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The World
EU steps up action on Russian oil sanctions: Germany has called for a phased-in ban on Russian oil imports into the EU, stepping up pressure on Brussels to find a deal between divided member states ahead of a crunch week for the bloc’s policy on Russian energy. Meanwhile, energy ministers from European Union countries will hold emergency talks today, as the bloc strives for a united response to Moscow's demand that European buyers pay for Russian gas in roubles or face their supply being cut off. (Financial Times, Reuters)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made clear that sanctions against Russia will only be lifted after a complete withdrawal of its troops from Ukrainian territory, including the Donbas region and Crimea. (Bloomberg)
As the US chips away at its one-China policy, fears grow for Taiwan’s uneasy peace. Calls are increasing in Washington to jettison ‘strategic ambiguity’ – under which the US does not commit to defend Taiwan if China attacks – in favor of ‘strategic clarity’. Instability, distrust and miscommunication is a classic ‘security dilemma’, where each side sees its motives as pure and its adversaries’ as the opposite. (South China Morning Post)
President Biden’s standing with Americans has improved slightly over the past two months, but he remains in negative territory in most assessments of his performance in office and Republicans hold substantial advantages over Democrats on key economic indicators that are shaping the midterm election year. The new survey, while better for the president and his party than his low point two months ago, nonetheless underscores the head winds Democratic candidates are facing ahead of the November balloting. With a 42% approval rating overall, Biden gets low marks on his handling of the economy and inflation and Republicans are significantly more trusted than Democrats on both measures. (Washington Post-ABC News poll)
Immigration reform withers as Democrats descend into border infighting. There's now "zero" chance for a comprehensive bill this Congress, one key senator said. (Politico)
Gov. Greg Abbott redirects $500 million from other agencies to fund border security mission through end of fiscal year. Abbott said the money would be taken from the budgets of other Texas agencies, including nearly $210 million from the state’s Health and Human Services Commission over two years and about $160 million from the Texas Department of Public Safety. (Texas Tribune)
When the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California this week unveiled its strictest-ever water restrictions for about 6 million residents, it did so with an urgent goal in mind: a 35% reduction in water consumption, equating to an allocation of about 80 gallons per person per day. Officials said that’s the number needed to conserve critical supplies for health and safety amid worsening drought — and to prevent a full outdoor watering ban as soon as September. Currently, the average potable water use across the MWD’s service area — including residential, commercial and industrial water use — amounts to 125 gallons per person per day. (Los Angeles Times)
Las Vegas officials prepared for the possibility of mass evacuations today as relentless winds pushed the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fire closer to the city and put other communities in a growing hunk of Northern New Mexico on edge. “This is not a small fire,” Las Vegas Mayor Louie Trujillo said at an emergency City Council meeting Sunday. “This is the largest disaster in New Mexico history — one of the largest in U.S. history.” (Santa Fe New Mexican)
Economy
Disney’s clash with Florida has CEOs on alert: The fallout from the recent political spat between Disney and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has alarmed leaders across the corporate sphere, according to executives and their advisers, and heightened the challenges for chief executive officers navigating charged topics. At many companies, vocal employees have in recent years pushed bosses to take public stands on social and political issues. Florida’s pushback against Disney has raised the stakes. “The No. 1 concern CEOs have is, ‘When should I speak out on public issues?’ ” said Bill George, former chairman and CEO of Medtronic and now a senior fellow at Harvard Business School. “As one CEO said to me, ‘I want to speak out on social issues, but I don’t want to get involved in politics.’ Which I said under my breath, ‘That’s not possible.’” (Wall Street Journal)
Chinese regulators have held an emergency meeting with domestic and foreign banks to discuss how they could protect the country’s overseas assets from US-led sanctions similar to those imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, according to people familiar with the discussion. Officials are worried the same measures could be taken against Beijing in the event of a regional military conflict or other crisis. President Xi Jinping’s administration has maintained staunch support for Vladimir Putin throughout the crisis but Chinese banks and companies remain wary of transacting any business with Russian entities that could trigger US sanctions. (Financial Times)
