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The World
Saudi Arabia took steps to boost oil production and extend a truce with Iran-backed forces in Yemen, two significant moves that help pave the way for President Biden to visit the kingdom later this month as the two countries try to reset their strained relationship. Saudi-led OPEC and its allies agreed to a bigger-than-expected oil-production increase, allowing Riyadh to potentially pump more crude. At the same time, Saudi Arabia agreed to extend a two-month-old cease-fire with Iran-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen, where the kingdom has been entangled in a costly and unpopular seven-year-old war. Both moves were sought by the U.S. and helped set the stage for Mr. Biden to visit Saudi Arabia later this month as the president looks to set aside longstanding divisions with the kingdom amid high oil and gasoline prices that have driven inflation. While the visit hasn’t officially been announced, Thursday’s moves create momentum for the president’s trip. (Wall Street Journal)
Opec and its allies agreed to accelerate oil production in July and August, as the cartel’s linchpin Saudi Arabia bowed to US pressure to cool a crude price rally that has threatened to stall the global economy. The cartel said it would increase output by almost 650,000 barrels a day in both months, up from planned increases of about 400,000 b/d. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Opec’s two powerhouse producers, are likely to account for most of the supply increases, with Riyadh earlier signaling it was prepared to increase output to overcome Russian shortages. (Financial Times)
President Biden, who as a candidate vowed to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” in response to the assassination of a prominent dissident, has decided to travel to Riyadh this month to rebuild relations with the oil-rich kingdom at a time when he is seeking to lower gas prices at home and isolate Russia abroad. While the timing was still being discussed, Mr. Biden planned to add the visit to a previously scheduled trip to Europe and Israel, administration officials said, asking for anonymity because the trip had not been formally announced. During his stop in Riyadh, the president will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Mr. Biden will also meet with the leaders of other Arab nations, including Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. (New York Times)
Zelensky says Russia holds 20 percent of Ukraine: As Moscow’s war in Ukraine approached its 100th day, President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said that Russia now occupied one-fifth of the country, with fighting raging from Kharkiv in the northeast to the city of Mykolaiv in the south. “If you look at the entire front line, and it is, of course, not straight, this line is more than a thousand kilometers,” Mr. Zelensky told the Parliament of Luxembourg in a virtual speech on Thursday. “Just imagine! Constant fighting, which stretched along the front line for more than a thousand kilometers.” (New York Times)
The Effect of the war in Ukraine on global activity and inflation: Global geopolitical risks have soared since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Investors, market participants, and policymakers expect that the war will exert a drag on the global economy while pushing up inflation, with a sharp increase in uncertainty and risks of severe adverse outcomes. (U.S. Federal Reserve)
China is poised to launch its newest, most advanced aircraft carrier, in a major step that will enable its navy to expand its military operations on the high seas. New satellite imagery reviewed by The Wall Street Journal shows that after several years of work in the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, China’s third carrier, known as a Type 003, may be afloat in coming weeks or even days, analysts said. The Type 003 is China’s third aircraft carrier, and its largest and most advanced. It uses new electromagnetic catapult technology akin to what the U.S. and French carriers have to launch aircraft, analysts said. (Wall Street Journal)
President Biden, in a rare prime-time address, called on Congress to take immediate action on gun control, seeking to transform emotion and anger into change as the nation reeled from a spate of horrific mass shootings from New York to Texas to Oklahoma. The U.S. has resisted firearms limits following wrenching murderous attacks that have erupted on an increasingly regular basis over the past few decades, but Biden sought to channel a feeling by some in Washington that this time could be different in the aftermath of a racist massacre and a slaughter at an elementary school that gripped the nation’s attention. “After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Charleston, after Orlando, after Las Vegas, after Parkland, nothing has been done,” Biden said, reeling off a litany of devastating mass killings. “This time, that can’t be true. This time we must actually do something.” (Washington Post)
Black hospital patients are more likely to face a security emergency response call in hospitals than their White counterparts, according to a new study published in The Journal of General Internal Medicine. The paper is the latest in a flurry of publications that have showcased Black patient inequity in hospital systems across the country. From bias in medical records to worse safety outcomes in hospitals, to being more likely to die from a COVID-19 infection, Black patients face more barriers and risks in hospitals than White patients. (Healthcare Dive)
Upholding Roe v. Wade is supported by most Americans, WSJ poll finds: More than two-thirds of Americans want to uphold Roe v. Wade, and most favor women having access to legal abortion for any reason, according to a new Wall Street Journal poll that shows a four-decade evolution in the country’s viewpoints regarding the procedure. The findings are from a Journal poll conducted with NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research organization that measures social attitudes. The poll was taken after the leak of a draft opinion that suggests the Supreme Court might be preparing to overturn the 1973 decision that established the constitutional right to an abortion. In the survey, 68% of respondents said they wouldn’t like to see the court completely overturn Roe, while 30% said they support that move. (Wall Street Journal)
