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The World
NATO announced a doubling of its military presence near Ukraine and said the alliance would help the country prepare for possible chemical, biological and even nuclear threats from the Russian invaders, which would be a once-unthinkable expansion in the month-old war. The announcement by Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general, came hours before President Biden landed in Europe for an extraordinary strategy session with the alliance, created in 1949 to contain the Soviet Union. The warnings underscored the urgency of efforts to prevent the conflict from spreading beyond Ukraine’s borders and entangling NATO in a direct fight with Russia. (New York Times)
Top Russian military leaders repeatedly decline calls from U.S., prompting fears of ‘sleepwalking into war’: Repeated attempts by the United States’ top defense and military leaders to speak with their Russian counterparts have been rejected by Moscow for the last month, leaving the world’s two largest nuclear powers in the dark about explanations for military movements and raising fears of a major miscalculation or battlefield accident. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have tried to set up phone calls with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov but the Russians “have so far declined to engage,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby in a statement. The attempted calls by Austin and Milley have not previously been reported. (Washington Post)
EU doubles military aid to €1 billion: The 27 EU member states have approved an additional €500 million ($550 million), on top of a previous package worth €500 million issued in February. The latest €500 million were previously pledged by EU leaders at a summit in Versailles 12 days ago. The package will used to buy equipment and supplies such as personal protective equipment, first aid kits and fuel, as well as lethal military equipment and platforms. (Deutsche Welle)
Putin plans to attend G-20 summit despite calls to exclude him. (Washington Post)
China aims to expand its nuclear power program amid a threat of a global energy crisis following the Ukraine invasion. The country’s energy plan for 2025 aims to build more plants as part of its pledge to reach peak carbon by 2030 and ensure energy security. Proposals call for the development of next-generation technology, including nuclear fusion. (South China Morning Post)
The FDA announced that it would convene a meeting of its outside advisory panel on vaccines to discuss the U.S. Covid booster strategy on April 6. The panel will not take up pending applications from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna for emergency authorization of second booster shots. (New York Times)
NYC Mayor Eric Adams plans to announce today that professional athletes and performers working in New York City will no longer be required to show proof of vaccination. (New York Times)
Airline CEOs ask Biden to drop mask mandate. (Axios)
Japan drops COVID restrictions on bars and restaurants nationwide. (Nikkei Asia Review)
In Germany, the sense of crisis is spreading. The obvious indicator of a partly unsettled nation: the empty shelves in supermarkets, hoarding and purchase limits on staples including pasta, flour and yeast. OVID, the industry association for oilseed processing in Germany, warns that "restrictions in the flow of goods from sunflower, flax and soy from the conflict region" are to be expected in the coming weeks and months. Russia and Ukraine are among the world's biggest exporters of sunflower oil; Germany covers 94% of its needs through imports. (Deutsche Welle)
The University of Southern California is withdrawing its education school from U.S. News & World Report’s graduate-school rankings after determining it had provided the publication with inaccurate data going back at least five years. USC Provost Charles F. Zukoski told students and staff at the Rossier School of Education in a letter Wednesday that the school’s dean, Pedro A. Noguera, notified him recently of “a history of inaccuracies in the survey data.” (Wall Street Journal)
Where mornings would get darker under permanent Daylight Savings Time: Most Americans support eliminating the twice-annual changing of the clocks. But maps show how the daylight saving bill passed by the Senate would affect some cities more than others. (Bloomberg)
Economy
ING will no longer finance new oil and gas projects, becoming the biggest bank yet to commit to such a step in the fight against climate change. The move by the Dutch financial services firm raises pressure on peers to heed a call by the International Energy Agency (IEA) for a halt to funding for new fossil fuel projects to help cap global warming at no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. (Reuters)
Wall Street bonuses jumped by more than 20% in 2021, with the average payout hitting a record high of $257,500, according to a report from the New York State Comptroller. The New York City securities industry bonus pool grew 21 per cent to $45bn in 2021. The bonus pool increased 25 per cent in 2020, when the average payout was $213,700. (Financial Times)
