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The world in brief
Catch up quickly on the global stories that matter
Updated less than 1 hour ago (14:37 GMT / 09:37 New York)
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The huge convoy of Russian tanks approaching Kyiv appears to have “dispersed and redeployed”, according to a satellite imaging company, raising fears of a new assault on Ukraine’s capital. Earlier the Pentagon said Russian troops had moved three miles closer to Kyiv. They are now just nine miles from the centre of the city.
Several blasts were reported in Lviv, Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk, three cities in western Ukraine, a region Russian forces had yet to bomb with any vigour. One person was killed in air strikes on Dnipro, which had become a safe haven for evacuees. A psychiatric hospital was reportedly bombed in the Kharkiv region. Ukraine’s defence minister said Russia had killed more civilians than soldiers in the last two weeks.
Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, said the country would accept the help of 16,000 “volunteers” from the Middle East to fight alongside Russian troops. American officials think this might include Syrian fighters, just as Russian mercenaries, backed by the Kremlin, fought in Syria and Libya. There are unconfirmed reports that those mercenaries may be in Ukraine already. Meanwhile, Britain warned veterans of its army not to go to Ukraine, and warned that serving soldiers fighting in Ukraine would face a court martial.
Russia is moving to ban Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp; the country’s prosecutor general wants to label Meta, which owns them, an “extremist organisation”. Earlier, Meta said it would temporarily allow violent speech—such as “death to the Russian invaders”—on its platforms in Ukraine and other countries in the region. Such statements are usually banned. The company, however, said it would not allow any “credible calls” which contain details on the location or method of the violence.
The UN granted Russia’s request for an emergency meeting to discuss the Kremlin’s claim that America is funding the development of biological weapons in Ukraine. America and Britain have both warned that Russia might be planning to use chemical or biological weapons itself. Meanwhile Ukraine accused Russia of “nuclear terorism” after a facility in Kharkiv lost power during shelling on Thursday night. IAEA, the international nuclear watchdog, said it has “scheduled physical inspections” of Ukrainian nuclear sites.
America’s Senate passed a $1.5trn spending bill that includes around $14bn of aid for Ukraine. It now goes to President Joe Biden to sign. He is also reportedly set to end normal trade relations between America and Russia. This would mean revoking Russia’s “most favoured nation” trading status and allow America to impose tariffs on Russian imports, in addition to existing economic sanctions.
Other news
India admitted to accidentally firing a missile into Pakistan this week. It blamed a technical malfunction, and said it was relieved no one died. Pakistan told India to make sure it doesn’t happen again • A new study published in the Lancet estimates that around 18m people have died from covid-19 globally, three times more than officially reported figures. The Economist’s own estimate is 20m • British and European antitrust authorities said they are investigating Google and Meta over allegations they illegally colluded in the online advertising market.
Fact of the day: 1,000, roughly the number of pieces of Russian equipment destroyed, damaged, abandoned or captured by Ukraine over two weeks of war. Read the full article.
Behind enemy lines in Ukraine
PHOTO: YOUTUBE
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, told his country that Ukraine’s drug-addled neo-Nazi elite had perpetrated genocide and that the country needed saving. If his troops were thereby expecting a warm welcome in Ukrainian territory, they were mistaken. Russian soldiers are greeted with contempt. In Konotop, a town in north-eastern Ukraine, a local woman was filmed warning a Russian tank-driver about the town’s association with the occult. “Every second woman is a witch here,” she told him. “Tomorrow you won’t be able to get your dick to stand up.”
She was not alone in her defiance. Elsewhere, Ukrainians have stood in front of tanks. One protester admits that they are nervous about opposing Russian soldiers, but even more fearful of the repression and poverty Mr Putin has imposed on Donetsk and Luhansk, two regions controlled by Russia since 2014. The risks are stark. If the invaders can’t win hearts and minds they may resort to further violence.
Ukraine’s DIY DARPA
PHOTO: REUTERS
The day after Russia invaded, Pravda—a microbrewery in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine— switched from brewing beer to mixing Molotov cocktails. Equipment previously used for award-winning brews now blends machine oil, petrol, aluminium powder and polystyrene dissolved in solvent. The concoction burns like crazy, all the better to disable any Russian military vehicle it is hurled at. Elsewhere, Ukranians are making barricades and fearsome grenade-launchers. They are also modifying their own Russian-made weapons to be more useful against the invaders.
