| Rising pressure | The Biden administration moved to ease gasoline shortages sparked by a ransomware attack on the U.S.'s largest pipeline network. Concerns are growing that spiking fuel prices and supply disruptions could hinder travel as the nation emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. -
Colonial Pipeline said it will know by late today whether it's safe to restart gasoline and diesel flows. -
The International Energy Agency said the oil supply glut created by Covid-19 has cleared, even as demand is hit by the resurgence of the virus in India. Tightening grip | Trump's hold on the Republican party is set to strengthen when its lawmakers in the House vote today on whether to strip Representative Liz Cheney of her leadership post because she denies his false claims the 2020 election was rigged. Cheney said yesterday Trump and his loyalists are undermining democracy and risk inciting violence by pushing their allegations. - Biden is set to hold his first face-to-face meeting today with the top two congressional Republicans, as inflation fears increasingly fuel the party's opposition to the president's plans for vast new federal spending on infrastructure and social programs.
 Blacklist removal | The U.S. and Xiaomi agreed to set aside a Trump administration blacklisting that could have restricted American investment in the Chinese smartphone maker. The deal marks a rare victory for China's tech giants caught in the crosshairs of U.S.-China tensions over issues from trade to human rights and political freedoms in Hong Kong. - A U.S. Senate committee votes today on a package to ramp up support for research and development to better compete with China.
High risk | India's Covid-19 crisis is generating misery on a vast scale, and has implications for the rest of the globe, Chris Kay and P.R. Sanjai write. Home to the world's largest vaccine industry, India was central to international plans to inoculate developing countries. Instead, its exports have largely ceased, and an unchecked outbreak is creating ideal conditions for new variants. Corralling crypto | The Colonial Pipeline hack by a criminal gang that habitually demands ransom payments in Bitcoin has focused attention on the unregulated nature of cryptocurrencies. Now, as Joe Light reports, regulators from the U.S. to Europe are cracking down, threatening to remove the anonymity that makes cryptocurrencies a haven for hackers and others. What to Watch - France aims to delay access to the European single market for U.K. financial firms until it considers the British government is honoring its post-Brexit commitments on fishing rights, sources say.
- The U.S. asked Mexico to review the alleged denial of workers' rights at a General Motors truck plant in Mexico, the first time it's initiating a labor dispute under the new trade pact between the countries.
- South Africa's ruling party faces a cash squeeze because of new funding disclosure rules as it seeks to reclaim control of several key towns in municipal elections in October.
- China's Sinovac vaccine is wiping out Covid-19 among health workers in Indonesia and performing far better than it did in clinical trials.
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition is pushing more ambitious legislation to tackle climate change in a bid to seize back the initiative from the Greens before September's national election.
And finally ... More cities than ever are implementing measures to fight climate change and mitigate the impact of extreme weather events, but there's still a large gap between what's needed and what they're doing, Laura Millan Lombrana reports. A survey of 812 cities by nonprofit CDP found fewer than half have a detailed plan to tackle hazards such as extreme heat and flooding that put people and infrastructure at risk.  Two men walk along Rajpath amid smoggy conditions in New Delhi on Jan. 28. Photographer: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images | 
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