US Permanent Representative to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield has arrived in Ukraine on a visit, said Nate Evans, Director of Communications and Press Secretary of the US Mission to the UN.
“The US Ambassador to the UN is in Kyiv for a day of meetings to reaffirm the unwavering US support for Ukraine as it defends its freedom and sovereignty in the face of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion,” Evans tweeted on Tuesday.
While in Kyiv, Thomas-Greenfield will meet with Ukrainian government leaders to discuss the unwavering US commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence, according to the US Embassy in Ukraine. She will oversee efforts to document and preserve evidence of atrocities committed by Russian forces and hear first-hand accounts from survivors.
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield will also discuss the global food security crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion and stress the urgent need to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative into next year. She will also meet with humanitarian organizations working to meet the winterization needs of vulnerable populations affected by Russian attacks on energy and other civilian infrastructure.
Sales of new homes in the US in September fell by 10.9% compared with the previous month and amounted to 603 thousand in terms of annual rates, the country’s Department of Commerce said.
The rate of decline has become the highest since April this year.
According to the revised data, 677 thousand houses were sold in August, and not 685 thousand, as previously reported.
Analysts, on average, had expected new home sales to fall to 585,000 last month from the previously announced figure, Trading Economics reports.
Compared to the same month in 2021, the number of new home sales fell by 17.6% (732 thousand new buildings were sold in September last year).
The median price of a new home in the US jumped 13.9% to $470.6 thousand in September.
The number of new buildings put up for sale at the end of last month was 462 thousand, which was the highest figure since 2008. At current sales rates, it would take 9.2 months for all new homes in the US to sell (8.2 months in August and 6.1 months a year ago). Experts traditionally believe that a balanced market corresponds to an indicator of about 6 months.
New properties make up about 10% of the US housing market, but new home sales are recorded as soon as a contract is signed, making them a more relevant indicator of the state of the market.
The US authorities in the new version of the national defense strategy described Russia as an “acute threat” and China as a “major challenge” for Washington.
“Russia poses an acute threat. Even though the main challenge comes from China, recent events highlight the immediate threat from Russia,” the Pentagon said in a strategy text released Thursday.
At the same time, the Pentagon noted that, “despite the fact that divergent interests and historical mistrust between China and Russia may limit the depth of their political and military cooperation, relations between the countries continue to expand.”
The document emphasizes that Russia “continues to pose a serious threat in key areas,” including nuclear.
This includes the nuclear threat against the United States and its allies and partners, the threat of long-range cruise missiles, cyber and information operations, threats in outer space, the threat of chemical and biological weapons, and underwater warfare. strategies.
In particular, according to the document, Russia continues to modernize and expand its nuclear forces, which pose a “potential threat to the existence of the United States and its allies and partners.” The Pentagon notes that we are talking about both the 1,500 deployed Russian nuclear warheads subject to the START III treaty, and warheads for non-strategic nuclear weapons, which are not covered by any agreements. Thus, Russia remains a rival to the United States with the most combat-ready and diverse arsenal of nuclear weapons.
At the same time, the document recalls, the United States had a significant dialogue with Russia in the area of ”strategic dialogue and crisis management.” The United States and Russia also expressed their desire to extend the nuclear arms control regime beyond the scope of START III. However, the priorities of both countries differ on this issue, which indicates the need for dialogue “with regard to those goals that the US and the Russian Federation do not have the same, and the perception of those weapons systems that affect strategic stability.”
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also presented this strategy at the briefing.
On the eve of the elections in November, the US Congress plans to approve a new aid package to Ukraine worth about $50 billion, NBC News reports, citing its own sources.
It is noted that the decision may be made in connection with concerns about cuts in aid to Ukraine if representatives of the Republican Party receive a majority in parliament.
The new aid package is likely to be part of a consolidated spending bill.
At the same time, the administration of US President Joseph Biden has not yet made a formal request for new funding.
As the newspaper notes, the leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, a candidate for the position of speaker in the event of the victory of the Republican Party in the elections, has already said that his party “is not going to issue an endless check to Ukraine.” In addition, many Republican candidates say that the US should focus on its own internal problems, and the war in Ukraine is not connected with US national interests.
At the same time, many Republicans declare the need to continue supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.
“I voted for the first funding bill and I am ready to discuss additional funding. If we do not take the necessary steps for Ukraine to protect its nation and sovereignty from Russia, I think that the ripple effects will eventually cost not only the United States, but everything much more valuable to the world,” said Chuck Fleischmann, member of the Appropriations Committee.
The rate of bitcoin fell by 4% during trading on Thursday after the publication of data on higher-than-expected inflation in the United States.
The price of bitcoin at 16:11 CST fell by 4.4% compared to the closing level of the previous trading and amounted to $18,312 thousand, which is the lowest level since June 18.
The rate of ether (Ether) fell by 6.6%, to $1.212 thousand.
Consumer prices (CPI index) in the US in September rose by 8.2% compared to the same month last year, showed data published on Thursday by the country’s Ministry of Labor. Thus, inflation slowed to a seven-month low from 8.3% in August, but was higher than the 8.1% expected by analysts polled by Bloomberg.
On a monthly basis, the CPI index increased by 0.4%, although analysts were expecting a rise of 0.2%.
Meanwhile, consumer price growth excluding the cost of food and energy (Core CPI) in September accelerated to 6.6% in annual terms from 6.3% in August.
“The whole world is looking at US inflation data to try and predict what the Fed is doing,” said Stefan Rast, founder of research firm Truflation.
Higher-than-expected inflation raises the possibility of another 75 basis point rate hike at the next Fed meeting on November 1-2.
U.S. chip makers are recalling employees from China’s leading memory chip maker, Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), writes The Wall Street Journal, citing informed sources.
In particular, we are talking about KLA Corp. and Lam Research Corp., which are suspending cooperation with a Chinese state-owned company after Washington imposed restrictions blocking the supply of high-tech semiconductor components and equipment for their production in China.
U.S. companies have suspended maintenance on existing equipment at the YMTC facility and have also stopped installing new equipment, sources said.
In total, dozens of employees of American companies are involved in the plant, who play a key role in maintaining the operation of the enterprise, having the expertise necessary for high-tech production, the sources say.
If these employees do not return to work, YMTC will not be able to modernize production in the future, and will also face difficulties when equipment needs to be repaired.
Under new export controls announced last Friday, high-performance computing, supercomputing and artificial intelligence (AI) chips made using US technology can only be sold to China with an export license.
Washington also banned US citizens and organizations from working with Chinese chipmakers without special permission.
In addition, the US-announced package severely restricts exports to China of chip manufacturing equipment and technologies that local companies could use to develop their own equipment.
According to Boston Consulting Group estimates, US companies account for 41% of global production of equipment for the production of chips, China – no more than 5%.
