Here’s what we’re following right now:

🦠 China's daily Covid cases climbed to the highest of the pandemic, hitting 29,754 — a challenge to officials told to be more targeted with virus curbs. https://bloom.bg/3Vqncr9

🇺🇸 Federal Reserve officials at their meeting earlier this month concluded it would soon be appropriate to slow the pace of rate hikes. https://bloom.bg/3EWZnlp

💻 Nintendo’s latest blockbuster release for the Switch — Pokémon Scarlet and Violet — is the company’s biggest debut on any platform, scoring 10 million sales globally in its first three days. https://bloom.bg/3OB8ewC

🦠 A clash between police and workers in the sprawling Chinese complex known as iPhone City shows how grim conditions have become under China’s Covid Zero policy. Read The Big Take https://bloom.bg/3GEvlV0

🇲🇾 The ringgit surges for a second day to become Asia's best-performing currency, as investors await Anwar Ibrahim's cabinet lineup https://bloom.bg/3gwpDKf

🪙 Crypto billionaire Changpeng “CZ” Zhao says he's aiming to create a roughly $1 billion fund for the potential purchase of distressed digital assets https://bloom.bg/3VmDTnw

🇨🇳 Heavy police presence in China's major cities deterred a repeat of the weekend’s protests against strict Covid rules. Here's all you need to know about the demonstrations. https://bloom.bg/3ORIKLp

🍎 Elon Musk's new gambit for Twitter could be his riskiest yet: a war with Apple. https://bloom.bg/3V8hFG9

🇮🇳 Can this Indian startup city become the next Singapore or Dubai? https://bloom.bg/3U9k2as

📈 Chinese stocks rallied nearly 4% in Hong Kong and the yuan climbed to its highest level since September as more cities relax Covid testing rules following protests. https://bloom.bg/3EYy753

🛢 The pivot from China's strict Covid policy is one of the factors contributing to the volatility of the oil market, prompting OPEC+ to keep production steady. EU sanctions and a price cap on Russian oil also kick in Monday. https://bloom.bg/3UBiqq6

🏗 Here's why Joko Widodo's ambitious $34 billion plan to build a new Indonesian capital is falling apart. https://bloom.bg/3uneT43

⚠️ Professional investors are betting a recession can be avoided despite all the warnings to the contrary. Here's why it's a dangerous move. https://bloom.bg/3izzcsl

👀 Former Chinese President Hu Jintao was seen in public for the first time since his mysterious exit at a key party meeting last month. He attended a tribute for Jiang Zemin, the recently deceased former leader who led China's boom after the Tiananmen crackdown. https://bloom.bg/3VYo86J

🏥 The treatments that saved the lives of patients with severe Covid have come at a cost, with some continuing to suffer "nightmarish" effects long after leaving the ICU. https://bloom.bg/3HiSGMp

😷 China is set to further relax Covid rules, allowing home quarantine as a nationwide policy and scrapping “unnecessary” testing, as soon as Wednesday. https://bloom.bg/3HgnKw0

🤝 Meanwhile, Xi Jinping is getting the red-carpet treatment in Saudi Arabia for a regional summit that will give the Chinese leader and Prince Mohammed bin Salman a chance to showcase the Gulf’s deepening ties with Beijing. https://bloom.bg/3FaprIU

💰 The $300 billion fortune of the world’s richest family eclipses even the Waltons' wealth. https://bloom.bg/3HgBkzp

🇵🇪 Peru President Pedro Castillo triggered a political crisis by attempting to dissolve congress in what the constitutional tribunal described as a coup. Vice President Dina Boluarte took over as head of state after Castillo was impeached and detained. https://bloom.bg/3iISDz2

🩸 Former Theranos COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani was sentenced to 13 years in prison for fraud, a longer term than Elizabeth Holmes. https://bloom.bg/3Y6uEtH

💸 Emerging-market debt is sliding into distress. Ghana, which once pitched itself as business-friendly and politically stable, is now a cautionary tale as it seeks a $3 billion IMF bailout. https://bloom.bg/3iNwYWB

🇨🇳 The abrupt end of Covid Zero may push the death toll above 2 million and overwhelm China with infections. https://bloom.bg/3UHa8wP

🪫 Tesla investors are increasingly worried Elon Musk is distracted with overhauling Twitter. The carmaker's stock is under renewed pressure after having lost more than $500 billion in market value this year. https://bloom.bg/3BpDcSP

🌾 Rebel farmers are fighting back against climate rules that they say make it impossible to feed the world and stay in business. https://bloom.bg/3BnMXRr

