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The World
Oil giants Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell suffered significant defeats as environmental groups and activist investors step up pressure on the oil industry to address concerns about climate change. In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a Dutch court found that Shell is partially responsible for climate change, and ordered the company to sharply reduce its carbon emissions. Hours later in the U.S., an activist investor won at least two seats on Exxon’s board, a historic defeat for the oil giant that will likely require it to alter its fossil-fuel focused strategy. (Wall Street Journal)
54% of Americans support states’ decision to end $300 unemployment benefit. At least 23 Republican-led states are withdrawing early from federal unemployment programs, including one that pays an extra $300 a week in benefits. Republicans, men, higher earners and whites tend to agree with the decisions more than other groups, the poll found. Meanwhile, the government has issued a new batch of $1,400 stimulus checks, bringing the total number of payments to almost 167 million, or about $391 billion. (CNBC)
President Biden asked US intelligence agencies to “redouble” their efforts to investigate the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, amid renewed questions over the role a laboratory in China might have played. Biden said he asked officials to deliver within 90 days their conclusions. (Financial Times)
Immunity to the coronavirus lasts at least a year, possibly a lifetime, improving over time especially after vaccination, according to two new studies. The findings may help put to rest lingering fears that protection against the virus will be short-lived. Together, the studies suggest that most people who have recovered from Covid-19 and who were later immunized will not need boosters. (New York Times)
The Covax program, conceived in early 2020 as a kind of Operation Warp Speed for the globe, was supposed to be a model for how to vaccinate humanity, starting with those who needed it the most. The plan was scheduled to have the developing world’s entire healthcare workforce immunized by now. Instead, the idealistic undertaking to inoculate nearly a billion people collided with reality, foiled by a basic instinct for nations to put their own populations first, and a shortage of manufacturing capacity around the world. (Wall Street Journal)
Australia's Victoria state to enter snap one-week COVID-19 lockdown. (Reuters)
Ohio sees COVID vaccination rate soar 45% since announcing Vax-A-Million lottery. (Barron’s)
The top trade negotiators from China and the U.S. held their first telephone call since Biden entered the White House, and stressed the importance of improving their bilateral trade ties. A brief statement by the Chinese commerce ministry said Vice-Premier Liu He and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai had a “frank and constructive” exchange. “Both sides believe developing bilateral trade is very important and exchanged views on issues of concern,” the statement said. (South China Morning Post)
Republicans are indicating that they may derail debate on a massive Senate bill confronting China’s growing economic and geopolitical influence before the Senate leaves town for a recess later this week. Some in the GOP are pressing for more votes on their amendments to the China legislation. (Politico)
Japan will let Myanmar citizens remain in the country legally even after their visas expire. The exemption applies to students and technical interns who could face trouble returning home. They can choose to study or work in Japan for another six or 12 months. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Egypt invites Israel and Hamas for direct talks in Cairo, Israel accepts. Egypt invited Israel and Gaza to Cairo to discuss the return of captives and the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip. (Jerusalem Post)
Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, has accused the UK prime minister of being “unfit for the job”, as he painted a picture of chaos, indecision and deceit at the heart of government as ministers battled Covid-19. Giving evidence to MPs over almost seven hours, Cummings claimed “tens of thousands of people died who didn’t need to die” because of multiple government failures. (Financial Times)
Russia extended its airbase in Syria and moved three nuclear-capable long-range bombers there as it increases its hold over President Assad’s regime. Moscow’s nuclear move into the Mediterranean advances its Cold War-style stand-off with the West in Europe, even as President Biden holds out the possibility of détente by meeting President Putin in Geneva next month. It also strengthens Russia’s growing military and diplomatic clout across the Middle East as Washington signals its “withdrawal” from the region in favour of the “pivot to Asia.” (The Times)
Physicians’ trust in the U.S. healthcare system and confidence in leaders and executives in the healthcare industry significantly declined during the pandemic: 30% of physicians don’t trust their healthcare organizations’ leadership and the industry’s executives as a whole. Even more so, many consumers noted that they place more trust in doctors and nurses than they do in healthcare systems. (Healthcare Dive)
Boom in ships that fly ‘fake’ flags and trash the environment: The number of cargo ships misleadingly registered to nations other than their true country of origin — called flags of convenience — has skyrocketed since 2002. The practice allows business owners in wealthy nations — including members of the EU, as well as South Korea and the U.S. — to evade the environmental, labor and safety regulations imposed by their home regions when it comes time to scrap the ship. (Nature)
Economy
