Know someone who would like this newsletter? Forward it to them.
The World
Russian warships sailed toward the Black Sea, stoking alarm among U.S. and European security officials who warned that the final capabilities for a large-scale assault on Ukraine appeared to be falling into place. On a day of frantic shuttle diplomacy by French President Emmanuel Macron, who hopped among capitals trying to avert a conflict, Russian officials gave little sign that the French leader’s initiatives had changed their calculations. Instead, U.S. and European officials said they were eyeing the next 12 days with increasing concern, fearing that Russian military exercises scheduled to start Thursday could provide cover for a sudden strike against Ukraine and that the Feb. 20 conclusion of the Olympic Games in Beijing clears away a potential diplomatic barrier for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who may fear upstaging Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Washington Post)
After shuttling from Moscow to Kyiv this week, French President Emmanuel Macron declared a set of vague, failed ceasefire agreements signed by Russia and Ukraine seven years ago are "the only path forward" to de-escalating the current crisis. The Minsk Accords are, in principle, supported by Russia, Ukraine, France, Germany and the U.S. Bridging massive gaps between how each side interprets Minsk has been impossible up to now — yet it's increasingly viewed as the best chance to stave off a catastrophic war in Europe. The two Minsk agreements, signed in 2014 and 2015, call for a ceasefire between Ukraine and the Russian-backed separatists waging an insurgency in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. (Axios)
The U.S. is heading out of the “full blown” pandemic phase of Covid-19, Dr Anthony Fauci said, as he predicted a combination of vaccinations, treatments and prior infection would soon make the virus more manageable. Fauci told the Financial Times he hoped there would be an end to all pandemic-related restrictions in the coming months, including mandatory wearing of masks. (Financial Times)
Gov. Kathy Hochul will drop New York’s stringent indoor mask mandate today, ending a requirement that businesses ask customers for proof of full vaccination or require mask-wearing at all times, and marking a turning point in the state’s coronavirus response. (New York Times)
Covid deaths highest in a year as omicron targets the unvaccinated and elderly, as the seven-day average of deaths during the omicron surge has reached 2,600 in recent days. (Washington Post)
New Hong Kong cases are expected to top 1,100 in exponential spike, which would be the first to surpass 1,000 since the pandemic began two years ago. (South China Morning Post)
The WHO said the new omicron BA.2 subvariant will rise globally, but scientists don’t know if it can reinfect people. WHO official Maria Van Kerkhove said the omicron subvariant BA.2 is more transmissible than BA.1, currently the dominant version of omicron worldwide, and will likely become more common. (CNBC)
UK PM Boris Johnson has been warned by MPs that his plan to clear the NHS backlog is “not ambitious enough” after conceding that waiting lists would rise for another two years. The NHS was allowed to retain a March 2025 deadline for dealing with the 300,000 patients waiting more than a year for treatment. (The Times)
The truck blockade at U.S.-Canada border could undermine supply chains for the auto industry, as the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor accounts for at least 25% of all trade between the countries. The fallout from the shutdown on the Canadian side is spilling into the U.S., causing concerns for businesses and even with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer: “The practical effect of this blockage and slow down is going to have, could have a real impact on Michigan business.” (New York Times, WDIV Detroit)
Plans for a demonstration by truckers in the U.S. appear to be gaining momentum, aided by online supporters. The route and timing of the demonstration was set to be announced Tuesday evening. The route may start in Sacramento, Calif., and end in Washington, D.C. (New York Times)
Australian lawmakers fear escalation of Canberra protests influenced by Canadian truckers. (Washington Post)
Economy
The U.S. trade deficit increased 27% last year to an all-time high of $859.1 billion, underscoring the strength of the nation’s economy and its continued hefty dependence on imports from China and other countries. The 2021 trade deficit in goods and services well exceeded the previous record of $763.53 billion in 2006. The trade deficit with China grew 14.5% for the full year to $355.3 billion. China has bought 57% of the U.S. goods and services it committed to purchase over 2020 and 2021. The wider deficit with China increases pressure on the Biden administration to respond to Beijing’s failure to meet its pledge. (Wall Street Journal)
“Pandemic parenting gaps”: Recruiters are beginning to see a new type of career gap on resumes as people return to the workplace following stints of caretaking.Last year to better reflect their members’ career journeys, LinkedIn introduced "stay-at-home mom,” “stay-at-home dad” and “stay-at-home parent" as official titles. It was done to recognize the challenge of full-time parenting, said Suzi Owens, LinkedIn director of Communications. A 2021 LinkedIn survey of over 2,000 respondents revealed that the stigma surrounding career gaps is fading: (Protocol)
79% of hiring managers today say they would hire a candidate with a career gap on their resume, according to LinkedIn.
59% of hiring managers are interested in learning about any transferable skills you have learned, and 58% are interested in lessons that can be applied to a particular job, shared Owens.