Throttled by Beijing’s zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19, China’s economy is facing a spell of slower growth. Economists are toying with the term “recession” to describe it. Economists say that underlying conditions, worsened by Covid lockdowns in Shanghai and elsewhere, are starting to feel more akin to a recession—something China hasn’t experienced in decades. Millions of new graduates are struggling to find a job. Business confidence has fallen. Imports have plummeted and nervous Chinese are socking away more savings. (Wall Street Journal)
About 70% of Asia's biggest companies lost value in the first two months of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with investors spooked by the economic fallout from the war and the impact of tough new COVID-19 lockdowns in manufacturing powerhouse China. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Staff at one of London’s oldest legal practices have been told they can work from home permanently — but it will cost them a 20% pay cut. Managing partners at Stephenson Harwood, a firm that traces its roots to the early 19th century, are offering lawyers and other staff a radical post-pandemic option that would involve full-time remote working. (The Times)
In the latest Gallup poll, conducted April 1-19, four in five U.S. adults rate current economic conditions in the country as only fair (38%) or poor (42%), with few describing conditions as excellent (2%) or good (18%). Furthermore, 76% of Americans say the economy is getting worse, 20% say it is improving, and 3% think it is staying the same. The resulting -39 Economic Confidence Index reading is identical to last month but well above the record low of -72 in October 2008, during the Great Recession. The ECI has been in negative territory since July 2021 as Americans have watched the inflation rate climb to its highest levels since 1981 and felt its effects on their own finances. In addition to rising inflation, the U.S. public is increasingly worried about high fuel prices. (Gallup)
Technology
How technocrats triumphed at Apple: The man who helped give the world candy-colored computers eventually walked out the door. What does that mean for the company’s next big thing? Disillusioned with Tim Cook’s Apple, Jony Ive would depart five years later, in 2019. His exit would change forever the balance of power at the top of a company long defined by its product ingenuity, leaving it without one of its most creative thinkers and the driving force behind its last new device category. Today, Apple boasts a market value of $2.57 trillion and a lineup of legacy products that have helped it preserve its perch as America’s largest public company. In Mr. Ive’s absence, Mr. Cook has accelerated a shift in strategy that has made the company better known for offering TV shows and a credit card than introducing the kind of revolutionary new devices that once defined it. (New York Times)
Apple's Q2 warning that supply shortages could hurt sales by up to $8B is a sign of overdependence on China for final device assembly, testing, and packaging. (Bloomberg)
How a billionaires boys’ club came to dominate the public square: The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, attacked a publication owned by the world’s third-richest man, Jeff Bezos, last month for reprinting a column published by the world’s 13th-richest man, Mike Bloomberg. The Bloomberg opinion article, posted by The Washington Post, asked whether Musk’s recent investment in Twitter would endanger freedom of speech. “WaPo always good for a laugh,” Musk wrote in a tweet, with smiling and crying emoji. The jab underscored an unusual and consequential feature of the nation’s new digital public square: Technological change and the fortunes it created have given a vanishingly small club of massively wealthy individuals the ability to play arbiter, moderator and bankroller of not only the information that feeds the nation’s discourse but also the architecture that undergirds it. (Washington Post)
Stihl and Toro are ramping up electrical options in response to a gas-engine ban on mowers and blowers. Landscapers warn that customers could ultimately shoulder the higher costs. (The Wall Street Journal)
Europe’s noise capital tries to turn down the volume: To combat the ill effects of urban noise pollution, Paris is deploying automated sensors and cracking down on the loudest vehicles. (Bloomberg)
Smart Links
Can Brazil help with food shortages around the world? In the first two months of this year it has exported more wheat than in the whole of 2021. (The Economist)
Qantas orders Airbus jets for world's longest non-stop flight, Sydney to London. (Reuters)
Does Zoom doom creativity in the workplace? (Protocol)
China COVID hard line eats into everything from Teslas to tacos. (Reuters)
Tourists rejoice! Italy and Greece relaxed some COVID-19 restrictions. (Associated Press)
Google employees get private Lizzo concert as they return to the office. (CNBC)