Amazon saw its sales surpassing the $100 billion mark in the fourth quarter of 2020, the first time in the company’s history, according to its financial results statement released on Tuesday.

The American e-commerce firm said its net sales surged by 43.7% to $125.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to $87.4 billion the same period of previous year, mainly due to the increase in online shopping during the pandemic and holiday season.
Net sales for full year of 2020 increased 37.6% to $386 billion, from $280.5 billion in 2019.
While net income rose 118% to $7.2 billion in October-December period of last year, the total earnings reached $21.3 billion in full year 2020, up from $11.6 billion in 2019, a 83.6% gain.
Millions of people in the US and around the world have turned to online shopping since last March as quarantine and stay-at-home measures forced retail stores to close but favored marketplaces on the internet.
Amazon said it estimates net sales to be between $100 billion and $106 billion in the first quarter of this year, which would mark a growth between 33% and 40% compared with the first quarter of 2020.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the world's second richest person, announced Tuesday he will step down from his position and would move to executive chair of the Amazon Board to "have the time and energy" on other projects.
Amazon stock price closed Tuesday with a 1.1% gain, giving the e-commerce company a market value of around $1.7 trillion.

43.7% jump comes mainly due to increase in online shopping during pandemic, holiday season

Millions of people in the US and around the world have turned to online shopping since last March

Amazon sales top $100B for 1st time in Q4 2020

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday his government would not allow month-long demonstrations at a Turkish university to grow into anti-government protests similar to those in 2013, calling the protesters “terrorists”.Defying a government ban on demonstrations, students and teachers at Istanbul’s Bogazici University have protested Erdogan’s appointment of Melih Bulu, an academic and former political candidate, as rector.
They say the process was undemocratic and want him to resign, causing a nationwide debate over the government’s reach and separate protests elsewhere. More than 250 people were detained in Istanbul this week and 69 others in Ankara.
The unrest marks some of the largest demonstrations since 2013 when hundreds of thousands of people marched against government plans to build replica Ottoman barracks in Istanbul’s Gezi Park.
-This country will not be run by terrorists. We will do whatever is needed to prevent this- Erdogan told members of his ruling AK Party. He said young protestors lack Turkey’s “national and spiritual values” and are members of terrorist groups.
-Are you students or terrorists trying to raid the rector’s room?- Erdogan said. -This country will not again live a Gezi event in Taksim, will not allow it. We have not stood with terrorists and we will not.-Bulu said earlier he would not step down despite growing calls. “I am never thinking about resigning,” Turkish media quoted him as telling reporters.
The main opposition party leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has called for Bulu’s resignation. Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas urged Bulu in an open letter to “sacrifice” his position instead of “academic peace, youth and our future”.
Bulu, who once applied to the AK Party to run for parliament, told broadcaster HaberTurk the “crisis will be totally finished within six months.”
On Tuesday, academics again gathered on the Bogazici campus with their backs turned to the rector’s building in protest and chanted “Melih Bulu resign,” carrying signs reading “159,” the number of those detained on Monday.
Students have shared images on social media of a picture displayed at the university that mixed LGBT symbols and Islam’s holiest site, the Kaaba shrine in Mecca. The picture was condemned by Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.
Erdogan said “there is no such thing” as LGBT. “This country is national and spiritual, and will continue to walk into the future as such,” he said.
Furkan Dogramaci, 23, a Bogazici graduate last year, said a “lynching campaign” against the LGBT community was launched to thwart the protest’s real aim. The government response aimed at “dividing, separating us and ending this movement,” he said.
University student Enes Gozukucuk, 23, who was among protestors on Monday when police detained 51 people, said the protests were against Bulu’s appointment not the government.
“We could have solved these issues amongst ourselves in the school. There was no need for violence from government forces,” he said.

More than 250 people were detained in Istanbul this week and 69 others in Ankara

Riot police detain a protester during a gathering in solidarity with Bogazici University students who are protesting against the appointment of Melih Bulu as new rector of the university, in Istanbul, Turkey, February 2, 2021.

