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The World
President Biden, in a high-stakes virtual meeting, warned President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia of economic consequences if he continued to escalate a military presence around Ukraine. Biden warned Putin that the West will target Russian gas exports and deploy more troops to eastern Europe if he orders an invasion of Ukraine — warning there would be “clear and decisive” consequences to Russian aggression. Putin rebuffed Biden’s concerns about Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine, saying it was the West that was raising military tensions in the region by increasing its “military potential near our borders.” Meanwhile, the U.S. is putting pressure on Germany to block Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as part of a package of sanctions that would be implemented in the event of Vladimir Putin invading Ukraine. The demand for Berlin and Brussels to prevent the pipeline from becoming operational is part of a sanctions package the US is proposing as it tries to stave off further conflict in the region amid fears in the intelligence community that Putin is preparing for military action. (New York Times, The Times, Financial Times)
Australia will join the U.S. in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, a decision that risks souring already bitter bilateral relations. China said the U.S. will "pay the price" for its decision and warned of "resolute countermeasures" in response. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Having officially signed a three-party coalition agreement, German Chancellor-designate Olaf Scholz and the rest of his Cabinet members are expected to take office today after a vote and swearing-in ceremony in the German parliament. Strengthening the European Union on the global stage — and making sure Germany is part of that process — was of the utmost priority, Scholz said. For his first trip outside of Germany as chancellor, Scholz said he would honor recent tradition and travel to Paris, France — followed by a trip to Brussels for meetings with EU heads. Angela Merkel, Gerhard Schröder, Helmut Kohl and Helmut Schmidt all made a point of visiting France first after becoming chancellor. (Deutsche Welle)
The United Arab Emirates is shifting the national weekend to Saturday and Sunday to synchronize with global markets, instituting a four-and-a-half day working week from January next year. Changes to the working week, which at present runs from Sunday to Thursday, are intended to “boost work-life balance and enhance social wellbeing, while increasing performance to advance the UAE’s economic competitiveness”, the government said. (Financial Times)
Congress found a shortcut to pass its annual defense funding bill and raise the debt limit. The House voted on two major bills — one creating a one-time, fast-track process for the Senate to raise the debt ceiling with just 51 votes, and another passing its annual defense bill. These are two huge pieces of legislation now expected to pass with ease, and they should face little pushback once they reach the Senate. The defense legislation directs an independent review of the Afghanistan war’s legacy and errors, and establishes a new means for the military to prosecute sexual assault and related crimes. The finance bill requires that Democrats specify the dollar amount by which they want to raise the limit, and the expedited procedure would expire after Jan. 16, 2022. (Axios, Washington Post)
A small, preliminary study has found a significant drop in how well vaccine-elicited antibodies target the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. But the variant did not completely dodge the immune fighters, the research found. The results support the hypothesis that the Omicron variant is a larger threat to immunity against Covid-19 than other variants, but experts caution that the implications for real-world protection are limited. Though the study did not include people who had received booster doses, the research also suggests that people who were previously infected and then vaccinated, or people who’ve had boosters, should maintain greater levels of protection even against Omicron. (STAT News)
The U.S. surgeon general warned young people face "unprecedented" mental health challenges — and the pandemic has only made matters worse. (Axios)
UK officials are drawing up plans for the introduction of vaccine passports to slow the spread of Omicron after Boris Johnson told the cabinet that evidence suggested the new variant was “more transmissible” than Delta. (The Times)
'Vaccination or nothing' — 150 major German companies launched a coordinated social media offensive. Mercedes-Benz has swapped its "the best or nothing" slogan for a more public-health-minded tagline. Firms from Burger King to banks are also in on the massive campaign. (Deutsche Welle)
Economy
Companies are planning for steeper wage increases next year than at any point since the 2007-2009 recession, according to a new report, amid a tight labor market and the highest inflation in three decades. A survey by the Conference Board set for release today finds that companies are setting aside an average 3.9% of total payroll for wage increases next year, the most since 2008. The survey also shows that companies are planning on raising salary ranges, which would result in higher minimum, median and maximum salaries. That suggests pay raises could be broad-based and affect workers across a company’s pay scale. (Wall Street Journal)
Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said the bank will have to cut off some clients to meet its climate goals. Fraser said the bank is going industry by industry to determine how to fulfill a pledge she made on her first day as CEO in March to have its entire financing portfolio achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The bank has said it would release the plans and goal posts in the next year. (Wall Street Journal)
