Vladimir Putin can call up all the troops he wants, but Russia has no way of getting those new troops the training and weapons they need to fight in Ukraine any time soon.
Former US Ambassador to the UN and White House hopeful Nikki Haley endorsed Republican Michael Henry for New York state attorney general amid a feud with Democratic incumbent AG Letitia James.
Haley last month accused James’ office of breaking tax laws by leaking the list of donors to her conservative not-for-profit advocacy group, Stand for America.
It was confirmation of the credo Biden has preached since the day he took office: that America is back, and that means back on top.
"Both through age and experience, he's someone very attached to the idea of American leadership," said Garret Martin, who teaches international relations at American University.
Unlike isolationist Donald Trump, who ditched international agreements, entered erratic relationships with US foes and treated US allies as a nuisance, Biden's worldview, laid out from the podium of the UN's huge hall, was more straightforward.
The United States will get involved everywhere, he said. The only question is whether that will be with a carrot -- or, as with Russia, a stick.
Biden's blistering denunciation of Russia began in the opening paragraph of his speech, when he said the Ukraine war was "chosen by one man."
President Vladimir Putin had "shamelessly violated the core tenets of the United Nations Charter," he said.
"This war is about extinguishing Ukraine's right to exist as a state, plain and simple, and Ukraine's right to exist as a people. Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should not -- that should make your blood run cold."
So it went on.
But then came the carrot.
"If you're still committed to a strong foundation for the good of every nation around the world, then the United States wants to work with you," Biden said.
"The United States is opening an era of relentless diplomacy to address the challenges that matter most to people's lives -- all people's lives."
He announced another $2.9 billion to help ease food supply problems endangering parts of Africa in particular.
And he strongly supported diluting the privileged position held by the five old powers on the permanent UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- by bringing in new members from the global south.
"The time has come for this institution to become more inclusive," he said, urging permanent seats to represent Africa and Latin America, in addition to previous calls for including Japan and India.
Biden reminded the world of the US role in creating and distributing vaccines during the Covid pandemic, and he renewed his promise of US leadership in the existential struggle with climate change.
Even if most of the focus was on criticizing Russia, Biden also brought out the stick for China -- just not as aggressively.
He only touched briefly on some of the worst accusations made in the West about China, including genocide against the Uyghurs.
Instead, he used mostly code words.
He said: "The United States is determined to defend and strengthen democracy at home and around the world."
He urged "basic principles like freedom of navigation."
And he called for "transparent" international infrastructure projects, rather than ones that "generate huge and large debt without delivering."
Code words, but easily understood as criticism of Beijing's expanding military and commercial grip on the Asia-Pacific region and even further afield.
On one topic, Biden was more blunt, accusing China of "conducting an unprecedented, concerning nuclear buildup without any transparency."
But just as important was the "direct" promise that Washington does "not seek conflict" with Beijing.
“Michael Henry is the outsider New Yorkers need to fight back against the corruption that’s plagued the Empire State,” Haley said in a statement provided to The Post Wednesday.
“I’m proud to endorse him because he’s pro-law and order, pro-government transparency, and will restore integrity to the NY Attorney General’s office,” Haley said.
Henry was thrilled to get endorsed by a major national Republican figure to fire up his underdog campaign.
“I’m proud to receive the endorsement of Ambassador Nikki Haley. She is a leader who is not afraid to fight back against corrupt and illegal behavior from my opponent’s office. She knows that I will root out this corruption and brazen political attacks that have no place in such an esteemed office,” Henry said.
James, a Democrat who is seeking re-election to a second term, made big waves Wednesday, filing a $250 million lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, his kids Eric, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization — alleging “staggering” fraud in the family real estate business.
Haley, who is considering a run for president in 2024, also has been in the headlines.
The former US ambassador to the United Nations under former President Donald Trump, Haley on Wednesday faulted President Biden for not calling out countries that allegedly are helping Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during his speech to the UN General Assembly — citing China, North Korea and Iran.
The former South Carina governor also called “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin a “racist” for accusing her of acting like a “chameleon” and shielding her Indian heritage behind a fake name.
Haley has gone by her middle name, Nikki, which is roughly translated from Hindu as “little one”, since childhood.
“Thanks for your concern @Sunny,” the ex-ambassador tweeted. “It’s racist of you to judge my name. Nikki is an Indian name and is on my birth certificate—and I’m proud of that.
“What’s sad is the left’s hypocrisy towards conservative minorities. By the way, last I checked Sunny isn’t your birth name…”
The James campaign had no immediate comment regarding Haley’s endorsement of Henry.
he Shanghai Composite Index sank 0.2% to 3,111.37 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo slid 1% to 27,053.10. Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 1.8% to 18,107.09.
South Korea's Kospi sank 1.2% to 2,320.22 and India's Sensex opened down 0.4% at 59,456.78.
New Zealand edged up less than 0.1% while Southeast Asian markets declined.
The Fed and central banks in Europe and Asia raising rates to slow economic growth and cool inflation that is at multi-decade highs.
Traders worry they might derail global economic growth. Fed officials acknowledge the possibility such aggressive rate hikes might bring on a recession but say inflation must be brought under control. They point to a relatively strong U.S. job market as evidence the economy can tolerate higher borrowing costs.
“The Fed’s new economic projections highlight it will tolerate a recession to bring inflation down,” said Gregory Daco of EY Parthenon in a report.
The yield on the 2-year Treasury, or the difference between the market price and the payout if held to maturity, rose to 4.02% from 3.97% late Tuesday. It was trading at its highest level since 2007.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates, fell to 3.52% from 3.56% late Tuesday.