Crypto investor Katie Haun has raised $1.5 billion for her new fund after leaving Andreessen Horowitz, and shattered a record in the process. Haun Ventures’ kickoff marks the largest debut venture fund ever raised by a solo female founding partner, according to Pitchbook. Former investment banker Mary Meeker held the prior record with a $1.3 billion fund after spinning out from Kleiner Perkins. “It feels, honestly, like a lot of pressure. But I think that motivates everyone on the team,” Haun told CNBC in her first broadcast interview since leaving Andreessen Horowitz. “Web3 is the new era of the internet, and it deserves a new era of investors.” (CNBC)
Thailand issued a ban against payments using cryptocurrencies and other digital assets that will go into effect next month in a bid to maintain stability in financial markets. (Nikkei Asia Review)
US reinstates tariff exemptions on some Chinese products: The move applies to 352 products on which Washington first imposed levies in 2018, when President Trump started a trade war with Beijing The Biden administration began seeking opinions last October on which of the 549 eligible goods should be excluded. (South China Morning Post)
In the UK, household energy bills will soar to about £2,800 a year from October when the price cap on standard tariffs is likely to rise again by a record £830. A typical household is already facing an increase of about £690, or 54 per cent, to £1,971 a year from April 1 after sharply rising gas prices forced Ofgem to increase the energy price cap. (The Times)
Generation Z demands a flexible working week: Flexible working is a deciding factor for young employees in choosing whether to accept a job or look for a new one. Research by the Kantar consultancy found that 86 per cent of “Generation Z”, aged 18 to 24, and 85 per cent of millennials, aged 25 to 39, said that flexible home working policies are one of the main factors they consider when deciding whether to accept a job compared with 66 per cent of boomers, aged 56 to 75. The online survey of 7,985 employees across eight countries including the UK was conducted in January. (The Times)
Technology
People lost more than $6.9 billion to internet crimes in 2021, a jump of more than $2 billion from 2020, according to the FBI's annual Internet Crime Report. The report contains "information about the most prevalent internet scams" reported to the federal law enforcement agency's Internet Crime Complaint Center. A total of 847,376 internet crime complaints were filed in 2021, a 7% increase from 2020 but a staggering 81% jump from 2019, according to the FBI. The top three cybercrimes reported last year were phishing scams, non-payment/non-delivery and personal data breaches. (Cnet)
iPhone owners with an Arizona driver's license or state ID can now upload either to their Apple Wallet, marking the first time a US state has supported digital versions of this type of identification in the app. Apple also announced plans to introduce the feature to Colorado, Hawaii, Mississippi, Ohio and Puerto Rico. (CNN)
Delivery service Instacart has said it will build micro-fulfilment warehouses as it attempts to fend off the dual threat of newer rapid delivery apps and Amazon’s growing presence in groceries. Fidji Simo, chief executive, said the new effort cements its broader pivot from its core delivery business — which primarily hires gig workers to pick up groceries from existing brick-and-mortar stores — into becoming a platform offered to retailers, incorporating advertising technology, warehouse logistics and data analytics. (Financial Times)
Amid increasing global regulations over app stores and their commission structures, Google announced the launch of a pilot program designed to explore what it calls “user billing choice.” The program will allow a small number of participating developers, starting with Spotify, to offer an additional third-party billing option next to Google Play’s own billing system in their apps. While Google already offers a similar system in South Korea following the arrival of new legislation requiring it, this will be the first time it will test the system in multiple worldwide markets. Spotify said the pilot will roll out to all markets where Spotify Premium is available. (TechCrunch)
It may only be a matter of time before the Berlin Wall of the mobile app ecosystem, Apple’s rigid App Store rules, falls. Google’s announcement today that its Google Play app store will allow a “dual billing option” in U.S. apps, starting with Spotify, puts pressure on Apple to follow suit. Giving consumers a choice about the payment systems they use for in-app purchases, such as subscriptions, is precisely what Apple CEO Tim Cook has long resisted. But as Apple is already battling foreign regulators about this issue and faces legislation in Congress mandating a less restrictive policy, Cook’s stance looks increasingly untenable. (The Information)
Smart Links
MacKenzie Scott donates $3.86 billion to 465 organizations in less than a year. (Wall Street Journal)
Study: Heart disease mortality rates rose during pandemic. (Axios)
Russia launch brazen challenge to UK and Ireland to hijack Euro 2028. (The Times)
Virtuoso mathematician who re-shaped topology wins Abel Prize — US$854,000. (Nature)
China ramps up arms exports to Pakistan, aiming to squeeze India. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Crooked Media inks multiyear pact with SiriusXM for ad sales, distribution. (Variety)