Radioactive false flag

US President Joe Biden warned the Kremlin Tuesday against using any radioactive weapons in its war on Ukraine as tensions over a potential nuclear escalation by Moscow climb. Since before its invasion in February, Russia has been accused of trying to muddy the waters by accusing Kyiv of planned “provocations,” unsubstantiated claims that would ostensibly provide cover for Russian “false-flag” operations. Eight months later, widely rejected allegations by Vladimir Putin’s adjutants that Ukraine plans a radioactive “dirty bomb” attack on its own soil have the US and NATO wondering whether Putin is planning to detonate one himself. With Russia losing significant ground in the northeast and southeast of Ukraine in recent weeks, assessments that Putin may be considering a nuclear attack on Ukraine are growing in the West. Others contend this dirty-bomb brinkmanship is the latest Kremlin effort to scare off NATO when it comes to advanced military aid to Ukraine. But Kyiv authorities claimed Tuesday that they’ve seen suspicious activity by Russian forces at Ukraine’s occupied nuclear power plant that could indicate the gambit is real. Such games of chicken have been war-gamed for decades, and they have always had the capacity to spiral out of control. —David E. Rovella

Persistent worries about catching Covid-19 kept about 3 million Americans out of the workforce, reducing the nation’s economic output by $250 billion in the first half of 2022. As winter approaches, that reluctance may continue. And while a new campaign of bivalent boosters is failing to catch fire in the US, infection and hospitalization rates that had been falling for months are flattening out.

Europe suddenly has more gas than it can use. Starved of the Russian imports on which its long relied, Europe has rushed to import liquefied natural gas from around the world to fill up storage. Now, a combination of unusually warm weather and successful bidding for cargoes means facilities are almost full.

Profits and losses aren’t usually thought of as a consideration for central banks, but rapidly mounting red ink at the US Federal Reserve and its peers is becoming more than just an accounting oddity. The bond market is enduring its worst selloff in a generation. Falling bond prices, in turn, mean paper losses on massive holdings the Fed and others accumulated during their pandemic rescue efforts. That’s not great.

Boston leaped over San Francisco to land in second place on the list of most expensive US rental markets. But for prospective tenants, New York still holds the terrible crown.

Whatever you think of cryptocurrency, whether you see it as the future of finance or funny money for suckers, it’s established a foothold in the public consciousness, not to mention that of Wall Street. And since it’s probably not going away anytime soon (crypto-winter notwithstanding), Bloomberg Businessweek decided to devote an entire issue to explaining once and for all what this (to most of us anyway) opaque development at the crossroads of tech and finance really is—and what it means for everything.

China dominates clean energy supply chains and has enough manufacturing capacity to meet global demand for most of the solar market to 2030. But as the US and Europe seek to decarbonize their economies, Western governments are trying to meet their own needs with local facilities capable of producing photovoltaic panels and storage.
It won’t be easy or cheap: Try $262 billion on for size.

China’s broad fiscal deficit hit an all-time high in the first nine months of the year as Covid-19 outbreaks and a housing market slump continue to erode government income.

Bloomberg continues to track the global coronavirus pandemic. Click here for daily updates.

Households in Singapore are spending more on necessities and accommodation. It’s getting costlier to have fun and relax too. Prices of recreational and cultural activities in Singapore in September soared the most in 40-years. Something as casual as, say, keeping your pet puppy or turtle now costs 5.2% more than a year earlier. And those holiday expenses are really going to hurt.

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