National star and Liverpool forward Mo Salah is in the running to be crowned the Best FIFA Men's Player: Salah has been shortlisted for the award, along with 2020 laureate Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski and Paris St Germain forward Lionel Messi, FIFA announced over the weekend. Last week, Salah was voted the Premier League player of the year in a BBC poll.

Djokovic is really earning his “Novax” nickname Down Under: Tennis world number one Novak Djokovic — who has been held in quarantine at “a modest hotel” in Australia since last week — is arguing that he received medical exemption from vaccination as he had recently been infected with covid-19, according to Reuters. The Serbian athlete was heading to the Australian Open to defend his title (and earn his 21st Grand Slam) but was stopped at the border and his visa was canceled because he has not been vaccinated. Border control rejected his medical exemption. Djokovic has been a vocal opponent of vaccine mandates, causing tensions between Australia and Serbia, in addition to creating a battleground for pro and anti-vaxxers.

Greenflation: Sustainability may come at the cost of rising inflation: The transition to a green economy could lead to rising energy prices in Europe, where an energy shortage has already pushed up prices, and may force the European Central Bank (ECB) to cut back its stimulus program faster than planned, senior ECB executive Isabel Schnabel told the Financial Times. The ECB said it would keep its ultra-loose monetary policy for at least another year, based on projections that energy prices would fall, but the move away from fossil fuels could derail that, and force the bank to rethink its position — especially after soaring energy prices pushed eurozone inflation to a record high of 5% in December.

PayPal is looking to launch its own stablecoin as it eyes the crypto market, reports Bloomberg. The company’s experiment with stablecoin, PayPal Coin — the product of a recent hackathon in PayPal's blockchain, crypto and digital currencies division — will likely be backed by the USD. Stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies backed (and priced) against the value of existing currencies or commodities, have drawn recent interest from tech giant Facebook / Meta Platforms and financial services network Visa. PayPal made its first foray into crypto when it launched its crypto checkout service in March of last year, which allows US users to pay online merchants using crypto, converting cryptos into fiat currencies.

The latest weight loss trend: Just not trying: A growing number of nutritionists are advocating an end to diets, and focusing on other health aspects such as mental wellbeing, sleep, and endurance, the Wall Street Journal reports. The anti-diet movement is driven by an evolving definition of what it means to be healthy, as well as the latest scientific research on diets and health — for example, yo-yo dieting has been linked to an increased risk of heart attacks. Most doctors emphasize the health benefits of staying within a specific weight range, but anti-diet proponents want people to ditch the latest fad diets and get more in touch with their natural hunger cues, calling for a focus on self-care, rather than self-control, when it comes to nutrition and exercise.