1. Vice President Burns recently called Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to congratulate her and said he would provide relevant assistance for the handover.It is also reported that Trump plans to fly out of Washington shortly before Biden is officially sworn in next week (January 20).

2. On January 15, local time, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court issued a press release that due to prejudice and discrimination against one of the arbitrators in the arbitration panel of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, the Swiss Supreme Court decided to rescind the eight-year ban imposed by the International Court of Arbitration for Sport on Chinese swimmer Sun Yang. The International Court of Arbitration for Sport needs to form a new arbitration panel to make a new decision.

3. The EU will draw up plans to promote the use of the euro in financial markets and warn that financial tensions and risks of economic stability will not be alleviated if global financial markets rely too much on the dollar.

4. COVID-19 vaccination was launched nationwide in India on the 16th local time. On the same day, among more than 4000 vaccinators in the Indian capital New Delhi, as many as 51 health care workers had adverse reactions after vaccination, and one of them was admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit ((ICU)) because of serious adverse reactions. The latest data released by the Indian Ministry of Health on the 16th show that the country has confirmed more than 10.54 million cases of COVID-19, with a total of more than 150000 deaths. 

5. Dmitry Medvedev, vice chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, said that the new US administration is likely to maintain a hostile policy toward Russia, and it is expected that Russian-US relations may be extremely cold in the next few years. Russia is ready to cooperate with the United States in repairing relations between the two countries, but the United States does not necessarily have a similar intention. In recent years, no matter who is in charge of the White House, relations between the two countries have declined, and the new US administration is likely to pursue a consistent anti-Russian policy. 

6. Wine and other alcoholic products have been affected as the United States has once again expanded the scope of tariffs on some EU products. The relevant German practitioners expressed dissatisfaction with this and began to gradually shift the focus of the market. German wineries have made great adjustments to the US market, with some brands withdrawing from the US market altogether, while others have changed the way they cooperate with US dealers. In the face of the loss of market share, German wineries hope to make up for it by expanding other markets, especially in Asia.

7. Since the formal implementation of the extended Life treatment decision Act in South Korea on February 4, 2018, a total of about 800000 people have indicated in advance that they will refuse to receive extended life treatment, and the total number of deathbed patients who have decided to stop receiving extended life treatment has reached 135000. The so-called extended life treatment refers to medical procedures that have no therapeutic effect and only prolong the deathbed process, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, hemodialysis, injection of anticancer agents, use of artificial ventilators, and so on.

8. CNN reported on the 17th local time that US President Donald Trump is preparing to issue about 100 pardons and commutation orders on the 19th, including white-collar criminals and well-known rappers. He is also likely to release a new pardon list on the 20th, the day the new president is sworn in, which may include Trump himself and his family.

9. Thousands of people took to the streets of the Austrian capital Vienna on Jan. 16, local time, to protest against the blockade imposed by the government to contain the COVID-19 epidemic and to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Kurtz. At the scene of the parade, most people were not wearing masks and were even kissing and hugging each other. In addition, they held demonstration slogans including “Kurtz must step down” in their hands.