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The World
Top business leaders are pushing back against President Biden’s plans to raise corporate taxes to pay for the infrastructure plan, as corporate America wades further into hot-button policies that put it at odds, by turns, with lawmakers and stakeholders, and test the development of its public voice. Since the start of the year, U.S. corporations have halted donations to Republican lawmakers who opposed certification of the presidential election, expressed their desire for infrastructure investment while opposing corporate tax hikes to pay for it and spoken out against controversial state voting laws proposed by Republicans. Now, the Business Roundtable plans to launch a digital and radio ad campaign against Biden’s proposal to raise the corporate tax rate to 28%. (Washington Post)
Meanwhile, PayPal and Twilio said that they had agreed to add their names to a new statement opposing “discriminatory legislation.” Google, Netflix, BlackRock and Ford Motor will also sign, with other companies in discussions to do so. A group of major law firms formed a coalition “to challenge voter suppression legislation.” And a film starring Will Smith and financed by Apple — ‘Emancipation,’ a film about slavery — pulled production out of Georgia. (New York Times)
The NCAA "unequivocally" supports transgender students competing in college sports. NCAA's Board of Governors is monitoring the situation as over 40 states consider bills to ban trans students from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity. The NCAA said that it will only hold championships in areas "free of discrimination." The statement came a day before the Florida House is set to take up the controversial bill, and as Texas lawmakers filed six bills that target transgender students’ sports participation. (Axios, Tampa Bay Tribune, Texas Tribune)
About 30 minutes after a curfew went into effect in Brooklyn Center, a Minneapolis suburb where a police officer shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright — the police chief said the 26-year-veteran officer meant to use a Taser, not a firearm — hundreds of protesters gathered in a steady rain outside the police department, chanting “Killer cop” as officers in riot gear stood guard behind newly erected fencing. Meanwhile, pro sports went on pause in Minnesota, with the MLB Twins, NBA Wolves and NHL Wild canceled events after the shooting death of Daunte Wright. (New York Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring launched a broad civil rights probe of the police officers and department involved in the violent traffic stop of a Black Army officer. (Washington Post)
At the start of the third and what appears will be the final week of testimony before jury deliberations in the Derek Chauvin murder trial, Philonise Floyd spoke of his brother George’s devotion to their mother, saying, "He loved her so dearly." (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech asked the F.D.A to greenlight its coronavirus vaccine for use in children 12 to 15 years old, just one week after the companies said a late-stage trial showed the vaccine was highly effective in this age group. (Politico)
In Michigan, the federal government will not change its Covid-19 vaccine distribution strategy, "playing whack-a-mole," by sending more doses. Michigan is in the midst of another massive spike, with the worst-in-the-nation infection rate and a soaring hospitalizations that have forced some hospitals to postpone non-urgent surgeries and other procedures as they hit capacity. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Michigan can't vaccinate its way out of the surge and urged the state to shut down. (Detroit Free Press)
Britons are preparing to splash the cash. Starved of frivolous shopping and many forms of fun during lockdowns, they are on course to have amassed an extra £180bn in their bank accounts, equivalent to almost 10% of the UK’s annual gross domestic product. However, Britain’s notoriously fickle spring weather dampened the high street’s recovery yesterday as lockdown restrictions were finally eased. (Financial Times, The Times)
Bhutan vaccinated almost all adults against Covid-19 in a week, as only Israel and the Seychelles have inoculated a higher share of the population. In Italy, fears that the mob has infiltrated its vaccination campaign. Meanwhile, as India rises to No. 2 in total infections, a huge Hindu pilgrimage risks becoming a superspreading event. (Economist, Politico EU, New York Times)
Foreign spying and interference in Canada last year hit levels not seen since the Cold War. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service singled out Russia and China as particular causes for concern and said key national security threats such as violent extremism, foreign interference, espionage and malicious cyber activity grew in 2020 and “in many ways became much more serious for Canadians.” (Reuters)
The European Union says it will not pay off Montenegro’s near-US$1 billion debts to China, rejecting the tiny Balkan nation’s repeated pleas for help. (South China Morning Post)
China March exports rise 30.6% year-on-year, lag forecast, imports jump better-than-expected 38.1%. (Reuters)
French MPs voted to suspend domestic airline flights on routes that can be travelled by direct train in less than two and a half hours, as part of a series of climate and environmental measures. It will mean the end of short internal flights from Orly airport, south of Paris, to Nantes and Bordeaux among others, though connecting flights through Charles de Gaulle/Roissy airport, north of the French capital, will continue. (The Guardian)
'This has never happened': California's only wildfire research center mad scary discovery: This year the fuel-moisture content across the Santa Cruz Mountains is terrifyingly low as the state moves out of a second, consecutive rainy season marked by dry conditions. The 2020-2021 winter was the third driest on record, according to the California Department of Water Resources. The region's reservoirs are beginning to see the impact and are at half their total capacity. (SF Gate)
