Weekend Papers Summary
.NEW YORK TIMES
-Ukrainian forces are trying to push back Russian troops from two key cities and achieve a breakthrough in what has become a grinding battle.
The White House announced that President Biden would meet virtually on Sunday with Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of the G7.
-The advances by the Ukrainian army in the north have been modest, but they are emblematic of both sides’ strategy: maneuvering artillery to gain territory.
-Italian authorities announced they had seized a nearly $700M superyacht tied to President Vladimir Putin.
Job growth shows that the US economy has continuing vigor. The Labor Department reported a gain of 428,000 jobs in April, along with a 5.5% increase in average hourly earnings from a year earlier.
-The market pain isn’t over, but you will get through this head-spinning market volatility isn’t all that puzzling, considering the problems faced by the Federal Reserve, our columnist writes.
-While Democrats decry a draft opinion that would eliminate the constitutional right to an abortion, Republicans have been largely silent.
-If Roe v. Wade is overturned, states will set their own rules, leading to one America where abortion access is guaranteed and another where it’s outlawed.
-In a seismic election shift, Northern Ireland’s Sinn Fein is winning. With much of the vote counted, the pro-unity party was on the cusp of being declared the territory’s largest. Some fear the result could sow unrest.
-Boris Johnson and his party have suffered setbacks in local voting in Britain. Mr. Johnson may have survived the storm — for now at least — after the opposition leader was accused of breaking lockdown rules himself.
-The White House has warned of a fall Covid surge and it’s planning how to provide vaccines if there’s no more Covid aid. The White House has been asking Congress for $22.5B in emergency aid to continue responding to the pandemic, but Republicans have insisted on a much lower number.
-Power companies, conservationists, local residents and two U.S. states are mired in an acrimonious dispute about hydroelectricity from Quebec (Canada).
-A blast caused by an apparent gas leak left dozens injured and destroyed parts of a luxury hotel in Havana. Others were possibly trapped in the rubble.
THE FINANCIAL TIMES
-US stocks have suffered the worst streak of weekly losses in more than a decade after days of tumultuous trading surrounding the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates by half a percentage point.
-Western banks are steeling themselves for a $10B hit on their forays into Russia, as they prepare to pull out of the country because of its invasion of Ukraine.
-If the Supreme Court’s final ruling on Roe, which could be handed down as early as June, mirrors the draft opinion, a slew of conservative states are likely to further restrict abortion access. It would represent the seismic shift in US politics that liberals have long feared and religious conservatives have been working for decades to achieve.
-Non-farm payrolls grew by 428,000 in April, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, matching the revised 428,000 increase in March and exceeding economists’ forecasts for 391,000, according to a Reuters poll.
-Early election returns showed Sinn Féin set for a historic victory in Northern Ireland’s elections in what would mark the first time the nationalist party, committed to Irish reunification, has outperformed unionists in the region.
-Companies that have spent years wanting to be considered as “tech”, for the racier multiples, now emphasise their dull reliability — staples rather than discretionary, value rather than growth. The message to investors: do not adjust your portfolios — we are safe.
-Rome has moved to seize a $700M superyacht docked in a Tuscan port pending a decision on its beneficial owner being included in the European Commission’s forthcoming package of sanctions against Russia. Daniele Franco, Italy’s finance minister, has issued “a decree to freeze the asset pending a decision by the European Union”, the Rome government said in a statement on Friday evening.
-Boris Johnson faced renewed pressure on his leadership on Friday after his Conservative party lost hundreds of council seats, with southern Tory voters switching sharply to Labor in London and to the Liberal Democrats in the so-called “blue wall”.
-The owner of the Times Square building, where the New Year’s Eve Ball drops each December before tens of thousands of revelers, will invest $500mn in its renovation in another vote of confidence in a New York City neighborhood trying to recover from the pandemic.
-Last week, Shenzhen officials finally agreed to remove Arm China head Allen Wu, clearing his name from business records and fashioning a new “chop”, or company seal, which authorizes official documents and with which Wu has wielded power for nearly two years.
-Samsung Electronics is under growing pressure over its inaction on fossil fuel emissions, as it falls behind rivals Apple and Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC in making environmental commitments.
THE NEW YORK POST
-John Paul Mac Isaac shares the night he met Hunter Biden. On a fateful night in April 2019, John Paul Mac Isaac was working at his store, The Mac Shop in Wilmington, Del., when a customer walked in who would upend his life. In his forthcoming book, “American Injustice: My Battle to Expose the Truth,” Isaac will tell his story — and in an exclusive first look, he describes the moment he met Hunter Biden to the NY Post.
-Starbucks is demanding equal time with President Biden after the White House invited a unionizing barista to meet top administration officials — including the commander-in-chief.
Laura Garza, an employee who is among those leading the unionization drive of workers at Starbucks’ New York City Roastery, met with Biden at the White House on Thursday.
-Big tech companies like Google and Facebook parent Meta would have to comply with tough British rules under a new digital watchdog aimed at giving consumers more choice online — or face the threat of big fines.