Erdogan says will not let university protests swell

Twelve police officers have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the deaths of 19 people whose charred bodies were found near Mexico's border with the US last month, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Evidence at the site indicated that "at least 12 members" of the state police participated in the massacre, Tamaulipas state attorney general Irving Barrios said during a press conference. 
Prosecutors said that on January 23 two burnt-out vehicles containing human remains were found on a country road near the town of Camargo, in the northern Mexican state which borders Texas.
Preliminary investigations suggested the victims had been shot before their bodies were set alight.
Most of them were believed to be migrants making their way to the United States. 
Preliminary investigations and crime scene analysis led authorities to suspect the 12 police officers of being involved, Barrios said. 
The officers have been arrested and will be charged with "probable participation in the crimes of homicide, abuse of authority and performance of administrative functions and falsification of reports given to an authority," the prosecutor said. 
Relatives of migrants in Guatemala said family members who were crossing Mexico with the help of smugglers to reach the US could be among the victims.
Prosecutors worked with Guatemalan consular authorities on DNA analysis to identify two Guatemalans and two Mexicans among the victims. 
Camargo, a town of about 15,000 people, borders the US state of Texas and is near the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon.
The region sees frequent clashes between the Noreste cartel, which controls a part of Nuevo Leon, and the Gulf syndicate, which has been active in Tamaulipas for decades.
In January 2019, in the neighboring town of Miguel Aleman, 24 corpses were found, of which 15 were burned.
In August 2010, a group of 72 undocumented migrants were killed in San Fernando, in Tamaulipas. 
Authorities said the massacre was perpetrated by the Zetas cartel, one of the most powerful at the time.
Tamaulipas, on Mexico's Gulf coast, is the shortest route to the United States but also the most dangerous because of the presence of criminal gangs, which kidnap, extort and murder migrants.
Cartel-related violence has beset Mexico since 2006, with more than 300,000 killings since then. 
The country recorded 34,523 assassinations in 2020, a slight decrease on the previous year's figure, which was a record high since official tallies began.

Preliminary investigations suggested the victims had been shot before their bodies were set alight

Guatemalan migrant Rivaldo Danilo, 16, whose family believe he was one of the migrants killed near the US border in January

12 police arrested in deaths of burned migrants near US-Mexico border

Two FBI agents were shot dead and three were wounded on Tuesday while serving a search warrant on a suspect in a child pornography case in the southern US state of Florida, the FBI said.

The suspect is also dead, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
The FBI and media reports said the shooting took place around 6:00 am in Sunrise, Florida, when agents arrived to execute a search warrant at the suspect's home.
-Two FBI Agents are deceased and three are wounded- the FBI said.
Two of the wounded agents were taken to hospital and are in stable condition, it said.
A law enforcement source told the Miami Herald that the suspect had shot and killed himself after barricading himself in his home for several hours.
The newspaper said the FBI agents had been seeking to seize the suspect's computer and other evidence in a child pornography case.

The suspect is also dead, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement

Law enforcement officers block an area where a shooting wounded several FBI while serving an arrest warrant Tuesday in Sunrise

Two FBI agents dead, three wounded in Florida shooting

SpaceX announced it will launch the first all-commercial astronaut mission this year to orbit Earth, the US aerospace manufacturer said in a statement on Monday.

In addition to flying astronauts for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the company's Dragon spacecraft is also designed to carry commercial astronauts to the Earth's orbit, the space station, or beyond, it said.
The California-based space transportation services company said it targets "no earlier than the fourth quarter of this year" for its Falcon 9 rocket to launch for the low Earth orbit mission named "Inspiration4".
American businessman Jared Isaacman, the founder and CEO of payment processor Shift4 Payments, will provide financial support for the mission. He will be donating three seats alongside him aboard Dragon to individuals from the general public who will be announced later.
The four commercial astronauts will receive various training by SpaceX on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft.
The training will include orbital mechanics, operating in microgravity, zero gravity, forms of stress testing, emergency preparedness, spacesuit and spacecraft ingress and egress exercises, in addition to partial and full mission simulations.
Their journey in the Earth's orbit will last multiple days before the astronauts re-enter the atmosphere for a soft water landing off the coast of the US state of Florida.

