标题: 2022.02.17俄罗斯声称从乌克兰边境撤军是 "错误的" [打印本页] 作者: shiyi18 时间: 2022-2-17 19:41 标题: 2022.02.17俄罗斯声称从乌克兰边境撤军是 "错误的" The world in brief
Catch up quickly on the global stories that matter
Updated less than 1 hour ago (10:45 GMT / 05:45 New York)
A senior American official declared that Russia’s claims of withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian border were “false”. Some 7,000 additional soldiers have arrived in recent days, they added. On Wednesday the Kremlin said it was calling back some of its forces after the completion of military exercises and posted a video purporting to show this. But Western countries, and NATO, found no proof of the claims.
France said it will withdraw troops from Mali, where they had been fighting jihadists. President Emmanuel Macron said the pull-out was due to a breakdown in diplomatic relations with Mali’s new government. The troops will be redeployed across the Sahel, though it is unclear how effective they will be without a presence in Mali, where the jihadists are strongest.
More than 90 people were killed by flooding and mudslides in a mountainous region of Brazil. A month’s worth of rain fell in one night, the most the city of Petrópolis has seen since 1952 according to Brazil’s meteorological agency. In 2011 mudslides killed more than 900 people in the region. Such extreme weather is probably more common because of climate change.
Police in Canada threatened to arrest protesters in Ottawa if they did not leave the capital. For nearly three weeks truck drivers have blockaded the city’s downtown areas as part of demonstrations over covid restrictions. Marco Mendicino, the federal public safety minister, suggested that Diagolon, a far-right group, is helping organise the protests with the intention to “overthrow the existing government”.
Officials in Hong Kong announced plans to test the entire city for covid-19 amid surging infections. Around a million residents are expected to be tested daily with the help of medical workers brought in from mainland China. There were more than 4,000 cases reported on Wednesday but the city is persisting with its zero-covid policy.
Visa said its cards would be once again accepted by Amazon, an e-commerce giant, as part of a global agreement between the two companies. Earlier this year Amazon had stopped accepting payments from Visa-issued cards because it felt transaction fees were too high. Visa said the agreement also includes a commitment to work together on “new product and technology initiatives”.
Operators announced that the largest coal-fired power plant in Australia will close by August 2025. Eraring Power Station, in New South Wales, was slated to run for another seven years. However Origin Energy, which manages the plant, explained that an influx of wind and solar power mean that it is no longer economically viable. In 2020 coal generated more than half of Australia’s power.
Fact of the day: 12,000, the number of street vendors shooed away by Bangkok authorities since 2014. Read the full article.
Correction: An earlier edition of Espresso incorrectly displayed a photo of Sergey Radchenko alongside a By Invitation piece by Yuval Noah Harari. Sorry.
Canada’s protests roll on
For three weeks protesters demanding an end to Canada’s covid-19 restrictions have paralysed Ottawa, the capital, with their “freedom convoy” roadblocks. Their incessant honking has caused headaches for residents and politicians alike.
On Tuesday the federal government announced a loosening of entry requirements for international travellers. Rules on gatherings will be eased in the province of Ontario (in which Ottawa is located) on Thursday. When Doug Ford, Ontario’s premier, announced the change he cited improved public-health conditions and insisted the restrictions were being lifted in spite of the protests. But the timing has many Canadians wondering whether the truckers played a role.
A motion by the federal opposition Conservative Party to make the Liberal prime minister, Justin Trudeau, outline a plan for lifting all restrictions was voted down by his allies. Plenty of wheels are still parked by Parliament Hill. And despite the government wielding emergency powers to move them on and the police threatening them with arrest, they seem a long way from trucking off.
Walmart’s slipping profitability
PHOTO: AP
Walmart, which on Thursday reports earnings for its fourth quarter, has fared better than most retailers in the face of recent supply-chain disruptions. To ease bottlenecks and keep its shelves stocked, the big-box behemoth has chartered its own cargo ships, diverted goods to less congested ports and extended working hours. Shoppers have rewarded the retailer for its efforts, flocking to its stores and boosting its market share for groceries in America. In its third quarter same-store domestic sales rose by 9.2% year on year and earnings per share hit $1.45, beating analysts’ expectations.
But investors were less impressed by the company’s gross profit margin, which slipped by 0.4 percentage points. Amid supply-chain snarls, labour shortages and other inflationary pressures, America’s biggest retailer remains committed to “everyday low prices”. Company executives are wagering that, for now, the firm can forgo profits for the sake of market share. They may come to regret it.
Get the briefing in your inbox
Delivered before breakfast six times per week.
Sign up
Citigroup’s retail retreat
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
Once a common sight in cities around the world, Citigroup’s distinctive blue branches are becoming harder to spot. The American bank is shrinking its retail operations. The firm will instead focus on commercial banking and wealth management. Most of its remaining branches will be in America.
Citi has already made deals to sell several of its foreign retail outfits, including those in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. The next big sale may be in India. Axis Bank, the country’s third-largest private-sector lender, is rumoured to be close to buying Citi’s retail business there for around $2.5bn.
Citi is not alone: HSBC and ANZ have pared back their branch networks too. But Citi’s retreat is striking because of the scale of its former ambitions and the pioneering work it did on now-familiar technology including ATMs and electronic payments. But its Asian operations will be a relatively painless loss: in 2021 they accounted for just 1.6% of group earnings.
By Invitation: Yuval Noah Harari on Russia and Ukraine
PHOTO: AFP
This is an excerpt from a guest essay written by Yuval Noah Harari, a historian, philosopher and author. Read it in full here.
At the heart of the Ukraine crisis lies a fundamental question about the nature of history and the nature of humanity: is change possible? One school of thought firmly denies the possibility of change. It argues that the world is a jungle, that the strong prey upon the weak and that the only thing preventing one country from wolfing down another is military force.
Another school of thought argues that the so-called law of the jungle isn’t a natural law at all. Humans made it, and humans can change it. Contrary to popular misconceptions, the first clear evidence for organised warfare appears in the archaeological record only 13,000 years ago. Even after that date there have been many periods devoid of war. Unlike gravity, war isn’t a fundamental force of nature. Its intensity and existence depend on underlying technological, economic and cultural factors. As these factors change, so does war.
Demystifying Stonehenge
PHOTO: EPA
The enigma of why Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument of colossal standing stones, was built 4,500 years ago, is an integral part of its appeal. The exact purpose of the stones, which stand, and lie, in a circle in a field in southern England, may elude scholars forever. But an exhibition at the British Museum hopes to shed some light.
The curators of “The World of Stonehenge”, which opens on Thursday, cast a wide net, gathering over 400 objects from across prehistoric Europe. These include an ancient standing stone from Italy and “Seahenge”, a 4,000-year-old timber circle lifted from a peat-soaked English beach. Both of these objects have been linked to the cosmos, just as Stonehenge aligns with the sun. Also on display is the bronze “Nebra Sky Disc”, thought to be the world’s oldest map of the stars which, although discovered in Germany, contains metals traced to Britain. The people of Neolithic Europe were more connected, both spiritually and materially, than may have been previously realised.
Daily quiz
The quiz is back. Our baristas will serve you a new question each day. On Friday your challenge will be to give all five answers and tell us the connecting theme. Email your responses (and include mention of your home city and country) by 17.00 GMT on Friday to QuizEspresso@economist.com. We’ll pick randomly from those with the right answers and crown one winner per continent on Saturday.
Thursday: What is the name of the electronic system used in tennis to decide whether balls are in or out?