| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Monday, October 24, 2022 by Rossalyn Warren | Hello Here's what you need to know. Britain's race for a new prime minister reaches the final stage, Western countries accuse Russia of plotting to use 'dirty bomb', and Biden reassures voters he's not too old to run for re-election. | | | | | Today's biggest stories  An elderly woman sells flowers at a stop of public transport, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine October 23, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko WORLD NEWS Rishi Sunak looks set to become Britain's next prime minister after his rival Boris Johnson quit the race. Sunak, the 42-year-old former finance minister, could become Britain's third prime minister in less than two months. Penny Mordaunt is also still in the leadership race and is gaining endorsements.
In Ukraine, Russia fired missiles and drones into the Ukrainian-held southern town of Mykolaiv, destroying an apartment block, and said the war was trending towards "uncontrolled escalation" in a flurry of telephone calls to Western defense ministers. Western countries also accused Russia on Monday of plotting to use a threat of a bomb laced with nuclear material as a pretext for escalation in Ukraine.
Several thousand protesters denouncing Moldova's pro-Western leaders marched through the capital for the sixth consecutive Sunday. The demonstrators decried steep price increases, particularly for gas bought from Russia. They called for the resignation of President Maia Sandu and her government.
As President Emmanuel Macron meets Pope Francis today, a group of victims of sexual abuse says the Catholic church is reacting too slowly to a report revealing assaults by French clergy on more than 200,000 children. The group is urging Macron to raise the issue directly after the report detailed how the church repeatedly silenced victims.
Uganda has reported nine more Ebola cases in the capital Kampala, bringing the total number of known infections to 14 in the last two days. The outbreak began in September in a rural part of central Uganda. It spread earlier this month to Kampala, a city of more than 1.6 million people. |  FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks about student debt relief at Delaware State University in Dover, Delaware, U.S., October 21, 2022. REUTERS/Leah Millis U.S. NEWS President Joe Biden sought to reassure Democratic voters who have doubts about whether the 79-year-old should run for re-election, saying he's in "good health," though he acknowledged his age is a "legitimate" voter worry. Already the oldest president in American history, Biden would be 86 if he served out a second term. He has repeatedly said he will run for re-election in 2024.
Biden is also set to get his updated COVID-19 vaccine this week, after only 20 million people in the United States have received an updated COVID vaccine through last week. The United States started rolling out the updated COVID shots in September, designed to take on the circulating BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants and the original version of the virus.
In a TV interview, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said former President Donald Trump is too much of a "coward" to obey a subpoena from the U.S. Congress compelling him to testify to a special committee investigating his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. "We'll see if he's man enough to show up," she added.
In Round Rock, a rapidly growing and diversifying suburb of Austin, parents are forming political action committees, canvassing door-to-door and sparring on social media over the teaching of critical race theory, LGBTQ-friendly policies, and more. The battle in Austin - which has echoes around the country - is an outgrowth of a surge of activism during the COVID-19 pandemic, when parents angry over mask and vaccine mandates disrupted school board meetings from Florida to Alaska. | BUSINESS & MARKETS Toyota is considering a reboot of its electric-car strategy to better compete in a booming market it has been slow to enter, and has halted some work on existing EV projects, four people with knowledge of the still-developing plans said. The proposals would rewrite the $38-billion EV rollout plan they announced last year to better compete with the likes of Tesla.
Tesla has cut starter prices for its Model 3 and Model Y cars by as much as 9% in China, reversing a trend of increases across the industry amid signs of softening demand in the world's largest auto market. The price cuts come after Tesla began offering limited incentives to buyers who opted for Tesla's insurance last month.
Credit Suisse has agreed to pay France 238 million euros ($234 million) to settle a tax fraud and money laundering case, putting another legal headache behind it as it prepares a strategic overhaul. The agreement resolves an investigation in France over whether the Swiss bank, which is trying to recover from losses and scandals, helped clients to avoid paying tax on their wealth.
Philips' new CEO announced plans to cut around 4,000 jobs following falling sales and after a massive recall slashed around 70% off the Dutch medical equipment maker's market value in the past year. He described the layoffs, which will be concentrated in the United States and the Netherlands and primarily affecting business lines with falling sales, as "unfortunate, but necessary."
Saudi Arabia is in advanced negotiations to order almost 40 A350 jets from Europe's Airbus as part of strategic efforts to launch a new airline and challenge heavyweight carriers in the Gulf, industry sources said. The choice of supplier is widely seen as politically charged as the Saudi gathering takes place amid deepening tensions between Washington and Riyadh, two industry sources said. | | | | | | | | | | | Video of the day  The power of one: China's Xi secures third term China's Xi Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third leadership term, and introduced a new Politburo Standing Committee stacked with loyalists, cementing his place as the country's most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
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