标题: 2022.06.14标准普尔500指数下跌了3.9，两年多来首次进入熊市 [打印本页] 作者: shiyi18 时间: 2022-6-15 03:41 标题: 2022.06.14标准普尔500指数下跌了3.9，两年多来首次进入熊市 The world in brief
Catch up quickly on the global stories that matter
Updated 2 hours ago (18:17 GMT+1 / 13:17 New York)
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American bond yields remained high and stock markets braced ahead of a meeting of the Federal Reserve, at which central bankers may raise interest rates by as much as 0.75 percentage points to combat stubborn inflation. Investors fear this could push the world economy into recession. On Monday the S&P 500 fell by 3.9%, entering bear-market territory for the first time in more than two years.
Ukraine said that its forces were holding out in Severodonetsk, despite the fact that Russia has destroyed the last remaining bridge linking the besieged city to the rest of the Donbas region. More than 500 civilians are said to be trapped inside a chemical factory. Oleksandr Stryuk, the mayor, said that evacuations were being carried out “every minute when there is a lull”. Ukraine’s government said it is losing between 100 and 200 soldiers a day in fighting across the country.
Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister, said that his government had formed a committee to negotiate with separatist forces in Tigray, a northern province. Fighting has blighted the region since November 2020; hundreds of thousands of people have died in the violence or of starvation. The conflict has eased since the government declared a ceasefire in March.
The European Union said it would sign an agreement to procure 110,000 doses of a monkeypox vaccine, to be delivered from the end of June, without naming the supplier. The bloc has so far recorded 900 cases of the virus. America’s drug regulator has approved a smallpox vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic, a Danish firm, for use against monkeypox.
Britain pressed ahead and published draft legislation that would give it the power to renege on the Northern Ireland protocol, part of the Brexit treaty. Boris Johnson suggested that “relatively trivial” changes are needed to facilitate trade. Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, attacked the plan, telling his British counterpart, Liz Truss, that it would be “deeply damaging to relationships on these islands and between the UK and EU”.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, began her campaign for a second referendum on the country’s independence. Scots voted by 55% to 45% to stick with the union in 2014. Ms Sturgeon argues that in light of Brexit, which most Scottish voters rejected, the poll should be rerun. She wants to hold a referendum with the British government’s consent, to grant the result legitimacy. But Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister, opposes a second vote.
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary-general, said Sweden was taking steps to address Turkey’s complaints about the prospect of its joining the military alliance. Angered by what it calls Sweden’s support of Kurdish militants, Turkey has opposed its application. Mr Stoltenberg said that Sweden “has already started to change its counter-terrorism legislation”. He hopes it will be able join NATO, along with Finland, “as soon as possible”.
Fact of the day: 47%, the turnout in the first-round of France’s legislative election, the lowest ever. Read the full article.
Correction: In Sunday’s edition, we ran an article about the mayoral election in Palermo, stating that the winner “will control the distribution of national and EU money on the island”. In fact, it is the regional government that controls the distribution of these funds, while the mayor will have an influence over what is spent in Palermo itself. Sorry.
Macron mollifies eastern Europe
PHOTO: PA
Emmanuel Macron will leave his electoral worries at home today. A tight first-round parliamentary vote on Sunday suggested that the French president’s alliance, Ensemble, may lose its majority in the run-off on June 19th. But Mr Macron’s focus is elsewhere as he embarks on a two-day trip to Romania and Moldova.
He hopes to show central and eastern Europe—and above all Ukraine—that they have his support. The president’s recent comments about the need not to “humiliate” Russia have raised doubts about his intentions in the region. He will visit the 500 French troops participating in a NATO operation in Romania, hoping to remind the region that his country is contributing to its defence. Mr Macron’s aides have tried to make it clear that “France wants Ukraine to win the war”. A presidential visit to the country soon, which is a possibility, would make that point clearer still.
Southern Baptists and sexual abuse
PHOTO: AP
On Tuesday the Southern Baptist Convention begins its annual meeting in Anaheim, California, in crisis. For years America’s biggest Protestant denomination faced down allegations that sexual abuse was rife within its congregations. Last month an independent report found many such allegations to be true and concluded that church leaders had repeatedly played them down and denigrated victims. Three former Southern Baptist presidents were among the accused: one, Johnny Hunt, subsequently denied he had attacked a fellow pastor’s wife, but admitted to a “personal sin” and resigned as head of domestic evangelism.
In Anaheim more than 8,000 “messengers” from the denomination’s constituent churches will elect a new president and debate what action, if any, to take in response. A church task-force recommends spending an initial $3m on a public database of abuse allegations and extensive training of Southern Baptist officers. It has met resistance. Some say it would infringe the constituent churches’ autonomy.
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Britain flies asylum-seekers to Rwanda
PHOTO: PA
In April Britain struck a deal with Rwanda to send asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to the east African country without hearing their claims. Today a plane carrying the first of them is to leave Britain. Rwanda will decide whether to grant them asylum.
Britain’s Home Office claims this will drive people-smugglers out of business by deterring migrants from crossing the English Channel in dangerous boats. More than 28,000 people made the trip last year; at least 44 disappeared, probably drowned.
But refugees could be unsafe in Rwanda, which is poor and authoritarian. Critics say the policy is inhumane and illegal. They wanted flights grounded until a review in July. But on Monday a last-ditch attempt to stop the departure failed. Other countries may soon follow Britain’s lead. The refugee system could become one in which rich countries buy their way out of responsibility.
Watching Europe’s economy
PHOTO: REUTERS
The euro zone’s economy is in a bind. Inflation keeps rising. The bloc’s economies are getting weaker as a result. Last week the European Central Bank said it would raise interest rates this year. Though justified, it could revive an old problem: the solvency of highly indebted countries, specifically Italy.
The German ZEW index, which gauges the mood in the country’s financial markets, was released on Tuesday. It was slightly less negative than expected, with little change compared with the previous month. But investors and analysts will also be watching the spread between Italian and German government bonds (that is, the difference between interest rates on each). The gap has increased from around 1.3 percentage points at the start of the year to 2.4, indicating that investors perceive Italian debt to be of higher risk now. The ECB is considering whether a new programme to contain that widening is needed. Markets may force an answer.
The art of representation
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
Sir Thomas Brock, a sculptor, knew Queen Victoria’s face well. His profile of the monarch appeared on coins; his marble cast of her likeness stands outside Buckingham Palace. A second marble statue, presented to the city of Birmingham in 1901, will be reborn on Tuesday.
Today that likeness, recast in bronze in 1951, stands in its main square. Hew Locke, a Guyanese-British artist, was commissioned to rework it temporarily in anticipation of the Commonwealth Games, which Birmingham will host this summer. Mr Locke has constructed a ship around the queen, adding five smaller busts of her, clad in gold helmets. The new work, titled “Foreign Exchange”, is a reminder of the monarch’s colonial legacy, and links the people of Birmingham with Commonwealth countries.
For two decades Mr Locke has explored methods of updating historical monuments. His “statue-dressing” is one solution to Britain’s fraught debate about whom statues should commemorate in the 21st century.
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: Who was the second-longest-serving Indian prime minister to date, surpassed only by her father?
Monday: Which Hollywood star’s last appearance was in “The Killers” in 1964, shortly before he started a new career?
Fiction has to be plausible. All history has to do is happen.