Businessman Jared Isaacman, financial backer of Inspiration4 mission, will be donating 3 seats alongside him

The four commercial astronauts will receive various training by SpaceX on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft

SpaceX to send first all-commercial astronauts to orbit

Nine Democrats from the U.S. House of Representatives who will prosecute former President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial will argue that he pointed a mob “like a loaded cannon” toward the Capitol shortly before a deadly Jan. 6 rampage, the lawmakers said in a brief filed on Tuesday.Trump also faced a Tuesday deadline to respond to the House article of impeachment, passed on Jan. 13, charging him with inciting insurrection in his speech to supporters before the rampage at the Capitol that left five people dead including a police officer.
The nine House Democrats, known as House impeachment managers, in their brief also rejected Republican claims that it would be unconstitutional to put Trump on trial in the Senate since he is a private citizen after leaving office on Jan. 20.
-There is no ‘January Exception’ to impeachment or any other provision of the Constitution- the managers said in the brief.
-He summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue. As the Capitol was overrun, President Trump was reportedly ‘delighted,’- they said.
Convicting Trump, who is just the third U.S. president to be impeached and the first to face trial after leaving office, would require a two-thirds vote, meaning that 17 Republicans would need to join the Senate’s 50 Democrats in voting to convict. That presents a daunting hurdle for Democrats.
The deadline comes just days after Trump parted ways with his initial legal team amid a reported dispute over how to respond to the charge. Trump is still making false claims that his election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden was the result of widespread voting fraud and irregularities.
The mob interrupted the formal congressional certification of Biden’s election victory.
One of Trump’s recently hired lawyers, David Schoen, called the impeachment process “completely unconstitutional” in an interview with Fox News on Monday but did not outline the former president’s legal strategy.
-I think it’s also the most ill-advised legislative action that I’ve seen in my lifetime- Schoen said. -It is tearing the country apart at a time when we don’t need anything like that.-

He also faced a Tuesday deadline to respond to the House article of impeachment, passed on Jan. 13

Impeachment managers Representatives Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Diana DeGette (D-CO), David Cicilline (D-RI), Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Stacey Plaskett (D-US Virgin Islands AT-Large), Joe Neguse (D-CO) and Madeleine Dean (D-PA) deliver an article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the Senate for trial on accusations of inciting the January 6 attack on the Capitol, in Washington, U.S., January 25, 2021.

Trump aimed mob 'like a loaded cannon' at Capitol, Democrats argue in impeachment

The Russian Attorney General's Office said on Monday it will demand in court to cancel a suspended sentence for Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny and put him in jail.

In a statement published on its official website, the office said Navalny's "illegal behavior" became a foundation for demanding cancellation of the suspended sentence and execution of the jail sentence imposed by the court verdict.
In 2014, Navalny was convicted for fraud and embezzlement and sentenced to three years and six months of jail time.
The court suspended the sentence on six-year probation, obliging Navalny to register with the police two times per month.
In 2020, after Navalny's alleged poisoning with a nerve-agent, Novichok, the registration with the police was halted for the period of treatment.
In October 2020, it became known that Navalny was discharged from the clinic. According to the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service, he did not provide any objective reasons for his non-appearance at police, and therefore it put Navalny on the wanted list for evading the control of the criminal executive inspectorate.
On his return to Russia on Jan. 17, Navalny was arrested at the airport, which provoked mass protests throughout Russia.
According to the human rights activists, over 5,000 people throughout Russia were detained in the latest unauthorized rallies in Navalny's support on Jan. 31.
The largest number of detentions occurred in the capital Moscow -- 1,608 people -- and in the second-largest city Saint Petersburg -- 1,122.
Navalny will appear in court on Feb. 2 on hearing about replacing his suspended sentence for real prison time.