Ukraine has many engineers and computer programmers who are used to getting things done with limited resources. The oppressive bureaucracy of Soviet rule pushed people to find workarounds, creating an entrepreneurial spunk that is now very helpful. Vladimir Yatsenko, a Ukrainian film producer who is in Kyiv to fight, describes this as “our national DARPA”, a reference to the famous American military-research agency. War is a dirty business. But necessity is the mother of invention.
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A leftist inaugurated in Chile
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
On Friday Gabriel Boric will become Chile’s youngest ever president. His government, which includes the Communist Party, will be the most left-leaning since the country’s return to democracy in 1990. But he is considered a moderate among the wave of leftist leaders recently elected in Latin America.
Mr Boric wants universal public health care and bigger public pensions. He also plans to forgive student debt. To pay for these policies, he proposes that taxes rise by 5% of GDP in four years. His team also wants to create a state lithium firm and a national development bank.
The fate of those policies partly depends on two forces. First, Chile’s congress: Mr Boric lacks a majority but will need lawmakers’ support to pass reforms. Second, a new constitution is being drafted. The convention in charge has a big far-left element. If approved, the revised constitution will set the tone in Chilean politics for years to come. Mr Boric will have to wait and see what he gets.
Two years of the covid-19 pandemic
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
The first cases of the novel coronavirus were revealed by China at the end of December 2019, and two years ago on Friday the World Health Organisation declared a pandemic.
Since then, about 6m people are known to have died of covid-19. Modelling by The Economist suggests the true number of deaths is closer to 20m. According to the International Monetary Fund, the economic losses are expected to be almost $13.8trn by the end of 2023, relative to pre-pandemic forecasts.
There have been valid complaints about the inequity of vaccine distribution. But the scientific response to the pandemic has been without precedent. Vaccines have never been developed so fast, and more than 11bn doses were manufactured in 2021. There is now an array of drugs to fight covid. Although it seems possible that the world is moving into the final phases of the pandemic, dangerous new mutations could still emerge.
The grim significance of a Shakespearean war play
PHOTO: © HELEN MURRAY 2022
When it chose to stage “Henry V”, the Donmar Warehouse in London doubtless had Brexit, the rise of English nationalism and the future of Britain in mind. After all, the play is about a stand-off between England and a European neighbour, during which the English soldiers spend more time bickering with their Welsh, Scottish and Irish comrades than fighting the French. Now, halfway through its run, it is another of Shakespeare’s themes—the barbarity of war—that resonates loudly and tragically.
There is a lot of timely, scathing wisdom in the production, and even more in the play. Directed by Max Webster, it stars Kit Harington (of “Game of Thrones” fame) as a media-savvy king, whose cruelty and cynicism are grimly familiar. His threats and mendacity echo Kremlin doublespeak. War can be glorious, Shakespeare knew, and absurd. In the lulls between action, it can even be jittery and tedious. But this kind of war—waged dishonestly for territory and self-aggrandisement—is murder in uniform.
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 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 was the name of the ship in which Darwin explored the Galapagos?
Yesterday’s question: Which monarch, on the day of his execution, wore two shirts to prevent him from shivering and appearing afraid?
Knowledge for the sake of understanding, not merely to prevail, that is the essence of our being. None can define its limits, or set its ultimate boundaries.
