Headlines

Americas

America Inc is on the hook for Joe Biden’s splurge on infrastructure

UNLIKE HIS $1.9trn covid-19 relief bill, which was almost entirely deficit-financed, President Joe Biden would like his recently unveiled $2trn infrastructure plan to be paid for with taxes. Individual taxes have been left for later. Unluckily for American companies, the White House has set its sights on them to pony up. This is hardly unexpected. Mr...

The bumps ahead for Joe Biden’s plan to decarbonise America

IN 2020 LOCKDOWNS caused the largest single-year drop in America’s greenhouse-gas emissions on record: some 10%. Even then, for every American 16 metric tons of carbon dioxide were released into the atmosphere. By 2050 President Joe Biden would like that number to be net zero. Getting there within three decades seems daunting. Every sector, not just...

Small cities in America’s Mountain West are booming

IN 1871 WILLIAM JACKSON PALMER, a civil-war general and railway magnate, looked up at Pikes Peak in central Colorado and decided “he wanted to build a city that matched the magnificent scenery”. Or so says John Suthers, the mayor of Colorado Springs, the town Palmer would eventually found at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Now, 150 years later,...

Corporate America weighs in on Georgia’s voting-rights law

THOUGH THE divide has never been tidy, for the past century Republicans have been seen as the party of big business in America and Democrats as the party of labour. Under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama the Democrats found friends in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street, but they never overcame the Republican formula of cutting taxes, opposing regulation...

America’s boom has begun. Can it last? 

THE LATEST monthly employment report, published on April 2nd, painted an impressive picture: over the previous month America created more than 900,000 jobs. That figure, the strongest since August, reflects the state of the economy in the first half of March, when the surveys took place. But a look at “high-frequency” economic data for more recent...

Asia Pacific

Making access to climate finance a priority

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is calling for a sharper financial focus on putting climate actions at the centre of development and recovery for the region. Read More

TRENDSETTERS at-a-glance: Korean, Indian regulators sharpen ESG focus; and more

Korean watchdog cracks down on ESG compliance; India to enhance ESG reporting; Singapore fintechs to drive green finance; and StashAway expands to Hong Kong. Read More

PEOPLE MOVES at-a-glance: IMF adds new finance director; fund houses bulk up in Asia

IMF names new director of finance; Robeco strengthens Greater China team; Income Partners hires distribution head from Vanguard; PineBridge appoints global head of corporate responsibility; and AXA IM enhances Asian institutional business. Read More

When the SPACs come marching into Asia

The rapid pace at which special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) are raising money is putting regulators across the region in a quandary: either further accommodate an unproven investment structure or risk being left behind. Read More

TRENDSETTERS at-a-glance: Hong Kong IPOs reach record highs; and more

Hong Kong maintains impressive IPO momentum; China takes step forward in ESG reporting; and Broadridge bolsters capital markets franchise. Read More

Europe

07 OUT DARK SKY® ALQUEVA In the top 100 of 2020 Sustainable Destinations

07 OUT DARK SKY® ALQUEVA IN THE TOP 100 OF 2020 SUSTAINABLE DESTINATIONS In 2020, Dark Sky® Alqueva reaches the Top 100 of Sustainable Destinations in an atypical year where rural destinations reached and conquered an important space in tourist demand. People began to feel the need for space, to have fewer people...

Augusta raises additional $115m for litigation and dispute funding

Investment in response to growing demand from lawyers Augusta, the UK’s largest litigation and disputes funder by case volume announces it has raised a further US $115m from a multi-billion-dollar US-based investment manager. In 2018, Augusta secured £150m from a global investment fund, to finance business growth and investment in funding cases....

An affiliate of Sun European Partners announces that it has completed the sale of Famosa

Sun European Partners, LLP (“Sun European Partners” or “Sun”) today announces that one of its affiliates has completed the sale of Fábricas Agrupadas de Muñecas de Onil, S.A. (“Famosa” or “the Company”), a leading designer, developer, manufacturer and distributer of toys in Spain and throughout the world, to Giochi Preziosi S.p.A..  Famosa,...

