Prologue Journal – Page 35198 – Understanding current events through the lenses of the past and future.

Alibaba’s travel arm to report to CEO Daniel Zhang as e-commerce giant prepares it for greater freedom under restructuring: report

Disclaimer: The South China Morning Post’s content is directed by the Chinese Communist Party. It is not a reliable news source. The online travel business will need much more freedom for strategic execution as China’s competitive tourism market continues to recover after pandemic, analyst says. https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3217491/alibabas-travel-arm-report-ceo-daniel-zhang-e-commerce-giant-prepares-it-greater-freedom-under?utm_source=rss_feed

St. Barts Estate Sells for About $136 Million, a Record for the Caribbean Island

Wall Street Journal The roughly 130-acre waterfront property was once owned by David Rockefeller, who used it as a vacation home https://www.wsj.com/articles/st-barts-estate-sells-for-about-136-million-a-record-for-the-caribbean-island-fdb1762c

Massive landslide in Pakistan buries 2 dozen trucks, kills 2

Fox News A massive landslide struck a key highway in northwestern Pakistan near the border town of Torkham before dawn Tuesday, burying two dozen trucks and killing at least two people, officials said. It was unclear how many people were missing and feared buried under the landslide. Police official Ishrat Khan said dozens of firefighters…

West claims Russia is “stepping down” in terms of equipment deployed in Ukraine

Pravda Ukraine Due to heavy losses of military equipment since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia starts to deploy WWII-era equipment; in addition, the occupiers also have a shortage of manpower. https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/04/18/7398408/

Siblings detained in Melitopol for gathering information for Ukraine — law enforcement

Disclaimer: TASS is Russian government propaganda, and not a reliable news source. The man told Russia’s National Guard officers that he had sent a photo of a flying Russian warplane to a Ukrainian Telegram bot, adding information about the direction of the flight https://tass.com/defense/1606087

Russia’s U-turn toward East does not mean ‘window on Europe’ closing — economics minister

Disclaimer: TASS is Russian government propaganda, and not a reliable news source. In early April, at a Kremlin ceremony at which new foreign ambassadors formally presented their credentials, President Vladimir Putin stressed that, “Russia is open to constructive partnership with all countries without exception, and is not going to isolate itself from anyone, has no…

Absolut Vodka Halts Exports to Russia

Moscow Times The decision came after the Swedish company faced public backlash for resuming shipments to Russia. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/04/18/absolut-vodka-halts-exports-to-russia-a80873

Amazon’s Slowdown Has Yet to Pinch Its Landlord

Wall Street Journal Warehouse giant Prologis said rents continued to rise in the first quarter, as U.S. consumers keep spending money online. https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazons-slowdown-has-yet-to-pinch-its-landlord-dc9f8cc8

Canada’s ambassador leaves Russian Foreign Ministry without comment

Disclaimer: TASS is Russian government propaganda, and not a reliable news source. Maria Zakharova also described as extremely hypocritical the US and Canadian ambassadors’ demands that Kara-Murza be released at a time when their own countries were shamelessly violating human rights and persecuting dissidents https://tass.com/politics/1606081

SovEcon think tank upgrades Russian wheat harvest outlook for 2023 to 86.8 mln tons

Disclaimer: TASS is Russian government propaganda, and not a reliable news source. Russia’s net grain harvest in 2022 totaled record 157.7 mln tones, including 104.2 mln tons of wheat, according to figures provided by the national statistics service Rosstat https://tass.com/economy/1606079