Over 5,000 people detained in demonstrations for release of jailed opposition figure Alexey Navalny

On his return to Russia on Jan. 17, Navalny was arrested at the airport, which provoked mass protests throughout Russia

Russian attorney general demands Navalny's imprisonment

Dozens of Republicans in former President George W. Bush’s administration are leaving the party, dismayed by a failure of many elected Republicans to disown Donald Trump after his false claims of election fraud sparked a deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol last month.These officials, some who served in the highest echelons of the Bush administration, said they had hoped that a Trump defeat would lead party leaders to move on from the former president and denounce his baseless claims that the November presidential election was stolen.
But with most Republican lawmakers sticking to Trump, these officials say they no longer recognize the party they served. Some have ended their membership, others are letting it lapse while a few are newly registered as independents, according to a dozen former Bush officials who spoke with Reuters.
-The Republican Party as I knew it no longer exists. I’d call it the cult of Trump- said Jimmy Gurulé, who was Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in the Bush administration.
Kristopher Purcell, who worked in the Bush White House’s communications office for six years, said roughly 60 to 70 former Bush officials have decided to leave the party or are cutting ties with it, from conversations he has been having. “The number is growing every day,” Purcell said.
Their defection from the Republican Party after a lifetime of service for many is another clear sign of how a growing intraparty conflict over Trump and his legacy is fracturing it.
The party is currently caught between disaffected moderate Republicans and independents disgusted by the hold Trump still has over elected officials, and Trump’s fervently loyal base. Without the enthusiastic support of both groups, the party will struggle to win national elections, according to polling, Republican officials and strategists.
The Republican National Committee referred Reuters to a recent interview its chair Ronna McDaniel gave to the Fox Business channel. “We’re having a little bit of a spat right now. But we are going to come together. We have to,” McDaniel said, predicting the party will unite against the agenda of President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
Representatives for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.
A representative of former President Bush did not respond to a request for comment. During the Trump presidency Bush made clear he had “retired from politics.”

More than half of the Republicans in Congress - eight senators and 139 House representatives - voted to block certification of the election just hours after the Capitol siege.

Most Republican Senators have also indicated they would not support the impeachment of Trump, making it almost certain that the former president won’t be convicted in his Senate trial. Trump was impeached on Jan. 13 by the Democratic-led House of Representatives on charges of “incitement of insurrection,” the only president to be impeached twice.
The unwillingness by party leaders to disavow Trump was the final straw for some former Republican officials.
-If it continues to be the party of Trump, many of us are not going back- Rosario Marin, a former Treasurer of the U.S. under Bush, told Reuters. -Unless the Senate convicts him, and rids themselves of the Trump cancer, many of us will not be going back to vote for Republican leaders.-Two former Bush officials who spoke to Reuters said they believe it is important to stay in the party to rid it of Trump’s influence.
One of those, Suzy DeFrancis, a veteran of the Republican Party who served in administrations including those of former presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush, said she voted for Biden in November but that breaking the party apart now will only benefit Democrats.
-I totally understand why people are frustrated and want to leave the party. I’ve had that feeling for 4 years- DeFrancis said.
But she said it’s critical the party unite around Republican principles such as limited government, personal responsibility, free enterprise and a strong national defense.
Purcell said many felt they have no choice, however. He referred to Marjorie Taylor Greene, a freshman Republican congresswoman from Georgia who promotes the QAnon conspiracy theory, which falsely claims that top Democrats belong to a secret governing cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles. Another newly elected Representative, Lauren Boebert from Colorado, has also made supportive statements about QAnon.
-We have QAnon members of Congress. It’s appalling- Purcell said.

Representatives for Trump did not respond to a request for comment

U.S. President Donald Trump addresses a campaign rally in Dalton, Georgia, U.S., on the eve of the run-off election to decide both of Georgia's Senate seats January 4, 2021.

Dozens of former Bush officials leave Republican Party, calling it 'Trump cult'

Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, the World Health Organization and climate campaigner Greta Thunberg are among those nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, all backed by Norwegian lawmakers who have a track record of picking the winner.Thousands of people, from members of parliaments worldwide to former winners, are eligible to propose candidates. Nominations, which close on Sunday, do not imply an endorsement from the Nobel committee.
Norwegian lawmakers have nominated the eventual laureate every year since 2014, with the exception of 2019, said Henrik Urdal, Director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo. “The pattern from recent years is quite stunning.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which decides who wins the award, does not comment on nominations, keeping secret for 50 years the names of nominators and unsuccessful nominees.
But nominators can choose to reveal their picks.
According to a Reuters survey of Norwegian lawmakers, nominees include Thunberg, Navalny, the WHO and its COVAX programme to secure fair access to COVID-19 vaccines for poor countries.
Thunberg was named as one of “the foremost spokespeople in the fight against the climate crisis”, with the campaigning group she co-founded, Fridays for Future, also receiving a nod.Navalny, nominated by Russian academics, was named for his “efforts for a peaceful democratisation of Russia” by Norwegian former minister Ola Elvestuen.
The battle against COVID-19 is front and centre, including a nomination for the GAVI vaccine alliance.
Other names are Belarusian activists Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Maria Kolesnikova and Veronika Tsepkalo for their “fight for a fair election and inspiration for peaceful resistance”, one nominator, Geir Sigbjoern Toskedal, said.
Another, Jette Christensen, also named the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights group, and IUSTITIA, a group of Polish judges defending civil rights.
-My nomination this year is ... for the fight to preserve democracy as a form of government in Europe- Christensen said.
Freedom of information is a recurring theme with nominees including the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists; former Charlie Hebdo journalist Zineb el Rhazoui; news website Hong Kong Free Press, the U.S.-based International Fact-Checking Network and Paris-based Reporters without Borders (RSF).Other nominees include former U.S. President Donald Trump, NATO and the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR).
Also on the list is Aminatou Haidar, for her peaceful campaigning towards an independent Western Sahara, the International Space Station and the International Scout Movement.
The 2021 laureate will be announced in October.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which decides who wins the award, does not comment on nominations, keeping secret for 50 years the names of nominators and unsuccessful nominees

Navalny and Tanberg are among the nominees for the Nobel Prize

Navalny, WHO and Thunberg among nominees for Nobel Peace Prize

Police detained more than 2,700 people and broke up rallies in Moscow and across Russia on Sunday as supporters of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny braved the bitter cold and a massive show of police force to demand he be set free.The nationwide rallies are the second straight weekend of protests that are part of a high-risk opposition campaign to try to pressure the Kremlin into freeing President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent.
The opposition politician was arrested on Jan. 17 after returning to Moscow from Germany where he had been recovering from a nerve agent poisoning in Russia last summer. He accuses Putin of ordering his murder, which the Kremlin denies.
Navalny’s dramatic return to Moscow despite the obvious threat of arrest and the protests that his jailing has sparked pose a major challenge for Putin who has dominated the Russian political landscape for over two decades.
In a highly unusual move, police imposed a security lockdown in the heart of the capital on Sunday, sealing off streets to pedestrians near the Kremlin, closing metro stations and deploying hundreds of riot police as snow fell.
Yulia, a 40-year-old protester in Moscow, said she had joined the rallies despite having a panic attack the night before because of worrying about repercussions for taking part.
-I understand that I live in a totally lawless state. In a police state, with no independent courts. In a country ruled by corruption. I would like to live differently- she said.Police have said the protests were illegal as they had not been authorised and would be broken up. Authorities have said demonstrators could spread COVID-19.
At one point a column of protesters marched towards the prison in northern Moscow where Navalny is being held, chanting “Let him go!”
Police put turnout at the Moscow protest at around 2,000 people. Reuters reporters estimated crowds of several thousand that were smaller than last weekend when police estimated 4,000 people and the opposition put the figure at 50,000, an assertion the authorities dismissed as nowhere near the truth.
Police detained at least 2,737 people nationwide, including 681 in Moscow, according to OVD-Info, a protest monitoring group. The figures were expected to rise.
Yulia Navalnaya, the Kremlin critic’s wife, was among those detained.
-If we stay quiet, then they could come for any of us tomorrow- she wrote on Instagram before joining the protests.

