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The world in brief
Catch up quickly on the global stories that matter
Updated less than 1 hour ago (11:39 GMT+1 / 06:39 New York)
Listen to today’s briefing(Recorded at 07:50 GMT+1 / 02:50 New York)
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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said 120,000 civilians remain trapped in Mariupol, which Russia has besieged for two months. The mayor of the port city said that Russian forces had been burying dead civilians in mass graves—seemingly visible on satellite pictures—to hide “barbaric” war crimes. He made a new appeal for the “full evacuation” of the city. Russia claimed on Thursday to have captured the town, despite few apparent changes on the ground. President Vladimir Putin told his army to withhold “unnecessary” attacks, and instead blockade the area of the Azovstal steelworks where Ukrainian resistance is holed up.
President Joe Biden said America would send Ukraine an additional $800m in military assistance and another $500m to stabilise the country’s economy and help towns brutalised by Russia’s invasion. Mr Zelensky said that Ukraine needs $7bn a month to keep its economy afloat and “hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild all this later”. The World Bank estimated that there has been $60bn-worth of physical damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure so far.
North Korea’s state news agency reported that Kim Jong Un, the president, exchanged unusually friendly letters with his outgoing South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in. The dictator praised their “historic” summits which gave “hope for the future.” Despite the warm words, however, tensions on the Korean peninsula have increased recently after several missile tests from the north.
Shanghai launched another round of universal covid-19 testing, as the city remains crippled by a coronavirus outbreak. Authorities reiterated that China’s financial hub would only reopen once all local transmission had stopped—although some important businesses have started up again using a “closed loop” model, where workers live on site. Officials also plan to ease controls on truck drivers to improve food supplies and trade. The number of new cases fell by nearly 5% to around 17,500 on Friday.
In France an investigating magistrate issued a warrant for the arrest of Carlos Ghosn, a former boss of the carmakers Nissan and Renault. Mr Ghosn was once internationally esteemed as an executive. But the Brazilian-French-Lebanese national captured even more attention as a fugitive from justice, upon fleeing detention in Japan in 2019. France, like Japan, has accused him of financial misconduct.
Jerome Powell, chairman of America’s Federal Reserve, indicated that the central bank would probably raise interest rates by 0.5 percentage points at its meeting in May. Mr Powell said it is “appropriate…to be moving a little more quickly” to fight high inflation. Consumer prices were 8.5% higher in March than a year earlier. The move would mark the first time the Fed has increased rates in consecutive meetings since 2006.
Elon Musk said he had secured $46.5bn in financing to buy Twitter after its board did not respond to his unsolicited $43bn takeover bid last week. The tech billionaire is exploring a tender offer to buy shares directly from shareholders. He has himself committed $33.5bn, with another $13bn to come from banks. Twitter adopted a “poison pill” to make it harder for the world’s richest man to increase his stake—currently at 9%—beyond 15%.
Fact of the day: 70%, the share of Taiwanese willing to fight to defend Taiwan, according to a poll in March, up from 40% in December. Read the full story.
Correction: A chart in yesterday’s edition incorrectly showed American Airlines made a profit in the last quarter of 2021. It actually incurred a loss. Sorry.
The battle for eastern Ukraine
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
Russian troops have begun a long-predicted offensive in the east of Ukraine, with attacks reported all along a 400km front. The Kremlin has been preparing for this since it called off a failed attempt to seize the capital, Kyiv, three weeks ago.
The initial clashes are being described as “probing”—a mixture of Russian reconnaissance and light shelling, probably ahead of more serious attacks in coming days. Fighting also continues in Mariupol, despite Russian claims to have “liberated” the devastated port city. Although outnumbered, Ukrainian soldiers there continue to defy Russian attempts to assert full control. On Thursday Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, ordered his troops to seal off the Azovstal steel plant, where thousands of troops and civilians are thought to be taking shelter. Ukraine hopes a humanitarian corridor will allow some to leave. The plant towers over the city. Inside, its network of cold-war bunkers has become a stronghold. But supplies are running out.
