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The World
Supply-chain problems are showing signs of easing: Global supply-chain woes are beginning to recede, but shipping, manufacturing and retail executives say that they don’t expect a return to more-normal operations until next year and that cargo will continue to be delayed if Covid-19 outbreaks disrupt key distribution hubs. In Asia, Covid-related factory closures, energy shortages and port-capacity limits have eased in recent weeks. In the U.S., major retailers say they have imported most of what they need for the holidays. Ocean freight rates have retreated from record levels. (Wall Street Journal)
China’s hypersonic weapon test in July included a technological advance that enabled it to fire a missile as it approached its target traveling at least five times the speed of sound — a capability no country has previously demonstrated. Pentagon scientists were caught off guard by the advance, which allowed the hypersonic glide vehicle, a maneuverable spacecraft that can carry a nuclear warhead, to fire a separate missile mid-flight in the atmosphere over the South China Sea. Experts at Darpa, the Pentagon’s advanced research agency, remain unsure how China overcame the constraints of physics by firing countermeasures from a vehicle traveling at hypersonic speeds. (Financial Times)
Europe’s protests against Covid-19 curbs spread to Brussels when tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through the city centre in protests that later turned violent. The demonstrations followed a second night of rioting in the Netherlands over the introduction of new coronavirus restrictions. The disorder led to dozens of arrests across the country, with the authorities deploying mounted police, dogs and water cannon in three provinces after protesters set fires and threw rocks and fireworks. Protests also broke out in Austria, Italy and Croatia over the weekend. (Financial Times)
Boris Johnson admitted to Tory MPs that he had “crashed the car into a ditch” by embroiling his party in two weeks of sleaze allegations. In a tacit apology to Conservative backbenchers the PM admitted that he had been wrong to try and rip up parliamentary standards rules to save the career of the former cabinet minister Owen Paterson. He pledged that the government would work with opposition parties to toughen rules on outside jobs. (The Times)
Investigation: MPs may be avoiding big tax bills on second jobs. Politicians are using personal companies to accept payment for consultancy work, as MPs have channelled hundreds of thousands of pounds in private consultancy work through personal companies in a move that may have significantly reduced their tax bills. (The Times)
Chile is headed for a polarized presidential election runoff next month as hard-right former congressman Jose Antonio Kast finished on top in the first-round vote on Sunday, ahead of leftist lawmaker and former protest leader Gabriel Boric. With over 90% of the vote counted, Kast had won 28.01% of ballots cast versus 25.64% for Boric, with a sizeable gap between them and the rest of the field, although both were well short of the majority needed to win outright. (Reuters)
Nearly half (47%) of young Bosnians want to leave the country, according to a new UNFPA poll. Bosnia is currently mired in its worst political crisis since the end of the bloody Yugoslav civil, as the country's ethnic Serb enclave threatens to secede. (GZERO)
Disney World halts vaccine requirement for workers after Florida restricts employer mandates. (Washington Post)
Texas’ grid is vulnerable to blackouts during severe winter weather, even with new preparations, ERCOT estimates show. The most severe scenario considered by ERCOT for this winter — very high demand for power, extensive fossil fuel outages, and low renewable power production — does not capture the amount of power lost during February. (Texas Tribune)
Los Angeles officials reached a tentative agreement with private organizers of the 2028 Summer Olympics that serves as a road map for the biggest issues facing the city as it inches toward hosting a sporting event that could cost $7 billion or more. (Los Angeles Times)
Economy
CEO turnover spiked in 1H21, as companies tapped new talent to navigate the aftermath of the pandemic and stressed-out chief executives sought a career change, a study from recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles found. (Reuters)
Employers are bending over backward to keep you from quitting: Companies are stretching their pocketbooks and imaginations to hire and keep people — such as a work-from-anywhere program, 14 weeks of paid caregiving leave, and all-expenses-paid trips. More broadly, flexible work schedules or telecommuting are becoming routine. Meanwhile, the steep health challenges of a global pandemic highlighted the importance of family care benefits and more paid time off. (Los Angeles Times)
