World in Brief - The Economist Roundup

 

World in Brief

The Economist Roundup

The British government published the details of a deal which could lead to the resumption of a devolved government in Northern Ireland, which has been without one for two years. The Democratic Unionist Party walked out in protest at the creation of a trade border with the rest of Britain. Under the new deal there would be no routine checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from the mainland.

 

Germany’s annual inflation rate was 3.1% in January, down from 3.8% in December. The slowdown was driven by a decline in energy prices. The inflation rate in France also slowed to 3.4% in January, down from 4.1% in December. The figures will increase pressure on the European Central Bank to cut rates soon.

 

An anti-corruption court in Pakistan convicted Imran Khan of selling gifts he received when he was prime minister, from 2018 to 2022, and sentenced him to 14 years in jail. On Tuesday another court sentenced him to ten years for sharing state secrets. Mr Khan’s legal team denied that he had committed crimes and vowed to fight all the charges.

 

Russia and Ukraine swapped prisoners-of-war. Russia said 195 soldiers were repatriated on each side; Ukraine said 207 of its soldiers and civilians were returned. Exchanges had been suspended since the crash of a Russian plane on January 25th, which Russia says was shot down by Ukraine while carrying 65 prisoners of war; Ukraine has not taken responsibility and asked for evidence of its passengers.

 

A court in Thailand ruled that the biggest party in the country’s parliament, Move Forward, violated the constitution by campaigning to reform the country’s strict lèse-majesté laws, which forbid insulting the monarch. The reformist party was blocked by the army from forming a government despite winning a general election last May. The ruling, which carries no punishment, could become another weapon to undermine, or dissolve, the party.

 

Boris Nadezhdin, a centre-right Russian politician who has described the country’s invasion of Ukraine as a “fatal mistake”, submitted a bid to run in Russia’s presidential election in March. Mr Nadezhdin says he has passed 200,000 signatures of support—twice the threshold required to run. But the election’s result seems a foregone conclusion, anyway—in favour of Vladimir Putin, the incumbent.

 

Boeing’s fall from grace

In January a panel plugging an unused emergency exit in an Alaskan Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 blew out during a flight over Oregon. The image of a jet flying with a gaping hole in its fuselage will be on investors’ minds as the American aerospace giant reports its fourth-quarter results on Wednesday. Boeing has lost more than 17% of market value since the incident.

Loose bolts probably caused it. After a series of inspections, they were found to affect other similar planes. American regulators have said that Boeing must now focus on quality control rather than increasing production.

But as airlines clamour for new aircraft, that may cause the aerospace giant to fall even further behind Airbus. Boeing’s European rival is far ahead for deliveries of short-haul jets and has an order backlog of around 7,800 of these planes. Boeing has a smaller order book of some 4,800 for its 737 MAXs. It will struggle to catch up.

Social-media bosses get a grilling

The chief executives of the biggest social-media companies will be summoned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to face an inquisition by senators. The heads of Meta, TikTok, X, Snap and Discord will answer questions from the Senate judiciary committee about their efforts to protect children.

Moderating social media is a contentious and partisan issue. Democrats say that social apps are not doing enough to stamp out hate speech and misinformation. Republicans counter that the platforms are overly censorious and fail to uphold free speech. The result is congressional deadlock.

But there are areas of political consensus, among them the trading of child-abuse images, the grooming of minors and the generation of so-called deepfake videos (of which Taylor Swift, a pop star, is the latest high-profile victim). Two bills designed to curb online child exploitation passed the Senate last year. Wednesday’s hearing is more than a talking shop.