The bot who stole Christmas

While the jury is still out as scientists scramble to analyze the latest variant of the deadly coronavirus, fears that the omicron strain is more easily transmitted or dangerous have informed widespread precautions, from travel bans to new mask mandates. In South Africa, where the new variant was first identified, those infected with it have shown very different symptoms than those suffering from the delta strain. And children under the age of 2 account for about 10% of total hospital admissions in the omicron variant’s current epicenter. U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday that vaccines, booster shots and masks are the best steps to take right now. “This variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic,” he said. Here’s where the omicron cases have been spotted, and the latest on the pandemic. —David E. Rovella

Bloomberg is tracking the coronavirus pandemic and the progress of global vaccination efforts.

Stocks climbed and bonds fell as a relative sense of calm returned to global markets, with investors reassessing their worst-case scenarios for the omicron strain. In a broad-based rally, the S&P 500 posted the biggest advance in more than a month, wiping out November losses. Here’s your markets wrap.

U.S. lawmakers have introduced a bill to crack down on “cyber Grinches.” Instead of a sled and obedient canine, these internet-savvy meanies are leveraging bots and the supply chain crunch to quickly snap up entire inventories of popular holiday toys—and resell them at higher prices.

A leak of 3.5 million documents shows how a Chinese-run company moved millions of dollars to former Congo President Joseph Kabila’s family and allies. Here’s how China cash flowed through a Congo bank to his cronies.

Jack Dorsey is stepping down as chief executive officer of Twitter, the controversial social media platform at the center of a global debate over how false information and hate speech have at times overwhelmed it and its social media peers. While Dorsey in recent years has made tentative efforts to fight nefarious uses of the app, his replacement is likely to focus more on products and technology.

An increasingly vocal faction of Chinese society views some green measures by Beijing as bending to the will of Western powers. This new, militant theory could become a big obstacle for President Xi Jinping and his pledges to step up in the fight against the climate crisis.

German inflation surged more than expected in November, complicating the European Central Bank’s mission to convince consumers that the current spike will soon ease. Spain and Belgium also reported big jumps.

On Australia’s east coast, roughly 200 miles from the Great Barrier Reef, a single coal mine run by Glencore emitted so much super-warming methane in a year that it had the same impact as the annual pollution from more than 4 million U.S. cars. It’s one of a group of mines in Australia that are more responsible than most for fueling catastrophic global warming. And that’s just from the coal mining process, before this dirtiest of fossil fuels is even burned.

A metal plaque marks the entrance to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters. Using the words of President Abraham Lincoln, it recites the agency’s marching orders to “care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.” The problem is that not Lincoln, nor the VA for that matter, could have envisioned the growing industry of middlemen profiting off of poor disabled veterans, or their families, as they struggle to live their final years final years with dignity.

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