| Fresh tensions | China's state-run media called for retaliation after the U.S. removed decades-old limits on interactions with Taiwan officials just days before Biden takes office. Beijing, which opposes official U.S.-Taiwan ties, condemned both Secretary of State Michael Pompeo's move and a Taipei trip this week by Kelly Craft, who will become the first U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to visit Taiwan since it was excluded from the global body in 1971. Virus origins | The World Health Organization secured approval from China to send a team of experts this week to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, after a rare rebuke of Beijing for initially failing to approve the trip. The visit comes as the pandemic rages across the globe, with deaths surpassing 1.9 million, and Chinese state media and officials suggesting that the virus didn't start in China but was brought in. Tech power | After Facebook and Twitter banned users and groups — including Trump — supporting the mobs at the U.S. Capitol, Google, Apple and Amazon have moved to shut down the social-media app Parler in an effort to prevent further riot organizing. As Sarah Frier explains, tech companies do have the ability to take quick action when they're held accountable for the consequences of what happens on their services. German succession | Angela Merkel has been a pillar of stability in Europe for the better part of two decades, but her party is struggling with the power vacuum she's leaving behind as it prepares for a leadership vote this weekend. As Arne Delfs and Raymond Colitt report, none of the official candidates has captured the imagination of the German public, and members are considering looking elsewhere for their picks for chancellor later this year. Key test | The discovery of the tortured corpse of a rank-and-file supporter of the revolution that ousted Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 exposed the continued abuses by the North African nation's most powerful militia. As Mohammed Alamin and Samuel Gebre write, how Washington deals with the budding U.S. ally could prove a litmus test for Biden after he pledged a tougher line on overseas human rights abuses.  Mourners gather at the body of activist Baha El-Din Nouri in Khartoum on Dec. 29. Photographer: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images What to Watch This Week - Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts a meeting today of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the first direct encounter since their countries fought a 44-day war.
- North Korea appeared to hold a nighttime military parade as part of a grand party congress, showing the scale of the challenge Biden faces to rein in Kim Jong Un's nuclear program.
- The U.S. has classified Yemen's Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization after attacks on oil tankers last year in the Red Sea.
- Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia failed to agree on the way forward for talks on Ethiopia's giant dam on a Nile River tributary.
- Bahrain will allow Qatar to use its airspace starting today, state-run BNA has reported, signalling a further thaw in a three-year dispute that divided the energy-producing region.
Thanks to all who responded to our pop quiz Friday, and congratulations to David Pilkington who was the first to name India as the country topping the list of 21 nations that curbed their citizens' web access last year. And finally ... A city with no cars, roads or carbon emissions is the latest vision Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled for Saudi Arabia's future beyond oil. As Vivian Nereim explains, the 106 mile-long development called "The Line" will be part of the $500 billion "Neom" project, the crown jewel of Prince Mohammed's plan to diversify the economy of the world's largest crude exporter.  The canyon of Wadi Tayyib Al-Ism in northwestern Saudi Arabia is part of the area that will become Neom. Saudis believe that Moses landed here when he crossed over the sea from Egypt. Photographer: Vivian Nereim/Bloomberg | 
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