Reuters World News - Swiss fire, Tesla and China’s ‘condom tax’

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

Switzerland faces the painful task of identifying victims of a deadly New Year bar fire at a ski resort. Tesla’s Q4 sales are expected to drop as the electric vehicle maker hopes for a better 2026. And China has removed a tax exemption on contraceptives to spur a flagging birth rate.  Listen to Morning Bid podcast ⁠here⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Find the Recommended Read⁠⁠ here.⁠ Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Kim Vinal in Wanganui, New Zealand. It's Friday, January 2nd. Today, Switzerland is left reeling after the death toll from a New Year's fire tops 40. Tesla hopes for a better 2026, and China launches a so-called condom tax to try and boost birth numbers. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. Residents of the Swiss ski resort Kranz Montana are in shock after a new year's fire killed dozens. Now a convoy of vans are waved through police tape to retrieve the dead. More than a hundred people are injured, most of them severely. Officials say the burns, the mostly young party goers suffered, was so severe that identifying the dead could take days.

Swiss federal president Guy Parmelan saying on a visit to the resort that efforts will be made to identify victims as efficiently as possible calling the fire one of the worst tragedies in Switzerland's history. Reuters correspondent to Emma Fage is there. What we know is mostly from witnesses and social media footage. The pictures on social media, some of which witnesses are starting to confirm, show sparkler candles in champagne bottles being carried through the bar. That caused the ceiling to catch fire. That spread very, very quickly throughout the bar and actually then cause some sort of explosion. Now, Swiss authorities are ruling out any sort of attack. This is being treated as an accident.

right now, but in a closed space with lots of people, apparently flammable materials, including wood, possibly other soft materials, this fire spread very, very quickly. Within minutes, we had a catastrophe where people were panicking and trying to get out. The identities have not been officially released from Swiss officials. We know that they're young people, also from social media footage. They have pictures of people and these are baby faces. Emma says the scale of the incident in the resort town has created paradoxical scenes. I arrived yesterday morning 24 hours ago. There's a lot of people in shock. So on the scene yesterday morning, New Year's Day, people were sort of walking about glassy-eyed just in disbelief. But then there's also people going

about their normal lives, their holidays. This is peak season. So you see ski instructors with their red outfits carrying their skis. You see children. You also see people from all over the world having a good time. So that's the scene. Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations of deadly attacks on New Year's Day. With Moscow reporting a deadly strike on a hotel and territory it occupies in southern Ukraine, while Kiev said there had been another broad attack on its power supplies. And a new twist in the back and forth over another allegation from earlier in the week that Ukraine tried to attack Russian President Vladimir Putin's residence.

Moscow says it has evidence which it will give to Washington. A senior Russian military chief handing over what he says is part of a Ukrainian drone to a US military attach, saying it contains data proving the drone was targeting Putin's house. Ukraine and Western countries have disputed Russia's account of the alleged attempted strike. Russia previously said it plans to review its negotiating stance with the US on ending the war in Ukraine as a result of the alleged attack. But with negotiations up in the air, Russia appears to be. asking Washington for a favor. Moscow has made a formal diplomatic request for the U.S. to stop

its pursuit of an oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean. That's according to a New York Times report. The tanker was headed to Venezuela when the U.S. Coast Guard gave chase, a chase which almost two weeks later is still ongoing. The U.S. has seized a number of oil tankers in the area and launched strikes on alleged drug boats, all part of a campaign by President Trump to heap pressure on Venezuela's president, Nicholas Maduro. Now, Tesla has had a tough 2025 as the loss of U.S. tax credits and rising global competition has weighed on demand.

Analysts expect Tesla to report falling fourth quarter deliveries and a second straight annual decline in vehicle sales. But as our correspondent up here, Europe Roy's reporting, the company's hoping 2026 will bring a more positive outlook. Well, sales for Tesla and frankly for the entire EV industry has been affected in the fourth quarter by the removal of US tax credits at the end of September. The expiring tax credits actually had boost sales in the third quarter, but Tesla's problems started much earlier. There's rising global competition against Tesla's aging lineup of vehicles. And early this year, there was a major backlash against Elon.

for his far-right political rhetoric and work for the Trump administration. Those actually hurt Tesla sales in the first and second quarter. Up Europe says Tesla has a bit of a balancing act to do in 2026. Analysts actually expect Tesla sales to recover in 2006 after Tesla launched stripped-down versions of its Model Y and Model 3 vehicles. Those are expected to help sales in Europe and Asia where Chinese heavies are gaining ground. But in the US, Tesla still faces stiff competition from a slew of affordable vehicles that are about to hit the market next year. But Elon Musk's big goal is to expand robot taxis and launch human-out robots.

Much of Tesla's valuation actually hangs on that big bet. And Elon Musk seems to have big hopes this year for another one of his companies, NeurLink. In a post on X, Musk says his brain implant company will begin, high-volume production of brain-computer interface devices this year and will move to fully automated surgeries to implant them. Neurrelink started human trials in 2024 after addressing FDA safety concerns and says it's since implanted 12 patients worldwide. Several people are reported to have died in Iran as protests over the cost of living have turned

violent. The semi-official Fars News Agency, says that three protesters were killed during an attack on a police station in the western province of Loristan. More deaths and arrests have been reported elsewhere on the country. Iran's clerical rulers are grappling with Western sanctions that have battered an economy already reeling from more than 40% inflation. Authorities are offering talks, but security forces remain on high alert. A so-called condom taxes come to the government.

come into effect in China. Really, it's a 13% tax increase on all contraceptives and as part of a wider effort by Beijing to encourage people to have more babies. China's declining birth rates were spurred on by the one-child policy which ended in 2015, which means there are fewer women to have babies in the first place. Faramaster in Hong Kong has more. China's been trying for the plus few years to increase the birth rate by offering subsidies, including those for housing and also like within universities and schools, trying to teach like love and marriage courses. So this year, they're really trying to make childcare cheaper. So they're trying to make preschools free and much of like middle school or high school. They're trying to ensure that the

cost of childcare is as low as possible. This is also happening at the same time that they're trying to make the cost of birth as low as possible, like making the costs of childbirth, including checkups, fully reimbursable on insurance. It's a big hindrance for many people just because it's so expensive. And for today's recommended read, a special report on just how Israel's truck bombs ripped through Gaza City. You can follow the link in the description

to see the report from our graphics team on how in the weeks before the ceasefire Israel deployed a new weapon. Armoured personnel carriers repurposed as explosive laden bombs. And as it's a Friday, we have a recommended listen too. So we want to let you know

about tomorrow's episode of our On Assignment podcast, which is all about Sirius Allewites. For more on any of the stories from today, you can check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.