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker is stepping down next year after two decades running airlines and will be succeeded by the carrier’s president, Robert Isom, on March 31. Parker’s retirement from the largest U.S. airline is the latest in a wave of leadership changes at the country’s big carriers, and the new executives are tasked with driving their recovery from the Covid pandemic. Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly will step down in February, handing the reins to another longtime executive, Bob Jordan, in February. Scott Kirby, who was fired as president of American in 2016, jumped to United Airlines and became that carrier’s CEO in May 2020. (CNBC)
States with robust merger reviews are tougher on hospital tie-ups, study suggests. Just eight states challenged the majority of the deals that regulators scrutinized during a 10-year time period. Still, it did little to slow price increases. (Healthcare Dive)
Beijing’s ambassador warned that Canada risks driving away Chinese investors and companies if it bans Huawei Technologies from its 5G internet infrastructure, saying he hoped Canada had learned a lesson from the outcome of the “Meng Wanzhou incident.” Cong Peiwu contended that security concerns surrounding Huawei had been “invented by the United States and the main purpose is to crack down on Huawei.” Ottawa has been reviewing Huawei’s fate in the nation’s 5G network for three years amid concerns about the potential for Chinese espionage. (South China Morning Post)
Technology
Inside Tim Cook’s Secret $275 Billion Deal with Chinese Authorities: Interviews and internal Apple documents provide a behind-the-scenes look at how the company made concessions to Beijing and won key legal exemptions. CEO Tim Cook personally lobbied officials over threats that would have hobbled its devices and services. His interventions paved the way for Apple’s unparalleled success in the country. Apple’s iPhone recently became the top-selling smartphone in China, its second-biggest market after the U.S., for the first time in six years. But the company owes much of that success to CEO Tim Cook, who laid the foundation years ago by secretly signing an agreement, estimated to be worth more than $275 billion, with Chinese officials promising Apple would do its part to develop China’s economy and technological prowess through investments, business deals and worker training. Cook forged the five-year agreement, which hasn’t been previously reported, during the first of a series of in-person visits he made to the country in 2016 to quash a sudden burst of regulatory actions against Apple’s business, according to internal Apple documents viewed by The Information. Before the meetings, Apple executives were scrambling to salvage the company’s relationship with Chinese officials, who believed the company wasn’t contributing enough to the local economy, the documents show. Amid the government crackdown and the bad publicity that accompanied it, iPhone sales plummeted. (The Information)
European tech startups look set to raise a record $121 billion in 2021, more than triple the amount of investment from last year, as global venture capital and private equity firms continue to plow resources into finding early-stage companies on the continent. (The Information, 2021 State of European Tech report)
Problems with some Amazon Web Services cloud servers are causing slow loading or failures for significant chunks of the internet. Amazon’s widespread network of data centers powers many of the things you interact with online, including this website, so as we’ve seen in previous AWS outage incidents, any problem has massive rippling effects. People started noticing problems at around 10:45AM ET, and just after 6PM ET the AWS Status showed “Many services have already recovered, however we are working towards full recovery across services.” (The Verge)
Apple’s iPhone successor comes into focus: If you thought the hullabaloo about Facebook virtual reality, and the metaverse was a lot, wait till next year. Apple is expected to unveil in 2022 something at least as attention getting: a head-mounted device that has the potential to be the next biggest thing after the iPhone. (Wall Street Journal)
Live Events
Today, 10 am ET: Supply Chain Crisis: What’s Ahead for 2022. The Great Supply Chain Disruption will continue into 2022, with the potential for new, unexpected shortages that will hit companies and add to inflation. In a uniquely-informed dialogue led by IHS Markit vice chairman and Pulitzer Prize winner, Daniel Yergin, we'll detail the dynamics of the crisis and what it means for business in 2022. (Register: IHS Markit)
Today, 3 pm ET: MIT Metaverse Panel. The realization of a metaverse—the convergence of augmented reality, virtual reality, and other digital technologies with physical reality—has the ability to radically change the way we connect, perceive, and experience the world around us. What might this future of "presence" look like? How could this technology disrupt and enhance everything from space exploration to building infrastructure? Join us as we discuss and explore what the future of a metaverse might create. (Register: MIT)
Smart Links
Female doctors earn $2M less than men over course of career. (Healthcare Dive)
Americans’ pandemic-era ‘excess savings’ are dwindling for many. (New York Times)
Blood pressure rose in 2020, especially in women. (Washington Post)
Ford is doing ‘whatever it takes’ to double production capacity for electric F-150 pickup, says CEO. (CNBC)
Growing use of home Covid-19 tests leaves health agencies in the dark about unreported cases. (STAT News)
Nearly 80% of U.S. students have had to choose between paying for food or school; 29% of college students have had to skip meals daily to make ends meet. (Bloomberg)