The Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo on Friday postponed Carnival parades until the end of April due to rising COVID-19 cases, Reuters reports.
Driving the news: The cities had already canceled the Carnival street parties, but they were planning to still have the Carnival parade on the final weekend of February.
China blocked all four of Disney's Marvel movies from being released in its theaters last year, a grim sign for U.S. film giants being squeezed out of the world's fastest-growing box office.
Why it matters: The Chinese Communist Party is using domestic filmsas a key conduit for mass messaging aimed at achieving political goals, leaving little room for foreign views.
Government officials in Beijing are encouraging local districts to maintain "full emergency mode" as new COVID-19 cases continue to be detected less than two weeks before the start of the Winter Olympics Games, Reuters reports.
Driving the news: At least 27 domestically transmitted cases with symptoms and five local asymptomatic carriers have been reported in Beijing since Jan. 15, per Reuters.
Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen on Friday killed dozens, including children, and knocked out the internet in the country, according to humanitarian groups.
Driving the news: The Saudi-led coalition has ramped up air raids in Yemen after Houthi rebels claimed an attack that killed at least three people in Abu Dhabi earlier this week.
The Treasury Department on Friday announced sanctions against "financial facilitators" and companies connected to Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Why it matters: The three people — Adel Diab, Ali Mohamad Daoun and Jihad Salem Alame — and 10 companies targeted by the new sanctions helped Hezbollah obtain funds through global "networks of companies that disguise themselves as legitimate businesses," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Friday.
The Transportation Department said on Friday that it is suspending 44 China-bound flights conducted by the country's airlines after the Chinese government canceled dozens of flights from American carriers.
Driving the news: Chinese authorities have suspended 44 flights since Dec. 31 from United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Airlines due to coronavirus concerns.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday moved to drop a case against a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was accused of hiding research he did for the Chinese government.
Driving the news: "Having assessed the evidence as a whole ... the government can no longer meet its burden of proof at trial," prosecutors wrote in a motion to dismiss on Thursday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed after a meeting with his Russian counterpart on Friday that the U.S. will provide written answers to Russia's security demands next week.
Why it matters: Russia claims to be waiting for "concrete answers" to its demands that NATO rule out further expansion and roll back its presence in eastern Europe before deciding its next steps on Ukraine. But the U.S. and NATO have called those proposals "non-starters," and Friday's meeting offered no breakthroughs, so it's unclear how written answers might change the equation.
The State Department has approved requests from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to transfer U.S.-made weaponry to Ukraine, reflecting a growing urgency on NATO's eastern periphery to deter Russian aggression.
Why it matters: As much as the Ukrainian military has improved since 2014, it would still be no match for a full-scale Russian invasion. The U.S. and its allies are instead hoping that Western arms and training — in addition to the threat of crippling financial sanctions — will help deter Vladimir Putin from invading.
All of the roughly 240 American athletes going to next month's Beijing Winter Olympic Games have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Team USA's top doctor told AP on Thursday.
The big picture: There was no vaccine requirement for American Olympians at last year's Summer Games in Tokyo, and about 100 of the 613 Team USA athletes competing in the event were unvaccinated.
Austria's lower house of parliament voted on Thursday in favor of making COVID-19 vaccinations compulsory for most adults from next month.
Why it matters: The bill is expected to soon pass the upper house and be signed by President Alexander Van der Bellen in order for the law to take effect Feb. 1, per Reuters. It'd make Austria the first EU nation to impose such a sweeping mandate.
The Justice Department on Thursday charged four Belarusian government officials with conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy as part of an operation to arrest a dissident Belarusian journalist.
Why it matters: Prosecutors say the officials fabricated a bomb threat aboard a Ryanair flight carrying the journalist Raman Pratasevich last May, forcing it to land in Minsk, Belarus instead.
The Biden administration is framing Russian escalation in Ukraine as almost a foregone conclusion, but the Russians are still at the table and Vladimir Putin may be seeking concessions from the West rather than a military confrontation with Kyiv.
Driving the news: Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who will meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Friday in Geneva, contended in a speech Thursday from Berlin that Putin's intentions are clear: "He's laying the groundwork for an invasion because he doesn’t believe Ukraine is a sovereign nation."
