BitGou: Monday Briefing: Ukraine evacuation from Mariupol stalls

Monday, May 2, 2022

by Robert MacMillan

Hello

Here's what you need to know.

Many remain trapped in the Azovstal steel works, Berkshire shareholders contemplate the future, and fire forces the evacuation of New Mexico villages

Today's biggest stories

A woman holds a child as civilians from Mariupol travel to Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, May 2, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

RUSSIA AND UKRAINE AT WAR

Humanitarian organizations worked to evacuate more civilians from Mariupol, but hundreds of people remained trapped in the Azovstal steel works, the last stronghold of resistance to the Russian siege. People stuck there were running out of water, food and medicine.

One evacuee from the steel works recounted to Reuters their time in subterranean bunkers at Azovstal during the Russian assault. "You just can't imagine what we have been through - the terror," Natalia Usmanova said.

Russia's neighbor Finland will almost certainly apply for membership in NATO, Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde said. The Ukraine invasion has forced Sweden and Finland to review beliefs that military neutrality is the best means of ensuring national security.

Energy ministers from European Union countries were expected to hold emergency talks as the bloc strives for a united response to Moscow's demand that European buyers pay for Russian gas in roubles or face their supply being cut off.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov roused Israel's ire when he was asked during an interview on Italian TV how Russia could claim that it needed to "denazify" Ukraine when the country's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was Jewish. "When they say 'What sort of nazification is this if we are Jews', well I think that Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it means nothing," Lavrov said.

Here's what you need to know about the conflict right now

Warren Buffett rides on a golf cart at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in Omaha, April 29, 2022. REUTERS/Scott Morgan/File Photo

BUSINESS

Berkshire Hathaway shareholders face a question that Warren Buffett, 91, sought to tackle at the company's annual meeting this past weekend: How will Berkshire change when he's no longer around? Buffett put it down to culture: "If we have the same culture, we will be here in 100 years."

Other highlights from the meeting, which was Berkshire's first since COVID-19 forced cancellations during the past two years:
- Shareholders rejected proposals to have an independent chair replace Buffett, and to require the company to disclose more about its climate-related risks and efforts to improve diversity.
- Buffett railed against Wall Street excess and addressed the risks to the conglomerate of inflation and nuclear war.
- Vice-Chairman Charlie Munger, 98, said retail broker Robinhood is getting its comeuppance after a 2020 peak in trading volumes.

Mixed financial results from U.S. megacap companies are dampening an otherwise better-than-expected first-quarter earnings season and so far failing to fuel stock performance in the face of U.S. Federal Reserve monetary tightening.

Amazon.com's objections to a landmark union election at a warehouse in New York City justify a hearing that could overturn the result, a U.S. National Labor Relations Board official said. The company also will end its paid time-off policy for employees with COVID-19.

Qantas will fly non-stop from Sydney to London after ordering a dozen special Airbus jets for the kangaroo route, charging higher fares in a multi-billion dollar bet that fliers will pay a premium to save four hours by not having to change planes.

Business jets were often associated with entertainers and top executives. That is changing. A shift toward private flying that more wealthy Americans saw as a necessary luxury during COVID-19 is showing signs of becoming a pricey but sought-after alternative to a premium ticket on a commercial flight.

The Fed wants to cool the U.S. housing market. Here's what that feels like.

A resident seals off an area during lockdown, Shanghai, May 2, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song

WORLD

Shanghai was dealt a blow as authorities reported 58 new COVID-19 cases outside areas under lockdown, while Beijing pressed on with testing millions of people. Meanwhile, New Zealand welcomed thousands of travelers from around the globe for the first time since 2020.

Western officials have largely lost hope that the Iran nuclear deal can be resurrected, forcing them to weigh how to limit Iran's atomic program even as Russia's invasion of Ukraine divides the big powers.

Unrelenting heat in India pushes April power demand to record high

The U.S. plans to step up diplomatic engagement with Pacific Island countries as China expands its presence in the region, most recently in the Solomon Islands.

Spanish authorities detected Pegasus spyware in the mobile phones of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Defense Minister Margarita Robles.

U.S.

Thousands of residents of northern New Mexico villages evacuated on Sunday as fierce winds drove the largest active U.S. wildfire towards their drought-parched mountain valley.

Some Hispanic voters in Arizona and Colorado who usually vote Democrat told Reuters that soaring inflation is causing them to seriously consider voting for Republicans. Even a small loss of support among Hispanics could mean the loss of the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate for Democrats.

Donald Trump faces the biggest test of his political clout since the end of his presidency, as candidates he has endorsed contest Republican primaries that will set the stage for November's midterm congressional elections.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said he is considering a run for the 2024 Republican U.S. presidential nomination, making clear that he is "not aligned" with Trump.

Carrying signs decrying "racist traitors," about 100 civil rights activists marched and chanted at Georgia's Stone Mountain on Saturday to protest at the return of an annual celebration of the Confederacy.