Your Friday Briefing: China’s stimulus plan

April 29, 2022

By Amelia Nierenberg

Writer, Briefings

Good morning. We're covering China's economic stimulus plan, President Biden's push for war funds and extreme heat in India and Pakistan.

Workers at a construction site in Beijing on Tuesday.Noel Celis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

China's Covid stimulus plan

As China's lockdowns continue and new infections continue to spread in Beijing, the central government has laid out a wide-ranging economic stimulus plan to staunch expected losses.

The government will subsidize businesses, pausing unemployment insurance payments if companies avoid mass layoffs, as well as electricity and internet charges. Young people graduating from college will be subsidized if they start their own businesses, since few jobs are available.

Two large, affluent ports, Shenzhen and Ningbo, have started giving residents gift certificates for shopping and dining, with a total value of $122 million. Nationwide, truck drivers will also receive more permits to bypass Covid roadblocks, and unemployed migrant workers will get government allowances.

What's next: Xi Jinping, China's leader, also began planning for accelerated infrastructure investments, a tactic China has historically used to fight economic slowdowns.

Beijing: On Thursday, the capital announced that it had found 56 cases in the preceding 24 hours, up from 46 reported a day earlier.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

Moderna asked the F.D.A. to authorize its vaccine for children under 6.
Global pediatric measles cases are surging, after the pandemic interrupted routine vaccinations.

An American volunteer teaching Ukrainian soldiers how to use a Javelin missile outside Zaporizhzhia, in southeastern Ukraine.Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

U.S. allocates more Ukraine funds

The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed legislation that would allow President Biden to use a World War II-era law to quickly supply weapons to Ukraine on loan.

The move came just hours after Biden addressed the nation from the White House, outlining his request to Congress to provide Ukraine with an additional $33 billion for defense and economic and humanitarian assistance.

"The cost of this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen," Biden said. Here are live updates.

The U.S. is also seeking new ways to punish the wealthy Russian tycoons who surround President Vladimir Putin: Biden said he was sending Congress legislation that would make it easier to seize their yachts, airplanes and other assets. The proceeds would be used to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Diplomacy: Britain said that Ukraine would be justified in using Western arms to attack military targets inside Russia. China suspended import tariffs on coal, helping Russian exports.

Analysis: Global political leaders are shifting their rhetoric to prepare their citizens for a protracted and possibly expensive struggle in Ukraine.

Accusation: A senior American diplomat said Russia had systematically detained and tortured Ukrainian officials, journalists and activists in "filtration camps" where some of them have reportedly disappeared.

State of the war:

Ukraine's military moved troops toward the border of Transnistria, a Moldovan territory that has become a persistent concern.
A Pentagon official said that Russian forces are making "slow and uneven" progress in fierce fighting in eastern Ukraine, and still struggling to overcome supply problems.
Hours after Biden spoke, a large explosion rocked central Kyiv, shattering weeks of calm in the city and setting a building ablaze.

Other updates:

Russia is trying to introduce the ruble in Kherson, a southern Ukrainian city it is trying to subdue.

E.U. countries were scrambling to pay for Russian gas without running afoul of their own economic sanctions.

A worker displayed air coolers for sale as the temperature rose in New Delhi on Thursday.Rajat Gupta/EPA, via Shutterstock

Severe heat in India and Pakistan

For weeks, the Indian subcontinent has recorded above-average temperatures. Heat-related weather watches or alerts are now in effect for hundreds of millions of people.

Now, experts say, the extreme heat is about to get even worse over the weekend. In some hard-hit areas, it may be weeks before the region's annual monsoon sweeps in to provide relief.

The heat wave poses health and logistical challenges for manual laborers, farmers, power engineers, government officials and firefighters, particularly in areas where air-conditioning is scarce. "Everything is ready to burn," the director of fire services in New Delhi said.

Agriculture: Scorching temperatures have damaged harvests. One farmer in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan told The Times that 15 to 20 percent of the local wheat crop and half the cumin crop had been lost.

Analysis: Climate scientists say that heat waves around the world are growing more frequent, more dangerous and longer in duration. And they are certain that global warming is responsible, because baseline temperatures are higher than they were decades ago.

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THE LATEST NEWS

Asia

The casket of an Iranian Shiite Muslim cleric who was stabbed by an Afghan national.Fars News/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

Earlier this month, an Afghan immigrant killed clerics in one of Iran's holiest shrines. The attack has led to ethnic tensions in both countries, which have each sent troops to their shared border.
South Korea arrested two people on charges of stealing military secrets on behalf of a suspected North Korean spy who paid them in cryptocurrency.
A study found that climate change will make bats in Southeast Asia especially prone to spreading viruses to other mammals.

World News

The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter, but its recovery remained resilient.
A Colombian general and 10 other people admitted to crimes against humanity in a trial that was part of the country's peace process.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is heading to Saudi Arabia in an effort to mend relations frayed by the brutal killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul.

France has lost its political center.
El Salvador's president has led mass arrests and suspended civil liberties, but his crackdown on gang violence has made him popular.

What Else Is Happening

Despite international promises to cut back, global deforestation remains high.
A new study finds that if fossil fuel emissions continue apace, the oceans could experience a mass extinction by 2300. There is still time to avoid it.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has turned Florida, a longtime swing state, into the reactionary center of U.S. politics.
NASA has spotted "otherworldly" wreckage on Mars: debris from the agency's own Perseverance mission.

A Morning Read

A group of friends break their daily fast in Khartoum, Sudan.Abdulmonam Eassa for The New York Times

My colleague, Declan Walsh, spent much of the holy month of Ramadan in Sudan. At iftar meal after iftar meal, he spoke with people about the country's economic and political instability. "We come to forget it all," one young musician told Declan. "The heat, the electricity cuts, the protests. Here, at least, we can sing."

Lives lived: Kenneth Tsang was a veteran Hong Kong actor known for his tough-guy supporting roles and ubiquitous hair dye advertisements. He was found dead while in hotel quarantine at 87.

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ARTS AND IDEAS

More kids? After all of this?

Parenting was hard before the pandemic. During these past two years of lockdowns, remote school and constant fear of infection, it was even harder. Now some families are putting the kibosh on more kids.

Many parents are just exhausted: The pandemic revealed a glaring lack of structural support for families. Some got divorced. And for many, the changes wrought by the pandemic just helped clarify their limitations.

"I still mourn the feeling of possibility and hope that I once felt when I contemplated my secret dream of having a third child," Emily Gould writes, "but I've come to terms with the reality of the situation: It's a loss to acknowledge and mourn, rather than a thwarted ambition that still might find its way to fruition."

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook

Dane Tashima for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

This recipe for smashed avocado-chicken burgers packs flavor and crunch.

What to Watch

The British remake of the French pandemic hit "Call My Agent!" — "Ten Percent" — is a smarmy, sexy romp set in a fictional talent agency.

What to Listen to

Here are five classical albums you can hear right now, from the pianist Mitsuko Uchida's take on Beethoven to Natasha Barrett's experimental sound collage.

Now Time to Play

Play today's Mini Crossword, and a clue: Light switch position (three letters).

Here are today's Wordle and today's Spelling Bee.

You can find all our puzzles here.

That's it for today's briefing. See you next time. — Amelia

P.S. Jay Root is joining our Metro desk as an investigative reporter.

The latest episode of "The Daily" is on Covid.

You can reach Amelia and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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