Vannevar Bush
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据一家卫星成像公司称,接近基辅的庞大俄罗斯坦克车队似乎已经 "散开并重新部署",这引起了人们对乌克兰首都遭受新一轮攻击的担忧。早些时候,五角大楼说俄罗斯军队已经向基辅靠近了三英里。他们现在离市中心只有9英里。
据报道,利沃夫、卢茨克和伊万诺-弗兰科夫斯克这三个乌克兰西部的城市发生了几次爆炸,而俄罗斯军队还没有对这一地区进行大力轰炸。在对第聂伯罗的空袭中,有一人被炸死,该地已成为疏散人员的安全避难所。据报道,哈尔科夫地区的一家精神病院被轰炸。乌克兰国防部长说,在过去两周里,俄罗斯杀害的平民比士兵多。
俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔-普京说,该国将接受来自中东的16000名 "志愿者 "的帮助,与俄罗斯军队并肩作战。美国官员认为这可能包括叙利亚战士,就像克里姆林宫支持的俄罗斯雇佣军在叙利亚和利比亚作战一样。有未经证实的报告称,这些雇佣兵可能已经在乌克兰。同时,英国警告其军队的退伍军人不要去乌克兰,并警告说在乌克兰作战的现役士兵将面临军事法庭的审判。
俄罗斯正在采取行动,禁止Facebook、Instagram和WhatsApp;该国检察长希望将拥有这些网站的Meta公司列为 "极端主义组织"。早些时候,Meta公司表示,它将暂时允许在乌克兰和该地区其他国家的平台上发表暴力言论,如 "俄罗斯侵略者去死吧"。这种言论通常是被禁止的。然而,该公司表示,它将不允许任何包含暴力地点或方法细节的 "可信的呼叫"。
联合国批准了俄罗斯关于召开紧急会议的请求,以讨论克里姆林宫关于美国正在资助乌克兰发展生物武器的说法。美国和英国都警告说,俄罗斯可能正计划自己使用化学或生物武器。同时,在哈尔科夫的一个设施在周四晚上的炮击中失去电力后,乌克兰指责俄罗斯的 "核恐怖主义"。国际核监督机构IAEA表示,它已经对乌克兰的核设施进行了 "预定的实际检查"。
美国参议院通过了一项15万亿美元的支出法案,其中包括对乌克兰的大约140亿美元的援助。现在该法案将由总统乔-拜登签署。据报道,他还准备终止美国和俄罗斯之间的正常贸易关系。这将意味着取消俄罗斯的 "最惠国待遇 "贸易地位,并允许美国在现有经济制裁的基础上对俄罗斯进口产品征收关税。
其他新闻
印度承认本周不小心向巴基斯坦发射了一枚导弹。它指责是技术故障,并说它对没有人死亡感到宽慰。巴基斯坦告诉印度要确保这种情况不再发生--《柳叶刀》上发表的一项新研究估计,全球约有1800万人死于19型肝炎,比官方报告的数字多三倍。经济学人》自己的估计是2000万 - 英国和欧洲反垄断机构表示,他们正在调查谷歌和美达公司,指控他们在网络广告市场上非法串通。
今天的事实。1,000,大约是乌克兰在两周的战争中被摧毁、损坏、遗弃或俘获的俄罗斯设备的数量。阅读全文。
在乌克兰的敌后地区
照片。YOUTUBE
俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔-普京告诉他的国家,乌克兰吸毒的新纳粹精英犯下了种族灭绝罪,这个国家需要拯救。如果他的部队因此期待在乌克兰境内受到热烈欢迎,那他们就错了。俄罗斯士兵受到的是蔑视。在乌克兰东北部的科诺托普镇,一名当地妇女被拍到警告一名俄罗斯坦克司机该镇与神秘主义的关系。"她告诉他:"这里每两个女人都是女巫。"明天你将无法让你的小弟弟站起来"。
她并不是一个人在反抗。在其他地方,乌克兰人已经站在了坦克面前。一名抗议者承认,他们对反对俄罗斯士兵感到紧张,但更害怕普京先生对顿涅茨克和卢甘斯克这两个自2014年以来被俄罗斯控制的地区实施的镇压和贫穷。风险是严峻的。如果入侵者不能赢得民心,他们可能会诉诸进一步的暴力。
乌克兰的DIY DARPA
照片。REUTERS
