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WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump, in one of his final acts of office, released current and former members of his administration from the terms of their ethics pledge, which included a five-year ban on lobbying their former agencies. Source

TUNIS, TUNISIA -- Tunisian youth clashed with police overnight, maintaining their protests and riots over economic difficulties despite efforts by the president and the prime minister to calm tensions. "Your voice is heard, and your anger is legitimate, and it is my role and the role of the government to work to realize your demands and to make the dream of Tunisia to become true," Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi appealed to the protesters on national television Tuesday night. Source

The seemingly more transmissible variants of the coronavirus first discovered in Britain, South Africa and Brazil are called "variants of concern" by the World Health Organization. Viruses mutate or change all the time to try to gain a selective advantage over other variants or versions of the virus. Source

Incumbency is a powerful thing in politics and unseating an incumbent government is no easy feat. But it's a little easier when that incumbent government has a rookie leader at the helm. Especially in Newfoundland and Labrador. Source

Each day, translator Nicole Gagnon wakes up and heads to work worried she'll experience further loss of hearing — a sense even more vital to her livelihood than for many workers. Gagnon says she and other federally employed interpreters are suffering from injuries that range from tinnitus, which causes ringing in the ears, to headaches, nausea and "acoustic shock" after nine months of translating parliamentarians online via fuzzy laptop mics and poor internet connections. Source

As U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office, the Arctic is probably far from the minds of most Americans. Yet the region, where the U.S. is one of five nations with territorial waters, has loomed surprisingly large in the waning days of his presidency. Source

JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has spent much of his long career casting Israel's Arab minority as a potential fifth column led by terrorist sympathizers, is now openly courting their support as he seeks reelection in the country's fourth vote in less than two years. Source

SHANGHAI -- Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma met 100 rural teachers in China via a live video meeting on Wednesday morning, in the businessman's first appearance since October, triggering a sharp jump in the Hong Kong listed shares of the e-commerce giant. Source

U.S. President Donald Trump has granted clemency to former White House aide Steve Bannon as part of a wave of pardons and commutations he will issue during his final hours in office, a senior administration official said. Trump was not expected to pardon himself, members of his family or lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who was at the forefront of unsuccessful efforts to get the results of the 2020 presidential election overturned, according to sources. Source

U.S. President Donald Trump has granted clemency to former White House aide Steve Bannon as part of a wave of pardons and commutations he will issue during his final hours in office, a senior administration official said. Trump was not expected to pardon himself, members of his family or lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who was at the forefront of unsuccessful efforts to get the results of the 2020 presidential election overturned, according to sources. Source