The S&P 500 fell to 3,789.93. The Dow fell 1.7% to 30,183.78, and the Nasdaq composite lost 1.8% to 11,220.19.
The major Wall Street indexes are on pace for their fifth weekly loss in six weeks.
Fed chair Jerome Powell stressed his resolve to lift rates high enough to drive inflation back toward the central bank’s 2% goal. Powell said the Fed has just started to get to that level with this most recent increase.
The central bank's latest rate hike lifted its benchmark rate, which affects many consumer and business loans, to a range of 3% to 3.25%, the highest level in 14 years, and up from zero at the start of the year.
The Fed released a forecast known as a “dot plot” that showed it expects its benchmark rate to be 4.4% by year’s end, a full point higher than envisioned in June.
As in the rest of the UK, there will be a cap placed on the unit price of electricity and gas for two years.
The cap will not come into place in Northern Ireland until November, one month later than in the rest of the UK.
The government said households in NI would see the same benefits with the support being backdated.
Households using home heating oil will receive a one-off payment of £100 to help with rising energy costs, the UK government announced on Wednesday.
This will be delivered as a top-up to the £400 Energy Bills Support payment which is going to all UK households.
Some politicians have criticised the £100 heating oil payment, with SDLP leader Colum Eastwood describing it as an "insult".
After weeks of discussion about how the £400 rebate would be delivered in Northern Ireland, which has a separate energy market to Great Britain, former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi announced in August that the money would be paid directly to electricity companies, with the money then delivered through discounts on customers' bills.
Households in Great Britain will start receiving their discounts in October but it remains unclear when Northern Ireland residents will receive it.
The Northern Ireland Economy Minister Gordon Lyons says he expects the money will be paid out before Christmas.
U.S. consumer prices rose 8.3% in August. That was down from July's 9.1% peak, but core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices to give a clearer picture of the trend, rose to 0.6% over the previous month, up from July’s 0.3% increase.
Central bankers in Japan, Britain, Switzerland and Norway are due to report on whether they also will raise rates again. Sweden surprised economists this week with a full-point hike.
The global economy also has been roiled by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which pushed up prices of oil, wheat and other commodities.
In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude gained 19 cents to $83.13 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1 to $82.94 on Wednesday. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, advanced 20 cents to $90.03 per barrel in London. It lost 79 cents the previous session to $89.83.
The U.S. dollar surged to a new 24-year high against the yen after the Bank of Japan stuck to ultra-easing stimulus on Thursday, just hours after the Federal Reserve surprised markets with hawkish interest-rate projections.
The greenback had already pushed to a new 37-year peak to sterling ahead of the Bank of England's policy announcement later in the day, and to a two-decade top versus the euro.
It also notched new highs against regional currencies from the Australian and New Zealand dollars to the offshore Chinese yuan and the Korean won, as well as the Singapore dollar and Thai baht.
The yen went for a wild ride in the immediate aftermath of the BOJ's decision to keep short-term rates negative and continue to pin the 10-year government bond yield near zero, reinforcing market expectations that Japan's central bank will continue to swim against a global tide of monetary tightening, despite a weaker currency.
The dollar leapt as high as 145.405 yen for the first time since August 1998, but then swung sharply back to as low as 143.50, before last trading 0.45% higher than Wednesday at 144.75.
"There could be concern about intervention, or even a rate check by the BOJ," said Tohru Sasaki, head of Japan market research at J.P. Morgan in Tokyo. "It could also just be the result of market illiquidity."
"The market will be nervous, there will be some volatility for a while, but eventually, over the medium term, the weak yen trend will continue," Sasaki said. "The 1998 peak was at 147.60, so the market will be looking at that level."
Japan's top currency diplomat said later that officials had not intervened in the market.
The dollar index - which measures the greenback against a basket of six counterparts including the yen, euro and sterling - had earlier risen as high as 111.79 for the first time since mid-2002.
On Wednesday, the Fed issued new projections showing rates peaking at 4.6% next year with no cuts until 2024. It raised its target interest rate range by another 75 basis points (bps) overnight to 3.00%-3.25%, as was widely expected.
The dollar gained to 144.48 yen from Wednesday's 143.46 yen. The euro fell to 98.18 cents from 99.09 cents.
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Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney declined. Oil prices edged higher.
Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index fell 1.7% on Wednesday to a two-month low after the Fed raised its benchmark lending rate by 0.75 percentage points, three times its usual margin. The Fed said it expects that rate to be a full percentage point higher by year's end than it did three months ago.
A former Chinese justice minister was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on charges of taking bribes and helping criminals including his brother hide illegal activity, state TV reported Thursday.
Fu Zhenghua’s conviction adds to a string of senior officials who have been punished for corruption in a long-running crackdown launched after President Xi Jinping took power in late 2012.
Fu, 67, pleaded guilty to abusing his powers in roles including minister and chief of police for the Chinese capital, Beijing, in 2005-21 to hide crimes by his brother and others, China Central Television said on its website.
In return, Fu received money and property amounting to 117 million yuan ($16.5 million), the official China Daily newspaper reported in July. Thursday's report and earlier news accounts gave no details of what Fu’s brother, Fu Weihua, was accused of doing.
Death sentences with a reprieve usually are commuted to long prison terms if the convict is deemed to have reformed.
Fu will be sentenced to life in prison without parole if his sentence is commuted, CCTV said.
“The Fed still managed to out-hawk the markets,” Anna Stupnytska of Fidelity International said in a report. “Economic strength and a hot labor market point to a limited trade-off — at least for the time being — between growth and inflation.”
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