Thursday Briefing: COVID-19 hospitalization surge among U.S. children spurs new Omicron concerns

The Reuters Daily Briefing Thursday, December 30, 2021 by Linda Noakes Hello Here's what you need to know. Ghislaine Maxwell faces a high legal bar in her bid to overturn her sex abuse conviction, a study finds J&J's booster shot slashes Omicron hospitalizations, and Iran sends three 'research payloads' into space Today's biggest stories A healthcare worker tests a child for COVID-19 at a drive-through testing site in Houston, Texas, December 29, 2021. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare COVID-19 Within weeks, the Omicron variant has fueled thousands of new COVID-19 hospitalizations among U.S. children, raising new concerns about how the many unvaccinated Americans under the age of 18 will fare in the new surge. A booster dose of Johnson & Johnson's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine was 84% effective at preventing hospitalization in South African healthcare workers who became infected as the Omicron variant spread, researchers said. Indian authorities started to impose stringent rules to prevent mass gatherings at parties and public venues ahead of new year celebrations as the nation sees a spike in infections. China's industrial and tech hub of Xian reported more than 100 new cases of COVID-19, taking its tally of locally transmitted infections to the highest in any Chinese city this year. Thousands of people left messages on the social media account of the late Chinese COVID-19 whistleblower Li Wenliang on the anniversary of the day he learned of possible pneumonia-causing virus cases in Wuhan and shared the information with fellow doctors. Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell sits as the guilty verdict in her sex abuse trial is read in a courtroom sketch in New York City, December 29, 2021. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg WORLD NEWS British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is going to appeal her conviction for setting up teenage girls to have sexual encounters with financier Jeffrey Epstein, but experts said she will struggle to clear the high legal bar needed to overturn the verdict. A 2009 settlement agreement between Epstein and Virginia Giuffre, which bears directly on Giuffre's civil lawsuit accusing Britain's Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, will be made public early next week. U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will speak today, as Washington crafts a common response to Russia's military build-up on the Ukraine border with European allies. Iran has used a satellite launch rocket to send three research devices into space, a defence ministry spokesman said, without clarifying if it reached orbit. Iran, which has one of the biggest missile programmes in the Middle East, has suffered several failed satellite launches in the past few years due to technical issues. A Myanmar insurgent group said it has buried the remains of more than 30 people who were killed and had their bodies set ablaze, as the U.N. Security Council called for accountability and an immediate end to violence in the country. South Africans lined up to pay their respects to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose body lay in state at St George's Cathedral in Cape Town where the anti-apartheid hero preached against racial injustice. MARKETS World stocks snapped a seven-day winning streak as the spread of Omicron worldwide clouded bumper year-to-date gains, dented oil prices and boosted the dollar. Chinese shares got a nearly 1% lift from Beijing signalling lower interest rates in 2022, though they are set to end 2021 down 5.5%. Shares of China Evergrande Group tumbled after the embattled real estate developer did not pay offshore coupons due earlier this week. The decline wiped out gains from earlier this week, when the market cheered the initial progress made by the firm in resuming construction work. SenseTime Group shares surged as much as 23% from their IPO price, adding billions of dollars to the artificial intelligence start-up's market value as it debuted in Hong Kong in the city's final major float for the year. Bitcoin close to $70,000, ‘memecoins’ worth billions of dollars, a blockbuster Wall Street listing and a sweeping Chinese crackdown: 2021 was the wildest yet for cryptocurrencies, even by the sector's volatile standards. We take a look at some of the major trends that dominated cryptocurrencies this year. Quote of the day "Journalism is not seditious ... but seditious activities could not be condoned under the guise of news reporting" Carrie Lam Hong Kong leader Hong Kong police charge two former Stand News editors with sedition Video of the day Timelapse shows snow dumping in Lake Tahoe December's snowfall measures up to 202.1 inches, breaking a 50-year record. And finally… 'You've won your weight in oysters!' - note in shells stops thieves When thieves stole three tonnes of oysters from French shellfish farmer Christophe Guinot, he came up with a solution: planting secret notes inside oyster shells to help police track down the thieves. More from Reuters COVID-19 The Great Reboot Disrupted Legal News Breakingviews Thanks for spending part of your day with us. Share your thoughts You are receiving this email because you signed up for newsletters from Reuters. No longer want to hear from us? Unsubscribe from The Reuters Daily Briefing. 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