Weekend Papers Summary
NEW YORK TIMES
-George Santos’s Lies Were Known to Some Well-Connected Republicans. Mr. Santos ignored advice to drop out of his House race after an extensive background check in 2021 uncovered his deceits, people with knowledge of the matter said. The episode reveals that a small circle of Republican campaign professionals had indications of his lies far earlier than the public.
-Russia’s claim to seize a Ukrainian town exposes rifts among forces. After Russia said it had taken Soledar, a leader of a mercenary group accused Moscow of stealing credit. Ukraine said forces were still fighting there.
-How do Western goods reach Russia? A long line of trucks through Georgia offers a hint. With Western sanctions barring many imports, a lot of what Russia needs now travels a slow, crowded truck route through the Caucasus Mountains.
-Russian forces have targeted Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, and other cities with missile and drone attacks off-and-on for months, devastating the power grid and forcing rolling blackouts.
-The Treasury Department expects to begin taking “extraordinary measures” to continue paying the government’s obligations before what is expected to be a big fight to raise the borrowing cap.
-Washington adjusts to new landscape after installation of special counsel. The documents investigation involving President Biden is sure to muddy the waters politically as former President Trump argues persecution over his own inquiry.
-Presidents and Their Prosecutors: Since the days of Watergate, every president but one has faced a special prosecutor scrutinizing them or their associates. President Biden now joins them.
-Sweden says it has uncovered a rare earth bonanza. A state-owned mining company said it had found Europe’s largest deposit of the vital minerals used in electric vehicles and other green technology.
-A German Village is at center of a fight over coal and climate is cleared out. For years, activists tried to save Lützerath from being razed to make way for the expansion of a coal mine. This past week, the police moved them out.
-Biden and Kishida vow to bolster US-Japan Alliance as China’s Power grows. The two leaders discussed tensions with China, North Korea and Russia and plans for deterrence in Asia with US troops and missiles.
-The Iranian government has executed a former defense official, a dual UK citizen, on spy charges. Alireza Akbari, previously a senior military and defense official, had moved to Britain a decade ago. He had been detained since 2019.
-Saks Fifth Avenue Wants to Add a Casino Atop Its Flagship Store. Hudson’s Bay Company, the owner of the department store, unveiled plans for a casino in Midtown Manhattan, joining the race for one of three full-fledged gambling licenses in the city.
THE FINANCIAL TIMES
-Bonds are on track for their best January performance in more than three decades, spurred by a growing conviction that inflation has peaked on both sides of the Atlantic. The Bloomberg Global Aggregate index, a broad gauge of global fixed income, has delivered a 3.1% return so far this month. If that continues for the rest of January it will be the biggest rise logged in the first month of the year in records going back to 1991.
-Nelson Peltz is set to take on Disney in the most high-profile proxy battle in years as he seeks shareholder support for a board seat. The co-founder of Trian Fund Management has been on a media blitz, comparing the company to communist China in a television interview with CNBC, setting the tone for a protracted and bitter fight.
-Germany’s defense minister Christine Lambrecht plans to step down, according to a German government source, following a series of errors that badly hurt her credibility as commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces. The person said Lambrecht could announce her decision to resign as early as next week. Her resignation will trigger huge uncertainty at a time when Germany is facing a momentous decision on whether to break with longstanding policy and supply battle tanks to Ukraine, a move that chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far been reluctant to make.
-Russia’s defense ministry on Friday claimed its forces had taken complete control of the frontline Ukrainian settlement of Soledar, known for its underground salt mines and tunnels, after weeks of heavy fighting in and around the town.
-Chinese scholars involved in Alibaba’s lobbying operation published essays and submitted reports in support of the company to authorities in Beijing, including the State Administration for Market Regulation, which hit the group with a record fine for antitrust abuses in 2021. Alibaba provided the scholars with money, data, information and interview opportunities to bolster their research, according to more than 10 academics, government officials and company employees who spoke to the Financial Times.
-UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has accused Iran of a “cowardly act” after the Islamic republic executed an Iranian-British national convicted of espionage. Iranian state media said the Islamic regime had hanged Alireza Akbari, who had held various senior positions in Iran’s security and military institutions, after he was accused of spying for Britain’s MI6 spy agency.
-There has been a significant shift in western attitudes to Ukraine’s war with Russia. Thinking has moved a long way since the hopes earlier in the war that it would be enough to keep Ukraine in the fight until an opportunity for a peaceful settlement came along. The consensus now among leading western states is that the only way to persuade Russia that it cannot succeed in its war of conquest is for Ukraine’s armed forces to liberate much more territory.
