REUTERS WORLD NEWS: Holmes Guilty, Prince Andrew & Epstein, Big Powers Nuke Pact, Toyota Bigest in US, More

The Reuters Daily Briefing

WORLD

• China, Russia, Britain, the United States and France have agreed that a further spread of nuclear arms and a nuclear war should be avoided, according to a joint statement by the five nuclear powers published by the Kremlin.
• Australian COVID-19 cases soared to a pandemic record as the Omicron variant ripped through most of the country, driving up hospitalization rates as the once-formidable testing regime buckled under lengthy wait times and stock shortages.
• A Hong Kong court sentenced a 36-year-old barrister to 15 months in prison for inciting an unauthorized assembly to commemorate those who died in China’s 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
• A former North Korean defector who made a risky and rare cross-border return home last week had struggled in South Korea, officials and media reports said, sparking fresh debate over how such defectors are treated in their new lives.
• Authorities said they had finally contained a suspected arson fire at South Africa’s parliament building after a second-day flare-up that completely destroyed the lower house National Assembly chamber.

MARKETS

World shares extended their positive start to 2022 with markets from Europe to Asia shrugging off worries the Omicron coronavirus variant could choke the global economic recovery, while the dollar rose after U.S. bond yields jumped.

Global manufacturing activity remained strong in December as factories took rising cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant in their stride, although persistent supply constraints and rising costs clouded the outlook for some economies.

China Evergrande Group’s shares soared briefly in resumed trade after the developer said a government order to demolish 39 buildings on the resort island of Hainan would not affect the rest of its massive project there. Investors in financial products issued by Evergrande protested outside the cash-strapped company’s offices in Guangzhou, with many worried that their returns would be sacrificed to keep real estate projects afloat.

Japanese automaker Toyota is poised to outsell General Motors in the United States in 2021, which would mark the first time the Detroit automaker has not led U.S. auto sales since 1931.

Tesla’s announcement that it has opened a showroom in Xinjiang has attracted criticism from U.S. rights and trade groups, making it the latest foreign firm caught up in tensions related to the far-western Chinese region.