Economy
CEO have confidence in the future of the economy at their highest level in more than two years, with most now expecting rising profits, revenue, hiring and capital expenditures in the coming months amid soaring vaccination rate. The proportion of CEOs projecting an increase in profits and revenues by this time next year has risen to 79 and 83%, respectively. This is the highest proportion of CEOs forecasting an increase in both profits and revenues since the beginning of 2018 when the GOP announced corporate tax cuts. The percentage of CEOs projecting an increase in hiring has more than tripled since this time last year. (Chief Executive)
Uber posted record demand for March: Bookings for entire business, which includes rides and food delivery, rose to highest monthly level in firm’s history as vaccinations increased. (Wall Street Journal)
Investment in Europe startups tracked at $21.4 billion in 1Q21 — more than twice the funding amounts year over year, and close to double 4Q20. New unicorn counts swelled as well, with an unparalleled 16 companies crossing the $1 billion valuation threshold. (Crunchbase)
Corporate giants would be barred from acquisitions and century-old antitrust laws would get sharper teeth under a new proposal by Sen. Josh Hawley. Hawley's "Trust-Busting for the Twenty-First Century Act" would: Ban mergers and acquisitions by firms with a market cap over $100 billion; lower the threshold for prosecution under existing federal antitrust laws, replacing the prevalent "consumer harm" standard with one that emphasizes "the protection of competition"; require companies that lose federal antitrust lawsuits to "forfeit all their profits resulting from monopolistic conduct"; give the F.T.C. new power to designate and regulate "dominant digital firms" in different online markets. (Axios)
The federal government spent $660 billion more than it collected in tax revenue this March, as the stimulus package pushed the U.S. monthly deficit near record highs. The U.S. spent $927 billion in March alone — more than double the level from March 2020 — a jump due primarily to the disbursal of tens of millions of $1,400 stimulus payments. Meanwhile, tax revenues stayed largely flat. (Washington Post)
Microsoft agreed to buy artificial intelligence company Nuance Communications — a way to tap growth in the healthcare industry — for $16 billion, extending its run of big acquisitions to accelerate growth in everything from healthcare to videogaming. (Wall Street Journal)
Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For: One theme that emerged among this year’s honorees? How companies supported caregivers—and, especially, women—through a period of unprecedented caregiving burdens. From No. 14 Target, which introduced an unlimited backup care benefit, to No. 1 Cisco, which offered employees the use of a digital care coordination platform called Wellthy, employers came up with innovative solutions. Zillow, for example, recently instituted a four-hour block of the day called “core collaborative hours.” (Fortune, Broadsheet)
Technology
The Great Semiconductor Summit: Some of tech's most powerful executives talked about chips with the Biden administration. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, NEC Director Brian Deese and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo ran the virtual meeting to try to figure out how to get more chips in the market, amid a 60-week delay on router orders. Executives from Alphabet, AT&T, Dell, HP, Intel, Micron, Samsung and TSMC were among the 19 companies represented. (Source Code, Bloomberg)
Nvidia has taken aim at a core Intel market with its first general-purpose data centre chip, for use in the most advanced AI systems. (Financial Times)
Apple is working on a combined TV box and speaker to revive its home efforts. The company is working on a product that would combine an Apple TV set-top box with a HomePod speaker and include a camera for video conferencing through a connected TV and other smart-home functions. The device’s other capabilities would include standard Apple TV box functions like watching video and gaming plus smart speaker uses such as playing music and using Apple’s Siri digital assistant. If launched, it would represent Apple’s most ambitious smart-home hardware offering to date. (Bloomberg)
Facebook’s ad algorithms are still excluding women from seeing jobs: Its ad-delivery system is excluding women from opportunities without regard to their qualifications. (MIT Technology Review)
Android’s Digital Wellbeing service is getting a new “Heads Up” feature, which will prompt users to stop staring at their phones while walking. The feature appears to be rolling out to the beta version of the Digital Wellbeing app, and one Twitter user reports receiving the feature on their Pixel 4A device. “If you’re walking while using your phone, get a reminder to focus on what’s around you,” says the Heads Up setup page. The reminders include brief notifications with instructions like “Watch your step,” “Stay alert,” and “Look up.” (The Verge)
Smart Links
U.S. women's soccer team wins partial deal on equality. (Axios)
Reuters names Alessandra Galloni as next editor-in-chief, first woman to lead globe-spanning news agency in its 170-year history. (Reuters)
PC market had best Q1 since 2015, fastest growth in 20 years. (CNBC)
Taiwan dollar drops with US set to apply currency manipulator tag. (Financial Times)
Self-driving cars are coming to Dubai. (Axios)
NASA’s next lunar rover will run open-source software. (MIT Technology Review)
Japan approves release of Fukushima plant water into sea. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Record-Setting Leonardo da Vinci had hung on Saudi leader MBS’ yacht. (Wall Street Journal)