In an unexpected move, Facebook
blocked news content on
its sites in Australia, and also
stopped people outside the
country from viewing Australian
news publications on its
platforms. The social-media
giant took the action after the
lower house of parliament
passed a bill that would force it
to pay for news content that
has been shared by users; it
says the law is unclear about
what constitutes “news”.
Facebook’s defiant tone was a
stark contrast to Google’s
global agreement to pay News
Corporation for content from
its publications, which include
the Wall Street Journal and the
Sun in Britain. Google was also
under threat from the proposed
law in Australia and had
warned that it would shut its
search engine there.
Bernard Arnault, the chairman
of lvmh, a French luxurygoods
group, is joining the
growing list of business leaders
who have set up a specialpurpose
acquisition company.
A spac is a shell company
that lists on a stock
exchange with the intent of
merging with an existing
company, enabling the firm to
raise capital without the slog of
an ipo. They became popular
in America in 2020, but are
now taking off in Europe, too.
Mr Arnault’s investment company
is launching its spac with
other investors to look for
deals in financial services.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was
appointed as the new directorgeneral
of the World Trade
Organisation. She is the first
African and the first woman to
hold the job. The Trump
administration had opposed
the nomination of Ms Okonjo-
Iweala, a former Nigerian
finance minister, claiming that
she lacks experience. But her
only rival, Yoo Myung-hee,
South Korea’s trade minister,
withdrew her candidacy in
early February, soon after Joe
Biden took office.
China displaced America as the
European Union’s biggest
trading partner last year,
according to official data, with
both exports and imports
growing. America remains the
eu’s biggest export market
(followed by Britain), but
overall trade slumped between
the two after their economies
tanked during the pandemic.
Official statistics confirmed
that Britain’s gdp contracted
by 9.9% in 2020, the worst
performance in the g7. The
economic recovery that began
mid-year stalled when the
second wave of the pandemic
took hold. The Treasury’s
average of forecasts suggests
that the economy will grow by
4.4% this year and 5.7% in
2022, depending on what
happens with covid-19.
Japan’s economy shrank by
4.8% in 2020. The country’s
economic output picked up
towards the end of the year,
helped by a surge in exports.
An expensive error
An American judge ruled that a
group of creditors that mistakenly
received $500m from
Citigroup did not have to repay
the money to the bank. The
creditors are in dispute with
Revlon, a cosmetics company
and a client of Citi’s. The bank
sent $900m to creditors last
August, though it had meant to
recompense them with only a
small interest payment. Some
$400m has been returned, but
the judge found that the creditors
had grounds to think the
payment was intentional, as
the idea that Citi could make
such a blunder was “borderline
irrational”. The bank is appealing
against the decision.
Jaguar Land Rover laid out an
ambitious plan to rebrand its
Jaguar cars as all-electric by
2025. Under its new chief
executive, Thierry Bolloré, the
company plans to offer battery-
powered versions of all its
models by 2030. All three of its
British factories will stay open.
The state of New York filed a
lawsuit against Amazon,
claiming it had been “deficient”
in ensuring the safety of
its warehouse workers during
the pandemic and had not
adequately disinfected its
facilities. The online retailer
had tried to stop the suit, arguing
that workers’ safety is
covered by federal, not state,
law. It says it has spent $11.5bn
on covid measures. New York’s
suit is the latest in a series of
state challenges to the way
Amazon conducts its business.
Air France-klmreported an
annual net loss of