REUTERS Daily Briefing August 18,2023 : The United States has approved sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands and more ...

 

Daily Briefing

Trump cancels his news conference, China economic fears mount, and what Ukraine wants from the West. Plus, Beijing's record rainfall explained in graphics.   By Linda Noakes

Today's Top News

Ukrainian soldiers stand next to an armored fighting vehicle in Klietz, Germany, August 17, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR The United States has approved sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as pilot training is completed. Ukraine has actively sought the US-made jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. A Ukrainian drone smashed into a building in central Moscow after Russian air defenses shot it down, disrupting air traffic at civilian airports, Russian officials said. Eighteen months after Russia's invasion, Ukraine's requests for Western help have changed from an initial need for training on defensive tactics and how to fight in urban areas. Senior Europe Security Correspondent Sabine Siebold visited a training ground in Germany to find out what is now top of Kyiv's wish list. Ukraine has claimed gains in its counteroffensive – how significant are they? Ukraine reporter Max Hunder explains on today's Reuters World News podcast. WILDFIRES Canadian firefighters are racing against advancing flames to evacuate all residents from the remote northern city of Yellowknife, with unfavorable winds threatening to complicate one of the biggest rescue efforts of the fire season. Here are some questions and answers about the fires. Maui County Emergency Management administrator Herman Andaya, criticized by local residents and media over the island's response to the deadly wildfires that killed at least 111 people, has resigned. Firefighters are still struggling to contain a wildfire that broke out in a mountainous national park on the Spanish island of Tenerife amid hot and dry weather, that has extended for 41 km and prompted authorities to evacuate more 3,000 people. Here's how climate change is driving heatwaves and wildfires.

IN OTHER NEWS Former President Donald Trump canceled a press conference scheduled for next week to release a report into the 2020 election in Georgia, saying his attorneys would put his arguments in court filings instead. Law enforcement officials are investigating threats related to the investigation in Georgia, after names and addresses of grand jury members were posted online. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was tracking a new, highly mutated lineage of the virus that causes COVID-19. The lineage is named BA.2.86, and has been detected in the United States, Denmark and Israel. West African army chiefs were due to hold a second and final day of talks in Ghana's capital Accra, where they have been hashing out the details of a possible military intervention in Niger if diplomacy fails to reverse a military coup. North Korea's latest Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile - its first ICBM to use solid rocket fuel - has ignited new debate over a possible Russian role in the nuclear-armed state's dramatic missile development.

Business & Markets

Lightning is seen above buildings, in Shanghai, China August 17, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song

Embattled developer China Evergrande has filed for bankruptcy protection in a US court as part of one of the world's biggest debt restructuring exercises, as anxiety grows over China's worsening property crisis and a weakening economy. China's electric vehicle makers, which have raced past foreign rivals to top sales rankings at home, are arriving in Europe – and facing a new set of challenges. Western automakers are fighting back with their own raft of EV launches. Euro zone inflation slowed further and even underlying price pressures appear to have peaked, data showed, easing pressure on the European Central Bank to keep raising rates after its fastest rate-hike cycle on record. Some of the world's biggest advertisers are experimenting with using generative AI software to cut costs and increase productivity. But many companies remain wary of security and copyright risks as well as the dangers of unintended biases baked into the raw information. Air cargo enjoyed record demand when COVID-19 closed borders and snarled supply chains. Now, it is reeling from overcapacity and tumbling freight rates as the freight boom makes a hard landing.

The Week Ahead

It's summer camp season and not to be left out, US rate setters and overseas pals gather in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to talk central banking. The BRICS grouping gathers too amid increasing disquiet in some big emerging markets, while business activity data globally and China property woes mean August is proving far from dull. Here's a look at the week ahead  from our markets team. President Joe Biden hopes to cement ties with South Korea and Japan at a summit at Camp David, the storied presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains. Russia is due to attempt a soft landing on the south pole of the moon in a race against India, as major powers eye a lunar gold rush.

Beijing's Record Rainfall

This August, record-breaking rainfall has drenched the streets of China’s northern Hebei province, triggering some of the worst floods in history and displacing over a million people from their homes. Northern China is no stranger to storms in the summer season, but why was this year’s rainfall so devastating? Could this extreme weather have been prevented? And how do meteorologists determine how “heavy” rainfall is?   Our graphics team set out to answer these questions.

And Finally...

Peruvian singer Lenin Tamayo poses for a photograph in Lima, Peru August 17, 2023. REUTERS/Angela Ponce

Lenin Tamayo, named after the leader of the Russian Revolution, is taking on Peru's music scene with a new genre that resembles South Korean pop music but with songs in Quechua, the language of the Incas. Read more here: Peru's Korean-pop revolution in Quechua, 'Q-pop'