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The World
The U.N. General Assembly approved a non-binding resolution that calls for Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine and withdraw its forces, sending a strong message on the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion that Moscow’s aggression must stop. The resolution, drafted by Ukraine in consultation with its allies, passed 141-7, with 32 abstentions. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the vote was more evidence that not only the West backs his country. “This vote defies the argument that the global south does not stand on Ukraine’s side,” Kuleba said. “Many countries representing Latin America, Africa, Asia voted in favor.” (Associated Press)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated his contention that Beijing is considering providing military support for Russia’s war against Ukraine, a claim the Chinese government has refuted. While the American intelligence community has not detected “systematic” evasion by China of sanctions against Russia, “we also have picked up information over the last couple of months that strongly indicates that China is now considering doing that”, Blinken said in an online discussion with The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. (South China Morning Post)
The U.S. is markedly increasing the number of troops deployed to Taiwan, more than quadrupling the current number to bolster a training program for the island’s military amid a rising threat from China. The U.S. plans to deploy between 100 and 200 troops to the island in the coming months, up from roughly 30 there a year ago, according to U.S. officials. The larger force will expand a training program the Pentagon has taken pains not to publicize as the U.S. works to provide Taipei with the capabilities it needs to defend itself without provoking Beijing. (Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. and South Korea have conducted a joint military tabletop exercise to simulate a response to a nuclear strike by North Korea, affirming their cooperation under Washington's extended-deterrence strategy. Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed to reporters that the exercise took place Wednesday. South Korea's Ministry of National Defense said earlier that the drills would involve hypothetical nuclear weapons use by the North. (Nikkei Asia Review)
North Korea has test-fired four strategic cruise missiles during a drill designed to demonstrate its ability to conduct a nuclear counterattack against hostile forces. The exercise involved an apparently operational strategic cruise missile unit of the Korean People's Army, which fired the four "Hwasal-2" missiles in the area of Kim Chaek City, North Hamgyong Province, towards the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, state news agency KCNA said. (Reuters)
China races for influence as it frets over US footholds in Southeast Asia: Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s Indonesia trip reveals Beijing’s unease about Asean’s Western leanings. To earn influence, China should focus on communication, not demonstrations of force, analyst says. (South China Morning Post)
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to cap oil companies’ profit margins in California met a dose of skepticism at its first public hearing Wednesday before a state Senate committee. Senators expressed concern about high prices, but none have yet appeared willing to go as far as Newsom in imposing a penalty for what he has called “price gouging” and industry “greed.” It was the first public sign of trouble for a key Newsom initiative as he pursues a higher national profile and a possible future run for the presidency. He announced the proposal to cap industry profits and called a special session of the Legislature last summer as gas prices spiked and national anxiety about inflation overall was at a peak. (Politico)
A monster U.S. winter storm pounded the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest, killing a firefighter, knocking out power to more than 900,000 people and canceling or delaying thousands of flights. A broad swath of the northern United States from Washington state to New England remained under winter weather advisories with another 18 inches (46 cm) of snow, winds up to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour) and wind chills equivalent to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 Celsius) possible throughout the day. (Reuters)
A frigid winter storm barreled into California, bringing sea-level snow along the coast at Eureka and white-out conditions in the Sierra as well as bursts of hail, snow and rain in Southern California that are expected to worsen considerably over the next two days. Cold temperatures brought snow, hail and graupel to unusually low elevations of the Southland, including at the Hollywood sign. (Los Angeles Times)
Economy
Joe Biden has nominated former Mastercard chief executive Ajay Banga as World Bank president, picking a Wall Street veteran raised in India to oversee the institution’s biggest mission change in a generation. Banga’s nomination, a week after sitting president David Malpass abruptly resigned, comes as the US and other shareholder nations seek to expand the bank’s development remit to include the fight against global warming. The US president said Banga had a grasp of the challenges facing developing countries and “critical experience” in mobilizing private money to “tackle the most urgent challenges of our time, including climate change”. (Financial Times)
