Weekend Papers Summary
NEW YORK TIMES
-Hurricane Ian became a tropical storm over the Carolinas after making landfall. The governors of Georgia and South Carolina declared states of emergency. In Florida, officials said that at least three dozen deaths were possibly linked to the storm — a toll they expected to rise in the coming days.
-As Ian wrought destruction on southwest Florida’s barrier islands, a couple tried to flee. One of them did not make it.
-Officials in Lee County, Fla., delayed issuing an evacuation order. Now authorities are encountering mass death.
-With bluster and threats, President Vladimir Putin casts the west as the enemy. Putin asserted that Russia would take control of four Ukrainian regions and decried the US for “satanism” in a fiery speech.
Biden Calls on World to Punish Russia for Attempt to Annex Ukrainian Land
President Biden called the action a “fraudulent” violation of international law, and the US imposed new sanctions on Russian officials and companies.
-British Prime Minister Liz Truss tried to reassure Britain with media blitz. Her woes multiplied. In interviews, Prime Minister Liz Truss showed little sympathy for the pain that high interest rates could inflict on mortgage holders, critics said.
-Complex financial instruments that pension funds use to minimize the impact of interest rate changes led to the bond market rout.
-President Biden signs stopgap spending bill with $12.3B in aid to Ukraine. The House passed the bill and sent it to President Biden, who signed it just hours before a funding lapse would have forced a government shutdown.
-After Paramedic’s Killing, Detectives and Neighbors Grasp for a Reason Why A 34-year-old man fled into his apartment and barricaded himself after killing a paramedic in Queens Thursday, prosecutors said.
-Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke Clash on Guns and Abortion in Texas Debate. Mr. Abbott accused Mr. O’Rourke of holding an “extreme” position on abortion. Mr. O’Rourke said his rival’s rhetoric could be linked to deadly shootings.
-Military officers announce coup in Burkina Faso. The officers said they had decided to remove the president because of his inability to stem a growing Islamist insurgency in parts of the country.
-United Airlines to end service at JFK Airport. The airline said it was too small to compete at the airport and would cease flights there at the end of October.
THE FINANCIAL TIMES
-US stocks have notched their longest streak of quarterly losses since the market collapse of 2008, weighed down by central banks’ determination to tame inflation through higher interest rates.
-The second-in-command at the Federal Reserve said the US central bank was paying attention to tumult in global markets caused by monetary policy tightening, but insisted rates must still keep rising to combat inflation. Lael Brainard, Fed vice-chair, acknowledged rate rises across the world — a movement largely led by the Fed — would affect highly indebted emerging markets, with rapidly rising rates potentially causing instability.
-The chaotic events of the past seven days in the UK raise three questions. How did a G7 economy like the UK find itself the subject of such a ferocious market panic? How did the Conservative party, which was once so closely in tune with the City, end up trying to fight the bond market? And how will the impasse of the past week be resolved?
-Russian President Vladimir Putin has annexed four regions in south-eastern Ukraine and vowed to use “all the means” at Russia’s disposal to defend the territory in a speech that marked a further escalation in his war against Kyiv and his resentment at its western allies.
-The US has imposed sanctions on Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of Russia’s central bank, as part of a new package of measures intended to stiffen its financial punishment of Moscow in the wake of its annexation of vast chunks of territory in eastern Ukraine.
-Private home prices plummeted to the lowest level since February 2019, according to the latest government data. The value for resale flats fell more than 10 per cent in a year, according to Hong Kong property agency Centaline. Analysts and insiders are expecting home prices to drop 10% or more this year, despite the Chinese territory finally scrapping tough mandatory hotel quarantine requirements last month.
-The UK’s credit rating was threatened with a downgrade late on Friday when S&P, one of the world’s largest credit rating agencies, put the country on a “negative outlook” after chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s “mini” Budget last week. The rating agency maintained the UK’s double A investment grade credit rating but warned the outlook was negative. S&P said that after the chancellor’s statement, there were “additional risks” in lending to the UK.
-Germany’s pursuit of a massive borrowing package to help its economy withstand the energy crisis has heightened tensions among EU member states as they struggled to forge a common approach on lowering gas and electricity prices at meetings in Brussels.
-Hurricane Ian made US landfall for a second time on Friday, reaching the coast of South Carolina after leaving a path of devastation across Florida.
At least 21 people have been reported dead in Florida after Ian tore across the peninsula, the state emergency director said, a tally that would make the storm the deadliest in the state’s history. Insured losses to property are likely to total $30B-$40B, according to S&P Global Ratings.
-A US citizen was among 14 people killed in an Iranian bombing campaign on Iraq’s Kurdistan region, the US said, as Tehran stepped up attacks on foreign dissidents it accuses of fanning protests.
NY POST
-Gov. Kathy Hochul attended a secret meeting this week at the Upper East Side townhouse of Alexander Rovt — a billionaire mega-donor to her campaign whose hospital network was bailed out by the state in April.
A source provided The Post a video of Hochul — who is already under fire over accusations of pay to play campaign donations involving an overpriced, no-bid $637M COVID test contract — entering Rovt’s mansion on East 68th Street Thursday morning.
-Nike, the world’s biggest sportswear company, said it was stuck with a glut of out-of-season inventory that will force it to mark down prices going into the all-crucial holiday period. Nike, based in Beaverton, Ore., said it will be “aggressively” liquidating its apparel and sneakers as it powers through elevated inventory levels – up 44% overall and 65% in North America, the company said as it reported results for its latest quarter on Thursday.