Hungary's PM Viktor Orbán vaccinated against COVID with Chinese Sinopharm vaccine

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has been inoculated against COVID-19 with the vaccine from the Chinese laboratory Sinopharm after Hungary become the first EU country to approve its use.

"I am vaccinated," said a message published on Sunday on Orbán's official Facebook page, accompanied by photos and a video showing him being injected with a dose of the vaccine by a health worker holding a Sinopharm box.

Hungary began using the Sinopharm vaccine on Wednesday, after having already having given the Russian Sputnik V vaccine emergency authorisation for use without waiting for the green light from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Read more at: Hungary's PM Viktor Orbán vaccinated against COVID with Chinese Sinopharm vaccine | Euronews

Russia's Growth Too Slow to Catch Advanced Economies – says IMF

Rushas weathered the coronavirus pandemic better than other countries but its economic growth isia s too slow to catch up with advanced economies, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday.

"Russia entered the Covid-19 crisis with low growth but strong policy frameworks and significant buffers," an IMF report said.

But it added that several factors, including low oil prices and sanctions, led to "lackluster growth" that was "insufficient" to match advanced economies. br>
Since 2014, Russia's tax policy "resulted in low public debt and reserve accumulation," the IMF said, adding that the central bank "brought inflation down and contributed to significant de-dollarization" that made the economy more resistant.

Read more at: Russia's Growth Too Slow to Catch Advanced Economies – IMF - The Moscow Times

The Netherlands: More than 100 North and South American Companies go Dutch in 2020

In 2020, 305 foreign companies chose to establish or expand operations in the Netherlands, according to the annual results of Invest in Holland and the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) released today. These companies from around the globe expect to create more than 8,600 direct jobs in the first three years and invest 1.9 billion euros in their projects. Although the coronavirus is causing the Netherlands to attract fewer foreign companies, there is a constant flow of new companies as a result of Brexit.

U.S. and Canadian companies like Beyond Meat, Crocs, MSD, Inshur and McCain Foods tallied 100 direct investment projects in the Netherlands in 2020, accounting for nearly one-third of the foreign investment projects that NFIA and its partners were directly involved in worldwide.

Companies from North and South America are expected to invest close to 1.1 billion euros and generate 3,971 new jobs in the Netherlands by 2023. Expansion and relocation projects involved marketing and sales offices, distribution centers, European headquarters, manufacturing facilities and R&D in a range of industries from information technology and agrifood to life sciences & health.

Read more at: More than 100 North and South American Companies go Dutch in 2020

Italy: With Draghi, Italy has a chance to set aside Conte’s economic misadventures - by Jean Jacques Handali

While Conte may have been independent of his populist backers on paper, his economic policies nonetheless reflected the dirigism of the Five Stars who brought him to power. Conte took advantage of his "golden powers" to launch heavy-handed state interventions in the economy. These include a push to have Milan-based Unicredit buy the state’s share of Monte dei Paschi di Siena; the re-nationalization of failing national carrier Alitalia; the hostile takeover of toll road operator Autostrade per l’Italia; and the state’s insistence that broadband operators Telecom Italia (TIM) and Open Fiber merge into one company.

Thanks to Matteo Renzi, Conte is now leaving each of these dossiers half-finished. As Italy looks to Draghi, one of its most renowned financial minds, to lead the country out of dual financial and public health crises, one of the new premier’s first decisions will be whether to continue Conte’s statist economic policies. In both Rome and Brussels, many hope – and expect – the answer will be a simple "no".

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/20/with-draghi-italy-has-a-chance-to-set-aside-conte-s-economic-misadventures-view

USA Economy: Are we in a bubble? How founder of world’s largest hedge fund says 2021 stock market stacks up - by Mark DeCambre

The stock market is feeling awfully frothy to some investors lately, a fact that has helped to weigh on the market’s bullish sentiment in the past week or so, but a report by Ray Dalio implies that equities aren’t as bubblicious as one might think.

“In brief, the aggregate bubble gauge is around the 77th percentile today for the US stock market overall. In the bubble of 2000 and the bubble of 1929 this aggregate gauge had a 100th percentile read,” wrote Dalio in a blog post published on Monday on LinkedIn.

Read more at: Are we in a bubble? How founder of world’s largest hedge fund says 2021 stock market stacks up - MarketWatch

USA: - Republican Poll: Finds 57% of Voters Support COVID-19 Relief Bill, Despite Spending Concerns

Most voters support passage of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package despite concerns that Congress has filled the bill with expensive items that have nothing to do with coronavirus.

Read more at: 57% of Voters Support COVID-19 Relief Bill, Despite Spending Concerns - Rasmussen Reports®

Boeing 777: UK temporarily bans Boeing 777 planes with engine that blew apart in US

United Kingdom will temporarily ban Boeing 777 planes with the same engine that blew apart in the US over the weekend, transport secretary Grant Shapps said.