The protest is a test of Navalny’s support after many of his prominent allies were targeted in a crackdown this week. Several, including his brother Oleg, are under house arrest.
In the far eastern city of Vladivostok, video footage showed protesters chanting “Putin is a thief” as they linked hands and marched in temperatures of around -13 Celsius (8.6 Fahrenheit). Police detained more than 100 people in the city, OVD-Info said.
In Tomsk, the Siberian city that Navalny visited before suddenly collapsing on a domestic flight last August, demonstrators gathered in front of a concert hall and chanted “Let him go!”.Navalny, 44, is accused of parole violations which he says are trumped up. A court is due to meet next week to consider handing him a jail term of up to three and a half years.
The West has told Moscow to let Navalny go and his allies have appealed to U.S. President Joe Biden to impose sanctions on 35 people who they say are Putin’s close allies.
Seeking to galvanise supporters at home, Navalny put out an online video this month that has been viewed over 100 million times, accusing Putin of being the ultimate owner of a sumptuous Black Sea palace. The Kremlin leader has denied this.
On the eve of the protests, Arkady Rotenberg, a businessman and Putin’s former judo sparring partner, said he owns the property.

The nationwide rallies are the second straight weekend of protests that are part of a high-risk opposition campaign

Law enforcement officers line up during a rally in support of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Vladivostok, Russia January 31, 2021.

Russia detains over 2,700 at protests against jailing of Kremlin critic Navalny

Several of former US president Donald Trump's impeachment lawyers have left his team a little over a week before his trial, US media reported Saturday.
CNN cited unnamed sources as saying that five lawyers -- including two who were thought to be leading the team -- had parted ways with the Republican billionaire after disagreeing over his legal strategy.
Trump had wanted the lawyers to continue his baseless claims of mass election fraud rather than focus on the legality of convicting a president after he has left office, CNN said, adding that he was "not receptive" to discussion.
The lawyers included Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, expected to lead Trump's defense, CNN and other outlets reported, saying it had been a "mutual decision."
-We have done much work, but have not made a final decision on our legal team, which will be made shortly- tweeted Trump advisor Jason Miller in response to the reports.
The development leaves Trump, who has reportedly been struggling to form a defense ahead of his historic second impeachment trial over the ransacking of the US Capitol this month, facing new hurdles with just days to go.
However, even with his legal team in chaos he looks increasingly likely to dodge conviction. 
Nearly all senators from his party have signaled opposition to his trial and fueled efforts to censure him instead.
The trial - in which Trump faces a charge of "incitement of insurrection" - will begin on February 9.
But with just five Republicans joining all 50 Democrats this week in agreeing that the trial should go forward, it appears unlikely that 17 Republicans would vote against Trump, the minimum number needed to reach the two-thirds threshold for conviction.
A censure would be less severe than expulsion but is a formal statement of disapproval. 
It would still need 10 Republicans to go along in order to overcome any blocking tactics set out by Trump loyalists.
While a conviction would lead to a simple-majority vote on whether to bar Trump from holding any future public office, a censure resolution carries no such trigger.
That would leave the door open for Trump to run again in 2024, a prospect that a significant portion of Republicans now support, despite the deadly storming of the Capitol on January 6 by a mob of pro-Trump extremists in an effort to overturn the results of the election.

CNN cited unnamed sources as saying that five lawyers - including two who were thought to be leading the team - had parted ways with the Republican billionaire after disagreeing over his legal strategy

The trial in which Trump faces a charge of "incitement of insurrection" will begin on February 9th

Trump impeachment lawyers leave team

Freddy, a Great Dane celebrated by Guinness World Records as the tallest dog in the world, has died.
The pooch, who lived in Essex, England, with his owner Claire Stoneman, measured 3 feet and 4 inches (103.5 cm) from foot to withers, or the highest spot on a dog's back. When standing, he towered over people at a massive 7 feet and 5.5 inches tall (226 cm).
Height-wise, Freddy stood somewhere in between NBA greats LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal.
The dog lived to be 8 and a half years old, Guinness World Records said Wednesday. Most Great Danes live between eight to 10 years, according to the American Kennel Club.
-He was my life. My reason. My joy. My annoyance- Claire Stoneman told Guinness World Records. -My happiness and my ultimate sadness. He was my heart Dane. My one-in-a-million and loved by the entire world.-"He was not just the tallest dog but the dog with the most love and the biggest heart. A total soppy bugger who was hand-fed," she added.
Freddy was once the runt of his litter and wasn't even able to feed off his mom, according to Stoneman, who said she had adopted him weeks earlier than she should have.
-Freddy was such a gentle giant, and it was always a pleasure to see him bounding towards you- Guinness World Records' editor-in-chief Craig Glenday said in a statement.
-I still can barely believe that he was the runt of the litter. Freddy brought a smile to everyone's face and will be missed by everyone at Guinness World Records. I'm just pleased that we got the chance to celebrate his record-breaking immensity in the books and share his story with millions of people around the world.-
Stoneman later said in a Facebook post she has been "fighting the tears that won't stop falling," but finds comfort in knowing how much Freddy was loved.