Nuclear power and natural gas secured EU backing as 'Green' investments: Brushing aside charges of greenwashing, the European Union will press ahead with a controversial proposal to label certain nuclear energy and natural-gas investments as sustainable over the coming years despite strong opposition from some of the bloc's member states, environmental groups and investors. (Wall Street Journal)
A handful of companies are seeking to become the first China-headquartered businesses to go public in the US since July, in a test of regulators’ willingness to accept new listings after clampdowns on both sides of the Pacific. Six China and Hong Kong-based groups filed new or updated documents with the US SEC for an IPO on the Nasdaq exchange in January. (Financial Times)
A new POLITICO Morning Consult Global Sustainability Poll reveals frustration from citizens that they are being left to take on climate action on their own, when they believe governments and the companies with the most resources (which also tend to bear the most responsibility for carbon emissions) should shoulder the burden. Surprisingly, climate may be the only issue where President Joe Biden is getting higher marks from the right than from the left, but because they’re satisfied that he is legislatively constrained. Biden’s base, meanwhile, is furious. 80% of Americans who labeled themselves left-leaning said that the Biden administration is doing too little to address climate change, including 64% of Democrats surveyed. The U.S. is home to the largest ideological divide on climate action. Among Americans, 97% of left-leaning voters expressed concern about climate change, compared to 51% of right-leaning voters. (Politico/Morning Consult)
UK scientists said rising temperatures were causing some plants to flower almost a month earlier, which poses a risk of frost damage and disrupted feeding cycles for animals. A study done by researchers at the University of Cambridge observed more than 400,000 bloom recordings of 406 tree, shrub, herb and climbing plant species across the UK. They found the average date of first flowering between 1987 to 2019 is 30 days earlier than the average date from 1753 to 1986. (Deutsche Welle, Royal Society)
Technology
Facebook’s shrinking market cap could hold one upside for the tech giant: the possibility of skirting new antitrust liability. Meta closed with a market cap below $600 billion on Tuesday for the first time since May 2020. The $600 billion market cap figure happens to be the number House legislators picked as the threshold for a “covered platform” under a package of competition bills designed specifically to target Big Tech. If Meta were to remain below that threshold, it could avoid the additional hurdles the bills would install for how it can conduct its business and make deals, while its larger peers like Amazon, Alphabet, Apple and even Microsoft become subject to the rules. (CNBC)
Apple will let businesses use iPhones to take customer payments. The Tap to Pay feature, coming later this year, will allow businesses to use their iPhones to “seamlessly and securely” accept Apple Pay payments with a simple tap. The feature will also work for contactless credit cards and debit cards, as well as other digital wallets. Apple says that Stripe will be the first payment platform to offer Tap to Pay on iPhone this spring, including via an update to the Shopify Point of Sale application. What this means is that this won’t be a native iOS feature, but rather Apple is opening the NFC chip up in the iPhone to third-party payment platforms to create applications that enable Tap to Pay technology. (9to5Mac, Wall Street Journal)
Apple plans to significantly increase its benefits for full- and part-time U.S. retail store workers, including doubling paid sick days and increasing PTO, as it grapples with a tightening labor market. (Bloomberg)
Microsoft, which has been building its cyberthreat defense capability, is in talks to acquire cybersecurity research and incident response company Mandiant. (Bloomberg)
Peloton co-founder John Foley, who has led the company for its entire 10-year existence, is stepping down as CEO and will become executive chairman. Former Spotify and Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy will become CEO and president and join Peloton’s board. The company also is firing over 2,800 employees — about 20% of its corporate staff. The severance package for those fired employees includes a one-year Peloton membership. That's in addition to a "meaningful cash severance allotment" that's determined "based on job level and tenure" with the fitness company, alongside several other benefits. (Wall Street Journal, Insider)
What on Earth is going on with Peloton? As a fitness tech reviewer, Peloton’s business woes are bewildering because the company has an excellent product. So how did Peloton, a company with a stellar product and devoted fan base in a rising connected fitness market, end up like this? The short story is Peloton overextended itself and failed to foresee weaker demand once gyms re-opened. (The Verge)
Netflix and Amazon had fewer Oscar nominations in 2022, and half of the Best Picture nominees had little to no theater time and all major studios used hybrid models. The nominations suggest a rethink — or at least a collective hitting of the pause button — on the status of streaming in the awards conversation. (Deadline)
Watch this space: Disney+ ran its first-ever test of livestreaming capabilities, hinting at future changes to come for its on-demand subscription video service. For the test, the company didn’t try to tackle a massive event, but instead ran a livestream of the 94th Oscar nominations. (TechCrunch)
Disney, Sony, and ViacomCBS view Indian Cricket as a streaming prize. Bidding for Indian Premier League rights—a likely lure for India’s sizable base of potential subscribers—is set to begin. For the coming auction, suitors are preparing bids of around 400 billion rupees, or more than $5 billion, according to people familiar with the bidding process. Indian authorities award cricket broadcasting rights every five years. (Wall Street Journal)
SoftBank plans a U.S. IPO for Arm by March 2023 after Nvidia's failed acquisition. (Bloomberg)
Live Event
Today, 1 pm ET: Crypto 101 — Investors and Innovators on Decentralized Finance. (Register: Cornell University)
Smart Links
Olympics TV ratings see big drop over first four days. (Washington Post)
U.S. Army’s first climate plan calls to slash emissions and build electric vehicle fleet. (CNBC)
Lyft’s revenue growth masks active riders slippage. (Techcrunch)
Sony will beta test ‘Hey PlayStation!’ voice commands for the PS5. (The Verge)
Want your tax refund in crypto? TurboTax and Coinbase have you covered. (Wall Street Journal)
How much Americans are planning to spend on Valentine’s Day. (CNBC)