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The world in brief
Catch up quickly on the global stories that matter
Updated 6 hours ago (12:00 GMT+1 / 07:00 New York)
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The governor of Luhansk, a region in eastern Ukraine, insisted that “nobody is going to surrender Severodonetsk”—the industrial city which has become the front line of fighting. Russia claims to have “liberated” the residential suburbs. But Britain’s defence ministry said Ukraine appears to be holding the city, despite it being surrounded on three sides. At least 800 civilians are said to be sheltering in a chemicals factory full of highly explosive material.
Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor from 2005 to 2021, defended her record of dealing with Vladimir Putin. Mrs Merkel has been criticised for pressing ahead with the now-mothballed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline meant to link Germany and Russia—but trade with Russia “could not be ignored”, she said. She defended her opposition to a plan from 2008 to bring Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, which, she said, would have been tantamount to a “declaration of war”.
The OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, projected global growth would slow to 3% this year and 2.8% in 2023, sharply down from its previous forecast in December. It blamed the war in Ukraine, which has exacerbated already high inflation. On Tuesday, the World Bank issued a similarly gloomy outlook. Meanwhile Janet Yellen, America’s Treasury secretary, said levels of inflation there have become “unacceptable” and urged both fiscal and monetary action to combat it.
Voters in San Francisco opted to “recall”—oust—their district attorney, Chesa Boudin. In a city often taken to exemplify liberal America, Mr Boudin represented the progressive movement to reform criminal justice. Crime rates held steady through his term but conviction rates for some crimes faltered—just as the public’s appetite for tough policing picked up. The mayor may replace him with someone more moderate.
Credit Suisse, a Swiss bank, issued its third profit warning this year. It predicted a loss in the second-quarter, driven by poor performance in its investment banking division. The bank blamed Ukraine-driven volatility and inflation-driven monetary tightening for the loss. Bloomberg reported that the bank is considering layoffs to cut costs. Its shares fell 7.6% on the news, before recovering slightly.
Malaysia and Turkey joined a growing list of Muslim-majority countries to protest against statements made by a spokesperson for India’s ruling party, in which she disparaged the Prophet Muhammad. The Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party suspended Nupur Sharma on Sunday for her comments, which were televised on May 26th. Now right-wing Indians are irritated that the government has not stood behind its anti-Islamic rhetoric.
Target, an American big-box retailer, lowered its profit forecast, saying it is holding too many unwanted goods in stock. Three weeks after reporting lower-than-expected profits in the first quarter, it said that inventory rose 43% last quarter compared with a year earlier; demand for outdoor furniture and appliances declined faster than expected. Other retailers are also straining under excess inventory.
Fact of the Day: 685m, the number of gamers in China. Now they are battling 33m South Koreans for dominance of e-sports. Read the full article.
Rebuilding Ukraine with Russian money?
PHOTO: REUTERS
If you add the Russian central bank’s currency reserves subject to Western sanctions to the value of other seized goodies, such as superyachts, nearly $400bn-worth of Russian assets have been frozen since the invasion of Ukraine began. And according to the Kyiv School of Economics, the economic damage to Ukraine is around $600bn. To many, therefore, the idea of using those Russian assets to compensate Ukraine for war damage seems irresistible.
Such a plan faces high practical and legal hurdles. For individuals to have their assets confiscated usually requires conviction for a specific crime and evidence that the assets were an instrument of it, or linked to the proceeds from it. Western leaders want to expand the list of crimes that warrant seizure, such as avoiding sanctions. But achieving consensus will be tricky. And the confiscation of state assets would require Western governments to designate Russia a hostile power, which they have shied away from doing.
Resisting the invaders in occupied cities
PHOTO: ALAMY
As part of the Ukrainian government’s plans to launch a counter-attack to retake the south, the country’s underground army will be critical. Ukraine claims its partisans have killed more than 100 Russian soldiers in the occupied city of Melitopol, the unofficial capital of the resistance. And they are active elsewhere too. In Izyum, eight Russian soldiers purportedly died after eating pies poisoned by a seemingly friendly old lady.
Ukrainian authorities had hurriedly laid down the basic structure for an insurgency in the months before the war. The underground resistance mixes professional soldiers and volunteers. There is now a national network of secret arms dumps, safe houses and potential sympathisers. A website published by the Special Operations Forces, which co-ordinates the fighters, offers advice about how to organise clandestine resistance (stick to a need-to-know basis), prepare an ambush (ensure clear escape routes) and cope with being arrested (keep calm and hope for the best).
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Getting the grain out
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
A visit to Serbia on Monday by Russia’s foreign minister had to be abandoned after his plane was denied permission to travel through any of the airspace en route. But Sergei Lavrov had better luck getting to Ankara on Wednesday. The Turkish capital is just a short hop across the Black Sea—the body of water that was the focus of his visit.
At the meeting Mr Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, failed to agree on a solution to the looming food crisis caused, in part, by Russia's naval blockade of Ukraine. Mr Lavrov told journalists that Russia endorsed plans to create a safe corridor for ships carrying Ukrainian agricultural products, but said it was up to Ukraine to clear the mines along its Black Sea coast. Turkey has offered to help with that. But Ukraine is wary of such plans, since removing the mines could expose its ports to Russian attacks.
The Gupta capture
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
From the Great Train Robbery to the looting of $1bn from Iraq’s central bank by Saddam Hussein’s family, the record books have no shortage of massive heists. But surely none would compare with the allegations of South Africa’s “state capture”—monumental graft involving at least 49bn rands ($3.2bn) worth of public contracts being routed through consulting films or shell companies linked to Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta, mostly between 2009 and 2018.
The term was used in a 2016 report by the then public protector that laid out allegations of improper influence over South African politicians by the brothers. (They deny any wrongdoing, describing the allegations against them as politically motivated.) The Guptas’ flamboyant lifestyles in Dubai, where they fled in 2018, rubbed salt in the wound. South Africans now have some hope of justice: on Monday police in the United Arab Emirates arrested Atul and Rajesh in connection with “money laundering and criminal charges”. Yet due process will probably not be swift. Expect a lengthy fight over extradition and, if that succeeds, a drawn-out court case.
America before and after Roe v Wade
PHOTO: AP
“Pregnant? Need help?” a flyer reads: “Call Jane.” In the 1960s and early ’70s a group of women in Chicago helped other women to obtain abortions, which were then illegal. To evade the law, members used “Jane” as a collective pseudonym. “The Janes”, a documentary chronicling their clandestine activities, is appearing on Wednesday on HBO.
The Janes’ efforts began with a helpline directing women to sympathetic doctors. But the organisation eventually performed abortions themselves—11,000 in all. The group disbanded in 1973 after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v Wade established a legal right to abortion.
After a draft of another Supreme Court opinion was leaked last month, suggesting that the justices will soon overturn Roe, the film is a timely reminder of what parts of America could look like again. At least 13 states have “trigger laws” that would automatically ban almost all abortions if Roe were reversed. More could follow. Perhaps the Janes will rise again.
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.
Wednesday: Who was the first African-American woman elected to Congress?
Tuesday: Which type of tea is named after a British prime minister?