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The World
The world’s leading economies made no major progress over how to cut greenhouse gas emissions, showing how difficult it will be to achieve a breakthrough at UN climate talks in Glasgow over the next two weeks. The Group of 20 major economies, which includes the U.S., India and China, struggled to find a consensus on how best to adhere to the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Leaders agreed to stop financing new coal-fired power plants overseas but otherwise hammered out few specifics on how to limit a rise in global temperatures or a timeline for doing so. The G-20 economies account for around 75% of global emissions. (Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. has not changed its one-China policy in relation to Taiwan, US Secretary of State Blinken told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Rome. Blinken made clear that Washington had not changed its one-China policy regarding Taiwan, and both sides acknowledged that open lines of communication were paramount. Wang, meanwhile, said that Taiwan was the most sensitive issue between the US and China and would damage relations if mishandled. (South China Morning Post)
French President Emmanuel Macron said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison lied to him over the cancellation of a submarine building contract in September, and indicated more efforts were required to rebuild trust between the two allies. "I don't think, I know," Macron said in response to a question whether he thought that Morrison had lied to him. (Reuters)
Brexit is harming the UK economy, say 44% of voters. The new poll also shows that more than half believe it is affecting shop prices, as experts forecast it is likely to be twice as costly as Covid. (The Guardian)
The bitter row between France and Britain over fishing rights deepened as No 10 said Emmanuel Macron had given no indication he was willing to withdraw his threats. Downing Street rebuffed suggestions from French officials that the dispute had been diffused at a half-hour informal meeting between Boris Johnson and Macron. (The Times)
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm blamed the Opec oil “cartel” for soaring petrol prices in the US, putting more pressure on the group to increase crude output ahead of a meeting later this week. U.S. petrol prices have risen almost 40% since Joe Biden entered the White House, adding to anxieties about inflation. The federal Energy Information Administration recently forecast winter household heating bills would also surge this year. (Financial Times)
Gas prices in the UK and continental Europe tumbled by as much as a fifth on further signs Russia will increase exports to the region after restricting supplies for months. Russia’s state-run gas exporter Gazprom said it had hit its target for filling domestic storage two days after President Vladimir Putin ordered the company to start filling its European storage facilities. The intervention comes after allegations from some analysts that Moscow has stoked an energy crisis by holding back supplies. (Financial Times)
A renewed buildup of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border has raised concern among some officials in the United States and Europe who are tracking what they consider irregular movements of equipment and personnel on Russia’s western flank. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said the troop movements have reignited concerns that arose in April, when the largest buildup of troops by Russia near the Ukrainian border in years sparked an international outcry. (Washington Post)
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party secured a sole majority in the lower house of parliament in Sunday's general election, despite losing a sizable number of seats including several high-profile former cabinet ministers. (Nikkei Asian Review)
American Airlines canceled another 634 flights on Sunday, more than 12% of its total operations for the day. The airline has now canceled more than 1,500 flights since Friday, as it deals with weather issues and staffing shortages that started last week. (CNN)
Three University of Florida professors have been barred from assisting plaintiffs in a lawsuit to overturn the state’s new law restricting voting rights. The ban is an extraordinary limit on speech that raises questions of academic freedom and First Amendment rights. University officials told the three that because the school was a state institution, participating in a lawsuit against the state “is adverse to U.F.’s interests” and could not be permitted. In their filing, the lawyers sought to question Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, on whether he was involved in the decision. (New York Times)
Economy
Supermarkets play supply chain ‘Whack-a-Mole’: Companies are planning for shortages of popular brands of food and staples to continue for months, and managers are trying to keep up as different products run short from week to week. Some packaged-food makers, struggling with stretched staffing and hard-to-find raw materials, are limiting shipments of products. Some retailers are withdrawing discounts to reduce demand. Others are expanding or opening new warehouses. (Wall Street Journal)
Cost of breakfast foods hits 10-year high: Bad weather and supply-chain problems push up price of ingredients. (Financial Times)
Microsoft reclaimed its title of most valuable public company after Apple falls. The iPhone maker cedes top spot to its tech rival after weak earnings. (Financial Times)
The gap between yields on shorter- and longer-term Treasurys narrowed at month’s end, reflecting the tension between investors’ expectations that interest rates will climb and their concerns about the prospects for longer-term growth. Yields on longer-term Treasurys, which tend to fall when investors expect cooling economic growth, have retreated since approaching their 2021 highs earlier in October. The slide came after new data showed tepid growth and lingering inflationary pressures, intensifying some investors’ expectations that the Federal Reserve will hasten interest-rate increases, slowing the economy. Yields on shorter-term Treasurys, meanwhile, have continued to rise. (Wall Street Journal)
How bosses can lure remote workers back to the office: Sure, companies can insist. But there are also things they can do that will make employees want to return: Remove the pain points; Make it fun to see each other; Remind them home isn’t so great. Remember that employees may be happy to hit rewind on the rebalancing of work and home. What started as welcome flexibility has now turned into overwork and even burnout. The ability to draw a clear line between work and home is something many employees say they miss—and it is exactly what you can offer if you adopt a policy like “no after-hours email on days you’ve been at the office.” (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Apple’s decision to change the privacy settings of iPhones caused an estimated $9.85bn (or 12%) of revenues to evaporate in 2H21 at Snap, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as their advertising businesses were shaken by the new rules. Apple introduced its App Tracking Transparency policy in April, which forced apps to ask for permission before they tracked the behaviour of users to serve them personalised ads. Most users have opted out, leaving advertisers in the dark about how to target them. Advertisers have responded by cutting back their spending at Snap, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and diverted their budgets elsewhere: in particular to Android phone users and to Apple’s own growing ad business. Snap fared the worst as a percentage of its business because of its focus on smartphones, while Facebook lost the most in absolute terms because of its size. (Financial Times)
Facebook’s Meta mission was laid out in a 2018 paper declaring ‘The Metaverse is ours to lose’. In June 2018, Oculus executive Jason Rubin sent an email to Facebook board member Marc Andreessen with the subject line “The Metaverse.” “We believe that the right way to break through consumer indifference to VR is to deliver what they expect and want from the medium: THE METAVERSE,” reads the first slide of a 50-page document outlining a strategy for building a virtual world. The three-year-old document, obtained by CNBC, laid the foundation for the futuristic ambitions of Meta, the company that until now was called Facebook. (CNBC)
Lightspeed Venture Partners is no stranger to blockchain—the VC firm has invested in this technology for nearly decade. But Lightspeed made clear Thursday that its interest also extends to NFTs: the growing popularity of NFTs means that these digital assets have huge potential in the creator economy. (The Information)
An American technologist has released online a gigantic index of 355 billion words and short phrases contained in more than 100 million journal articles — including many paywalled papers. This ‘General Index’ is an effort to help scientists use software to search through and glean insights from published work even if they have no legal access to the underlying papers, says its creator Carl Malamud. (Nature)
Smart Links
Junior lawyers work ever longer hours as demand keeps surging; Kirkland & Ellis staff clocking off at around 11.30 pm on average. (Financial Times)
Coke to pay $5.6 billion for full control of BodyArmor. (Wall Street Journal)
Nearly 1 in 3 adults get financial help from parents post-Covid. (CNBC)
Higher restaurant wages whack profits—some warn more pain is still ahead. (CNBC)
Do decentralized autonomous organizations represent the future of work? (WBUR)
Logitech CEO expects supply chain pinch to continue. (Reuters)
COVID-19 vaccine now required for 36% of U.S. workers (Gallup)