标题: 2022.08.23 美国敦促其公民离开乌克兰 [打印本页] 作者: shiyi18 时间: 2022-8-23 23:13 标题: 2022.08.23 美国敦促其公民离开乌克兰 America urged its citizens to leave Ukraine, saying it believes Russia will step up strikes against civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days. The statement from the American embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, follows a Ukrainian government ban on public celebrations of the country’s independence day on Wednesday. That day will also mark six months since Russia’s invasion.
Donald Trump sued America’s Department of Justice in an effort to freeze an investigation into confidential documents he allegedly stashed at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate. The former president wants a third-party “special master” appointed to review the evidence. He also demanded the FBI return items removed during a search of his home, if they were beyond the scope of its warrant. The New York Times reported that more than 300 classified documents had been recovered, some bearing “top secret” markings. Mr Trump said the raid was politically motivated.
Malaysia’s Federal Court upheld the conviction of Najib Razak, the former prime minister, on charges related to a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal at 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a state fund. Mr Najib was found guilty in July 2020 of illegally receiving about $10m from a former unit of 1MDB, charges that he denies. He was sentenced to 12 years in jail and a 210m ringgit ($46.8m) fine.
Shares on both the Nasdaq composite and the S&P 500 indexes closed down by more than 2%, in advance of a gathering of Federal Reserve bigwigs in Jackson Hole, Wyoming later this week. Wall Street had rallied impressively during the third quarter. However, investors are apparently worried that the Fed will use the meeting to entrench America’s hawkish monetary policy. Tech stocks were particularly hard hit.
Growth in Japan’s manufacturing sector slowed to its lowest level since January 2021 as stuttering global demand, rising costs and the continuing effects of the covid-19 pandemic hit the country’s factories. Au Jibun Bank’s purchasing managers’ index, a key benchmark, fell from 52.1 in July to 51 in August, preliminary readings showed.
Australia’s government will allow the construction of a fertiliser plant near an important Aboriginal heritage site on Western Australia’s Burrup peninsula. Some of the rock carvings, which include what are thought to be the oldest images of a human face, can now be moved to allow for construction. The plant’s backers, Perdaman Industries, said the A$4.5bn (US$3.1bn) urea plant will create 2,000 local jobs.
Elon Musk subpoenaed the co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, as part of his attempt to tear up a deal in which he agreed to buy the social-media network for $44bn. Mr Musk backed out of the agreement in July, accusing Twitter of misrepresenting the number of bots and spam accounts on its platform. The two sides have since sued each other; their trial is set to begin in October.
Fact of the day: 2,700, the estimated number of people killed because of terrorist violence in Mali so far this year, 40% more than in all of 2021. Read the full article.
Will the sun shine red in Florida?
PHOTO: EYEVINE
On Tuesday Floridians will head to the polls in the state’s last major primary of the year. Turnout and voters’ choices in the Sunshine State, which has drifted towards the Republican party in recent years, will be a gauge of the Democrats’ prospects in the mid-term elections.
Watch who Democrats choose as their gubernatorial candidate to challenge Ron DeSantis, the Republican incumbent. The most likely choices are Charlie Crist, a former governor, or Nikki Fried, the state’s commissioner of agriculture. But neither has the campaign chest nor the name recognition to beat the popular Mr DeSantis, who is among the top potential Republican presidential contenders for 2024.
Floridians will also pick the Democratic contender for the Senate. Val Demings, a former police chief in Orlando, is the only candidate who could mount a meaningful challenge to Marco Rubio, a Republican and the current senator, in November. Polls that show her leading against Mr Rubio have encouraged national Democratic donors to pile in.
The euro zone’s autumn of discontent
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
If recent surveys are any indication, growth in the euro zone is about to start slowing. The services sector, which had bounced back from a slowdown caused by the pandemic, is flagging as the tourist season ends. A severe energy crunch has probably already sent industry into recession. Tuesday's release of purchasing managers’ index figures is adding to the gloomy mood.
