英语咖啡馆：2023年2月21日英语时讯

President Joe Biden arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, for a surprise meeting with his counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. The trip is Mr Biden’s first to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began almost a year ago. Mr Biden said he would support Ukraine’s war effort “for as long as it takes” and promised a new delivery of military equipment including Javelin anti-tank missiles and radars. He will travel on to Poland to meet NATO leaders from the alliance’s eastern flank.

Turkey wound down its rescue operations on Sunday, nearly a fortnight after a devastating earthquake struck the country’s south-eastern provinces and neighbouring Syria. The death toll has passed 46,000, though many people are still missing. Some 26m people need aid, according to the World Health Organisation. America promised $100m more in aid, in addition to the $85m it has already pledged.

Meta announced plans to launch a subscription service that will allow users of Facebook and Instagram to verify their accounts. For $12-$15 a month, users on the social-media platforms will receive a “blue badge” and additional protection against impersonation. The service is part of a series of proposed features that will “empower creators to be way more productive and creative”, according to Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s boss.

SM Entertainment, a K-pop agency, said its quarterly profits soared by 70%, to 25.2bn won ($19.5m), as it fends off a takeover bid from HYBE, a rival. HYBE recently bought a 14.8% stake in SM Entertainment and wants more. SM Entertainment’s share price reached a record high last week, in anticipation of a struggle for greater control between HYBE and Kakao, an internet company also trying to buy in.

A German-language film set during the first world war was a surprise winner at Britain’s biggest film awards, the BAFTAs. “All Quiet on the Western Front” beat more favoured films to the best picture gong and won six other awards, including the best director for Edward Berger. In one of his acceptance speeches, Mr Berger mentioned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “There are no heroes in any war,” he said.

Fact of the day: $48bn. The value of the weapons and aid that America has sent to Ukraine under President Joe Biden.

TODAY’S AGENDA

POTUS in Kyiv

As the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches, President Joe Biden made a surprise trip to Kyiv, the capital, on Monday, his first trip since the war began. He was scheduled to travel to Poland, keeping a safe distance from Ukraine’s border. But the opportunity to visit the war-torn country proved too symbolic to resist—many Western leaders (and Mr Biden’s wife) have already made the trip. 

Mr Biden will pledge continued support to Ukraine, while fending off calls to release American-made jets. In Poland the president will meet his counterpart, Andrzej Duda, and the leaders of eight other eastern members of NATO. Mr Biden will encourage them to keep shuttling weapons to Ukraine. In turn, they will push for an increased American presence in the region. Last year America established its first army base on NATO’s eastern flank in Poland. But with the threat of Russia looming, NATO’s frontline states will seek more assurances.

Russia’s resilient economy

When Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, many predicted disaster for its economy. The West introduced sanctions, and the rouble collapsed. But Russia’s economy has proved surprisingly resilient. GDP only fell 2.2% in 2022, compared with early predictions of a 10% contraction. The IMF now forecasts growth of 0.3% for 2023.

Russia’s central bank, which releases its latest monetary-policy report on Monday, continues to exude calm. Soon after the outbreak of the war it increased interest rates from 9.5% to 20%, signalling that it was serious about tackling inflation and stemming a bank run. It gradually brought down the rate and has kept it at 7.5% since September, saying inflation is elevated, but manageable.

Recent Western sanctions on Russian oil have proved underwhelming, though this month’s extension of the measures to include refined products like diesel will be harder to dodge. Still, the damage will not persuade Russia to halt the war.

Can Air India fly high again?

Air India began this year in inglorious fashion. Many Indians were outraged when it emerged that a drunk man allegedly urinated on a fellow business-class passenger. To some, the episode summed up the decline of the flag carrier, once a source of national pride. Tata, the conglomerate which retook the airline from the government last year, is now hoping to return the company to its former glory. It is betting on expansion. Last week it placed a record order: 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus, two planemakers, for $70-80bn.

There is plenty of scope for growth. India’s aviation market is close to fully recovering from the pandemic and is expected to be the third-biggest in the world within a decade, after America and China. But competition will also be tough. Air India is India’s third-biggest airline, with a market share of less than 10% in 2022, and is generating losses. So too is SpiceJet, another big airline, which reports results this week. Meanwhile, IndiGo, an industry behemoth with more than half the domestic market, is profitable and awaiting the delivery of 500 more aircraft.

European consumers look confident

On Monday fresh consumer-confidence figures will probably confirm the optimism that has gripped the euro area since January. Energy prices have tumbled thanks to a warm winter and plentiful gas storage, and stimulus from the European Union’s pandemic recovery fund has propped up member states’ economies.

There is hope that the euro zone will avoid a recession this year. Last year’s GDP growth is expected to have reached 3.5%, rather than the 3.2% estimated a few months ago. The European Commission has also raised its outlook for economic growth in 2023 to 0.9% from 0.3% in its November forecast. All EU countries except Sweden are expected to grow.

Yet there are still headwinds. Inflation is easing but remains high. The war in Ukraine is showing no sign of ending soon.

Bernie Sanders warns of the ills of capitalism, again

The left-wing senator from Vermont is the longest-serving independent in US congressional history. But Bernie Sanders’s dedication to his usual cause is undimmed in his fourth book. “It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism”, released this week, takes aim at the concentration of riches in the hands of a few. Mr Sanders offers his ideas to cure America’s economic and political systems of their ills. Chief among them are increasing tax on corporations and reforming campaign-finance rules to free political parties from big donors.

Mr Sanders’s message may not be new, but by unpacking problems from wealth inequality to health-care access he taps into some of the frustrations felt by working Americans who struggle to make ends meet. An “uber-capitalist” system, he argues, is what drove disaffected, working-class Democratic voters to support Donald Trump and the Republicans. Mr Sanders is often teased for his grouchy demeanour. His book shows why he sees few reasons to be cheery.