Disney v DeSantis
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
For 50-odd years Disney has enjoyed a special arrangement in Florida. Its Orlando theme parks sit within a self-governing tax district covering about 40 square miles (100 sq km). In exchange for some tax and regulatory relief, the media giant provides its own essential services there (fighting fires, maintaining roads and the like). The deal reportedly saves Disney tens of millions of dollars a year. But on Thursday lawmakers in the state House voted to revoke those privileges. The Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, is all but certain to sign the change into law.
This is payback: conservative politicians are furious that Disney’s boss, Bob Chapek, publicly criticised a measure restricting discussions of sex and sexuality in classrooms for children of certain ages. They call Disney “woke”. The Sunshine State wants to be seen as “pro-business”, so the spat is awkward. Even as they seek to lure firms to Florida’s pleasant climes, the state’s politicians are willing to punish those who oppose their social agenda.
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Turkey’s conscience in the dock
PHOTO: ALAMY
A court in Istanbul will deliver its verdict on Friday in the trial of 17 activists, indicted on coup and terrorism charges over their role in protests that convulsed Turkey in 2013. The accused include Osman Kavala, a businessman, philanthropist and one of Turkey’s best-known political prisoners, who has already spent four years in jail without being convicted of any crime. Mr Kavala and Mucella Yapici, an architect, face life sentences; six other defendants could spend up to 20 years behind bars. (The other nine, who live outside Turkey, will be tried separately.)
The world will be watching. America has called for Mr Kavala’s release and the European Court of Human Rights has ordered for him to be set free. The charges are spurious. And they are political: Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is widely assumed to be pulling the strings. Sending the defendants to prison would destroy the goodwill Turkey has earned with the West during the war in Ukraine.
BoJo meets NaMo
PHOTO: EPA
Britain’s prime minister spent Thursday spinning yarn in Gujarat—a welcome break from doing so in Westminster. During a two-day visit to India, Boris Johnson was trying his hand at a spinning wheel in Mahatma Gandhi’s ashram. The larger purpose of his trip, however, is to bind Britain and India closer together.
The two countries are negotiating a deal that aims to double trade and investment by 2030. And goodies are already being delivered. Indian firms have announced £1bn ($1.3bn) in new investment in Britain. Mr Johnson has appeared open to potentially easing visa restrictions for Indians looking to work in Britain, a long-running sore point for India.
On Friday he met Narendra Modi, his Indian counterpart. Their discussion covered collaboration on defence and, inevitably, the war in Ukraine. Neutral India is being wooed by the West. But on that front, there seems to be limited progress. After the meeting Mr Modi said “dialogue and diplomacy” was the only solution, which has been India’s stance throughout the war.
Pessimism about euro-zone economies
PHOTO: DPA
Based on surveys of buyers in manufacturing and service industries, the euro area’s monthly Purchasing Managers’ Index illustrates trends across 19 economies. The latest, published on Friday, indicated that growth has picked up since March, while the rate of inflation has risen at an unprecedented rate.
PMI data released in March were better than expected, thanks to a rebound of economic activity after the lifting of covid-19 restrictions. But this month the impact of the war will show. Conflict in Ukraine is driving the price of energy to record highs, exacerbating the problems caused by the supply-chain disruptions that plagued Europe throughout the pandemic.
Earlier this week the International Monetary Fund revised down its prediction of euro-zone growth in 2022 from 3.9% to 2.8%. It expects Germany and Italy to be particularly hard-hit: their previous forecasts, both 3.8%, have been cut to 2.1% and 2.3%, respectively.
Daily quiz
Our baristas will serve you a new question each day. On Friday your challenge is to give all five answers and 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.
Friday: Which driver is tied with Michael Schumacher for the most Formula One World Championship victories?
Thursday: Which American film, starring Tom Cruise, was a remake of the Spanish movie “Abre los ojos” or “Open Your Eyes”?