Height-wise, Freddy stood somewhere in between NBA greats LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal

Freddy the Great Dane, left, with owner Claire Stoneman and his sister Fleur

Freddy the Great Dane, the tallest dog in the world, has died

Germany has decided to ban travel from the UK, Ireland, Portugal, South Africa and Brazil amid growing concerns about the mutated strains of coronavirus.
Non-citizens will be barred from traveling to Germany from these “high-risk” countries starting as of Saturday, German press agency DPA reported, based on sources in the government.
The southern African kingdoms of Eswatini and Lesotho will be added to this list on Sunday.
The ban will remain effective at least until Feb. 17, but certain exceptions will apply for German citizens, for people with a valid residence permit in Germany, for health professional workers and transit passengers, according to the report.
Germany managed to bring down its daily coronavirus case count below 20,000 this week, but the country's disease control agency urged citizens on Friday to strictly observe hygiene and other safety measures, due to the more contagious UK, Brazil, and South Africa mutations. 
Prof. Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), told a news conference in Berlin that new virus mutations are a source of great concern for authorities.
-We’re receiving reports of growing number of infections and outbreaks due to these variants. We still don’t know completely the special characteristics of these variants- he said.
-We don’t know yet whether they are more dangerous or not, and with regards to some of the variants, we also don’t know whether vaccinated people, and patients who have recovered from COVID-19, have immunity against them.-
The German government decided last week to extend strict lockdown measures at least until Feb. 14, due to concerns over virus mutations.
Schools, daycares, and all non-essential shops remain closed nationwide. Wearing “medical” masks is mandatory on public transport and companies are required to ask all employees to work from home.
Germany’s tally of over 2.19 million cases, which includes at least 55,752 deaths, is currently the fifth-highest in Western Europe, behind the UK, France, Spain, and Italy.

Non-citizens to be barred from traveling to Germany from UK, Ireland, Portugal, South Africa, Brazil

Non-citizens will be barred from traveling to Germany from these “high-risk” countries starting as of Saturday

Germany bans travel from countries with virus mutations

India blocked mobile internet services in several areas around New Delhi on Saturday as protesting farmers began a one-day hunger strike after a week of clashes with authorities that left one dead and hundreds injured.&nbsp;Angry at new agricultural laws that they say benefit large private food buyers at the expense of producers, tens of thousands of farmers have been camped at protest sites on the outskirts of the capital for more than two months.
At the main protest site near the village of Singhu on the northern outskirts of the city, there was a heightened police presence on Saturday as hundreds of tractors arrived from Haryana, one of two states at the centre of the protests.
-Many farmers’ groups have joined the protest site since last night- said Mahesh Singh, a 65-year-old farmer from Haryana. -They have come to show their support and more farmers are expected to come in the next two days.-
India’s interior ministry said on Saturday internet services at three locations on the outskirts of New Delhi where protests are occurring had been suspended until 11 p.m. (1730 GMT) on Sunday to “maintain public safety”.
Indian authorities often block local internet services when they believe there will be unrest, although the move is unusual in the capital.
Farm leaders said the hunger strike by hundreds of protesters, primarily at Singhu and two other protest sites and designed to coincide with the anniversary of the death of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, would show Indians that the demonstrations were non-violent.
-The farmers’ movement was peaceful and will be peaceful,- said Darshan Pal, a leader of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha group of farm unions organising the protests. -The events on January 30 will be organised to spread the values of truth and non-violence.-
Agriculture employs about half of India’s population of 1.3 billion, and unrest among an estimated 150 million landowning farmers is one of the biggest challenges to the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since coming to power in 2014.
Eleven rounds of talks between farm unions and the government have failed to break the deadlock. The government has offered to put the laws on hold for 18 months, but farmers say they will not end their protests for anything less than full repeal.
In the past week, a planned tractor parade on Tuesday’s Republic Day anniversary turned violent when some protesters deviated from pre-agreed routes, tore down barricades and clashed with police, who used tear gas to try and restrain them.
Sporadic clashes between protesters, police and groups shouting anti-farmer slogans have broken out on multiple occasions since then.

