Our daily jaunt around the world

🇨🇳 More than a dozen countries, including the US, have recently imposed new Covid testing requirements for travelers from China. This comes as China battles an ongoing nationwide Covid outbreak, which intensified shortly after Beijing eased virus restrictions last month for the first time since early 2020. Separately, US military officials last week revealed a Chinese fighter jet unexpectedly flew within 10 feet of a US aircraft in the contested South China Sea. (No word yet on whether any upside-down photography or finger-birds were involved.)

🇺🇦 Ukraine’s military said it killed 400+ Russian soldiers yesterday in an airstrike in occupied Donetsk. Russian officials disputed the figure, saying only 63 troops were killed. Regardless, it marks the highest number of deaths acknowledged by Moscow in a single incident since the war began ten months ago. Two days earlier, on New Year’s Eve, Russia had launched 45 Iranian-made drones – all of which were shot down by Ukraine’s air defenses with no reported casualties.

🇭🇷 Croatia officially transitioned to using the euro as its main currency on Sunday. The country had previously agreed to join the eurozone and open up its borders when it became the EU's newest member in 2013. With Sunday’s move, Croatia is the 27th country to join Europe’s “Schengen” area, which allows some 400 million citizens to move freely between countries. Fun fact: Croatia (pop. ~4 million) welcomes an estimated 20+ million tourists every year.