Automation puts a premium on decision-making jobs: A new paper shows that as automation has reduced the number of rote jobs, it has led to an increase in the proportion and value of occupations that involve decision-making. David Deming, a political economist at the Harvard Kennedy School, analyzed labor data over the past half-century and found that the share of all U.S. jobs requiring decision-making rose from 6% in 1960 to 34% in 2018, with nearly half the increase occurring since 2007. Partially as a result, a greater share of wages is going to management and management-related occupations, more than doubling since 1960 to 32% — a trend that is more pronounced in high-growth industries. This shift has also reinforced generational disparity in the labor market. (Axios)
After M&A boom via Zoom, dealmakers hit the road as COVID-19 subsides: Bankers are rushing to see company CEOs and other top executives in person as restrictions put in place to contain COVID-19 have eased. This is despite dealmaking through Zoom meetings having flourished, with M&A volumes in 1Q21 hitting a year-to-date record. More than a dozen investment bankers interviewed by Reuters said they were worried they would lose clients if competitors cultivated them in person. Some fretted they could not expand their clientele without schmoozing in the flesh. Some also said they or their staff were fatigued from working long hours remotely. (Reuters)
New study targets secrets of great entrepreneurial cities: Australian and US researchers describe how an 'open-minded' population empowers city life. The new study reveals best performing cities in terms of growth-oriented entrepreneurship are those that empower open and agentic people. "They are empowered by a physical and industrial city landscape that enables them to act in more innovative and entrepreneurial ways," said Professor Martin Obschonka, Director of QUT's Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research, adding that most empirical research addressing the economic performance of cities focus on the physical and industrial structures of cities, underestimating the role of people. (Science Daily)
Snowflake goes remote and relocates executive office from California to Bozeman, Montana. Snowflake said in its earnings release that it no longer has a corporate headquarters, as its workforce is “globally distributed.” (CNBC)
HSBC will exit from its U.S. retail and small-business banking operations as the bank shifts its focus to wealth management and international banking, especially in Asia. HSBC has entered into agreements to sell parts of its business to Citizens Bank and Cathay Bank. It also plans to wind down around 35 to 40 branches. (Wall Street Journal)
Asset managers who lend their securities should create policies using ESG principles for how they recall their shares for voting, and what collateral they accept, industry groups said on Thursday. Owners of shares or other securities can lend them, for a fee, to other investors to hold them temporarily to short the stock, or for other purposes, such as hedging. (Reuters)
Breeze Airways, JetBlue Airways Corp. Founder’s David Neeleman’s new startup, is set to focus on nonstop flights between midsize cities—routes typically where rival airlines are typically absent. The marketplace for this type of airline is already starting to pick up some speed. Avelo Airlines, another startup airline, has already caught the attention of other airlines on similar routes. Breeze Airway, currency focused on flights from Tampa, Charleston, New Orleans, and Norfolk, Va., is set to expand in the coming months. They plan to fly 39 nonstop routes between 16 cities with fares starting at $39 each way. (Wall Street Journal, Breeze Routes)
Technology
Why Amazon is paying nearly $9 billion for MGM and James Bond? The company is indeed more serious than ever about video. But it’s playing a different game than the “real” streamers. Amazon doesn’t want to compete with Netflix or the other biggies for watch time and subscriber dollars. It just wants you to watch some video and spend some money. That’s because all of Amazon’s “premium” video is bundled into its Amazon Prime subscription offer, which gives you free shipping and other goodies. It is Amazon’s most powerful weapon. For years, Bezos has said that giving you stuff like Transparent made you that much more likely to stick around and order a pair of shoes — or at least keep paying for Prime. (Recode)
An Apple ad for ‘alternative payments’ job signals its cryptocurrency interest. The posting comes as iPhone maker quietly prepares for bitcoin payments through Wallet app. (Financial Times)
Google and national hospital chain HCA Healthcare struck a deal to develop healthcare algorithms using patient records, the latest foray by a tech giant into the $3 trillion healthcare sector. HCA would consolidate and store with Google data from digital health records and internet-connected medical devices under the multiyear agreement. Google and HCA engineers will work to develop algorithms to help improve operating efficiency, monitor patients and guide doctors’ decisions, according to the companies. (Wall Street Journal)
Since the pandemic, 61% of U.S. adults report gaining weight with the average amount being 15 pounds. As a likely result from the collective weight gain, Noom, a weight loss app and program, generated $400 million dollars in revenues, upwards from $237 million the year before. Recently, Noom announced that it raised $540 million dollars from investors. In addition, Silver Lake’s Adam Karol and former TaskRabbit CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot joined its board. (TechCrunch)
Russia is still the biggest player in disinformation, Facebook says. (Washington Post, Facebook Threat Report)
Smart Links
The super rich are choosing Singapore as the world’s safest haven. (Bloomberg)
Ford expects 40% of global vehicle volume to be fully electric by 2030. (Wall Street Journal)
Nissan in advanced talks to build battery gigafactory in UK. (Financial Times)
Scientific panel loosens ’14-day rule’ limiting how long human embryos can be grown in the lab. (STAT News)
WhatsApp sued Indian government over its new traceability laws which violate privacy protections. (Reuters)
How the suburban food scene changed when people left cities (VICE)
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s ‘Untitled’ 1985 could fetch up to $45 million. (Barron’s)