| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Wednesday, January 26, 2022 by Linda Noakes | Hello Here's what you need to know. Russia holds military drills before four-way Ukraine talks, an inflation-fighting Fed is likely to flag a March rate hike, and the New York state mask mandate is back in effect | | | | | Today's biggest stories  A woman points a weapon during a military training session for employees of essential city industries and services outside Lviv, Ukraine, January 25, 2022. REUTERS/Roman Baluk WORLD
Russia warned that imposing sanctions on President Vladimir Putin personally would not hurt him but would be "politically destructive", after U.S. President Joe Biden said he would consider such a move if Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia held military drills and deployed more forces and fighter jets to Belarus for exercises next month as officials prepared to sit down for four-way talks in Paris on the conflict in east Ukraine.
North Korea's internet appears to have been hit by a second wave of outages in as many weeks, possibly caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, researchers said. The latest incident came a day after North Korea conducted its fifth missile test this month.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson must change the culture of Downing Street after a series of revelations that staff partied while ordinary people were grappling with COVID-19 lockdowns, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said. Johnson is braced for the publication of an official investigation into claims of multiple boozy parties.
Humanitarian aid to Tonga is ramping up after the airport was cleared of ash, making it safe for planes to land, the Red Cross said, days after a volcanic eruption and tsunami devastated the South Pacific archipelago.
Fears are growing for hundreds of children in a Syrian prison seized by Islamic State inmates, after six days of clashes with Kurdish-led fighters seeking to regain control of the facility. "Every day counts. It's very hard to even imagine what atrocities these children are witnessing," Juliette Touma, UNICEF's Middle East and North Africa regional advocacy and communications head, told Reuters. |  Medical staff treat a COVID patient in the Intensive Care Unit at the Providence Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, California, January 25, 2022. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton U.S. The Omicron variant appears to result in less severe COVID-19 than seen during previous periods of high coronavirus transmission including the Delta wave, with shorter hospital stays, less need for intensive care and fewer deaths, according to a new U.S. study. However, the variant has led to record numbers of infections and hospitalizations, straining the U.S. healthcare system.
An appeals court judge granted a stay in an appeal over mask mandates in New York, keeping the rule in effect during the legal process, New York Attorney General Letitia James said.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she will run for a 19th term in office, without saying whether she would seek to remain in her Democratic leadership role.
A man who pleaded guilty to a felony charge after throwing objects at police during the attack on the U.S. Capitol and boasting about his actions on social media is set to be sentenced by a federal judge today.
San Jose in California has backed legislation to become the first U.S. city requiring gun owners to have insurance coverage for their weapons.
| BUSINESS The Federal Reserve is expected to signal plans to raise interest rates in March as it focuses on fighting inflation and sets aside, at least for now, economic risks posed by the ongoing pandemic, a bout of market volatility, and Western fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Investors are worrying about a hawkish Fed hurting growth, and even theorizing over the next recession.
Microsoft forecast revenue for the current quarter broadly ahead of Wall Street targets, driven in part by its Intelligent Cloud unit. The outlook soothed concerns about growth sparked by results for the December quarter.
Intel won its appeal against a $1.2 billion EU antitrust fine handed down to the U.S. chipmaker twelve years ago for stifling a rival, in a major setback for EU antitrust regulators.
Apple achieved its highest-ever market share in China in the fourth quarter, when it was the top-selling vendor there for the first time in six years, research firm Counterpoint Research reported.
China Evergrande Group and its financial advisers will hold a call with investors today, sources said, the first such call since it defaulted on some dollar bond payments last month.
| | | | | | | | | Quote of the day "We anticipate an exodus of foreigners, probably the largest that Hong Kong has ever seen, and one of the largest in absolute terms from any city in the region in recent history" European Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong may maintain COVID isolation until 2024 | | | | Video of the day  Snowstorm traps thousands on Greek roads Greece shut down non-essential services and called a public holiday as the country battled a rare storm that left scores of people trapped in their vehicles. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
