World in Brief - The Economist Roundup
World in Brief
The Economist Roundup
Israel launched airstrikes against
Lebanon that killed nine people. The assault came after a rocket hit Safed, a city in northern
Israel, killing one woman and injuring others. Hizbullah, an Iran-backed
militia based in southern Lebanon, is believed to have been behind the attack,
though it has not claimed responsibility. Meanwhile Binyamin Netanyahu,
Israel’s prime minister, decided not to send officials to Cairo for talks with
Hamas on a possible ceasefire. Mr Netanyahu described the militant group’s
demands—which include a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza—as “delusional”.
The chair of America’s House intelligence
committee asked Joe Biden to declassify information about “a serious
national-security threat”,
reportedly concerning a new Russian nuclear weapon in space. The
weapon could threaten America’s satellite network, according to the New York
Times. Jake Sullivan, Mr Biden’s national security adviser, said he had
scheduled a meeting with high-ranking members of Congress to discuss the
matter.
Japan slipped into a technical recession
in the final quarter of 2023, in the process falling behind Germany to become
the world’s fourth-largest economy. Japan’s economy shrank for the second quarter in a row, by
a worse-than-expected 0.4%. Japan’s nominal GDP in 2023 was $4.2trn, compared
with Germany’s $4.5trn; the comparison has not been helped by a steep fall in
the yen’s value against the dollar.
Prabowo Subianto, a 72-year-old former
general with a troubling past, claimed victory in Indonesia’s presidential
election. Long viewed as the favourite to succeed Joko Widodo, Mr
Prabowo took the lead in early tallies after the world’s third-largest
democracy went to the polls. Speaking at a rally in Jakarta, he promised to
“protect” Indonesians and lead a government made up of the “best”. His
opponents have not yet conceded defeat.
Nvidia overtook Alphabet to become
America’s third-largest company by market capitalisation. The news comes
one day after Nvidia closed with a higher market value than Amazon, another
tech titan. As a leading manufacturer of advanced semiconductors, Nvidia is
benefiting mightily from a boom in generative artificial intelligence.
Drivers for Uber and Lyft, as well as
delivery workers for DoorDash, went on strike across several American cities.
In Austin, Chicago, Miami and elsewhere, employees picketed for better pay and
working conditions. The strikes coincided with similar efforts in Britain,
where food-delivery drivers for apps such as Uber Eats refused work on
Valentine’s Day evening.
Democracy in a time of conflict
Conflict and political polarisation are all having a
corrosive impact on democracy, according to the annual democracy index produced
by EIU (our sister company). EIU grades 167 countries and territories out of
ten on the strength of their democratic institutions and culture. The average
score has fallen to a new low of 5.23. Events including wars, coups and
authoritarian crackdowns in countries that do not qualify as full democracies
were mostly to blame.
The regions with the steepest declines were Latin America
and the Caribbean, the Middle East and north Africa, and sub-saharan Africa.
All suffered from rising crime, insecurity and violence. Western Europe was
deemed the most democratic region, and was the only one to improve from the
year before (though by a mere 0.01 points). Of the 68 countries that regressed
in 2023, many did so because of defects in the “electoral process and
pluralism” category. That is worrying, given that 2024 is the biggest election
year in history.
The uneven dogfight between
Airbus and Boeing
The two companies that supply the world’s airlines with
large passenger jets never gloat publicly about each other’s travails. Each is
aware that it could be the next to lose altitude. Yet Airbus, a European firm,
may come as close as it ever will to smiling at its American competitor’s
misfortunes when it reports annual results on Thursday. Airbus’s revenues and
profits probably soared last year. Its shares also rose (and Boeing’s slumped)
in January, after part of a Boeing plane—a panel plugging an unused emergency
exit—blew out during a flight. This was the latest in a series of mishaps for
Boeing aircraft. Closer regulatory scrutiny may eventually hamper Boeing’s plan
to make more planes to satisfy booming demand.
Airbus intends to keep increasing production. But customers
that order a single-aisle jet from Airbus (the most popular type) now will not
take delivery until the end of the decade. So airlines in a hurry have little
choice but to keep buying from Boeing, despite its tribulations.
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