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The World
President Biden plans to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the al-Qaeda attacks on the U.S. Biden sees the war against the Taliban as a drag on the need to deal with bigger threats like China, climate change, the pandemic — and even a terrorism menace that has mutated significantly in the two decades since the attacks, in addition to threats from Russia and the decline of U.S. influence abroad. Britain followed the news by announcing it will withdraw nearly all its 750 troops from Afghanistan, too. Meanwhile, Republicans lawmakers and some Democrats say the move could embolden the Taliban, while others say it is time to end the ‘Forever War.’ (Washington Post, The Times, New York Times)
Biden proposed a summit meeting with Vladimir Putin in a third country “in the coming months,” following a marked cooling of relations between Washington and Moscow, “to discuss the full range of issues facing the U.S. and Russia.” Biden also called on Moscow to de-escalate tensions following a build-up of Russian military in Crimea and on Ukraine’s borders. (Financial Times)
Russia extended its claim to the Arctic Ocean seabed: Russia's claim now covers some 70% of the seabed in the central parts of the Arctic Ocean and reaches to Canada and Greenland’s exclusive economic zones. (Arctic Today)
Why did U.S. health officials pause J&J’s coronavirus vaccine? Initially, some suggested the government could just issue a warning to consumers and doctors. They didn’t want to undermine confidence in vaccines. But two big worries emerged. They feared there might be additional cases of brain blood clots they didn’t know about. And what if the government didn’t act quickly, and as a result more people got the wrong diagnosis and treatment and were hurt or died? Their unanimous agreement to recommend a pause in using the J&J single-shot vaccine early Tuesday morning set off a fierce debate. (Washington Post)
Johnson & Johnson said it would delay its planned vaccine rollout in Europe after the U.S. pause. Australia opts not to purchase Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine. (Financial Times, Washington Post)
The concern raises questions about whether there is a “class effect” — a problem one would expect to see with all vaccines made in the way the J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines are made. The Sputnik V vaccine, made by Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute and the vaccine made by CanSino, a Chinese manufacturer, are made in the same way as the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines. The four vaccines use modified adenoviruses — viruses that cause colds — to deliver instructions to human cells to make the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, the exterior proteins that allow SARS-2 viruses to attach to and invade cells. Those vaccine-induced spike proteins teach the immune system to look out for and defend against SARS-2 viruses. (STAT News)
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged senators to oppose a sweeping Democratic-backed voting-overhaul bill, saying it would impose onerous restrictions on political advocacy by corporations and other associations. The Chamber will send a “key vote alert” to senators laying out its opposition to the proposed For the People Act and called for bipartisanship in making any voting changes. (Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. intelligence community has put China at the top of its annual report of national security threats, warning of Beijing’s struggle to realize “an epochal geopolitical shift.”The Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community, published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, begins with a section on “China’s push for global power,” followed by three sections describing the “provocative actions” of Russia, Iran and North Korea, before moving on to international issues such as Covid-19 and climate change. (South China Morning Post)
China looks set to reopen border with North Korea. Separately, China has sent 25 military jets into Taiwan airspace, the self-governed island's Ministry of National Defense said. Monday's deployment of 14 J-16 and four J-10 fighters, four H-6K bombers, two Y-8 anti-sub warfare aircraft and one KJ-500 aircraft marks the biggest breach of Taiwan's air defense identification zone on record. (South China Morning Post, Axios)
Boris Johnson refused to back former Prime Minister David Cameron in the Greensill row, saying that the inquiry into lobbying by the collapsed finance company will have “carte blanche” to get to the bottom of what happened. (The Times)
Egypt seized the Ever Given, saying its owners owe nearly $1 billion for the Suez Canal traffic jam, while Iran plans major jump in uranium enrichment after the Natanz nuclear facility attack. (Ahram Gate, Washington Post)
In Brooklyn Center, MN, the police chief and officer who shot Daunte Wright resigned. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
After moving All-Star Game, MLB’s net favorability rating among Republicans fell 35 percentage points, from 47 points in mid-March to 12 points at the end of last week. Democrats now have a more positive view of each of the four major U.S. sports leagues than Republicans. (Morning Consult)
Economy
Inflation accelerated in March due to the strengthening economy and rising energy prices. The consumer-price index rose 2.6% in the year ended March and a seasonally adjusted 0.6% from February. Meanwhile, U.S. rents rose for the first time in 8 months in March, while Singapore’s economy unexpectedly grew in 1Q21. (Wall Street Journal, Mansion Global, CNBC)
Defaults for an index of speculative-grade loans to U.S. companies over the past year fell to 3.15% as of March — the lowest level since last April and down from the measure’s 10-year peak in September at 4.17%. (Wall Street Journal)
Salesforce became the first company to tie reopening to vaccinations, offering up a "volunteer" return-to-office option for Bay Area employees who've been vaccinated. That will be followed by a gradual expansion in reopening from 20% to 75% capacity to all employees — regardless of vaccination — depending on local health data and guidance. The company has already learned about post-pandemic work: (Source Code, Salesforce)
Salesforce’s Australia offices have been open for hybrid work since August, and workers have chosen to come into the office more on Wednesdays & Thursdays, instead of Monday.
