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Good morning.
On his first worldwide journey because the coronavirus pandemic, North Korean chief Kim Jong Un has supplied President Vladimir Putin his nation’s “full and unconditional help” for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, describing it as a “sacred struggle” towards imperialism and the west.
Having travelled to the nation on a luxury armoured train, Kim was pushed in a limousine introduced from Pyongyang to Vostochny Cosmodrome, an area rocket launch website 60km north of Vladivostok, the place he met Putin.
“Russia has risen to a sacred struggle to guard its sovereignty and safety . . . towards the hegemonic forces,” Kim instructed Putin through a translator. “We are going to at all times help the selections of President Putin and the Russian management . . . and we will probably be collectively within the struggle towards imperialism.”
Following a visit to Pyongyang by Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu in July, the talks between the 2 leaders are anticipated to discover a possible arms deal, with Putin searching for to replenish Russia’s provides of standard munitions, which its forces are quickly depleting in Ukraine. Kim is prone to request entry to superior know-how for spy satellites and nuclear-powered submarines in addition to meals support.
Putin mentioned Moscow would assist Pyongyang construct satellites, telling reporters that the 2 would focus on a spread of points together with weapons provides, in response to Russian state media. This 12 months, North Korea has twice did not launch a spy satellite tv for pc into house.
“That’s why we got here right here,” Putin mentioned. “The chief of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] exhibits nice curiosity in rocket engineering, they’re additionally making an attempt to develop house [capabilities].” Earlier on Wednesday, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles in direction of the Sea of Japan, in response to the Japanese defence ministry.
Analysts estimate that North Korea has a big stockpile of ageing artillery tools and rockets based mostly on or duplicating designs from its former patron, the Soviet Union.
Right here’s what else I’m maintaining tabs on as we speak:
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Financial information: US inflation is predicted to have risen final month when headline figures are launched as we speak. The UK publishes revised gross home product figures for July, whereas the EU has industrial manufacturing information for a similar month. The Worldwide Vitality Company points its month-to-month Oil Market Report.
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Arm IPO: The SoftBank-backed UK chip designer is predicted to announce the ultimate pricing of its initial public offering, set to be the most important in practically two years.
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European Fee: President Ursula von der Leyen delivers her 2023 EU State of the Union tackle on the European parliament in Strasbourg.
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5 extra high tales
1. Unique: Deutsche Financial institution continued to promote dangerous international alternate derivatives to firms in Spain that had suffered huge losses from such merchandise. The gross sales have been made even after an inside inquiry, began in 2019 following a whistleblower grievance, discovered that workers exploited flaws within the financial institution’s controls and broke EU guidelines. Read the full story.
2. EU will launch an anti-subsidy probe into Chinese language electrical autos. In an investigation that might result in tariffs on the nation’s producers, European Fee president Ursula von der Leyen introduced that Brussels would launch an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese language electrical autos which can be “distorting” the EU market. The probe could constitute one of the largest trade cases launched given the scale of the market.
3. Bernard Looney has resigned as chief govt of BP after admitting he did not disclose the extent of previous private relationships with colleagues, the corporate has mentioned. Looney, 53, is to get replaced by chief monetary officer Murray Auchincloss “on an interim foundation”, the corporate mentioned in a press release yesterday. Here are more details on his departure.
4. Cruise ship Ocean Explorer could also be stranded within the Arctic for days after working aground, underscoring the environmental dangers from the rising recognition of Arctic tourism. The cruise ship, which has 206 individuals on board, turned caught in Alpefjord off Greenland’s distant east coast on Monday and a excessive tide on Tuesday did not free the vessel. The Danish army unit answerable for defending Greenland mentioned that if the climate remained effective they might attain the cruise ship by Friday on the earliest. Read the full story here.
5. Austria’s longest-serving spymaster has warned about Russian hyperlinks to the nation’s arduous proper Freedom occasion, which has been main polls forward of subsequent 12 months’s election. In an uncommon public intervention, Peter Gridling, who led the Austrian intelligence service between 2008 and 2020, cautioned that the occasion had remained involved with Russia since his tenure. Here’s more from his interview with the FT.
The Massive Learn
The discharge of ChatGPT in November spurred a rush of feverish pleasure over functions of synthetic intelligence but additionally elevated consciousness of its risks: the potential to unfold misinformation throughout elections, changing jobs and someday changing into extra clever than and superseding people. Whereas regulators and firms have been loud in voicing the necessity to management AI, ideas on how to do so have diverged widely.
We’re additionally studying . . .
Chart of the day
Italy, Belgium and Portugal have issued about €60bn worth of bonds on to households to this point this 12 months, up from €26bn final 12 months. The retail push by European international locations is partly designed to press excessive avenue banks into elevating the rates of interest they pay to depositors.
Take a break from the information
Lake Khovsgol is positioned in considered one of Mongolia’s most distant areas. With temperatures of minus 12C, it would appear to be the final place you’d wish to go to. Not so for Tim Moore, who participated within the Mongol 100 bike race, pledging to traverse 160km of the frozen lake “by any means necessary”.
Further contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and David Hindley