Companies face a dilemma: Delay office reopenings, or take a new approach? For much of the pandemic, a familiar ritual played out in America’s workplaces: Companies set return-to-office dates, only to later backtrack and delay them due to health concerns. With Covid-19 cases on the rise once again and U.S. authorities warning of a potential surge in infections this winter, employers find themselves questioning their approaches again.A shift in thinking is also coloring corporate decisions. Many executives increasingly say that companies, like society, might need to better live with a virus that shows no sign of disappearing. They say that means moving forward with office reopening plans or managing alternate arrangements to get teams together. (Wall Street Journal)
Some employers rush to bring workers back before new year: The numbers aren't large yet. And many of those who have called teams back say they are getting ready for their companywide "hybrid work" policies to launch in January. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Why billionaire Jeff Vinik is “taking the over” on workers going back to the office. Vinik, who previously managed the Fidelity Magellan Fund, has placed a big bet on downtown Tampa, backing a more than $3.5 billion real estate development that includes more than 1 million-square-feet of new office space. While some companies have embraced virtual work amid the pandemic, others, such as several Wall Street banks, have pushed to have workers return to the office. “It will take time, but I think when you’re talking ideas, when you’re talking people’s careers, there’s no substitute for face time,” said Vinik. (CNBC)
Meet ‘Skimpflation:’ A reason inflation is worse than the government says it is. Dominos is taking longer to deliver pizzas. Airlines are putting customers who call them on hold for hours. Restaurants, bars, and hotels are understaffed and stretched thin. The quality of service seems to be deteriorating everywhere. Instead of simply raising prices, companies skimp on the goods and services they provide. (NPR)
How companies raise prices without raising prices: Companies hope that by making price increases hard to see, they can escape notice and avoid a customer backlash. (Wall Street Journal)
Gas in Mono County, CA reaches $6 a gallon. Gas prices in California are soaring to record levels as the holiday season approaches, combining with supply chain problems that have left some goods in short supply and mounting inflation to create a distinctly unfestive strain on many people’s wallets. (Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times)
Technology
The shortage of computer chips has zapped energy from the global economy, punishing industries as varied as automakers and medical device manufacturers and contributing to fears about high inflation. But many states and cities in America are starting to see a silver lining: the possibility that efforts to sharply increase chip production in the U.S. will lead to a busy chip factory in their backyard. And they are racing to get a piece of the potential boom. (New York Times)
El Salvador, the only country in which bitcoin is a legal tender, is going to build an entire city based on the largest cryptocurrency, President Nayib Bukele told a raucous crowd in a presentation at Bitcoin Week in El Salvador. “Bitcoin City” will be located along the Gulf of Fonseca near a volcano. The government plans on locating a power plant by the volcano to provide energy for both the city and bitcoin mining. (CoinDesk)
More new startups valued at $10 billion or above have been minted in 2021—far more than in any prior year, and double the number created in 2020, which set the previous record for new “decacorns,” as these highly valued companies are known. All told, 30 companies have been newly valued at a decacorn valuation in 2021 so far, Crunchbase data shows. This contrasts with half that count at 15 in 2020 and five new decacorns in 2019. (Crunchbase)
Women in tech still perceive inequity: Consulting firm New View Strategies recently surveyed 1,000 women in tech to get a better picture of their experience in the male-dominated industry: 38% reported having witnessed gender bias in the workplace. 46% of people said their tech company is not "actively prioritizing" gender equality in the hiring process or company culture. 43% of respondents still believe there is a gender pay gap at their tech organization. (Protocol)
Adele has persuaded Spotify to take the shuffle button off all album pages so tracks play in the artist's own order. The singer tweeted: "We don't create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. "Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening." The streaming service replied "anything for you". A statement later hailed their "new premium feature... to make play the default button on all albums.” (BBC News)
Smart Links
Global VCs pile into India. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Activision Blizzard CEO says he would consider leaving if he can’t quickly fix problems. (Wall Street Journal)
Nebraska’s 1.9% unemployment rate the lowest on record in U.S. (Associated Press)
Men in tech are still scared of taking paternity leave. (Protocol)
Could you work from home in the Alps? (Financial Times)
Tech workers are still in control in the job market. (Boston Globe)
The Department of Defense is issuing AI ethics guidelines for tech contractors. (MIT Technology Review)