🪙 Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced co-founder of FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas after the US government filed a criminal indictment. https://bloom.bg/3FNsYOM

🍸 Hong Kong is scrapping some of its remaining Covid restrictions, following China’s rapid shift away from the zero-tolerance approach. The changes allow international arrivals to go to bars and restaurants. https://bloom.bg/3WbgtBR

👋 And BTS fans gathered near an army training base to say farewell to Jin, the oldest member of the K-pop supergroup, as he started his 18 months of mandatory military service. https://bloom.bg/3iNCZ5q

💵 The Fed made its last rate hike of the year and says it isn't done with efforts to vanquish inflation — but Wall Street investors don't quite buy it. https://bloom.bg/3V0TvN5

🪣 The Bahamas jail housing Sam Bankman-Fried had a rat and maggot infestation as well as buckets for toilets, a 2020 report said. It could change his mind on extradition to the US. https://bloom.bg/3VZ2i3h

📛 A racist tweet during the European Championship set off a firestorm in the UK, and an elite London firm found its toxic culture at the center of the fight. https://bloom.bg/3Wcs2ZS

BREAKING: Twitters users have told Elon Musk to step down as the site's chief, in a poll the billionaire said he would respect.

About 58% of the 17.5 million votes cast were in favor of Musk stepping back from the leadership role, a sharp rebuke of his chaotic tenure less than two months since he took over.

http://bit.ly/3PEw1fj

🗳️ Elon Musk says Twitter will restrict voting on major policies to paying subscribers, in one of his first tweets after a poll found he should step down. https://bloom.bg/3Vc9jwt

🦠 The US is concerned China’s runaway Covid outbreak might spawn new mutations of the virus. https://bloom.bg/3BNEp6S

🕳️ The tech bust is hollowing out San Francisco, as empty offices, a crypto meltdown and crime deepen the pain. https://bloom.bg/3hFFsyA

Former FTX executive Gary Wang and Alameda Research chief Caroline Ellison have pleaded guilty to criminal charges and are cooperating with US prosecutors, who are probing the crypto platform's collapse.

Sam Bankman-Fried has been extradited back to the US and is expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday. https://bloom.bg/3HVQQBo

Nearly 37 million people in China may have been infected with Covid-19 on a single day this week, according to estimates from the government’s top health authority.


As many as 248 million people, or nearly 18% of the population, likely contracted the virus in the first 20 days of December, according to minutes from an internal meeting that were confirmed with people involved in the discussions.


If accurate, the infection rate would dwarf the previous daily record of about 4 million, set in January 2022. https://bloom.bg/3CkO19t

Amazon is laying off more than 18,000 employees in the latest sign that a technology slump is deepening.

The reduction, a significantly bigger number than previously planned, is concentrated in the firm’s corporate ranks, mostly its retail division and human resources functions like recruiting. https://bloom.bg/3CoSyaT

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a shock resignation despite being expected to seek a third term in this year's election.
The country is set to hold elections in October. The Labour party will now need to elect a new leader in the coming days, which is expected to conclude no later than Feb. 7 allowing Ardern to resign. https://bloom.bg/3iRAfV9

Cryptocurrency lender Genesis Global Capital filed for bankruptcy, the latest firm to collapse in the aftermath of FTX’s swift downfall.

The firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday in the Southern District of New York, court documents show. It said its estimated assets and liabilities range between $1 billion to $10 billion. https://bloom.bg/3kskapi

Google parent Alphabet said it will eliminate about 12,000 jobs, more than 6% of its global workforce, becoming the latest tech giant to retrench after years of abundant growth and hiring.

The layoffs will affect jobs globally and across the entire company, CEO Sundar Pichai told employees in an email on Friday, writing that he takes “full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.” https://bloom.bg/3kwNmeT

Ken Griffin’s Citadel churned out a record $16 billion in profit for clients last year, outperforming the rest of the industry and surpassing the "greatest trade ever."

The top 20 hedge fund firms collectively generated $22.4 billion in profit after fees, according to estimates by LCH Investments, a fund of hedge funds. Citadel’s gain was the largest annual return for a hedge fund manager, surpassing the $15 billion that John Paulson generated on his bet against subprime mortgages. https://bloom.bg/3D6rhdq

The US Justice Department is poised to sue Alphabet’s Google as soon as Tuesday regarding the search giant’s dominance over the digital advertising market, according to people familiar with the matter.

The case is expected to be filed in federal court before the end of the week, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing a confidential matter. https://bloom.bg/3QXOzYQ