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Blinken set to meet Russia’s Lavrov as Ukraine tensions flare

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday during a European security conference, amid escalating tensions over Moscow's build-up of troops near its border with Ukraine.

The meeting is due to take place on the sidelines of the summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Stockholm. Blinken will also meet separately with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Speaking in Riga on Wednesday after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Blinken expressed US concerns about Russia's large-scale military operations and what he said were its efforts to destabilize Ukraine from within.

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“We don't know whether President (Vladimir) Putin has made the decision to invade. We do know that he's putting in place the capacity to do so in short order, should he so decide,” said Blinken.

The United States is ready to respond with “a range of high impact economic measures that we have refrained from pursuing in the past”, he added, without elaborating.

Blinken is expected to relay to Lavrov the threat of further sanctions if Russia fails to end the troop build-up on Ukraine's border and to remind him that there is a diplomatic solution, a senior State Department official told reporters.

“The dialogue is more important when things are not going well,” the official said. “Beyond making clear the cost of Russian actions, I’m certain that the Secretary is also going to want to make clear that there is a diplomatic off-ramp.”

Flashpoint

Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that aspires to join the European Union and NATO, has become the main flashpoint between Russia and the West as relations have soured to their worst level in the three decades since the Cold War ended.

Ukraine says Russia has deployed more than 90,000 troops near their long shared border.

Moscow accuses Kyiv of pursuing its own military build-up. It has dismissed as inflammatory suggestions it is preparing for an attack on Ukraine but has defended its right to deploy troops on its own territory as it sees fit.

But Putin has also said Russia would be forced to act if NATO placed missiles in Ukraine that could strike Moscow within minutes.

The Kremlin annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and then backed rebels fighting Kyiv government forces in the east of the country. That conflict has killed 14,000 people, Kyiv says, and is still simmering.

As well as Ukraine, other issues including cybersecurity and the Kremlin's treatment of its critics have also helped drive relations between Washington and Moscow to post-Cold War lows.

US Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns earlier this month raised the issue of Russian cyberattacks during a rare visit to Moscow, where he met high-ranking security officials, three sources told Reuters.

Another focal point for East-West tensions has been the refugee crisis on the borders between Belarus, a Russian ally, and NATO members Poland and Lithuania.

Western nations accuse Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of engineering the migrant crisis in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Minsk over its human rights record. Minsk blames the West for the humanitarian crisis.

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Vatican chastises bishops who stoke division on social media


The Vatican urged bishops and high-profile lay Catholic leaders on Monday to tone down their comments on social media, saying some were causing division and stoking polemics that harmed the entire Church.

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The appeal was part of a 20-page document by the Vatican’s communications department titled, “Towards Full Presence. A Pastoral Reflection on Engagement with Social Media.”

The document, addressed to all Catholics, warned of the dangers of fake news on social media and other forms of abuse that had turned people into commodities whose data is sold, often without their knowledge or consent.

It condemned polarization and extremism that had led to “digital tribalism” on social media, saying individuals were often locking themselves in silos of opinion that hindered dialog and often led to violence, abuse and misinformation.

“The Christian style should be reflective, not reactive, on social media. Therefore, we should all be careful not to fall into the digital traps hidden in content that is intentionally designed to sow conflict among users by causing outrage or emotional reactions,” the document said.

“The problem of polemical and superficial, and thus divisive, communication is particularly worrying when it comes from Church leadership: bishops, pastors, and prominent lay leaders,” it said.

A number of conservative Catholic bishops and high-profile commentators, particularly in the US, have criticized Pope Francis on Twitter, with some having endorsed fierce, far-right video attacks on the pontiff.

“Unfortunately, broken relationships, conflicts, and divisions are not foreign to the Church. For example, when groups that present themselves as ‘Catholic’ use their social media presence to foster division, they are not behaving like a Christian community should,” the document said.

It said particular attention would have to be paid to advances in artificial intelligence (AI) in coming years, urging Catholics to beware machines “that make our decisions for us.”

In 2020, the Vatican joined forces with tech giants Microsoft and IBM to promote the ethical development of AI and call for regulation of intrusive technologies such as facial recognition.

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Goldman cuts Israeli shekel forecasts on politics, intervention


Strategists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have revised their forecasts to reflect a weaker shekel on renewed concerns that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial plan will increase pressure on the currency and the central bank won’t intervene to support it.

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Comments by central bank Deputy Governor Andrew Abir last week that interest rates need to be the main tightening tool have downplayed the “potential for FX interventions, the strategists said in a report on Friday. The shekel slumped 2.3 percent last week after parliament passed a new national budget, which granted more funding to the nation’s ultra-Orthodox in order to secure the bloc’s loyalty to his right-wing coalition.

Goldman revised its forecasts of the shekel to 3.70 and 3.60 against the dollar in the next three and 12 months, respectively, compared with 3.50 and 3.40 previously. While that’s still stronger than the current level, the strategists said they expect volatility around their estimates to “remain elevated. The shekel rose 0.3 percent to 3.7178 as of 2:50 p.m. in Jerusalem on Monday.

“With limited policy support, we think domestic political developments will remain in the driver’s seat for the shekel, Goldman’s strategists, including Kamakshya Trivedi, said in the report.

The shekel’s correlation with the performance of global technology stocks began to break down in January amid massive protests against Netanyahu’s plans to give politicians more control over the judiciary and its appointments. His decision in late March to delay the plan had provided some reprieve for the currency, until last week.

The shekel trades at a more than 10 percent discount to Goldman’s estimated fair value of around 3.3 per dollar, the strategists said.

In April, Moody’s Investors Service lowered the outlook on the nation’s A1 rating to stable from positive, citing a “deterioration of Israel’s governance.

“If market participants and tech investors continue to grow more concerned about domestic political developments and their impact on institutional quality, then risk premium may build further in the currency, the strategists at Goldman said.

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Elon Musk to visit China this week: Sources


Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk is expected to visit China this week, three people with knowledge of the matter said, in what would be his first trip to the country in three years.
Musk is expected to meet senior Chinese officials and to visit Tesla’s Shanghai plant, two of the sources said.
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It was not immediately clear who Musk would meet and what they would discuss. The people with knowledge of the trip declined to be named as the matter is private.
Tesla and China’s State Council Information Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters reported in March that Musk was planning a trip to China and seeking a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang as early as April, with the exact timing subject to Li’s availability.
China is Tesla’s second-largest market after the United States, and its Shanghai plant is the electric carmaker’s largest production hub.
Musk also owns social media platform Twitter, which is banned in China, although some people access it via virtual private networks (VPNs).
The trip would mark Musk’s first in China since he set the internet abuzz by dancing on stage during an event at Tesla’s Shanghai factory in early 2020.
It would also come at a time when Tesla is grappling with multiple issues, including intensifying competition with Chinese automakers that are exporting their China-made electric vehicles as demand in the world’s largest auto market weakens.
Tesla has not yet given any update on its plans to increase output by 450,000 vehicles a year at its Shanghai plant, although it said in April it would build a factory in Shanghai to produce Megapack energy storage products.
The company has submitted plans to local authorities to expand capacity for producing powertrains at the Shanghai plant to 1.75 million units annually.
China’s state planner has been struggling with a capacity glut in its auto industry with more than 100 players and has been cautious about approving new production capacity.
Musk told CNBC earlier this month that “there are some constraints on our ability to expand in China.” He added: “It’s not a demand issue.”
In the same interview, Musk said tensions between the United States and China “should be a concern for everyone.”
Tesla is building a plant in Mexico expected to produce a lower-cost electric car built on its next-generation platform.
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