People are also opting for co-working spaces much more than individual desks. The trend: Solo work will get done at home, and group work in the office.
Real-time payments jumped 41% in 2020 to 70.3 billion transactions globally. But that's less than a tenth of the world's payments. The top real-time markets globally were India (25.5 billion transactions), China (15.7 billion) and South Korea (6 billion).The U.S. is shockingly behind, with only 1.2 billion transactions. Meanwhile, big banks’ loan-to-deposit ratio dropped to 53.9% at the end of March — the lowest point in 36 years of weekly Fed tracking as loans dropped and deposits jumped. (Protocol)
Payment processor Stripe has became Silicon Valley's hottest startup. Stripe has turned a humdrum business—helping companies accept credit-card payments—into a blockbuster valuation. (Wall Street Journal)
Barcelona tops the Forbes list of the world’s 20 most valuable soccer teams for the first time, knocking Real Madrid to No. 2. Barcelona is valued at $4.76 billion, just nudging out Real Madrid at $4.75 billion. The top spot had been monopolized by two teams for the previous 16 years, with Real Madrid taking it five times and England’s Manchester United 11 times. (Forbes)
Virgin Atlantic’s chief executive is planning for a long-term reduction in business travel, in one of the clearest warnings yet on the hit to this part of the airline industry once the pandemic ends and people can move freely again. The airline expects corporate travel will be 20% lower over the next two years compared with pre-pandemic levels, with questions over whether business class will ever make a complete recovery. (Financial Times)
Private equity investments in U.S. renewables hit a record $23.7 billion last year. Says the American Investment Council: "PE invests in renewable energy in two major ways: buying and expanding established power generators and increasing their production over the long term, and financing development costs for new renewable power companies.” Driving the increase: renewables' cost competitiveness and investors in PE firms steering more capital into ESG. (Axios)
Technology
The global semiconductor shortage hammering the auto industry and other manufacturers is going to take “a couple of years” to abate, as demand soars alongside limited manufacturing capacity, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said. He added that Intel aims to boost production of automotive chips within six to nine months, but a full solution to the problem will take much longer. (Washington Post)
Global consumers are now spending an average of 4.2 hours per day using apps on their smartphones, an increase of 30% from just two years prior. In some markets, the average is even higher — more than five hours. In 1Q21, the daily time spent in apps surpassed four hours in the U.S., Turkey, Mexico and India for the first time, the report notes. Of those, India saw the biggest jump as consumers there spent 80% more time in smartphone apps in 1Q21 vs. 1Q19. (TechCrunch)
7% of Americans don’t use the internet. However, 31% of U.S. adults say they are ‘almost constantly’ online. (Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center-2)
It pays to sleep: Amazon’s livestreaming platform Twitch still can’t stop breaking viewership records. March was the service’s biggest month to date, with more than 2 billion hours watched on the platform, slightly edging out the previous record set in January. This is a 105% increase year-over-year for Twitch, which is both more popular and more controversial at once than it’s ever been before. One peculiar blip on Twitch’s radar in March came from the sudden rise of “sleep streaming,” where popular streamers film themselves while they’re napping. (GeekWire)
Epic Games has another $1 billion from investors, $200 million of that from Sony, which pushes the company’s value to $28.7 billion. Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook took a shot at Epic's lawsuit: "They'd like developers to each put in their own payment information. But that would make the App Store a flea market and you know the confidence level you have at the flea market." (Polygon, Source Code)
Tencent is investing $1 billion in an esports arena in China, a huge bet that esports will overtake the NBA in terms of revenue — as NewZoo estimates global esports revenue will grow 15% to $1.1 billion in 2021 alone. (Protocol, NewZoo)
Grab Holdings said it would go public on the Nasdaq by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company, securing a near-$40 billion valuation in a new milestone for the SPAC boom that has swept U.S. financial markets. The $39.6 billion deal to list Grab, a ride-hailing, food-delivery and digital-wallet group that operates across much of Southeast Asia, is by far the biggest involving a blank-check company and means Grab’s valuation has more than doubled in just 18 months. (Wall Street Journal)
Following an overnight leak by Siri, Apple officially announced that it will be holding a special "Spring Loaded" event on April 20. Updated iPad Pro models, a new low-cost iPad, a new iPad mini, refreshed iMacs, and the long-awaited AirTags are all products that Apple could potentially introduce. (MacRumors)
Smart Links
Many workers don’t want to go back to the office. Here’s why. (Slate)
Uber CEO says company could get into cannabis delivery. (CNBC)
Pelosi invites Biden to address joint session of Congress on April 28 — 2 days before President’s 100th day in office. (Washington Post)
Singapore firms miss women-on-boards target as pandemic blamed. (Bloomberg)
Patients hit with surprise medical bills paid ER docs 10 times more than others. (Healthcare Dive)
Twitter to set up its first African presence in Ghana. (TechCrunch)
Live Event
Today, 12 pm ET: How World War II is shaping a new nationalism. A conversation with Rana Mitter, University of Oxford. (Register MIT)