-Fears that Germany could enter recession have eased after the federal statistical agency reported that the economy grew by 1.9% in 2022 and was likely to have stagnated in the fourth quarter. Data released by the agency suggested the boost delivered to private consumption by government fiscal support measures, combined with the lifting of coronavirus pandemic-era lockdowns, had outweighed the economic fallout from the conflict in Ukraine.
-US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has warned the US will hit its $31.4T borrowing limit next week and could run the risk of a damaging debt default starting in early June, setting the stage for a high-stakes fiscal negotiation between the White House and Congress in the coming months.
-Donald Trump’s business empire will be forced to pay about $1.6M in penalties after being convicted of running a 13-year tax fraud scheme in which executives were handed “off-the-books” perks including a luxury apartment, Mercedes cars and school tuition.
-Qatar is seeking to keep momentum behind its push into sport, as the tiny desert state moves to diversify its economy away from oil and gas, further its soft power reach and burnish its credentials as investor.
One option now under consideration is an investment in the English Premier League. Qatar Sports Investments, the state-backed entity that bought PSG in 2011, recently held tentative talks with Tottenham Hotspur, according to a person familiar with the matter, although those at the London-based club denies it has discussed the sale of an equity stake.
-BlackRock’s Larry Fink has admitted that “negative markets had a substantial impact” on the world’s largest fund manager last year, wiping out $1.4T of its assets and hitting profits. In an internal memo seen by the Financial Times, the chief executive said the operating environment “is unlike anything we’ve seen in decades”.
-Prada is taking decisive steps towards implementing the complex succession that will eventually lead to Lorenzo Bertelli taking over from his parents, Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada, who have led the 110-year-old retailer since the late 1970s. The group, which also owns brands Miu Miu and Church’s, named former Luxottica chief Andrea Guerra as successor to co-chief executives Bertelli and Prada in December. It also appointed Gianfranco D’Attis, the departing boss of Dior US, as the first ever chief of Prada, the company’s main brand. Both executives start this month. Lorenzo, 34, who currently heads the group’s corporate social responsibility department, is expected to take the helm within a few years.
NY POST
-In Jamestown, New York — about as far as one can get from the southern border without entering Canada — residents are bracing for an influx of migrants that could cause a crisis similar to the one that has New York City facing a fiscal cliff. “If a city of 8 million people can be overwhelmed by a couple thousand migrants, imagine what a couple hundred can do to overwhelm a small rural community upstate?” warned state Sen. Joe Borrello (R-Jamestown). “It wouldn’t take many migrants to overwhelm the system,” he added. At least 35 migrants from Colombia are known to have arrived in the tiny upstate city since late last year, with others believed to be living and the shadows and more certainly on the way, a leading Hispanic advocate told The Post.
-President Biden back at Delaware home where classified documents were stashed in garage. The 80-year-old commander-in-chief arrived Friday evening at the Delaware home where he kept classified documents from his time as vice president next to his 1967 Corvette Stingray, one day after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate the matter. Friday’s trip is Biden’s 52nd to Wilmington since taking office in January 2021. According to a tally by The Post, Biden has spent all or part of 151 days of his presidency at the 6,850-square-foot mansion.Meanwhile, Hunter Biden lived at Delaware home where classified docs were kept. President Biden already admitted guilt — he's just betting Garland doesn't prosecute him, or Trump.
-Dem Rep. Hank Johnson suggests classified documents ‘planted’ in Biden office, garage. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), who once worried Guam would sink from overpopulation, floated a theory on Thursday that sensitive papers found at Biden’s Delaware home and an office he used at a Washington, DC, think tank could have been “planted.”
-A conservative group alleges in a new IRS whistleblower complaint that the University of Pennsylvania’s Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement flouted non-profit rules — in part by giving the future president (Biden) and his allies “no show” jobs. The center burst into the national spotlight Monday with the revelation that classified documents dating from President Biden’s vice presidency were found at its Washington office, ultimately leading to the appointment of special counsel Robert Hur to determine whether Biden or others in his orbit illegally mishandled records.
-L’Oréal is bringing inclusivity to the makeup chair in 2023. The beauty giant announced on Jan. 3 that the brand will be releasing the world’s first handheld lipstick applicator designed for people with limited hand and arm mobility. L’Oréal-owned Lancome will pilot the ultra-precise computerized applicator, called HAPTA. The tool was displayed recently at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 in Las Vegas.