Dimon Says the US Economy Is Facing Some ‘Scary Stuff’ Ahead: The US economy has obstacles to overcome, though there’s still a chance for a so-called soft landing, Jamie Dimon said. “The US economy right now is doing quite well — consumers have a lot of money, they’re spending it, jobs are plentiful,” the JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief executive officer said. “Out in front of us there’s some scary stuff.” (Bloomberg)
Jamie Dimon says the Federal Reserve has ‘lost a little bit of control of inflation’. (CNBC)
The global economy is in a better place today than many predicted months ago, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday, while reiterating her calls for support to Ukraine on the eve of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion. Yellen’s comments, delivered at a press conference in Bengaluru, India, where finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 countries are gathering Feb. 22-25, highlight a shift in tone on the global economic outlook from the last time the world’s top policymakers met in October. (Bloomberg)
The U.S. economy appears to be exhibiting strength early this year, after posting solid, but slightly weaker, growth at the end of 2022. Gross domestic product, a broad measure of the goods and services produced across the U.S., rose at a 2.7% annual rate in the fourth quarter, adjusted for seasonality and inflation, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was down from a previous estimate of 2.9% growth, and slower than the third quarter’s 3.2% growth. (Wall Street Journal)
Next Bank of Japan head Kazuo Ueda calls for ‘creative’ monetary policy: The Bank of Japan should be “creative” with its policy in the face of mounting market pressure to pivot from decades of an ultra-loose monetary stance, its expected next governor Kazuo Ueda said. Addressing parliament on Friday for the first time since his nomination, the 71-year-old economist said the BoJ would embark on interest rate normalisation if it looked able to achieve and sustain its 2 per cent inflation target. But in comments that appeared to be intended to avoid disruption to financial markets, Ueda also acknowledged that it would take time for Japan’s rising prices to be sustained, warning that monetary tightening under current conditions could slow down the economy. (Financial Times)
Technology
The Justice Department is preparing an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Adobe Inc.’s $20 billion acquisition of startup Figma Inc., people familiar with the matter said. A case is expected to be filed as soon as next month, although the timing could slip, said one of the people, all of whom asked for anonymity to discuss the confidential probe. The deal needs approval from several antitrust authorities and the merger agreement allows for a possible extended regulatory review with an outside completion deadline of March 2024. Adobe had a meeting with the DOJ yesterday, according to another person. (Bloomberg)
Meet the $10,000 Nvidia chip powering the race for A.I.: Companies like Microsoft and Google are fighting to integrate cutting-edge AI into their search engines, as billion-dollar competitors such as OpenAI and Stable Diffusion race ahead and release their software to the public. Powering many of these applications is a roughly $10,000 chip that’s become one of the most critical tools in the artificial intelligence industry: The Nvidia A100. (CNBC)
Regulators have told major Chinese tech companies not to offer ChatGPT services to the public amid growing alarm in Beijing over the AI-powered chatbot's uncensored replies to user queries. Tencent Holdings and Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, have been instructed not to offer access to ChatGPT services on their platforms, either directly or via third parties. (Nikkei Asia Review)
The Joint Task Force for Science Monitoring and Reliable Telecommunications (SMART) Subsea Cables, a United Nations initiative, aims to solve the problem of tsunami detection by equipping new commercial undersea telecom cables with simple sensors that measure pressure, acceleration, and temperature. The sensors could be added to the fiber-optic cables’ signal repeaters—the watertight cylinders full of equipment that are used to amplify signals every 50 kilometers or so. With cables providing for the sensors’ power and data transfer needs, scientists could collect information about the seafloor at an unprecedented scale—and pass on data about potential tsunamis far faster than is currently possible. (MIT Technology Review)
Smart Links
American Airlines Chairman Doug Parker Plans to Retire. (Wall Street Journal)
Singapore Airlines Axes City’s Only Nonstop Route to Vancouver. (Bloomberg)
The European Commission bans TikTok on corporate devices and personal devices using the Commission's corporate apps. (Euractiv)
Generative AI Won’t Revolutionize Search—Yet (Harvard Business Review)
Stripe Is No Longer the Darling of Silicon Valley. (The Information)