The engine, designed by Pratt and Whitney, failed shortly after United Airlines flight 328 took off from Denver, Colorado, forcing pilots to make an emergency landing on Sunday.

Read more at: UK temporarily bans Boeing 777 planes with engine that blew apart in US | Euronews

Decarbonising Food – Making the case for Green Fertilizers

The fertilizer industry has identified the most promising technologies for making green fertilizers. The challenge is to make the business case for decarbonised products. This can be achieved by driving down the cost and addressing technical challenges on the supply side at the same time creating a market for premium food products with a low-carbon footprint.

Today, 50% of global food production is possible thanks to mineral fertilizers. But its production is energy-intensive, with the production of ammonia being responsible for about 5% of the world gas consumption. To decarbonise this process, the fossil fuels used to produce ammonia (a key component of mineral fertilizers) must be replaced by renewable energy. The so-called green ammonia could help decarbonise food production through low-carbon fertilizer.

Read more at: Decarbonising Food – Making the case for Green Fertilizers – EURACTIV.com

Bird Flu: Russia reports world's 1st case of H5N8 bird flu virus in humans

Russia has registered the first case of a strain of bird flu virus named A(H5N8) being passed to humans from birds and has reported the matter to the World Health Organization (WHO), Anna Popova, head of consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said on Saturday.

Outbreaks of the H5N8 strain have been reported in Russia, Europe, China, the Middle East and North Africa in recent months, but so far only in poultry. Other strains — H5N1, H7N9 and H9N2 — have been known to spread to humans.

READ MORE AT: Russia reports world's 1st case of H5N8 bird flu virus in humans | CBC News

USA: Will the Texas winter disaster deter further tech migration?

Ironically, some of the very things that have led to the state being more attractive to companies have also contributed to the crisis: Fewer taxes means less money for infrastructure, for one.

Read more at: Will the Texas winter disaster deter further tech migration? | TechCrunch

Social Media - Your money and the internet: Don't rely on social media stock tips, EU watchdog warns retail investors - by Huw Jones

etail investors following the Reddit forum WallStreetBets in the United States piled into GameStop Corp last month, sending shares in the retailer rocketing at the expense of prominent investors who had bet against the stock, ringing alarm bells in Europe.

Although market rules and structures are different in the EU, it cannot be ruled out that similar circumstances may occur in the bloc as well, the European Securities and Markets Authority said in a statement.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-markets-regulator/dont-rely-on-social-media-stock-tips-eu-watchdog-warns-retail-investors-idUSKBN2AH16A

WTO: Daunting challenges await WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian economist and former finance minister, has been appointed to head the World Trade Organization, becoming the first African and woman to helm the global trade body.

Okonjo-Iweala takes over as the global trade body struggles to remain relevant amid growing protectionism and trade tensions and an economic crisis unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic.

From reviving WTO's dispute settlement process to policing China, the new director-general has her task cut out as she looks to restore global faith in the trade body.

Reas more at: Daunting challenges await WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala | Business| Economy and finance news from a German perspective | DW | 16.02.2021

The Netherlands: Brexit: Amsterdam surpasses London as Europe’s leading share trading hub - by Ben Chapman

Amsterdam has surpassed London as Europe’s leading share trading hub in the wake of Brexit.

An average €9.2bn shares a day were traded on Euronext Amsterdam and the Dutch arms of CBOE Europe and Turquoise in January, according to data from CBOE Europe first reported by the Financial Times.

EU-based financial firms are banned from trading in London because the EU has not recognised UK regulations on exchanges as equivalent to its own.

Read more at: Brexit: Amsterdam surpasses London as Europe’s leading share trading hub | The Independent

EU-Ukraine launch strategic partnership on raw materials and batteries - by Kostis Geropoulos

The European Union and Ukraine have launched a strategic partnership on raw materials and batteries, EU Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said on February 11.

“The European Union has always stood side-by-side with Ukraine as its closest friend,” said the VP for Inter-institutional Relations and Foresight. “Our support and cooperation has been delivering tangible results. I’m therefore trully excited to expand this positive agenda to new areas,” said Sefcovic, who is also coordinating the EU Battery Alliance.

He stressed that the EU-Ukraine strategic partnership on critical raw materials and batteries a win-win as it promotes EU’s green and digital transition while helping Ukraine approximate its policies with the European Green Deal. “This is all the more important as we need to sustainability revive our economies in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. As part of this partnership, the EU stands ready to scale up its technical assistances program with the Ukrainian government by including raw materials and topping up its budget with an additional 800,000 euros,” Sefcovic said. “In this context, I welcome that the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine has become a new member of our two strategic industrial alliances on raw materials and batteries. I’m also looking forward to a high-level conference on strategic EU-Ukrainian cooperation on raw materials to be held later this year,” he said.

