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The World
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen argued for a global minimum corporate tax rate, seeking international cooperation that is crucial to the administration’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal. President Biden’s proposal to raise the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% would push the U.S. from the middle of the pack among major economies to near the top. The Biden plan would also impose a 21% minimum tax on U.S. companies’ foreign income, remove an export incentive and raise taxes on some foreign companies’ U.S. operations. If the U.S. raises its tax rates and imposes higher burdens on U.S. companies’ foreign profits, a global minimum tax would help prevent companies based in other countries from having a significant potential advantage. That coordination and the ensuing tax revenue—not necessarily the aims of U.S.-based companies—rank high on the administration’s priorities. (Wall Street Journal)
The Senate’s nonpartisan parliamentarian ruled in favor of a Democratic effort to pass additional legislation through reconciliation, opening the door for Democrats to approve more measures along party lines in the Senate. With the parliamentarian’s new advice, Democrats could now possibly use it a third time to skirt the 60-vote threshold necessary for most Senate legislation to pass. (Wall Street Journal)
‘Stay out of politics’: Republicans are attacking corporations over their decision to condemn the Georgia voting law. Senate Minority Leader McConnell accused corporations of siding with Democrats’ portrayal of the law as the new Jim Crow, which he called an attempt to “mislead and bully the American people.” (Washington Post, The Guardian)
Vladimir Putin signed a law that will allow him to run for the presidency twice more in his lifetime, potentially keeping him in office until 2036. The legislation ended a year-long process to “reset” his presidential terms by rewriting the constitution through a referendum-like process that his critics have called a crude power grab. (The Guardian)
The former Jordanian crown prince accused of plotting to destabilise the kingdom has pledged his loyalty to King Abdullah II, according to the royal court, as the ruling family seeks to end an extraordinary internal dispute. The apparent breakthrough came after Prince Hamzah met senior members of the family. (Financial Times)
China and the U.S. sailed aircraft carriers into contentious waters in the East and South China seas, the latest maritime contest between the strategic rivals at a time of heightened tensions in the region. Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Southeast Asian nations to be on the alert for external forces interfering in Myanmar as the military junta faces rising international pressure. Wang said efforts should be made to stop tensions escalating in Myanmar. (South China Morning Post, South China Morning Post-2)
A record 4 million people in U.S. received a vaccine on Saturday. Yesterday, more than 40,000 filled Globe Life Field for the Texas Rangers baseball opener. (Washington Post, Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
North Korea said it will boycott the Tokyo Olympics to "protect" its athletes from the coronavirus pandemic, crushing hopes that the event could be used to spur denuclearization talks with the isolated nation. North Korea officially maintains that it has no Covid-19 cases, but outside health experts are skeptical. (Nikkei Asian Review, New York Times)
England is “set fair” for lockdown restrictions to be further eased next month, Boris Johnson said, giving the go-ahead for shops, pubs and restaurants to begin reopening from Monday. Johnson said he was hopeful that foreign travel would be possible to a limited number of destinations from May 17 and that a further easing of restrictions on indoor gatherings, planned for the same date, would also go ahead. (The Times)
New Zealand-Australia travel bubble to start on April 19. (Reuters)
Among health-care workers who have an employer, rather than being self-employed, nearly 6 in 10 said they would support their boss requiring vaccination for all employees who work with patients. (Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll)
The U.S. higher education sector will feel a revenue hit for several years from a low number of international students enrolling in colleges and universities this fall, according to a report issued last week by Moody’s Investors Service. The development has a negative impact on the sector’s credit profile, according to the bond ratings agency. (Inside Higher Ed)
MLB fans are more likely to support the league’s decision to move All-Star game than oppose it. 39% of U.S. adults, 48% of MLB fans and 62% of self-described “avid” MLB fans said they supported the league moving the All-Star Game and draft out of Atlanta. 65% of Democrats supported MLB’s decision, compared to just 14% of Republicans. (Morning Consult)
Economy
The world’s top professional service firms and banks have sought to head off a retention crisis among overworked junior staff by handing out luxury gifts and generous bonuses, following a stellar year for earnings. Elite US law firms including Davis Polk & Wardwell and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett have in recent weeks announced one-off payouts of between $12,000 and $64,000 for associates in recognition of hard work during the pandemic. The rewards are on top of separate Covid-19 bonuses doled out towards the end of last year. (Financial Times)