Both manufacturing and services indicators continued to slide, though a bit less than feared. That will still be a headache for Europe’s politicians and monetary authorities alike. Governments are already under pressure to combat soaring energy bills with price caps and cash transfers. A weaker economy could dry up tax revenues. Businesses may start asking for tax cuts or cash compensation, too. The European Central Bank knows that interest-rate increases, while necessary to contain inflation, will inflict economic pain. The autumn of discontent may begin early this year.
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Russia tries to set Syria straight
PHOTO: AP
While its war rages in Ukraine, Russia is struggling to stabilise its conflict-battered satellite in the Middle East, the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, is meeting his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, in Moscow on Tuesday. Syria wants assurances that Russia will not divert more forces away from Mr Assad’s civil war to the front in Ukraine. The Wagner Group, a shadowy Russian-backed private security contractor in Syria, has already scaled back its operations. Syria’s cash-poor government also desperately needs grain.
But Russia has demands, too. Turkey’s membership of NATO and location on the Black Sea makes its co-operation critical for Russia’s war in Ukraine. So Russia wants Mr Assad to make peace with his foe, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president. That would require Mr Assad to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees from Turkey and start reconciling with the Turkish-backed rebels in Syria’s north. But so far Russian efforts to push Mr Assad to accept a political settlement have come to nothing.
China’s JD.com trots forward
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
The worst is over for China’s embattled tech companies. But so is the best. Their share prices have bounced back from lows in March, but remain far below their peaks in early 2021. The ferocity of the long regulatory crackdown on the sector (including fines for unfair competition and stricter policing of data) has diminished somewhat. But China’s equally relentless fight against covid-19 has also hurt business.
Alibaba and Tencent both reported a decline in their revenues last quarter, compared with a year earlier. JD.com, a third tech giant, did better, reporting revenue growth of 5.4% on Tuesday. Unlike many tech companies, it owns much of its distribution network (employing over 220,000 delivery staff). That may have helped shield it from the worst of last quarter's supply-chain disruptions. The number of jobs it creates may also earn it some political goodwill. But the company’s growth will still be bridled. As one of its executives recently put it, there will be no return to “riding the horse without holding the reins”.
The first whistle blows for Ukrainian football
PHOTO: REUTERS
When Russia invaded, football, like so much else in Ukraine, ground to a halt. Foreign professional players fled the country while many of their Ukrainian counterparts enlisted. Clubs used their infrastructure to provide humanitarian relief. But on Tuesday the ball starts rolling again. The Ukrainian Premier League, the country’s top football division, returns for a new season. Fans will not be allowed in the stadiums, which will be fitted with air-raid shelters to protect players and officials in case of Russian shelling.
The restart is a calculated risk to help small clubs struggling for revenue. But it is also a boost to the country’s morale. The opening match between FC Shakhtar, a club exiled from the Russian-occupied province of Donetsk since 2014, and Metalist 1925 from Kharkiv, a city bombarded by the Russians, ended in a 0-0 draw. But this year survival, not football, is the name of the game.
Daily quiz
Our baristas will serve you a new question each day this week. On Friday your challenge is to give us all five answers and, as important, tell us the connecting theme. Email your responses (and include mention of your home city and country) by 1700 BST on Friday to QuizEspresso@economist.com. We’ll pick randomly from those with the right answers and crown one winner per continent on Saturday.
Tuesday: What was the traditional nickname for IBM, based on its logo?
Monday: What is the traditional title for an adult male Mormon who has taken the lowest office in the Melchizedek priesthood?
Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.
马来西亚联邦法院维持了对前总理纳吉布-拉扎克的定罪，他被指控与国家基金1Malaysia Development Berhad的数十亿美元的腐败丑闻有关。纳吉布先生于2020年7月被认定有罪，他从1MDB的一个前单位非法收取了约1000万美元，他否认了这些指控。他被判处12年监禁和2.1亿林吉特（4680万美元）的罚款。