Bloomberg Businessweek-Europe Edition November 21, 2022

● Iran sentenced three more protesters to death. A total of five people, indicted under charges such as “war against God,” face execution for participating in the demonstrations triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody on Sept. 16. Security forces have killed at least 342 people and arrested about 15,000. The UN has urged Iran to release all peaceful protesters. ● War in Ukraine ▶ After retreating from the city of Kherson last week, Russia fired a barrage of missiles at Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine, hitting civilians and critical infrastructure. Authorities say it’s the largest such assault since Russia first invaded in February. ▷ 48 ▶ A rocket hit a Polish village just over the Ukraine border on Nov. 15, killing two; investigators say it was likely fired by…

Investors have been celebrating recent US inflation data, which showed both consumer and producer prices rising by less than expected in October. But it wouldn’t be wise to get carried away by a single month’s numbers. As markets ponder the Federal Reserve’s next move, it’s too soon to be sure that the pace of monetary tightening can be safely scaled back. Consumer prices rose 7.7% in the year through October, down from 8.2% in September and the peak of 9.1% in June. The new rate is the lowest since January, before Russia’s war on Ukraine roiled global energy and commodity markets. Stripping out the cost of energy and food, core CPI inflation is lower, and also falling—to 6.3% from 6.6% in September. The Nov. 10 report made investors more confident that…

▶ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses the NATO Parliamentary Assembly on Nov. 21, seeking to win backing for more weapons to build on recent military advances. ▶ Credit Suisse shareholders vote on a capital increase on Nov. 23. The bank seeks to raise about 4 billion Swiss francs ($4.2 billion) as part of a huge turnaround effort. ▶ South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pays a state visit to the UK Nov. 22-24. Relations have been strained by his refusal to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine. ▶ The UK plans its firstever space launch in the week of Nov. 28 from Spaceport Cornwall in southwest England. The rocket will be deployed from underneath a converted Boeing 747. ▶ Taiwan voters choose city and county leaders on Nov. 26. Chiang Wan-an, great-grandson of former Taiwan leader…

Qatar’s bid to host this year’s FIFA World Cup was controversial from the start. Beyond objections to the country’s history of human-rights abuses, there were also the searing temperatures and the sheer logistical challenges to consider: one outdated stadium, few hotels and zero experience with mass tourism. Nothing, it turns out, that immense sums of money couldn’t address. Twelve years after winning the rights to host the tournament and $300 billion later, the tiny gas-rich nation is ready to host the best players in men’s soccer and about a million of their biggest fans. There are seven new stadiums, 20,000 new hotel rooms, a new metro and more than 1,100 miles of new roads, the culmination of a decade of nonstop construction and investment. Qatar’s spending on sports isn’t confined to the…

Barely three decades ago, Sears was the world’s largest retailer. And this time of year its stores, once a fixture in malls across America, would be crowded with holiday shoppers snapping up clothing, home goods, appliances or toys that their kids had carefully circled on the pages of the retailer’s venerable Christmas Wish Book. This holiday season the company barely exists, with fewer than two dozen full-size stores in operation, compared with the more than 3,500 Sears and Kmart stores operated by Sears Holdings Corp. at its height. In most malls the chain’s once-hulking emporiums have been subdivided into smaller spaces for other stores, refashioned for nonretail operations such as medical offices or gyms, or simply left vacant. The Sears estate in late October finally wrapped up its acrimonious four-year-long bankruptcy,…

● 1896 SEARS CATALOG The Big Book was a shopping staple in US homes for a century ● 1913 KENMORE APPLIANCES The brand was once a laundry and kitchen-goods powerhouse ● 1931 HOME AND AUTO INSURANCE Sears started Allstate, named after one of its tire brands ● 1967 DIEHARD BATTERIES A lifetime warranty helped popularize the brand, which was sold in 2019 ● 1973 SEARS TOWER The 110-story former headquarters was the world’s tallest building for 25 years ● 1985 DISCOVER CARD Sears’s long experience with its store card later led it into financial services DISCOVER, ALLSTATE, DIEHARD, KENMORE MACHINE: COURTESY COMPANIES.…