And shares in Novo Nordisk have plummeted overnight.
Happy Wednesday and welcome to your morning wrap of the key political and business headlines from around the world.
First up, Russia has used a record number of ballistic missiles to target Ukraine’s energy sector, leaving more than 1000 tower blocks without heating as temperatures dropped well below freezing, the BBC reported.
Volodymyr Zelensky.
The combined missile and drone strikes hit power plants and key infrastructure in Kyiv, causing the “most powerful blow” this year, according to private energy company DTEK. The strikes were launched as temperatures dropped to -20°C, leaving thousands of buildings without power and forcing residents to spend the night sheltering in metro stations to escape the freezing cold.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was “choosing terror and escalation” rather than diplomacy to end the war and called for “maximum pressure” to be placed on Moscow by its allies.
The attack comes a week after an energy truce agreed by US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin ended last week. More than 70 ballistic and cruise missiles were fired – which is a lot more than usual – together with 450 drones, to overwhelm the country’s air defences, Zelensky said.
To the United Kingdom now, where London’s former ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, will step down from the House of Lords, The Guardian reported.
It comes after a series of emails came to light linking the former politician to Jeffrey Epstein, which indicated he leaked sensitive information to the late sex trafficker when he was business secretary in 2009. Police are reviewing claims of alleged misconduct in public office.
Meanwhile, Conservatives are planning to force a vote in the House of Commons tomorrow to compel the Government to publish more information related to Mandelson.
To Paris now, where French police, alongside Europol, have raided the offices of Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
According to Deutsche Welle, the platform is being investigated for a range of offences, including boosting engagement for far-right extremist content and allowing its AI chatbot to create sexualised deepfake images of women and children.
Prosecutors have also filed requests for “voluntary interviews” with Musk and former X chief executive Linda Yaccarino. The company has not yet commented.
Elon Musk.
In business news, Novo Nordisk’s US shares have plummeted 14% after the company said sales and profit growth are likely todeclining this year, as it has been hit by lower prices in the US and the loss of exclusivity for Wegovy and Ozempic in China, Brazil and Canada, CNBC reported.
The chief executive of the Danish pharmaceutical company, Mike Doustdar, said the company would face pricing headwinds in an increasingly competitive market. “However, we are very encouraged by the promising early uptake from the US launch of [the] Wegovy pill, and we remain confident in our ability to drive volume growth over the coming years.”
Novo’s share price fell 46.5% last year following a series of guidance cuts, leadership shake-ups and intensifying competition in the weight-loss drug market.
Staying with business, Walmart has become the first retailer to hit a trillion-dollar market capitalisation, Reuters reported.
The company, which is the biggest private employer in the United States, has been riding a year-long rally that has seen its share price rise nearly 26%. Its new valuation places it among the likes of tech giants Nvidia and Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
Its ascent has been notable because the company has managed to appeal to both low-income and higher-income customers. It was also an early adopter of artificial intelligence, pouring billions into automating its supply chain so it could stock fresher produce, speed up deliveries and provide better inventory forecasting.
"They've gone from just being the local retailer for good prices to really embracing technology. It's been a massive digital business transformation that this company has gone through over the last five years," Accuvest Global Advisors chief investment officer Eric Clark said.
Walmart.
However, there was a broader downward move in the US markets overnight.
At the time of publishing, all the major indexes were down, with the Nasdaq down by 2% at one point. Although the Dow Jones Industrials posted a new record high, the overall Dow index was lower. The falls were blamed on data service and software stocks dragging the broader market lower, following the release of an automaton tool for lawyers by artificial-intelligence firm Anthropic.
Bitcoin also continued to slide, hitting its lowest level since late 2024.
Finally this morning, Spain is the latest country to ban social media for under-16s, joining Australia, France and Denmark, CNN reported.
It will require platforms to employ strict age-verification tools.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said children were exposed to "a space of addiction, abuse, pornography, manipulation and violence" they were never meant to navigate alone. “We will no longer accept that. We will protect them from the digital Wild West.”
Speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Sánchez said his government would also introduce laws to hold social media executives criminally liable for failing to remove illegal or hateful content.
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