LinkedIn employees worldwide are getting a paid week off this week. The entire company is getting the time off as an opportunity to unplug, recharge and avoid burnout. (CNN)
Wall Street shares scaled new peaks as signs of an accelerating recovery within America’s damaged services sector unleashed a wave of confidence. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average both closed at record highs, while the technology-focused Nasdaq also ended higher. Facebook, Alphabet, and Microsoft shares hit all-time highs. (The Times, CNBC)
A greater share of people with low credit scores has been falling behind on their car payments in recent months, a sign of stress among consumers whose finances have been hit hard by the pandemic. Some 10.9% of subprime borrowers with outstanding auto loans or leases were more than 60 days past due in February, up from 10.7% in January and 8.7% a year prior, according to credit-reporting firm TransUnion. It marked the sixth consecutive month-over-month increase and the highest level in monthly data going back to January 2019. (Wall Street Journal)
Two senior Credit Suisse executives are leaving the bank as it deals with the fallout from billions of dollars of losses in the blow-ups of Archegos Capital and Greensill Capital. Lara Warner, the group’s chief risk and compliance officer, and Brian Chin, head of the investment bank, are set to depart. (Financial Times)
LG Electronics said its board decided to terminate the company's loss-making smartphone business, with focus now expected to shift to the more profitable home appliance and TV divisions. (Nikkei Asian Review)
For the first time in recorded history, the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, or CO2, was measured at more than 420 parts per million at the Mauna Loa Observatory on the Big Island of Hawaii. It’s a disconcerting milestone in the human-induced warming of the planet, around the halfway point on our path toward doubling preindustrial CO2 levels. (Washington Post)
Technology
Last month, Gov. Greg Abbott blasted the actions of Facebook as “un-American [and] un-Texan,” accusing it and other social media giants of spearheading a “dangerous movement to silence conservative voices.” At the same time, his office was working quietly with the company with the hope that it will soon build a second data center in the state, according to documents provided to The Texas Tribune by the Tech Transparency Project. (Texas Tribune)
The US Supreme Court handed Google victory in a landmark case for the technology industry, ruling that it did not break the law when it copied software interfaces owned by Oracle for use in its Android smartphone operating system. The decision ends a legal battle dating back more than a decade that involved a damages claim potentially topping $9bn. The case also raised fundamental issues affecting the balance of power between established platforms and upstart competitors in the software industry. The justices decided for Google by a majority of six to two, with conservatives Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting. The case was heard before Amy Coney Barrett joined the court. (Financial Times)
Justice Thomas argues for making Facebook, Twitter and Google utilities. Thomas argues that some digital platforms are "sufficiently akin" to common carriers like telephone companies. "A traditional telephone company laid physical wires to create a network connecting people," Thomas writes. "Digital platforms lay information infrastructure that can be controlled in much the same way." (Protocol)
Clubhouse introduced payments: Clubhouse has partnered with Stripe to let its users send payments to other users without taking a cut; only selected users will be able to receive payments for now. (Clubhouse)
Algorithms used by streaming services such as Spotify to recommend music are less likely to put forward female artists, researchers have found. Their study analyzed the listening behavior of about 330,000 users over nine years, and found that only 25% of the artists they listened to were female. When they tested a widely used algorithm, they found that the first recommended track was by a man, as were the next six. Users had to wait until the seventh or eighth song to hear a woman. (The Times)
Yahoo Answers, one of the longest-running and most storied web Q&A platforms in the history of the internet, is shutting down on May 4. That’s the day the Yahoo Answers website will start redirecting to the Yahoo homepage, and all of the platform’s archives will apparently cease to exist. The platform has been operating since 2005. (The Verge)
Smart Links
CFPB proposes rule to prevent foreclosures until 2022. (CNBC)
Coors Field in Denver to host 2021 MLB All-Star Game. (ESPN)
Spotify overtakes Apple in podcast downloads, Buzzsprout says. (Discover Pods)
Welcome to Texas: Thousands from CA, IL & NY moved to D-FW in 2020; CA moves to D-FW were up 19% last year over 2019 totals. (Dallas Morning News)
Minneapolis temperature reaches 85 degrees. It’s April. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Early cherry blossoms in Washington DC point to climate crisis (The Guardian)