Read more at: EU-Ukraine launch strategic partnership on raw materials and batteries | New Europe

India: Tesla to set up electric car manufacturing unit in southern India

Billionaire Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc will set up an electric-car manufacturing unit in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, according to a government document seen by Reuters on Saturday.

Read more at: Tesla to set up electric car manufacturing unit in southern India | Reuters

SPAIN; Covid-19 in Spain: Spain records highest weekly number of Covid deaths since first wave: 3,415 - by Emilio de Benito

The last seven days have been the worst in terms of coronavirus deaths since the first wave of the pandemic in Spain in the spring of 2020. According to the latest report from the Spanish Health Ministry, which was released on Thursday, a total of 3,415 people have died after a positive Covid-19 test over the last week. And this figure is on the rise, up 11.35% from a week before.

Read more at: Covid-19 in Spain: Spain records highest weekly number of Covid deaths since first wave: 3,415 | Society | EL PAÍS in English

Germany must reduce its current-account surplus – by Jan Behringer, Till van Treeck and Achim Truger

The German economy has been running persistently high current-account surpluses for more than 15 years. Over the last decade, the surplus was between 6 and 9 per cent of gross domestic product, mainly because Germany exported much more than it imported. This is a drag on other countries’ exports and employment and can also lead to financial imbalances.

A large majority of economists outside Germany thus see the surpluses as a serious threat to macroeconomic stability. The European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the United States government have repeatedly called for a rebalancing. So far, however, none of the various German governments in power since the early 2000s has seen the need to take action.

Read more at: Germany must reduce its current-account surplus – Jan Behringer, Till van Treeck and Achim Truger

EU: Circular economy: MEPs call for tighter EU consumption and recycling rules

Parliament adopted comprehensive policy recommendations to achieve a carbon-neutral, sustainable, toxic-free and fully circular economy by 2050 at the latest.

Parliament urges the Commission to put forward new legislation in 2021, broadening the scope of the Ecodesign Directive to include non-energy-related products. This should set product-specific standards, so that products placed on the EU market perform well, are durable, reusable, can be easily repaired, are not toxic, can be upgraded and recycled, contain recycled content, and are resource- and energy-efficient. Other key recommendations are detailed here.

Read more at: Circular economy: MEPs call for tighter EU consumption and recycling rules | News | European Parliament

'WHO - Coronavirus: Extremely unlikely' COVID originated from a laboratory leak, says WHO official - by Luke Hurst

It is "extremely unlikely" COVID-19 originated from a laboratory leak in Wuhan, China, an expert with the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

The team of experts sent by the WHO to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in the city also said they found no evidence of an outbreak related to the virus in the city prior to 2019.

Read more at: 'Extremely unlikely' COVID originated from a laboratory leak, says WHO official | Euronews

US Economy Poll: Americans More Pessimistic About Economic Future

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 41% of American Adults say the U.S. economy will be weaker a year from now. Thirty-seven percent (37%) say the economy will be stronger in a year, and 13% expect it to be about the same.

Read more at: Americans More Pessimistic About Economic Future - Rasmussen Reports®

Transparent wood: Scientists develop transparent wood that is stronger and lighter than glass

Researchers at the University of Maryland have turned ordinary sheets of wood into transparent material that is nearly as clear as glass, but stronger and with better insulating properties. It could become an energy efficient building material in the future.

Wood is made of two basic ingredients: cellulose, which are tiny fibres, and lignin, which bonds those fibres together to give it strength.

Read more at:Scientists develop transparent wood that is stronger and lighter than glass | CBC Radio

EU taxation of multinationals—bypassing the unanimity blockage – by Tommaso Faccio and Francesco Saraceno

The French car-service company Heetch recently displayed an advertising campaign on the streets of Paris (see photo), which proudly affirmed its presence in many French cities but not in Luxembourg—a clear allusion to the tax headquarters of some of its competitors. The fact that ‘paying taxes in France’ has become a commercial argument shows that the issue of corporate avoidance is rising up the public agenda in many countries.

Yet the G20 process on taxing digital firms and introducing a global minimum tax to limit tax competition, led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, failed to reach consensus in 2020, mostly because of determination by the United States to protect its digital giants. The European Commission has made clear that, were the G20 to fail to deliver a global solution by mid-2021, it will act. But the EU is stuck between a rock—the US position will likely not change with the new administration—and a hard place: its own tax havens.