Huge Tax Changes for Self-Employed Following Publication of New Legislation

On 11 July 2019, the Government published draft legislation outlining the IR35 changes coming to the private sector, which are expected to affect 250,000 businesses. The reform will impact users and suppliers of personal service company contractors in the private sector. Companies have only nine months to plan for the new off-payroll changes, as they...

Young people pick their banking partners for the future

Battle of the brands Generation Z calls the brands it will bank on in 2030 Britain Banks most trusted for handling payments and safe storage of dataTech brands first choice for creating smart, real-time servicesAs a sector, financial services scores poorly for ethics and positive social impact More than two in five young people (43%) believe that...

Mena

Somalia’s President Extends Term by Two Years, Drawing Condemnation

His four-year term expired, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed signed a contentious law that critics fear could plunge the fragile country into renewed, possibly violent, turmoil.NAIROBI, Kenya — In a highly contentious move, Somalia’s president has extended his own term in office by two years, drawing condemnation from the United States and other...

Pentagon Chief Orders New Review of Attack in Kenya That Killed 3 Americans

The unusual review of the conclusions of the initial inquiry comes more than a year after the attack by the Shabab revealed security lapses at the base. #styln-signup { max-width: calc(100% - 40px); width: 600px; margin: 20px auto; border-bottom: 1px solid #e2e2e2; min-height: 50px; } #styln-signup + .live-blog-post::before...

With a New Museum, African Workers Take Control of Their Destiny

A Dutch artist worked with former plantation employees to create a “white cube” that they hope will one day display works returned from European museums.AMSTERDAM — When the Dutch artist Renzo Martens presented his film “Episode III: Enjoy Poverty” at Tate Modern in London in 2010, he couldn’t help but notice the many Unilever logos painted...

‘Everything Is Worth Freedom’: Uganda’s Opposition Leader Faces the Future

Bobi Wine, the pop star who became a presidential candidate, considers rebuilding his anti-government movement after a violent election season that left many aides and supporters imprisoned.KAMPALA, Uganda — Bobi Wine’s eyes were bloodshot from little sleep. When he spoke, his thoughts trailed off, and his sentences sometimes lacked the precision...

‘Tell Us if He’s Dead’: Abductions and Torture Rattle Uganda

Hundreds have been detained, many brutalized, after a bloody, contested election. The government of Yoweri Museveni appears intent on breaking the back of the opposition.KAMPALA, Uganda — Armed men in white minivans without license plates picked up people off the streets or from their homes.Those snatched were taken to prisons, police stations and...

International

Sources and acknowledgments

In addition to those quoted in this report, the author would also like to thank the following people: Daisuke Adachi, Abigail Adams-Prassl, Jeremias Adams-Prassl, Julian Baggini, Erik Brynjolfsson, Tyler Cowen, Richard Freeman, Peter Ganong, Linda Hynes, Niels Johannesen, Arend Kapteyn, Akira Kawamoto, Bridget Loudon, the Independent Workers’ Union...

The decline of established American retailing threatens jobs

IT DOESN’T look like much but Staten Island Mall is optimism in a cement box. Like all such retail spaces the temperature is carefully calibrated. Bland pop music wafts down beige halls. Its biggest tenants are America’s unholy trinity of struggling retailers: Macy’s, J.C. Penney and Sears, all of which are closing stores. This mall, however,...

The history of central banks

TWENTY years ago next month, the British government gave the Bank of England the freedom to set interest rates. That decision was part of a trend that made central bankers the most powerful financial actors on the planet, not only setting rates but also buying trillions of dollars’ worth of assets, targeting exchange rates and managing the economic...

Averting a Chinese-American trade war

IN 1784 the Empress of China set sail from New York, on the first American trade mission to China. Carrying ginseng, lead and woollen cloth, the merchants aboard dreamed of cracking open the vast Asian market. But the real profit, they found, came on their return, when they brought Chinese teas and porcelain to America. As other ships...

Iran ship said to be Red Sea troop base off Yemen attacked

An Iranian ship believed to be a base for the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and anchored for years in the Red Sea off Yemen has been attacked, Tehran acknowledged Wednesday. Read More