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Год выпуска: September 2024
Автор: The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group
Жанр: Экономика/Политика
Издательство: «The Economist Newspaper Ltd»
Формат: PDF (журнал на английском языке)
Качество: OCR
Количество страниц: 80
AMERICA’S KILLER CARS
- America's roads are nearly twice as dangerous as the rich-world average: leader, page 9.
- Our calculations show that the heaviest vehicles kill more people than they save, page 21.
China’s looking-glass economy
- An information void threatens to do the country grave harm: leader, page 10, and briefing, page 17.
- The world's second-biggest economy is suffering from a crisis of confidence, page 60.
Germany’s radicals rise
- As extremists win more votes across Europe, forming moderate and effective governments is getting harder: leader, page 11.
- The results of east Germany’s state elections are putting the party system under unprecedented strain, page 42.
Where Elon Musk is right
- Liberals should oppose a crackdown on speech, not cheer it on: leader, page 14.
- Governments are pushing against encrypted messaging apps, page 51.
Mexico’s democracy at risk
A supreme challenge looms for the rule of law in Mexico, and for the incoming president, page 12.
Claudia Sheinbaum's presidency will begin mired in constitutional chaos, page 27.
The world this week Politics
- At least 50 people were killed when Russian missiles struck a military college in Poltava, a town in central Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky promised that “the Russian scum will definitely be held accountable” for the attack, and again pleaded for more air-defence systems from the West. Russia paid no notice, attacking Ukraine again and killing seven people in Lviv, a city close to the Polish border that has been relatively unscathed in the two-year conflict. Mr Zelensky overhauled the top echelons of his government, ousting Dmytro Kuleba as foreign minister. Earlier, the president sacked the head of the air force after an F-16 crashed, killing a pilot.
- Vladimir Putin took a trip to Mongolia, the first visit by the Russian president to a member-country of the International Criminal Court since the court issued a warrant for his arrest 18 months ago. The ICC and Ukraine urged Mongolia to take Mr Putin into custody, but instead he was whisked away for talks held in a yurt. Mongolia gets almost all its petrol from Russia. One of the iCC’s current judges is Mongolian.
- In Germany the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) won its first-ever state election, taking 33% of the vote in Thuringia, which includes the town of Weimar. It will not be able to form a state government, however, as no other party will work with it. In Saxony, another former East German state, the AfD came a close second, with 31% of the vote, behind the Christian Democrats, on 32%. The two state elections were a disaster for the federal ruling coalition. The Social Democrats, Greens and liberals all saw their share of the vote fall to single digits.
- More than a dozen members of the nationalist Turkish Youth Union were arrested for assaulting two American marines who were on leave in Izmir, a city on Turkey’s Aegean coast. One of the marines had a hood put over his head.
Risk calculation
- Twelve migrants lost their lives when their boat sank off rhe French coast. Another 30 migrants have perished attempting to cross the English Channel so far this year, while 22,000 have made it to Britain. Migrants make perilous journeys via several routes to get to Europe, the most dangerous being across the Mediterranean Sea from Africa (some of those crossing the channel previously traversed the Mediterranean). This year 1,300 are dead or missing, out of 110,000 who made it over the sea.
- Conservative MPs in Britain held the first round of a leadership contest to replace Rishi Sunak, who was prime minister until he lost an election in July. Robert Jen rick, a former immigration minister, won the first ballot, followed by Kemi Badenoch, a no-nonsense anti-woke candidate. The remaining five candidates face further knockout rounds until the final two are put to a vote of party members.
- The bodies of six hostages were recovered from Gaza. Forensic evidence suggested that they had survived in captivity for around 330 days before being murdered by Hamas shortly before they were found by Israeli soldiers. The news prompted the big-gestdemonstrations in Israel since the start of the war, as protesters blamed the government for failing to secure the release of the hostages. Unions called for a general strike, though this was called off after a few hours by a court order.
- The US Department of Justice indicted senior Hamas officials, including Yahya Sin war, the group’s leader in Gaza, on charges related to the October 7th attacks, such as conspiracy to murder Americans.
- The Pentagon’s Central Command said commandos had carried out an extensive counter-terrorism operation against Islamic State in Iraq (with the help of Iraqi forces) killing 15 of the group’s “operatives”. CENTCOM has warned that the number of IS attacks in Iraq and Syria is set to double this year.
- Tunisia’s electoral commission approved just two candidates to run in October’s presidential election against Kais Saied, the incumbent, who is accused of trying to restrict the opposition against him. One of the approved candidates, Ayachi Zammel, was then arrested.
- Robert Kyagulanyi, the Ugandan opposition leader better known as Bobi Wine, was injured in an altercation with police. His party says he was hit by a tear-gas canister. Mr Wine ran for president in 2021, losinga flawed election to Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986.
- For the first time in 28 years, Nigeria is refining its own crude oil again. A refinery in Lagos, built at a cost of $20bn, will initially produce some 90,000 barrels of petrol a day, with an aim of ramping up to 330,000 barrels a day once it reaches full capacity.
- A former aide to New York state’s governor was charged with using her position to act on behalf of China. Linda Sun allegedly blocked Taiwanese representatives from meeting state officials, influenced statements to reflect China’s agenda and smoothed travel arrangements for Chinese officials to New York. She and her husband received millions of dollars in kickbacks, according to the Justice Department. Both deny the charges.
