Philadelphia’s district attorney on Monday sued Elon Musk and his political action committee, alleging that a $1mn-a-day giveaway to registered voters in swing states who sign a petition amounted to an “illegal lottery scheme”.

费城地方检察官周一起诉埃隆•马斯克(Elon Musk)及其政治行动委员会America Pac，称其每天向签署请愿书的摇摆州登记选民发放100万美元的做法相当于“非法彩票计划”。

In the civil complaint, Larry Krasner, the Democratic district attorney in Pennsylvania’s largest city, said the scheme violated Pennsylvania’s laws on lotteries and consumer protection. It “must be stopped, immediately” ahead of the US presidential election on November 5 “because America Pac and Musk hatched their illegal lottery scheme to influence voters in that election”, according to the complaint. 

宾夕法尼亚州最大城市的民主党籍的地区检察官拉里•克拉斯纳在民事起诉书中称，该计划违反了宾夕法尼亚州关于彩票和消费者保护的法律。起诉书称，在11月5日美国总统大选之前，该计划“必须立即停止，因为America Pac和马斯克策划了这一非法彩票计划，以在选举中影响选民”。

Musk, the world’s richest man, has become an ardent supporter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. He said he would give away a daily $1mn prize to a registered voter in a swing state who had signed a petition backing constitutional protections for free speech and the right to bear arms. 

全球最富有的人马斯克已成为共和党总统候选人唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)的狂热支持者。他表示将，对于摇摆州的那些签署了一份支持宪法保护言论自由和持有武器权利的请愿书的登记选民，他将每天奖励他们100万美元。

——本文2024年10月29日发布于FT中文网，英文原题为 Philadelphia DA sues Elon Musk over $1mn daily giveaway to swing-state voters

Donald Trump and his allies were scrambling on Monday to stem the fallout from a campaign rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden where one speaker called Puerto Rico a “floating pile of garbage” and another likened Kamala Harris to a prostitute with “pimp handlers”.

唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)和他的盟友们周一忙于应对纽约麦迪逊广场花园举行的竞选集会造成的影响，一位发言者在集会上称波多黎各是一个“漂浮的垃圾堆”，另一位发言者将卡玛拉•哈里斯(Kamala Harris)比作有“皮条客”的妓女。

With just over a week to go until the US presidential election, the Trump campaign had billed Sunday’s rally at the iconic Manhattan venue as the Republican former president’s “closing argument” before an audience of thousands of adoring supporters.

距离美国总统大选仅剩一周多的时间，特朗普竞选团队曾宣称周日在曼哈顿标志性场所举行的集会是这位共和党前总统在成千上万崇拜他的支持者面前的“结辩陈词”。

But a series of racist, misogynistic and vulgar comments by warm-up acts overshadowed Trump’s stump speech and prompted his campaign and Republican allies to rush to distance themselves from the speakers in an attempt to protect the presidential candidate from any negative fallout.

但暖场表演者的一系列种族主义、厌女和粗俗言论给特朗普的巡回演说蒙上了阴影，促使他的竞选团队和共和党盟友急忙与那些演讲者拉开距离，试图保护总统候选人免受任何负面影响。

——本文2024年10月29日发布于FT中文网，英文原题为 Donald Trump campaign distances itself from controversial New York rally comments

When Rawan al-Harbi graduated in 2017, she had expected to end up working in the female-dominated education sector. Instead, she found an opening at Johnson Controls Arabia, an air-conditioning plant in King Abdullah Economic City, 100km to the north of Jeddah. 

2017年毕业时，罗万•阿尔哈比(Rawan al-Harbi)原本期望能在女性主导的教育行业找到工作。然而，她却在吉达以北100公里的阿卜杜拉国王经济城(King Abdullah Economic City)的江森自控阿拉伯公司(Johnson Controls Arabia)空调工厂找到了一份工作。

“At the beginning it was a bit hard. It’s a far-out location and everything is new,” the 29-year-old said on the factory floor. “But I got used to it.” 

“刚开始的时候有点困难。这里很偏僻，一切都是新的，"这位29岁的女孩在工厂车间里说。“但我已经习惯了。”

Today she is one of more than a dozen Saudi women working in the electrical and control department, sitting on workbenches across the room from male colleagues.

如今，她是在电气和控制部门工作的十多名沙特女性之一，坐在工作台上与男同事一同工作。

——本文2024年10月28日发布于FT中文网，英文原题为 The Saudi factories powered by women

The 80-year-old Pax Americana in Europe might expire next month. There’s a 50-50 chance that Donald Trump is elected president and, let’s say, a 50-50 chance that he abandons the protection of Europe, just as Ukraine runs out of soldiers. He needn’t even bother leaving Nato. He could just let it go dormant. That means a 25 per cent chance of Europe facing its worst military threat since 1945. 

在欧洲维持了80年的“美国治下的和平”(Pax Americana)可能会在下个月结束。唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)有50%的可能性当选总统，可以说，他也有50%的可能性恰好在乌克兰士兵用光之际放弃对欧洲的保护。他甚至不需要费工夫退出北约(Nato)。他可以直接让它休眠。这意味着，欧洲有25%的可能性面临1945年以来最严重的军事威胁。

Yes, it’s a hypothetical, but a hypothetical that could happen as soon as early next year. What might “Europe alone” look like?   

是的，这是一个假设，但这个假设最快明年初就会成真。“独自作战的欧洲”会是什么样子？

For years, think-tanks published reports telling European states to get ready to fight alone, but the Europeans didn’t. Even the possible imminency of Trump II hasn’t concentrated minds. The trouble is, Nato members cannot realistically plan for a future without the US, given that there is no Nato without the US. National governments and Brussels feel they have already poured more into defence than anyone imagined in 2021. The EU, never previously a military power, has sent Ukraine tens of billions of euros in weapons. Even Germany is trying to build a serious army. But these efforts aren’t enough.

多年来，智库发表报告，告诉欧洲国家做好独自作战的准备，但欧洲人没有这样做。就连特朗普2.0可能即将上台也没有让人们集中注意力。问题在于，鉴于没有美国就没有北约，北约成员国无法切实规划一个没有美国的未来。各国政府和欧盟认为，2021年他们在国防方面的投入已经超出了任何人的想象。此前军事实力从来不强大的欧盟，已经向乌克兰提供了数百亿欧元的武器。就连德国也在努力建立一支像样的军队。但这些努力还不够。

——本文2024年10月25日发布于FT中文网，英文原题为 Trump II: the military threat to Europe