Putin says he's open to more swaps. What about Paul Whelan?
Saturday, December 10, 2022 |
Thanks for joining us on the weekend shift, where we're bringing you the latest developments on China and COVID, the Ukraine war, German extremism and plenty more. |
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An airplane said to be carrying Viktor Bout lands at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, December 8, 2022. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva |
- What happened: The basketball star appears to be in good health, a White House spokesman said, after spending 10 months in Russian detention. The U.S. handed over arms dealer Viktor Bout, who rejected the idea that Russia got the best of the prisoner swap or that it had made Joe Biden look weak.
- What's coming: Will former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, imprisoned in Russia, get a similar deal? Putin said he's open to more swaps, but the old debate has resurfaced about whether exchanges do more harm than good.
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- Money and guns: The U.S. announced new military aid for Ukraine and said it would disrupt Russian ties with Iran. Kyiv warned of a winter-long power deficit after infrastructure attacks, and Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine is holding its ground in the Donbas despite huge difficulties.
- And oil: Vladimir Putin said Russia, the world's biggest exporter of energy, could cut production and will refuse to sell oil to any country that imposes the West's "stupid" price cap.
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- Latest developments: Long lines have formed at pharmacies in many Chinese cities by people looking to buy cough medicines, flu drugs and masks, and the state market regulator warned against price gouging in anti-COVID products. This is happening after China made a dramatic pivot toward economic reopening, loosening key parts of its zero-COVID policy.
- The coming days: Human misery is arguably a commodity. Investors are betting on greed and fear as the economy starts to reopen, including medical and death-care services.
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- Seems like old times: German authorities ordered more than 20 people held for questioning over a plot to overthrow the state and install a member of an old aristocratic family as leader of a new state. Berlin expects more arrests.
- What next? A prominent judge was among those arrested, fanning concerns about how extremism may have been overlooked in German society at large.
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- The secret: The Nigerian military for years conducted a systematic and illegal abortion program, ending at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls. Many had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants.
- The aftermath: The U.N. secretary-general called for an investigation, while Nigeria's defense chief said the military "will not investigate what you know is not true."
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Before I forget...
U.S. soccer journalist Grant Wahl died suddenly after collapsing while covering a match at the World Cup in Qatar, Iran's president promised to continue a crackdown on anti-government protesters, Xi Jinping met Gulf Arab leaders, cleanup from the largest U.S. oil spill in nearly a decade will take a while, and people are missing on the island of Jersey, a British Crown Dependency off the French coast, after an explosion. Be sure to take some time as well with Reuters' year-end coverage on a variety of topics, including inflation and why the worst is yet to come, and the great office debate: how much working from home is too much, as if such a thing were possible.
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