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The World
President Biden began horse-trading with Republicans over his $1.9tn stimulus package in his first big negotiating session with political rivals, as he ramped up efforts to build momentum behind his Covid relief bill. Biden met a group of 10 Republican lawmakers for two hours after they proposed their own version of an economic relief package worth $618bn. The Republican offer is far below what the Biden administration and many Democrats believe is needed to prop up the economic recovery this year as the country continues to suffer fallout from the pandemic. (Financial Times)
CDC figures show that while black people account for over 15% of Covid-19 deaths, they only accounted for 5% of the inoculations given during the first month of the vaccine program. In GA, one-third of residents are hesitant to take the vaccine. In CA, despite heated opposition and vows of resistance from some restaurant owners and elected officials, there is increasing evidence that the state’s latest stay-at-home order worked to turn around a deadly surge of the coronavirus. After weeks of overwhelmed hospitals and record death tolls, the state’s declining case and hospitalization numbers may have seemed sudden and surprising. But experts say they are the consequence of changes that Californians started to make two months ago. (Financial Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Los Angeles Times)
President Biden said the Myanmar military’s seizure of power was a direct assault on the country’s transition to democracy and that the U.S. would hold the leaders of Monday’s coup accountable. The U.S. has limited leverage against the military leadership in Myanmar, formerly Burma. Broad economic sanctions such as those used by the George W. Bush and Obama administrations could alienate the country’s population and hurt public attitude toward the West, analysts say. U.S. trade with Myanmar is small. Meanwhile, Beijing enjoys a multibillion-dollar trade and investment relationship with its neighbor and has expressed less public concern than the U.S. about who is in charge. That raises the possibility that any U.S. action could further drive Myanmar toward China. (Wall Street Journal)
Even as warning signs of a military putsch to topple Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government multiplied in recent days, some of the diplomats and analysts who follow Myanmar professionally were still discounting them. Taming the Covid-19 pandemic and reviving the country’s economy were seen as priorities both for the civilian government and the military, many of whose members have significant business interests. The coup caught most observers by surprise and abruptly cast Aung San Suu Kyi back into the role she was known for in her years in opposition, before she took office in 2016: a struggling democratic leader facing off against an omnipotent military, which is known as the Tatmadaw. (Financial Times)
China’s most senior foreign policy official said the U.S. under Trump had followed “misguided policies” and called on the new administration to change course – even as comments from President Biden’s advisers echo his predecessor’s tough tone on China. Meanwhile, Europe is pivoting to the Indo-Pacific with 'multipolar' ambitions, as ASEAN and other players welcome a hedge against the US-China rivalry. In Japan, nuclear power will be essential if it is to reach its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the country’s energy minister has told the Financial Times, saying that power shortages this winter have helped to shift public debate over the sector. The comments reflect a dramatic shake-up in Japanese policy as it shifts back to focus on reducing emissions after a decade of relying on fossil fuels in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. (South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asian Review, Financial Times)
Russian state prosecutors are poised to jail the opposition leader Alexei Navalny for three-and-a-half years, with the Kremlin shrugging off US complaints about his case on Monday ahead of a crucial court hearing today. (The Guardian)
Several elite colleges have announced in recent weeks that they are extending temporary admissions policies not requiring applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores, representing another setback for testing providers. Among the institutions to do so are Baylor, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard and Rice universities, as well as Boston and Williams colleges. Colleges were doing away with entrance exam mandates prior to the pandemic, and testing experts predict few will return to their old practices once the health crisis relents. Meanwhile, over 1,000 Columbia University students went on tuition strike, demanding pandemic concessions. (HigherEd Dive, NBC News)
Heat killed a record number of people in Arizona last year in “a staggering increase,” as people endured the hottest summer on record. The statewide toll of 494 deaths far surpassed the previous record of 283 heat-related deaths reported in 2019. With climate change pushing temperatures higher, experts say the growing number of lives lost underlines an urgent need to scale up efforts to protect those who are most vulnerable and mobilize government resources at the local and federal levels to mitigate this chronic hazard. (AZ Central)
