Axios

The State Department announced last week that it would temporarily recall U.S. ambassadors to the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama for consultations in Washington. The meetings will focus on recent decisions by Latin American countries to no longer recognize Taiwan and ways the U.S. can "support strong, independent, democratic institutions and economies throughout Central America and the Caribbean."

The big picture: China’s increasing political ties and economic heft in Latin America have been a subject of debate and concern among American analysts and policymakers for more than a decade. This diplomatic recall is the administration's latest attempt to counter Chinese outreach in the hemisphere.

New York was named the world's top financial center in Z/Yen's annual index, overtaking London as companies become increasingly concerned by the prospect of the U.K. losing access to the EU's single market.

The big picture: The Global Financial Centres Index ranks cities based on factors grouped into five broad categories: business environment, human capital, infrastructure, financial sector development and reputation. Uncertainty surrounding Brexit negotiations has prompted financial services firms, which account for 12% of the U.K.'s GDP, to consider moving their operations out of London — providing a boost to other cities in Western Europe and Asia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia had identified the two suspects accused by the U.K. of poisoning former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, and responded that they are "civilians" when asked if they work for Russia's military, reports the AP.

Why it matters: Russia has repeatedly denied culpability for last year's Novichok poisoning, which resulted in one of the largest diplomatic expulsions in history. But the U.S., Canada, France and Germany have all signed onto a statement supporting the conclusions by the British government that the operation was carried out by two Russian GRU officers — and that it was almost certainly approved at a senior level of the Kremlin.

The U.S. and China often seem to be in a cutthroat technological race, but their rivalry may ultimately produce two geographically separate commercial fiefdoms where they rarely if ever cross swords directly, according to Beijing venture capitalist Kai-Fu Lee.

The big picture: In a scenario that conflicts with what most experts foresee, Lee, a former executive at Microsoft, Apple and Google, paints a largely bloodless future:

• American and Chinese tech titans remain thoroughly entrenched at home, retaining the loyalty of their consumer base.
• In terms of business abroad, they carve out their own geographical spheres of technological influence that mostly do not overlap.

U.S. intelligence agencies suspect Russia is responsible for the mystery attacks on the American embassies in Cuba and China that left government workers with brain injuries and strange illnesses, reports NBC News.

Why it matters: The bizarre attacks, initially believed to be caused by sonic weapons but now suspected to be the result of microwaves, prompted President Trump to roll back embassy staff and issue a travel advisory to Cuba last year. A Kremlin-ordered attack on American diplomats would mark a clear escalation by Russia against the U.S. and its allies, especially after the revelation that two GRU officers were behind the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal on British soil.

Alibaba is turning AliExpress Russia into a joint venture with the Russian Direct Investment Fund, mobile carrier Megafon and internet giant Mail.ru, the companies said on Tuesday. Alibaba will own only 48% of the new entity, which will also include other assets from the partners.

The bottom line: The deal should enable AliExpress and its merchants to tap into Mail.ru's 100 million users and function as a a one-stop shop of e-commerce, social media, and gaming services for Russian users.

Russia is launching the biggest military exercise since the Cold War in eastern Siberia from from Sept. 11-17 on the heels of heightened NATO-Russia tensions, reports BBC News.

The details: The war games will involve about 300,000 service personnel and include the Chinese and Mongolian armies. Russian reserve colonel Frants Klintsevich said the country has developed "a different attitude to combat readiness," per BBC. Meanwhile, China said the joint military operation would bolster "both sides' capabilities to jointly respond to various security threats." Beijing and Moscow have been modernizing their military capabilities as their relations with the U.S. grow more tense, the WSJ notes.