- A suicide-bomb in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, killed six people. Islamic State said it had carried out the attack (and claimed the death toll was 45) in response to the Taliban government’s transfer of prisoners to the Bagram security base, where America ran much of its operations when it had troops in the country.
- Canada’s New Democratic Party pulled out of an agreement that has kept the minority Liberal government of Justin Trudeau in power. The NDP accused the Liberals of not standing up to corporate interests. Ageneral election is not due until October 2025, but Mr Trudeau may be forced to call one sooner.
- The lower chamber of Congress in Mexico passed a judicial reform that would subject all senior judges in the country to election. The upper chamber will vote next. The outgoing president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is seeking sweeping changes to the constitution before he leaves office at the end of the month. Investors are deeply worried.
Seasonal beatings
- A Venezuelan judge issued an arrest warrant for Edmundo Gonzalez (above), the opposition candidate in July’s presidential election. Mr Gonzalez won the contest, though the election commission declared President Nicolas Maduro the victor. Mr Gonzalez is accused of “usurpation”. Mr Maduro tried to distract Venezuelans from the election and thuggery meted out to protesters by bizarrely declaring that Christmas would fall on Octoberist.
The world this week Business
- Stockmarkets had their worst trading session since early August’s rout amid more fears of an economic slowdown. Tech companies suffered the most, led by Nvidia. It shed $279bn in market value, the most ever by one company in one day. Its stock fell again on reports that the Department of Justice had subpoenaed it in an antitrust investigation, which the company later denied. Intel’s stock dropped by 7% amid speculation that is about to be booted off the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The NASDAQ Composite fell by 3.3%. The sell-off spread to Asian and European markets.
- Stock in Rolls-Royce also had a turbulent time after a problem with one of its engines caused a Cathay Pacific flight en route to Zurich to turn back to Hong Kong. The airline inspected its entire fleet of Airbus A350s for any similar faults.
X-communicated
- The decision of Brazil’s Supreme Court to shut down X in the country was met with disbelief by supporters of free speech. The entire court voted for the ban, which arose from a spat between one of its judges, Alexandre de Moraes, and Elon Musk, who owns the social-media platform. Mr Moraes had ordered X to remove some alleged fake-news accounts, which Mr Musk refused to do, citing free speech. Anyone in Brazil trying to gain access to X will now be fined $9,000 a day. The accounts of Starlink, Mr Musk’s satellite internet-provider, have also been frozen.
- Unions in Germany reacted furiously to Volkswagen’s admission that a “comprehensive restructuring’’ meant it may have to close factories in the country for the first time in its 87-year history. Along with its European rivals, the German carmaker has been hit by competition from cheaper Chinese-made electric vehicles and it also faces reduced demand for its cars in China, its most prof itable market. Oliver Blume, the chief executive, said the situation was serious, and decisive action had to be taken to save VW.
- Meanwhile, Martin Winterkorn went on trial over dieselgate. Mr Winterkorn was VW’s boss in 2015, when it emerged the carmaker had cheated on emissions tests. He denies the charges.
- With demand for EVs on the wane, Volvo dumped its target to produce only pure-electric cars by 2030. It said its aim was now more long-term.
- Nippon Steel pledged to appoint a majority of Americans to the board of US Steel, if its $15bn takeover of the company is approved. The Japanese group also emphasised that the new entity would be run by its North American subsidiary. The announcement came after Kamala Harris joined the chorus of politicians opposing the takeover on nationalist grounds. Joe Biden is reportedly preparing to block the deal.
- The euro zone’s annual inflation rate dropped to 2.2% in August, a three-year low, boosting expectations that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates again.
- White-collar workers in London now spend 2.7 days a week in the office, according to the Centre for Cities. That is up from 2.2 days in 2023, but still short of the 3.9 days recorded just before the pandemic. Younger people come in more often than their seniors, reversing the pre-pandemic trend of older workers being more present. Only 40% of all staff show up on a Friday. Travel costs are a big factor. The think-tank says that instead of trying to tempt workers back with free food and drink companies should instead subsidise their commute.
- Amid a backlash in Europe against the impact of tourism on cities and towns, the Italian government is holding discussions about increasing tourist taxes, including a levy of €25 ($28) a night on high-end hotel rooms. The Italian tourist industry thinks the measures will scare visitors away. Meanwhile, New Zealand raised its fee for tourists entering the country to NZ$100 ($62) from NZ$35.
- Ten thousand hotel workers went on a three-day strike in America in a dispute overpay and conditions. Hotel services at Hiltons, Marriotts, Sheratons and Westins were disrupted from Boston to Honolulu over the Labour Day holiday.
Don’t look back in anger
- Dynamic pricing was in the news again, after the British government said it would investigate the sale of concert events amid claims of pricegouging for tickets to next year’s Oasis reunions. Fans were left furious when prices more than doubled over the tickets’ face value during the long wait to buy them online. Many of Oasis’s detractors, who think they are an overrated pub tribute band, wondered what all the fuss was about.
скачать журнал: The Economist - 7 September 2024
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