Read more at: EU taxation of multinationals—bypassing the unanimity blockage – Tommaso Faccio and Francesco Saraceno

EU: In Europe Union, vaccines from Russia and China are now under study - by Loveday Morris

As the European Union's vaccination program stumbles, Russia and China are poised to fill the gap — with Moscow opening talks to produce vaccines in the heart of Europe and both building political cachet as they supply those scrambling for shots on the bloc's fringes.

Vaccines produced in Russia and China are already on the program in parts of the Balkans and Eastern Europe outside the European Union.

Speaking to the Atlantic Council on Thursday, Macron called China’s vaccine efforts a “clear diplomatic success” which is “a little bit humiliating for us.” He and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have expressed their openness to using vaccines from Moscow and Beijing if E.U. regulatory approval is granted.

Read more at: In Europe Union, vaccines from Russia and China are now under study - The Washington Post

Wall Street: An uprising against Wall Street? Hardly. GameStop was about the absurdity of the stock market - by Kenan Malik

or those of us who are as intimate with the inner workings of the stock market as we are with the circuitry of the Large Hadron Collider, the brouhaha over GameStop has been illuminating. While the story may seem esoteric, it is highly revealing of the way economic and political power operates today, laying bare both the irrationality of the market and the reach of corporate privilege.

For those who don’t know, GameStop is a US video game retailer that has lost much of its market share to online trade and whose stock plummeted from $56 (£40) a share in 2013 to about $5 in 2019. It is set to close 450 shops this year. Some big hedge funds decided that they would cash in on GameStop’s misery by shorting its shares. A short is a bet that an asset, such as a share, will decline in price. It’s a manoeuvre that can generate huge profits. But if the asset price doesn’t fall, investors can also lose a lot of money.

As speculation rather than productive investment has become the fuel of the stock market, so big investors have come to spend more time playing games such as shorting. Last week, though, having been outgamed by a bunch of nerds, the titans of Wall Street did what all entitled people do. They whined. How dare people manipulate the market! Only those with Manhattan penthouses who attend dinner parties with presidents and Federal Reserve governors should be able do that, not people with online handles such as DeepFuckingValue. As Severus Snape exclaims in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: “You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented them.”

Read more at: An uprising against Wall Street? Hardly. GameStop was about the absurdity of the stock market | GameStop | The Guardian

The urgency of gender justice in the digital economy – by Anita Gurumurthy and Nandini Chami

The early years of the digital revolution came with unlimited promise for women and their world of work. A radical shift seemed close at hand: web-based entrepreneurship, lifelong skilling, access to global markets, flexible working and more. The reality today, however, is a sobering scorecard for women’s economic agency and citizenship.

In hindsight, this is no big surprise. With digital technologies becoming the handmaiden of neoliberal globalisation, the economic paradigm has witnessed a rapid deepening of inequality. Between 1980 and 2016, coinciding with the transition to the digital epoch, progress on economic inequality worldwide declined: intra-country inequality increased while inter-country inequality is not falling quickly enough.

As labour’s share of national income has steadily gone down, Big Tech firms have been able to amass wealth on an unprecedented scale, leveraging their ‘intelligence advantage’. Harnessing digital intelligence for market consolidation, platforms have upended old-world economic organisation. The shift is global and ubiquitous, with data barons making inroads in all sectors—from agriculture to retail trade, transport, logistics and services—not only displacing traditional players but also decimating small economic actors.Amid much debate about the impact of digitalisation in a globalised world, women have been largely invisible. The EU is the global actor that could change that.

Read more at: The urgency of gender justice in the digital economy – Anita Gurumurthy and Nandini Chami

EU economy shrank by nearly 6.4% in 2020 – estimates - by John Paul Cordina -

A flash estimate published by Eurostat suggests that the EU’s gross domestic product fell by 6.4% in 2020, with the decline, unsurprisingly, primarily attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The euro area’s GDP, meanwhile, contracted by 6.8%.

Eurostat qualified the figures, highlighting that the flash estimates – which seek to provide an indication as soon as possible – were based on incomplete data sources and subject to further revisions. The next estimates for the fourth quarter of 2020 are set to be released in two weeks.

Read more at: https://newsbook.com.mt/en/eu-economy-shrank-by-nearly-6-4-in-2020-estimates/

EU Commission: Sinkevicius: ‘There can be no return to business as usual’ after the pandemic – by Alexandra Brzozowsk

There can be no return to business as usual after the pandemic and no amount of economic pressure should force us to compromise on people’s health and the health of our planet, Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius said in an interview about the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and young people’s demands for a greener future.

He spoke to EURACTIV ahead of ViacomCBS and EU40’s ‘BEYOND 2020 – Global Youth: voices and futures!’’ virtual summit.

Read complete report at: Sinkevicius: ‘There can be no return to business as usual’ after the pandemic – EURACTIV.com