News Headlines - 03 January 2021

▽What will Cuba’s new single currency mean for the island? | Al Jazeera

The Cuban government formally ended its dual currency system on Friday, devaluing its peso for the first time since the 1959 revolution that swept the late Fidel Castro to power.
The government has set the exchange rate at 24 Cuban pesos to $1, and the convertible Cuban peso, known as the CUC, will be phased out completely by June, leaving the island with one currency for the first time in more than 20 years.

▽Tesla delivers nearly 500,000 vehicles in 2020 | TechCrunch

Tesla delivered 499,550 vehicles in 2020, a 36% increase over the previous year and just a few hundred short of hitting an historic and long-awaited milestone that CEO Elon Musk has been targeting for more than five years.
Tesla reported Saturday that it produced 509,737 electric vehicles in 2020.

▽Pelosi Is Reelected House Speaker By New Congress : NPR

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was narrowly reelected leader of the chamber on Sunday, continuing her control of the Democratic majority at a time of questions about the path ahead for Congress and who may take the gavel after her.
Pelosi garnered 216 votes Sunday, seven more than the 209 for House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy of California.

▽Man changes name to Celine Dion after having too much to drink | Metro News

A 30-year-old man decided to change his name to Celine Dion after having a few too many glasses of wine. Thomas Dodd – otherwise known as Celine – had the idea while watching one of the Canadian singer’s concerts on YouTube over Christmas.

▽Covid-19: New variant 'raises R number by up to 0.7' - BBC News

The new variant of Covid-19 is "hugely" more transmissible than the virus's previous version, a study has found.
It concludes the new variant increases the Reproduction or R number by between 0.4 and 0.7.
The UK's latest R number has been estimated at between 1.1 and 1.3. It needs to be below 1.0 for the number of cases to start falling.
Prof Axel Gandy of London's Imperial College said the differences between the viruses types was "quite extreme".