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The World
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Washington was in “very active discussions” with its European partners about a ban on oil imports from Russia. It would also mark an about-turn by the White House. (Financial Times)
President Biden’s advisers are discussing a possible visit to Saudi Arabia this spring to help repair relations and convince the Kingdom to pump more oil, Axios has learned. The possibility also shows how Russia's invasion is scrambling world's alliances, forcing the U.S. to reorder its priorities — and potentially recalibrating its emphasis on human rights. Biden officials were in Venezuela to meet with the government of President Nicolás Maduro. (Axios)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the chamber is "exploring" legislation to ban import of Russian oil and that Congress intends to enact this week $10 billion in aid for Ukraine. (Reuters)
U.S. crude oil topped $130 a barrel, a 13-year high on possible Western ban of Russian oil, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng drops 4% as Asia-Pacific stocks slip. (CNBC)
In Asia, oil price surge stokes government fear of angry voters. (Nikkei Asia Review)
U.S. gasoline prices surged to the highest level since 2008, as the national average for a gallon of gas hit $4.009 — the highest since July 2008, not adjusted for inflation. Consumers are paying 40 cents more than a week ago, and 57 cents more than a month ago. (CNBC)
China to boost coal output, reserves to ensure power supply. (Reuters)
PwC and KPMG have severed ties with their businesses in Russia and Belarus, becoming the first Big Four accounting firms to exit the countries. The moves are likely to increase pressure on their peers, Deloitte and EY, to follow suit. “Everyone knows the game is up in terms of being able to retain a network firm in Russia,” said an insider at one Big Four firm. (Financial Times)
Netflix suspended service in Russia; AmEx suspends operations in Russia and Belarus; TikTok suspends new content in Russia; Activision Blizzard and Epic pause game sales in Russia. (Variety, CNN, Axios, Engadget)
How Russia’s airline industry was pushed to the brink in a week: Banned from swaths of the world’s skies, denied access to vital spare parts, stripped of insurance and battling to keep hold of planes, Russia’s aviation industry has in the space of a week been plunged into its gravest crisis in decades. The industry’s mushrooming crisis is “unprecedented, unpredictable and unforecastable,” said Max Kingsley-Jones of Ascend by Cirium, the aviation consultancy. With no clarity on how long the sanctions from US and EU authorities will remain in place, experts warned that in a worst-case scenario Russian domestic carriers’ schedules would shrink to levels not seen in three decades. (Financial Times)
Two years after the pandemic began, New Zealanders are finally facing its reality. Covid-19 is now tearing through the nation’s population courtesy of the omicron variant. In the space of two weeks, new case numbers exploded from less than 1,000 a day to more than 22,000. (Bloomberg)
Hong Kong rations drugs as it pays price of complacency with surge in Covid deaths. (The Times)
Thailand bids to avert 'population crisis' as birth rate crashes: Thailand is scrambling to encourage its people to have more babies to arrest a slumping birth rate, offering parents childcare and fertility centers, while also tapping social media influencers to showcase the joys of family life. The campaign comes as the number of births has dropped by nearly a third since 2013, when they started declining. Last year saw 544,000 births, the lowest in at least six decades and below the 563,000 deaths. (Reuters)
‘Sydney in the firing line’: Fresh flooding concerns as more rain on the way for state. Large parts of NSW will continue to face rain and flooding risks in the coming days, as more than 35,000 people remain out of their homes. There are currently eight evacuation warnings and more than 20 flood warnings covering the state. (Sydney Morning Herald)
A comprehensive new UN-sponsored assessment of climate change finds that global warming is reshaping the world more rapidly and severely than was known several years ago. The report finds that climate change is affecting every person's physical and mental health, and classifies nearly half of the global population as being "highly vulnerable" to climate impacts. The report — part of the biggest update to climate science findings since 2014 — concludes it is no longer possible to fully adapt to some global warming impacts. (Axios, IPCC Report)
Economy
Investors are starting to buy Ukrainian and Russian bonds that plummeted to discounted prices, betting that they will recover if the war between the two countries comes to an end. The trade is high-risk, given uncertainty over what Ukraine will look like after the war and how long the financial cordon around Russia will last. It also poses reputational dangers because of the human cost of the conflict and the increasing unwillingness of many financial institutions and corporations to be associated with Russia in any way. (Wall Street Journal)
The shock of the Russian offensive has forced an often slow-moving Japan to implement rapid economic measures to keep up with G7 partners. There is a Japanese fear that failure to act could endanger Taiwan and Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands, both under China’s gaze. (Foreign Policy)
Another exceptionally strong US jobs report kept the Fed on track to deliver interest rate increases this year even as moderating wage growth mitigates the immediate need for aggressive tightening, according to economists. Hiring accelerated more than expected in February, adding 678,000 jobs, the most since July, pulling the unemployment rate down to 3.8%. A bigger surprise was the lack of wage growth. Average hourly earnings flatlined, following a 0.6% jump in January, but were up 5.1% over the past 12 months. (Financial Times)
Healthcare job gains in February far exceed recent months: Healthcare added 64,000 jobs last month, though employment in the sector is still down by about 306,000 jobs, or 1.9%, since February 2020. (Healthcare Dive)
More early-stage funding flows to climate fintech and finance: Since last year, at least 40 companies at the intersection of climate, carbon-tracking and finance have pulled in $475 million in known funding. The overwhelming majority of funding has been at seed or early-stage, which portends that there’s significantly more money to come as these companies scale. (Crunchbase)
The average hourly rate for a babysitter leapt 11% in 2021 to $20.57 an hour — far outpacing the 7% rate of inflation — as the labor shortage made child care providers harder to find. (Axios)
Technology
Why is workplace technology so much harder to use than personal technology? There are legitimate reasons. But the gap is much greater than it should be. Here’s how to narrow it: 1) Involve all users in the design process; 2) Co-develop workplace experiences, rather than solutions; 3) Put everything on the same platform; 4) Adopt a cloud-first, mobile-first approach; 5) Let employees rate the technology. (MIT, Wall Street Journal)
Twitter is looking for someone to help it shape what the future of work looks like. According to a LinkedIn post, the company is seeking candidates to lead and grow its new "Future of Work Innovation" team. The modern tech workplace is in flux; big tech companies are grappling with how to retain employees in a tight talent market and when to bring workers back to the office during an unpredictable pandemic, if at all. Twitter's job announcement notes that the candidate will monitor workplace trends to ensure any employee can succeed at the company, keeping in mind "benefits, DEI, technology, the experience in our offices or working from home and more." (Protocol)
Ming-Chi Kuo has continued his newfound career as a Twitter leaker by today sharing his predictions for Apple’s desktop roadmap. The respected analyst said that he expects Apple to ship a high-end Mac mini this year, as well as a 27-inch Apple external display. However, he suggests that updates to iMac Pro and Mac Pro will not arrive until 2023. (9to5Mac)
Inside ‘contract hell’: Esports players say predatory contracts run ‘rampant’
Even as esports blossoms into a billion dollar industry, player contract negotiations are a veritable Wild West. (Washington Post)
Smart Links
Amazon under investor pressure over tax transparency. (Financial Times)
Illinois ends in-person registration requirement for sports betting, opening floodgates ahead of March Madness. (Chicago Tribune)
For Meta court decision, set your calendars — for 2025. (The Information)
MLB says labor talks with locked-out players are 'deadlocked'. (Reuters)
‘Holy Ticket Sales, Batman! The Warner Bros. reboot collected a mighty $128.5 million, second-highest opening of pandemic era. (Variety)