It will be suspended until 11 PM on Sunday

People shout anti-farmers slogans and wave India's flags as police officers try to stop them, at a site of the protest against farm laws at Singhu border near New Delhi, India January 29, 2021.

India cuts Internet near Delhi as hundreds of farmers begin hunger strike

The international civil rights movement Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation on Friday won Sweden's Olof Palme human rights prize for 2020.
The foundation was honoured for its work promoting "peaceful civil disobedience against police brutality and racial violence all over the world," prize organisers said in a statement.
The Black Lives Matter movement, founded in 2013 in the United States, has "in a unique way exposed the hardship, pain, and wrath of the African-American minority at not being valued equal to people of a different colour," the statement said.
The movement had its major international breakthrough in the summer of 2020 following several cases of extreme brutality in the US, including the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Prize organisers noted that an estimated 20 million people have taken part in Black Lives Matter protests in the US alone, and millions more around the world. 
-This illustrates that racism and racist violence is not just a problem in American society, but a global problem.-
The Olof Palme Prize is an annual prize worth $100,000 awarded by the Olof Palme Memorial Fund.
It commemorates the memory of Sweden's Social Democratic prime minister Olof Palme, an outspoken international human rights advocate -- and vehement opponent of US involvement in the Vietnam War -- who was assassinated in Stockholm in 1986.
Since 1987 the award has honoured human rights defenders around the world including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.
An online prize ceremony will take place in Stockholm on Saturday.

The foundation was honoured for its work promoting "peaceful civil disobedience against police brutality and racial violence all over the world"

The Black Lives Matter movement has been recognised in Sweden's Olof Palme award

Black Lives Matter wins Swedish rights prize

A man out walking with his family in the French Alps has made a miraculous escape from an avalanche after spending more than two and a half hours trapped under snow, rescuers said.
The 50-year-old father was snowshoeing near the high-altitude Val d'Isere ski resort with his wife and two children on Thursday without anti-avalanche safety equipment.
-Thank to the mobilisation of nearly 100 people... the man was found alive after two hours and 40 minutes of searching- the police for the local Savoie region announced on Twitter.
Because of the depth of the snow, rescue dogs were unable to detect a trace, but the man was eventually dug out by a specialised mountain police team which used a Wolfhound device to locate his mobile phone under the ice.
-I think it's a miracle- Alexandre Grether from the PGHM rescue team told the France 3 local news channel, adding that the man was found 2.5 metres (eight feet) below the surface.
The chances of survival after more than 20 minutes in an avalanche are usually slim.
-He was protected by a tree, that's what prevented him from being crushed by all the ice that slid down. The snow had surrounded him, but he had a pocket of air- he explained.
The victim is expected to make a full recovery after suffering a fracture to his hip.
The avalanche risk on Thursday was at its maximum -- five on a scale of five -- and rescuers urge tourists to always check the snow conditions before venturing out.
Ski lifts in the Alps, which have seen some of their heaviest snowfalls in years in January, are currently closed because of restrictions imposed by the government to limit the spread of Covid-19.
Visitors are free to enjoy cross-country and snow-shoeing, but occupancy levels in hotels and chalets are way down and business owners and seasonal staff face serious hardships.
The government has promised an economic support package for the sector.

The 50-year-old father was snowshoeing near the high-altitude Val d'Isere ski resort with his wife and two children on Thursday without anti-avalanche safety equipment

Rescuers urge tourists to always check the snow conditions before venturing out

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World

Amazon sales top $100B for 1st time in Q4 2020

Erdogan says will not let university protests swell

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Two FBI agents dead, three wounded in Florida shooting

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Freddy the Great Dane, the tallest dog in the world, has died

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India cuts Internet near Delhi as hundreds of farmers begin hunger strike

Black Lives Matter wins Swedish rights prize

'Miracle' escape for man trapped in Alps avalanche