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The World
Ukraine’s armed forces began calling up military reservists as fears of all-out war increased after a night of heavy shelling from the Russian-controlled areas Donetsk and Luhansk, including attacks using Grad rockets. A nationwide state of emergency is to be declared in response to the threat of Russian invasion. The Ukrainian authorities are preparing to evacuate civilians from the town of Schastya, whose name means “happiness”, on the front line with pro-Russian separatists. (The Times)
A cyberattack hit Ukrainian government websites and banks, the country's digital minister confirmed on Telegram. The websites of Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers, parliament Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, as well as the web pages of multiple banks were affected by Wednesday's “mass distributed denial-of-service attack," according to Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov. (Axios)
Vladimir Putin’s chief of staff and his defense minister are set to be blacklisted by the EU as part of the bloc’s first round of sanctions against Russia for its renewed aggression against Ukraine. Anton Vaino, chief of staff in Putin’s presidential executive office, and Sergei Shoigu, defense minister, are among 27 people and entities named in a list of restrictive measures agreed by the EU’s member states seen by the Financial Times and set to be published on Wednesday. (Financial Times)
US considers permanent base in eastern Europe as it sends troops and jets to NATO frontiers. (The Times)
A more infectious type of the Omicron variant has surged to account for more than a third of global Covid-19 cases sequenced recently, adding to the debate about whether countries are ready for full reopening. Health authorities are examining whether the subvariant of Omicron, known as BA.2, could extend the length of Covid-19 waves that have peaked recently in Europe, Japan and some other places. “We’re looking not only at how quickly those peaks go up, but how they come down,” World Health Organization epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said. “And as the decline in cases occurs…we also need to look at: Is there a slowing of that decline? Or will we start to see an increase again?” (Wall Street Journal)
Sanofi-GSK vaccine results show 100% efficacy against severe disease: The vaccine, made by the Europe-based pharmaceutical companies Sanofi and GSK, is one of four candidates that received billions of dollars for development from Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s program to accelerate vaccines. (New York Times)
Hong Kong launched a new round of financial handouts as the city struggles to contain China’s biggest outbreak of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, even as economists warned the city’s zero-Covid strategy was “unsustainable”. Paul Chan, finance secretary, said the government would give spending vouchers of HK$10,000 (US$1,280) to 6.6mn adult residents, as the city reels from an outbreak of the Omicron coronavirus variant that has overwhelmed the healthcare system and government quarantine facilities. (Financial Times)
National guard troops to be deployed in DC as trucker convoy protests loom: The Pentagon is expected to approve the deployment of 700 to 800 unarmed national guard troops to the nation’s capital, a US official said on Tuesday, in the face of trucker convoys that are planning protests against pandemic restrictions beginning next week. The District of Columbia government and the US Capitol police are requesting the national guard assistance. The troops would be used largely to help control traffic and are expected to come from the district’s national guard and three states, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss aid not yet formally approved. (Associated Press)
Canada tells banks to unfreeze freedom-convoy accounts. (Wall Street Journal)
Wildfires that have devastated California, Australia and Siberia will become 50% more common by the end of the century, according to a new report that warns of uncontrollable blazes ravaging previously unaffected parts of the planet. The escalating climate crisis and land-use change are driving a global increase in extreme wildfires, with a 14% increase predicted by 2030 and a 30% increase by 2050, according to a UN report involving more than 50 international researchers. (The Guardian)
Economy
The hot U.S. housing market extended into the new year as buyers rushed to purchase homes in the face of record-low inventory and climbing mortgage rates. Existing-home sales rose 6.7% in January from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.5 million, with home sales increasing in regions across the country. January sales fell 2.3% from a year earlier. (Wall Street Journal)
Rio Tinto pays $16.8bn dividend as commodity prices soar: Rio Tinto is to pay a dividend of $16.8 billion for 2021, the second biggest payout in British corporate history, after cashing in on soaring commodity prices. The Anglo Australian mining group said that net earnings more than doubled to $21 billion thanks to higher prices for the iron ore. (The Times)
A handful of companies are seeking to become the first China-headquartered businesses to go public in the US since July, in a test of regulators’ willingness to accept new listings after clampdowns on both sides of the Pacific. Six China and Hong Kong-based groups filed new or updated documents with the US SEC for an IPO on the Nasdaq exchange in January. (Financial Times)
America’s power grid is increasingly unreliable: Behind a rising number of outages are new stresses on the system caused by aging power lines, a changing climate and a power-plant fleet rapidly going green. (Wall Street Journal)
As the American electric grid becomes less dependable, a growing number of businesses and homeowners are buying their own power systems to protect themselves from being left in the dark. 20 years ago, only 0.57% of U.S. homes worth $150,000 or more had installed backup generators, mainly along hurricane-prone coastlines. Now the number is 5.75%, a 10-fold increase. Manufacturers delivered more than 143,000 generators last year in North America, up from 138,778 in 2015, despite pandemic-related supply-chain logjams, said Lucrecia Gomez, a research director at consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. Microgrids, which can create islands of power for campuses, businesses or neighborhoods amid a blackout, grew more than sevenfold between 2010 and 2019. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Microsoft new security chief, Charlie Bell, has a message for companies and institutions buffeted by a seemingly never-ending string of cyberattacks: Take shelter in the cloud. Microsoft has built a $15 billion business—and one of the world’s biggest private cyber armies—to counter cyberattacks, but the storm of threats is expanding. U.S. banks flagged nearly $600 million in ransomware payments during the first six months of 2021, and cybersecurity experts put the cost of that much higher. Corporate and public networks are also under siege from scammers looking to steal their money and government-backed hackers looking to steal their secrets. “It’s sort of like the mother of all problems,” said Mr. Bell in his first interview since joining Microsoft from Amazon last year. “If you don’t solve it, all the other technology stuff just doesn’t happen.” (Wall Street Journal)
Apple employees are unionizing and they’re using Android phones to keep Apple from spying on them. (Futurism)
Salesforce employees blast company’s NFT plans over economic and environmental concerns. (Protocol)
Elon Musk accuses the SEC of ‘leaking’ information from a federal investigation in retaliation against his public criticisms. (The Verge)
China is recording 16,000 metaverse-related trademarks, despite government warnings over “market hype”. (The South China Morning Post)
Experts are debating the most dangerous emerging technology, from AI to CRISPR to Facial Recognition. (Gizmodo)
Crypto exchange FTX is creating a gaming unit to encourage cryptocurrency and NFT adoption. (The Verge)
Smart Links
Next bitcoin bull run won’t be until 2024, says top crypto exchange co-founder. (CNBC)
India’s IT sector is battling a hiring ‘crisis’, says Saleforce’s India chief. (Financial Times)
Retailers seek real-world profits in the metaverse. (Financial Times)
More than 1,000 Hershey’s workers vote on plan to unionize Virginia plant. (The Guardian)