Economy
The vice-chair of the Federal Reserve has warned that the US central bank may need to extend its run of half-point rate rises into September if inflation does not slow sufficiently in the coming months. In an interview with CNBC, Lael Brainard said: “If we don’t see the kind of deceleration in monthly inflation prints [and] if we don’t see some of that really hot demand starting to cool a little bit, then it might well be appropriate to have another [Fed] meeting where we proceed at the same pace.” (Financial Times)
Why Is Your Boss Asking About Your Feelings? Inside the Empathy Management Trend More business leaders are trying to learn how to show understanding and compassion to buck up pandemic-weary workers. One of the most sought-after management skills right now is empathy—in other words, taking a genuine interest in co-workers’ lives and what makes them tick. Empathetic leadership has long had corporate disciples, but the concept has become a bigger focus of management training and executive coaching as businesses seek ways to bolster staff worn down by the pandemic’s stresses, or at least show they are trying. Appreciating co-workers’ points of view and understanding their struggles, some executives say, leads to more engaged, happy and productive staff. Many workers say that is lacking. In a February survey of 15,000 U.S. workers by Gallup, a quarter said they strongly agreed their employer cared about their wellbeing, half the percentage who said so in the early months of the pandemic. (Wall Street Journal)
The pandemic taught male CEOs to lead more like women. (Fortune)
Why commercial landlords will give you months of free office rent: Deals in Dallas, LA, and Denver highlight how crazy the market has gotten. (Bloomberg)
See how much the biggest U.S. companies pay workers: The median worker at Google made nearly $300,000 in 2021; at the other end was an Aptiv worker in Mexico who took home $7,400. Wages for the median workers at the majority of big American companies are higher than they were before the pandemic, with the tight job market helping to lift paydays for many bank tellers, factory workers and software programmers. Compensation in 2021 for the median worker at 275 companies in the S&P 500 index was higher than in 2019, including 150 companies where it increased 10% or more from 2019, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. Half as many firms reported their median worker’s 2021 compensation decreased by 10% or more. More than 140 companies, including Netflix and steelmaker Nucor said their median worker was paid at least $100,000 last year. Over three dozen companies, including Walmart and Home Depot said their median worker made less than $30,000 in 2021. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Why Sheryl Sandberg Quit Facebook’s Meta: One of the world’s most powerful executives became increasingly burned out and disconnected from the mega-business she was instrumental in building. That dovetailed with a company investigation into her activities. (Wall Street Journal)
This is the space station China is building to challenge the US: China released new details about the final stages of work on its Tiangong space station, an under-construction orbiter started after the US barred Beijing from participating in the International Space Station. The Shenzhou XIV spacecraft, which will carry three astronauts in June for a six-month mission to Tiangong, was moved to the launchpad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia, state media reported, with a launch scheduled soon. (Bloomberg)
Chinese space centre finds jamming device weeks before launch of latest space station mission in first reported incident of its kind. (South China Morning Post)
The next generation of Starlink satellites are going to be larger, and more powerful, designed to provide internet access to remote parts of the world, according to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. The space billionaire recently discussed the details of the Starlink Gen2 System on the popular YouTube show, Everyday Astronaut. In the 32 minute clip, Musk reveals that SpaceX has already produced the first Starlink 2.0 satellite. The new generation satellite is 7 meters (22 feet) long and weighs about 1.25 tons (approximately 2,755 pounds or 1,250 kilograms). Starlink 1.0, by comparison, weighs about 573 pounds (260 kilograms). The extra weight accounts for a more effective satellite, according to Musk. (Gizmodo)
The future of electrification, according to Google Trends: People are increasingly ready for the all-electric future at home and on the road. From “induction stove” to “home EV charging,” search interest is rising. And while climate change is certainly not up to the individual to solve — that’s mainly on governments and corporations — shifts in public tastes can bring about policy changes. Fast. (See: outdoor dining in major cities; marriage equality.) Protocol took a look at the past five years of search interest for a number of electrification hacks. Google Trends uses a scale from one to 100 to measure interest over time, with 100 marking the peak popularity for the search term in a given region and a given time period. For the bulk of the home and transport electrification terms that Protocol reviewed, the peak hit in the last year, if not in the last few months. (Protocol)
Smart Links
Aspen’s market is so crazy that buyers shop for homes that aren’t even for sale. (Wall Street Journal)
Ford plans 6,000 new union jobs in three Midwestern states. (New York Times)
Lululemon raises guidance for the year as earnings and sales beat expectations. (CNBC)
Vice Media makes cost-cutting push as it eyes sale options. (The Information)
Restaurants add new fees to your check to counter inflation. (Wall Street Journal)
How inflation changed the price of a hamburger. (Statista)