If Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen means anything to business, labour and the world right now, it is as the avatar of the moral that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Yellen, who was the only female chair of the 108-year-old Federal Reserve, has never done anything without exceptional due diligence. Her best-in-class career delivering financial stability bodes well ...

Researchers estimate that about four out of five Covid-19 patients suffer a partial or total loss of smell, a condition known as anosmia. Many have no other symptoms. And no, it’s got nothing to do with stuffy noses; it’s all about the havoc the coronavirus wreaks on our nervous systems. Many patients recover their olfaction quickly. Others smell less than ...

At a time when the economy is growing rapidly again, the last thing Congress should do is make unemployment more financially rewarding than working. Unfortunately, a part of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan would do just that. The president proposes paying unemployed workers a $400 weekly supplement on top of other jobless benefits they receive. If adopted, ...

Bloomberg Macquarie Group Ltd’s green investment arm raised 1.6 billion euros ($1.94 billion) for a renewable energy fund. The company’s Green Investment Group Renewable Energy Fund 2 closed after exceeding its target of 1 billion euros and received commitments from 32 pension funds and insurers from largely the UK and Germany, as well as from some sovereign wealth funds, according ...

Bloomberg Former European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi was sworn in as Italy’s prime minister, ending weeks of political gridlock and avoiding an election during the pandemic. Draghi was sworn in by President Sergio Mattarella at Rome’s Quirinale palace, with only a few ministers in attendance because of social distancing rules. He unveiled his long-awaited government line-up, nominating the ...

Bloomberg A suicide car bomb exploded near the presidential palace in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, killing at least seven and injuring 10, according to a police official. The car’s driver detonated the device while being chased by security forces, Mohamed Abdishakur, a Somali police official said. Most of the dead were passersby who were walking along the road when ...

Bloomberg The Biden administration plans to close the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay by the end of the president’s time in office, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. “That certainly is our goal and our intention,” Psaki told reporters. The facility in Cuba, used to house terror suspects after the September 11 2001, attacks became a flashpoint in ...

Bloomberg Hundreds of thousands of farmers are swelling protests along arterial roads into the capital and other cities across India. The police and paramilitary forces have deployed up to 50,000 personnel, as well as barricades, barbed wire and riot-control vehicles. The United Nations is urging restraint. And each day, more farmers and tractors arrive to join the disgruntled ranks. Prime ...

Bloomberg Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he wants the US to pay to keep a two-decade-old pact that facilitates joint military exercises, an agreement which he sought to scrap last year. “Well, they have to pay. It’s a shared responsibility, but your share of responsibility does not come free,” Duterte said about the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the US. “Because ...

Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is just getting started in the fast-expanding world of sustainable finance. The New York-based lender plans to issue more environmental, social, and governance (ESG) bonds on a regular basis as part of its plans to deploy $750 billion in sustainable financing, investing and advisory activity by 2030, according to Carey Halio, chief executive officer of ...