在俄罗斯入侵的第二天,乌克兰西部城市利沃夫的一家微型啤酒厂 "真理报 "从酿造啤酒转为混合莫洛托夫鸡尾酒。以前用于酿造获奖产品的设备现在混合了机油、汽油、铝粉和溶于溶剂的聚苯乙烯。这种混合物燃烧得很厉害,可以更好地使任何被投掷的俄罗斯军用车辆失效。在其他地方,乌克兰人正在制造路障和可怕的榴弹发射器。他们还在修改自己的俄制武器,以便对入侵者更加有用。
乌克兰有许多工程师和计算机程序员,他们习惯于用有限的资源来完成工作。苏联统治时期的压迫性官僚制度促使人们寻找变通办法,创造了一种现在非常有用的创业精神。在基辅作战的乌克兰电影制片人弗拉基米尔-亚岑科(Vladimir Yatsenko)将其描述为 "我们的国家DARPA",指的是著名的美国军事研究机构。战争是一个肮脏的行业。但必要性是发明之母。
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一位左派人士在智利就职
照片。GETTY IMAGES
本周五,加布里埃尔-鲍里克将成为智利有史以来最年轻的总统。他的政府包括共产党,将是该国自1990年恢复民主以来最左倾的政府。但他被认为是最近在拉丁美洲当选的左派领导人浪潮中的温和派。
鲍里奇先生希望普及公共医疗服务和提高公共养老金。他还计划免除学生债务。为了支付这些政策,他提议在四年内将税收提高到GDP的5%。他的团队还希望创建一个国家锂业公司和一个国家开发银行。
这些政策的命运部分取决于两种力量。首先,智利的国会。鲍里克先生缺乏多数席位,但他需要立法者的支持来通过改革。第二,新宪法正在起草中。负责的会议有一个很大的极左派元素。如果获得批准,修订后的宪法将为智利未来几年的政治定下基调。鲍里克先生将不得不等待,看看他得到什么。
19号病毒大流行的两年时间
照片。GETTY IMAGES
2019年12月底,中国披露了第一批新型冠状病毒的病例,两年前的星期五,世界卫生组织宣布发生大流行。
自那时起,已知约有600万人死于covid-19。经济学人》的建模表明,真正的死亡人数接近2000万。根据国际货币基金组织的数据,相对于大流行前的预测,到2023年底,经济损失预计将达到13.8万亿美元。
人们对疫苗分配的不平等有合理的抱怨。但是对这一流行病的科学反应是没有先例的。疫苗的开发从未如此迅速,2021年生产了超过110亿剂疫苗。现在有一系列的药物来对抗covid。虽然世界似乎有可能正在进入大流行病的最后阶段,但危险的新突变仍然可能出现。
莎士比亚战争剧的严峻意义
照片: © helen murray 2022
伦敦的唐马仓库在选择上演《亨利五世》时,无疑考虑到了英国脱欧、英国民族主义的崛起和英国的未来。毕竟,该剧讲述的是英国与欧洲邻国之间的对峙,期间英国士兵与他们的威尔士、苏格兰和爱尔兰战友争吵的时间比与法国人战斗的时间还要多。现在,该剧上演了一半,它是莎士比亚的另一个主题--战争的野蛮--产生了响亮而悲惨的共鸣。
该剧有很多及时、尖锐的智慧,甚至在剧中也有很多。该剧由马克斯-韦伯斯特执导,基特-哈灵顿(《权力的游戏》中的人物)饰演一位精通媒体的国王,他的残忍和愤世嫉俗令人印象深刻。他的威胁和狡辩与克里姆林宫的双关语相呼应。莎士比亚知道,战争可以是光荣的,也是荒谬的。在行动间歇期,它甚至可以是紧张和乏味的。但这种战争--为了领土和自我炫耀而不诚实地发动--是穿着制服的谋杀。
每日小测验
我们的咖啡师每天都会为你提供一个新问题。在星期五,你的挑战是给出所有五个答案,并告诉我们连接的主题。在周五格林尼治标准时间17点之前,将你的回答(包括提到你的家乡和国家)发到 QuizEspresso@economist.com。我们将从这些正确答案中随机挑选,并在周六为每个大洲选出一名获胜者。
星期四。达尔文探索加拉帕戈斯群岛时乘坐的船叫什么名字?
昨天的问题。哪位君主在被处决的那天穿了两件衬衫,以防止他发抖和显得害怕?
知识是为了理解,而不仅仅是为了占上风,这是我们的本质。没有人能够界定它的界限,也没有人能够设定它的最终界限。
Vannevar Bush |
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