Odessa, Wall Street and a festival closing its accounts

This edition updates five fronts compared to the morning: Foreign Affairs and Geopolitics, opening with the Russian attack on a passenger train in the Odessa region; Italy, with the German expulsions of “Dublin” asylum seekers, the presence of Minister Tajani at Sant’Anna di Stazzema and the eruption of Etna that keeps Catania airport closed; Economy and Markets, with Wall Street near its highs after the U.S. inflation data; Tech & AI, with the reshaping of capital and infrastructure in the artificial intelligence sector; Cinema & Entertainment, with the closing of the industry programmes at the Locarno Film Festival. In addition, there are the Briefs.

Chronicles, Culture, Europe and Health remain unchanged from the pieces published at 6:30: no development substantial enough to justify an afternoon update. In Health, in particular, we had a piece in progress on the toll of the Ebola epidemic in Congo: it was not published in this edition, but the section is not left uncovered — readers will find its coverage in the piece published this morning.

On the Ukrainian front, the day confirms the trend already noted: the attack on the locomotive in the Odessa region, which killed the driver and his assistant and led to the evacuation of 340 passengers, fits into the escalation of strikes on civilian infrastructure already discussed in this morning’s assessments. It remains to be seen whether the threat of naval seizures raised by Moscow will be followed by concrete action in the coming hours.

On the markets, weaker-than-expected U.S. inflation data produced the effect already anticipated by Asian futures this morning: the S&P 500 near its highs, Treasury yields falling, and the probability of a Fed rate hike in September dropping from 50 to 35 percent within a week. This is a confirmed reading, not a surprise compared to the morning.

On the domestic front, Germany’s confirmation regarding the expulsions to Italy of “Dublin” asylum seekers gives a concrete date to an agreement that had so far remained on paper: on August 19 the first transfer will involve a 22-year-old Somali woman. It is the kind of detail that shifts a story from the level of announcement to that of verifiable fact.