Friday Briefing: Ukraine hit by cyberattack, Russia moves more troops

The Reuters Daily Briefing Friday, January 14, 2022 by Linda Noakes Hello Here's what you need to know. A suitcase of alcohol and a broken swing - details emerge of another Downing Street lockdown party, Djokovic has his Australian visa canceled again, and Google puts its faith in the future of the office. Today's biggest stories Snipers of the Russian armed forces take part in military exercises at the Kadamovsky range in the Rostov region, Russia, January 13, 2022. REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov WORLD Ukraine was hit by a massive cyberattack warning its citizens to "expect the worst", and Russia, which has massed more than 100,000 troops on its neighbor's frontier, released television pictures of more forces deploying in a drill. We look at Russia's military options on Ukraine. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's authority took yet another hit after revelations that his staff had partied in Downing Street as Queen Elizabeth mourned her husband, at a time when mixing indoors was banned. Here are the lockdown party allegations facing Johnson. Unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic asked an Australian court to block his deportation ahead of the Australian Open after the government cancelled his visa for the second time over COVID-19 entry regulations. Here's a timeline of Djokovic's Australian saga. Hundreds of thousands of Hindu worshippers gathered on the banks of India's Ganges river for a holy bathe despite a 30-fold rise in coronavirus cases in the past month. Hindus believe a bathe in the holy river on the Makarsankranti festival washes away sins. Hong Kong will suspend for a month transit flights from around 150 countries and territories considered high risk because of the coronavirus, deepening the global financial hub's isolation. Hong Kong is following mainland China's zero-tolerance approach to control COVID-19. U.S. President Joe Biden arrives to deliver remarks on the administration's COVID-19 surge response, in the South Court Auditorium at the White House, January 13, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque U.S. The U.S. Supreme Court blocked President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccination-or-testing mandate for large businesses - a policy the conservative justices deemed an improper imposition on the lives and health of many Americans - while endorsing a separate federal vaccine requirement for healthcare facilities. Biden's attempt to rally Democrats to alter Senate rules and pass voting-rights legislation was stymied, even before he arrived at the Capitol, by opposition from a key moderate lawmaker. The founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers group, Stewart Rhodes, is due in a federal court in Plano, Texas, to face seditious conspiracy charges for his alleged role in the deadly attack on the Capitol. Here are excerpts of communications that Rhodes had with his allies. The House of Representatives committee investigating the attack on the Capitol subpoenaed Facebook parent Meta, Google parent Alphabet, Twitter and Reddit, seeking information about how their platforms were used to help spread misinformation and violent extremism. California Governor Gavin Newsom said he has denied parole to Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian refugee serving a life prison sentence for assassinating U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. BUSINESS Bank of Japan policymakers are debating how soon they can start telegraphing an eventual interest rate hike, which could come even before inflation hits the bank's 2% target, sources say, emboldened by broadening price rises and a more hawkish Federal Reserve. Biden has picked former Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin for the Fed's key regulatory post and two Black economists - Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson - to serve on its board in what would represent a landmark demographic overhaul of the world's most powerful central bank. We look at how Raskin's nomination would put Wall Street on notice. Britain's economy grew strongly in November to finally surpass its size just before the country went into its first COVID-19 lockdown, official data showed. The world's fifth-biggest economy expanded by a much faster than expected 0.9%, leaving it 0.7% bigger than it was in February 2020. Tech giant Google has spent $1 billion to buy a central London building where it is currently a tenant, showing its confidence in the future of the office as a place to work. EDF's shares slumped as much as 25% and were set for their worst day of trading after the French government ordered the utility to sell more cheap nuclear power to rivals to limit the rise in electricity prices. Three months ahead of a presidential election, President Emmanuel Macron's government is facing mounting public pressure over the rising cost of living. Quote of the day "The North Korea hypersonic weapon system will undoubtedly become better. This is bad news for everyone" North Korea’s 'hypersonic missile' tests raise military stakes in Asia Video of the day Sharp rocks and sleepless nights for Taiwan's frogmen Scraping his body against a seemingly endless path of jagged rocks and coral, 26-year-old Wu Yu-wei screams as he crawls over the finish line of the 'Road to Heaven', marking the end of a grueling 10-week training course. And finally… Second alien moon identified is much like the first: big and strange For only the second time, astronomers have detected what appears to be a moon orbiting a planet in another solar system. 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. Terms, conditions, and privacy statement © 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036