"This is a transformational deal for the group, which allows us to capture a fantastic opportunity as e-commerce continues to grow. Our ambition is to create the UK's largest marketplace."

That was Mahmud Kamani, the executive chairman at Boohoo, after announcing the group's bid to buy the UK department store Debenhams, which is believed to be in the region of $75 million. 

Unions, however, have described the sale of the 243-year-old Debenhams chain as "devastating news for our high streets ... staff are being treated appallingly." 

The sale is perhaps the biggest example yet of the speed with which non-food retail across Europe is moving towards being an online-only experience. It looks certain to leave more space in shopping centers empty and more staff jobless in the very near future. 

It's a year this weekend since the Chinese city of Wuhan imposed a full lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19. What lessons have been learnt about how different countries around the world have responded to the pandemic? Scroll down to find out.  

And if you still don't know what exactly cloud computing is, and where in Europe you are most likely to find it, read on for this and all the day's business news in full.

Louise Greenwood,

Digital correspondent

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The online fashion retailers Boohoo and ASOS are looking set to buy troubled UK high street retailers Debenhams and Arcadia, respectively.

Boohoo said on Monday a sum, thought to be up to $75 million, was on offer to secure the Debenhams brand, which is in a slow wind down after announcing liquidation last year, in what it calls a "transformational deal." But the firm adds it has no plans to maintain Debenhams' 118 stores and staff across the UK and Ireland, meaning 12,000 jobs are now at risk. 

Separately, ASOS says it is in exclusive talks with the Arcadia, the owner of TopShop and Miss Selfridge, over a possible cash purchase. The UK retail industry shed more than 100,000 jobs last year.

The extended lockdown in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, is taking its toll on business according to new data. The country's influential ifo Business Climate Index has fallen further than expected, from 92.2 to 90 points for January, with optimism worsening in the manufacturing sector. Germany has extended its lockdowns restrictions until at least mid-February, with the services sector and most non-essential firms closed, fueling fears of a recession in the first quarter. 

Markets have dropped after drugs giant Merck said it would abandon development of its two experimental COVID-19 vaccines following disappointing trial data. Shares in the New Jersey-based firm fell 0.8 percent in trading before U.S. markets opened on Monday, having lost close to 10 percent over the past year. After evaluating data, Merck says it plans to divert resources to alternative treatments.

U.S. Democrats, pushing for Senate approval for the planned $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package, are facing opposition from Republicans. Proposals stalled at cross-party meetings between senators on Sunday over planned increases to the federal minimum wage. Although Democrats now control both houses, the bill needs approval from a minimum of 10 Republican senators to obtain the so-called "supermajority" required to advance legislation into law.

Oil analysts are warning of a painful series of fourth-quarter results from the main U.S. producers. Rising crude prices and production costs along with weak demand due to the COVID-19 lockdown could lead to losses among seven of the top firms, according to data firm Refinitiv. Consumption of liquid fuels is estimated to have fallen by 9 million barrels a day last year, with lockdown conditions leading to big falls in aviation and road transport.

Elsewhere, Royal Dutch Shell is to buy Ubitricity, the UK's biggest electric car charging network, for an undisclosed sum. Ubitricity, founded in Berlin, operates more than 2,7000 charging points in the UK, about 13 percent of the total market and is developing into Germany and France, having already installed more than 1,500 private charge points for fleet customers in Europe. 

U.S. sportswear giant Nike has appealed to the EU's second highest court to abandon the European Commission's tax inquiry into the firm, claiming there is no evidence of wrongdoing. The commission launched the action as part of a crackdown on so-called "sweetheart" deals between multinationals and EU states, allowing a reduction in headline tax rates through a series of royalty payments, which prosecutors argue amounts to illegal state aid. In a statement, Nike said the claims were baseless and argued the Luxembourg-based General Court had proceeded to formal investigations before preliminary enquiries had been completed.

Hedge fund earnings were the highest in a decade last year, according to new data. The world's top 20 best-performing hedge funds earned $63.5 billion for clients in 2020, with tech stocks leading a dramatic rebound, according to the annual survey by sector analysts LCH Investments. But separate data show that, although the average hedge fund returned 11.6 percent, that still lags the S&P 500 index, which made an overall 16 percent gain on the year.

And Elon Musk's SpaceX has broken the record for the highest number of spaceships deployed on a single mission – 143 commercial and government vessels were launched on Sunday, from the Space Launch Complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida from the Falcon 9 rocket, a veteran of Musk's exploration company.

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It is a year since Wuhan city in China went into a full lockdown after the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 were discovered. CGTN Europe was joined by Andrew Tatem, professor of geography and environmental science at the University of Southampton, to discuss the main lessons the pandemic has taught about how countries around the world have responded.

I think we've learned a lot from the reaction of China and many countries in the region, which have actually been successful in keeping infections down and almost eliminating them completely. And it's really a combination of things – it's the the strong testing system to be able to capture cases quickly and isolate them, then it's travel restrictions and it's the social distancing. 

Has the second wave of lockdowns in much of Europe been effective?

I think the lockdowns are always a last resort and I think they have been effective in terms of their goal to stop health systems being overwhelmed and to save lives. You see the trends of cases in all the countries across Europe that have implemented these lockdowns. There is a steady drop in those cases and health systems have been protected. Ideally, you don't want to get to that stage.

When do you think it would be appropriate to lift the toughest restrictions?

That's a really tough question and I think the cases really need to be pretty low. And the main thing needs to be a very strong testing system in place. If you're reducing and releasing those toughest restrictions, you've got to be sure that you're not just going to be ending back in the same place of cases rapidly rising. And the way to do that is to use these lockdowns, to drop cases down to very low levels and then be sure that you've got a system that can capture any new cases and rises in cases quickly to be able to react.

And finally, the latest figures on the cover of cloud computing services again underline the breadth of the two-speed Europe that policymakers have to address.