There was no scarcity of headline-grabbing enterprise and financial tales this week.
As soon as once more, the pandemic topped the worldwide information agenda with India’s devastating second wave of COVID-19 infections. However there was additionally excellent news: United States President Joe Biden’s administration joined dozens of different nations in backing a plan to waive patent protections on COVID vaccines and increase the worldwide provide of jabs, significantly for less-developed nations.
We’ve rounded up the numbers to know this week, together with a sobering learn on the labour market restoration within the US; an uplifting (actually) milestone from non-public house firm SpaceX; a high-profile divorce announcement from two of the largest names in philanthropy; and loads of crypto-mania, together with a regulatory crackdown that got here too late for some Turks.
So earlier than you unplug for the weekend, pour your self one other cup of espresso and provides these in-depth reads a scroll.
61
The variety of nations to have thrown their help behind a proposal on the World Commerce Group to quickly waive mental property protections for COVID-19 vaccines.
In a transfer described by World Well being Group as “monumental,” the Biden administration introduced this week that it too would again the plan.
Al Jazeera’s Virginia Pietromarchi breaks down what you must know concerning the battle over COVID vaccine IP protections – and what’s at stake within the international struggle in opposition to the virus – proper here.
389,000
The variety of new COVID-19 infections India has averaged every day for the previous seven days, bringing the whole variety of reported circumstances to 21.4 million.
“The spiralling numbers have overwhelmed the nation’s creaking healthcare system, leaving thousands and thousands scrambling for medicines, oxygen cylinders and beds,” writes Al Jazeera’s Megha Bahree.
Into that void have stepped volunteers, together with an all-women community of fifty individuals who have “divided themselves into subgroups to deal with varied requests – similar to these for beds, house intensive-care setups and oxygen – and to scour for areas for COVID-19 exams,” usually for full strangers. Learn the inspiring tales of Indians who’re stepping in to assist here.
10 p.c
The plunge in worth (a bit greater than 10 p.c, really) of the Turkish lira in opposition to the greenback because the begin of 2021, prompting some in Turkey to wager as a substitute on red-hot cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
However lots of of Turkish buyers ended up shedding their shirts as a substitute after two cryptocurrency exchanges within the nation collapsed inside days of one another, prompting regulators there to tighten the noose on the sector.
However for many who misplaced their financial savings, the crackdown comes too late, as Al Jazeera’s Andrew Wilks reviews here.
One
The variety of seats accessible on Blue Origin’s first commercial flight into suborbital space, slated for July 20.
Jeff Bezos’s house agency introduced on Wednesday it was able to take paying passengers — and opened up on-line bidding for the ultimate seat on its inaugural flight.
To not be outdone, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the fifth test flight of its Starship on the same day.
The 2 space-obsessed billionaires have made no secret they’re removed from BFFs. They’re even in the course of a Moon feud. Al Jazeera’s Amy Thompson has that story here.
Huge home windows on the Blue Origin’s crew capsule are designed to deal with passengers to beautiful views as they spend roughly 10 minutes floating in zero gravity earlier than returning to Earth [Credit: Blue Origin]266,000
The variety of jobs the US financial system added in April, and a massive disappointment, provided that many Wall Road analysts have been anticipating roughly a million jobs to have been created final month.
And the sluggish labour market restoration isn’t hitting everybody equally. In April, the share of girls over the age of 20 within the US who have been both gainfully employed or actively searching for a job fell to 56.2 p.c from 56.6 p.c the months earlier than.
Ladies have give up their jobs in droves throughout the pandemic as they’ve been compelled to shoulder the brunt of a bigger childcare burden ensuing from distant education and daycare centre closures.
Which means girls, particularly working moms, might lose years of progress within the office, which can also be dangerous for firms and the financial system as a result of range and inclusion increase the underside line.
So will the pandemic’s disruptions end in woker workplaces for moms? Al Jazeera’s Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath explores the controversy here.
69 cents
The excessive worth Dogecoin hit this week, a part of the Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency’s meteoric rise because the begin of the 12 months.
A mixture of daytrader FOMO and high-profile shoutouts from the likes of Elon Musk, who’s internet hosting Saturday Night time Dwell this weekend, have helped gasoline a spectacular rally.
However critics say the joke coin might finish in tears for much less savvy buyers. Woof. Al Jazeera’s Ben Piven breaks down what you must find out about Doge mania here.
$43.3bn
The online belongings of the Invoice and Melinda Gates Basis in 2019, making it the largest private philanthropic foundation in the US and one of many largest on the planet.
Information that Invoice and Melinda Gates are divorcing after 27 years of marriage despatched shockwaves via the world of philanthropy this week. The Gates are among the many world’s wealthiest folks, and their divorce is prone to entail an advanced division of their substantial belongings.
That course of appears to have already begun: following the announcement, Invoice Gates’s firm transferred $1.8bn in equities to Melinda.