Economy
Exxon Mobil is forming a business unit that will focus exclusively on technologies to lower carbon emissions, as the oil giant faces increasing pressure to step up its sustainability investments. Exxon said the new business, dubbed “low carbon solutions,” would invest $3 billion through 2025 on lower emission energy technologies, primarily on carbon capture and storage projects, which gather carbon emissions from industrial processes or directly from the air and deposit them underground. Those investments would represent roughly 3% to 4% of Exxon’s planned annual capital expenditures. (Wall Street Journal)
Robinhood has held talks with banks about raising $1 billion in debt so it can continue to fulfill orders for heavily shorted stocks. The capital would be separate from the $3.4 billion in financing that Robinhood announced it had secured from its investors since Jan. 29. (Reuters)
Apple sold $14 billion of bonds to take advantage of cheap borrowing costs, tapping the market for a third time since May as it looks to return more cash to shareholders. The company issued debt in six parts. The longest portion of the offering, a 40-year security, will yield 95 basis points above Treasuries, after initially discussing between 115 and 120 basis points. (Bloomberg)
Banks are bracing for tougher rules under Biden on consumer protection and fair lending, as the Obama-era focus on financial stability gives way to concerns about racial equity and climate change. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Elon Musk made a vocal debut on a newer platform — Silicon Valley’s hottest startup right now, Clubhouse, which lets people join rooms to listen in on conversations between hosts and guests. The interview veered off radically when Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood, was brought in (apparently by Musk, but there was a hint of co-ordination behind the scenes). Suddenly, Musk turned interviewer and had Tenev unpack what had happened in the last week with the Wall Street Bets debacle. Some saw the Clubhouse room as a massive PR stunt by the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz — which, in addition to being a big investor in Robinhood and Clubhouse, backs startups that work with Musk’s companies. With more than 5,000 people in the room (breaking Clubhouse’s previously maintained limits), hundreds of journalists and live streams on YouTube, we did get a little taste of how A16Z’s new media efforts — which effectively seek to disintermediate journalists in the public discourse about technology — might work (note: Musk’s conversation with Robinhood’s Vlad Tenev starts around 1:16:00 of the below video; it’s cued to start there). (TechCrunch)
Some Facebook and Instagram users who opened the social media apps on their iPhones got a new message about targeted advertising: Namely, targeting advertising is not as bad as Apple makes it out to be. The Facebook-Apple feud is the latest example of how private companies are taking matters into their own hands and attempting to settle scores before regulators even have a chance. (Washington Post)
iOS 14.5 will let Apple Watch owners unlock iPhones while wearing a mask. (Engadget)
Five HBCU presidents met with Sundar Pichai on Friday to talk about Google's "culture" problems. “We are all encouraged about the future partnership," Google and the HBCU leaders said in a joint statement emailed to CNN late Friday night. "The meeting paved the way for a more substantive partnership in a number of areas, from increased hiring to capacity building efforts that will increase the pipeline of tech talent from HBCUs." (Source Code, CNN)
Alphabet Inc. will report the cost and operating profit of its Google Cloud business for the first time today, disclosures that are expected to overshadow record overall quarterly sales for the internet’s biggest platform for ads. (Reuters)
In the same way the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the ways we work, shop and socialize, it has also shifted the way many people pay for things. The pandemic has accelerated the decline in cash payments and the move toward e-commerce by about four or five years, said Marion Laboure, a Deutsche Bank economist. Still, while shoppers’ embrace of digital commerce looks likely to last, economists say it is too soon to know if U.S. consumers’ shift to cashless payments will as well, for several reasons. (Wall Street Journal)
Smart Links
GameStop, Bitcoin and QAnon: How the wisdom of crowds became the anarchy of the mob. (Wall Street Journal)
Silver price hits 8-year high as retail traders take aim. (Financial Times)
Who’s getting all the PS5 consoles? The bots. (Wired UK)
Pets may soon be fed laboratory-grown meat. (Economist)
Netflix is finalizing a GameStop stock movie package. (Deadline)
Learn More (Today 12 p.m. ET): Harvard Law School seminar — COVID-19 and the Law: COVID-19’s Legacy & Evolving Legal Doctrines. (Register Harvard Law School)
Why sales of cold medicine are crashing this winter; could masks stop more than just the coronavirus? (Marker)