. His imprisonment sparked massive protests last weekend, and his supporters are planning more rallies on Sunday.
 
CFR’s Stephen Sestanovich looks at whether Russia’s protesters can prevail.
 
Europe: A new report found that European countries have fallen behind in providing 5G access (FT). Only 24 percent of Europeans can connect to a 5G network, compared to 76 percent of Americans, according to the report by the European Telecommunications Network Operators and research company Analysys Mason. Percentages are even higher in some Asian nations, such as South Korea, where 93 percent of people can connect.

More than 155,000 people in Mexico have died from the coronavirus (NYT), making it the country with the third-highest COVID-19 death toll, after the United States and Brazil. Hospitals throughout Mexico are overwhelmed and struggle to find enough beds and ventilators.
 
Colombia: A special tribunal accused eight former commanders (WSJ) of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during Colombia’s decades-long civil conflict. The decision was the first against FARC rebels since they signed a peace agreement with the government in 2016.

President Joe Biden rescinded a Donald J. Trump administration policy (WaPo), known as the global gag rule, that prohibited U.S. funding for foreign organizations that offer abortion services or counseling.