标题: 2022.07.07约翰逊将辞去保守党领袖的职务 [打印本页] 作者: shiyi18 时间: 2022-7-7 18:32 标题: 2022.07.07约翰逊将辞去保守党领袖的职务 Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister, will resign as the leader of the Conservative Party. He intends to continue as prime minister until the autumn to allow a leadership race to take place. Much of his party has been calling for his resignation for the past two days, with scores of ministers and aides quitting.
Iranian state television reported that several foreigners, including a senior British diplomat stationed in Tehran, were charged with espionage by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the army. They were reportedly accused of collecting soil samples in the desert in central Iran where missile tests were under way. Giles Whitaker, the British envoy, was said to have been expelled after apologising. Britain called the reports “completely false”.
China reported fresh covid-19 clusters in Beijing, Shanghai and Xi’an, accompanied by mass testing and new restrictions. Shanghai, recently freed from a draconian lockdown, logged 54 infections, while over 300 cases were reported in Xi’an. Residents fear more lockdown measures as the country maintains its zero-covid strategy.
The heads of American and British security services warned about China in their first-ever joint statement. The director of the FBI claimed China meddled in foreign businesses and elections and called it America’s “biggest long-term threat”. The director-general of MI5 said that its work to counter Chinese activity has doubled in the last three years and will double again.
Reviving Russia’s implicit nuclear threats, Dmitry Medvedev, a former president, has warned that the war in Ukraine might endanger the future of humanity. Mr Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, wrote on Telegram that “the idea of punishing a country that has one of the largest nuclear potentials is absurd and potentially poses a threat to the existence of humanity.”
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s president, has asked Vladimir Putin for a loan to import fuel, amid an economic crisis that has led to crippling shortages and public unrest. Sri Lanka has already been buying oil from Russia in recent months but this week the prime minister declared the country “bankrupt”. On Thursday the central bank hiked interest rates by one percentage point to 15.5%.
Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader, has convened a conference of the ruling Workers’ Party, aimed at strengthening its leadership. The conference, described by the official media as the first of its kind, comes as the country grapples with problems on many fronts: its first acknowledged outbreak of covid-19; a dire economic crisis; and extreme weather, including a blistering heat-wave.
Fact of the day: 54%, the share of abortions in America carried out through medication rather than surgery. Read the full story.
Boris Johnson finally goes
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
After dozens of ministerial resignations and unprecedented pressure from within his Conservative Party, Boris Johnson will finally step down as party leader and, eventually, as Britain’s prime minister. Having long seen him as a vote-winner, a critical mass of Mr Johnson’s colleagues finally decided that he was a liability, unable to shake off the stench of scandal that has hung over 10 Downing Street for months.
Mr Johnson reportedly wants to stay on in a caretaker capacity until the autumn while the Tories choose a new leader. The identity of his potential successor remains unclear. At least half a dozen candidates may put themselves forward, including Rishi Sunak, who resigned as chancellor on Tuesday; Nadhim Zahawi, who replaced Mr Sunak; Penny Mordaunt, a trade minister; Ben Wallace, the defence secretary; and Liz Truss, the foreign secretary. The psychodrama of Britain’s ruling party is far from over.
Indonesia and the G20
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
The foreign ministers from the G20 group of countries gather in Bali on Thursday, at a time of unusually active diplomacy for their host, Indonesia. Joko Widodo, the president, known as Jokowi, recently visited both his Ukrainian and Russian counterparts on a “peace mission” intended to ease shortages in the global grain market.
Indonesia has made three worthy issues its priorities during its year in the G20’s rotating chair: “global health architecture” (ie, preparedness for future pandemics); “digital transformation” (notably of finance); and “sustainable energy transition”. But despite Jokowi’s efforts, the G20 meetings this year are bound to focus on the war in Ukraine.
In November Bali will host the G20 leaders. Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, will attend, and Jokowi has also invited Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, although Ukraine is not a member of the club. Even on the holiday island of Bali, it will be hard to avoid talking about the war.
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Battle of the bulk: Costco’s sales
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
Costco, a giant American supermarket chain, publishes its earnings report for June on Thursday, and its results will be scrutinised more closely than usual. Analysts have been poring over companies’ earnings for signs of a recession. Wealthy consumers are of particular interest, given their outsized impact: the top 20% of American households account for about 40% of consumer spending and 28% of GDP, says Morgan Stanley, a bank.
Costco provides a window into how rich Americans’ spending habits might change. The chain is popular with affluent shoppers who are alert to value but who also have the cash to buy in bulk. So far Costco’s sales have been resilient. Even as low-income shoppers have reduced spending, richer ones have sustained their appetite for giant tubs of pretzels; buying toilet paper in bulk can even act as a hedge against rising prices. The question is whether, or when, such lofty spending will succumb to gravity.
Extreme heat at the haj
PHOTO: REUTERS
On Thursday some 1m pilgrims will begin the annual haj to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, a religious ritual that every Muslim with financial and physical means is expected to complete at least once in their lifetime. It is the first time the Saudi government has allowed foreign pilgrims to participate since the start of the pandemic.
But bookings, allocated via lottery, have been chaotic. And those who make it to Mecca will face temperatures above 40°C, which can play havoc with the human body. As usual when the haj falls in summer (the dates rotate depending on the lunar calendar), the pilgrims will be sprayed with water and move through vast air-conditioned corridors. But climate models suggest that, if global temperatures rise by 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, lethal heat exposure during the haj will become five times more likely. A rise of 2°C increases the risks tenfold. The religious ritual is becoming increasingly perilous.
Australia goes underwater again
PHOTO: AP
A low pressure system is wreaking havoc in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state. It has dumped more rain on Sydney over four days than London gets in a year. At least one person has died and tens of thousands have been evacuated as rivers have broken their banks. Several towns are braced for flooding as the rain moves north from Sydney.
Flood-stricken Australians will be thrown a buoy on Thursday in the form of federal disaster payments. The new Labor government, led by Anthony Albanese, is offering handouts of A$1,000 ($680) to anyone whose home has been subsumed by rising waters. But that will not go far. And building back is getting harder. Floods are striking Australia with increasing ferocity; some low-lying parts of western Sydney have gone underwater four times in the past 18 months. As waters subside, residents face a difficult choice: leave, or prepare for yet more inundations.
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.
Thursday: Which city hosts the annual Nobel Prize awards?
Wednesday: Which country was the subject of three partitions in the late 18th century?
There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.