US to share 60m doses
The White House said the US would send 60m Astrazeneca doses to other countries, which it did not specify, pending approval by the country’s drugs regulator. The bulk of the shipments are expected to be dispatched in May and June. Separately, US president Joe Biden told Indian prime minister Narendra Modi that Washington would send manufacturing supplies to help India increase vaccine production. Sources: AFP, BBC, DW, Financial Times and NPR.
EU sues Astrazeneca
The European Commission started legal action against Astrazeneca for failing to deliver about three-quarters of its contracted covid vaccine doses to EU member states during the first quarter of the year. The company said it “will strongly defend itself in court. We believe any litigation is without merit and we welcome this opportunity to resolve this dispute as soon as possible.” Sources: CNBC, The Guardian, Politico and Reuters.
Sanofi to make Moderna jabs
The French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi agreed to manufacture 200m doses of Moderna’s covid-19 vaccine at Sanofi’s site in New Jersey. Sources: AFP, Axios, Reuters and Seeking Alpha.
India increases jab prices
Vaccine makers in India, currently experiencing a surge in covid-19 cases, have raised their prices (with government authorisation) for under-45s, effective 1 May. Sources: Financial Times, Fortune and The Guardian.
Johnson rejects ‘bodies pile high’ allegation
British PM Boris Johnson denied saying during a Downing Street meeting last autumn that he’d prefer to “let the bodies pile high in their thousands” rather than put the UK under another lockdown. Sources: BBC, The Guardian, Independent and Sky News.
Latest Luxembourg covid-19 update
Out 409 PCR tests conducted on 25 April, 56 Luxembourg residents were positive. That is a rate of 8.94 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants (compared to 4.79 on 18 April). The reproduction rate was 0.92, below the target threshold of 1.00 (also 0.92 the previous week). There were 94 covid-19 patients in hospital (compared to 116), including 37 in intensive care (also 37 the previous week). One person died on Sunday, bringing the national total to 791. A cumulative 178,801 vaccine doses have been administered so far, including 48,210 people who have received two jabs. Source: health ministry. More coverage: Delano.
Luxembourg public finances back in the black
Tax revenues rose by 9.5% during the first quarter of the year (compared to 2020), returning Luxembourg to a budget surplus. Sources: Delano and Paperjam.
Luxair counting on Dubai
Luxair will resume flights to Dubai on 30 September, citing “strong customer demand” ahead of the World Expo, which has been rescheduled to begin on 1 October. Source: Delano.
Standard Life Aberdeen to drop Es
Standard Life Aberdeen, a British financial outfit which has a notable funds business in Luxembourg, said it would change its name to Abrdn (pronounced “Aberdeen”) in an effort to modernise its brand. Sources: BBC, Financial Times, The Guardian and PA.
Sustainable ETFs have record quarter
Flows into European sustainable exchange traded funds ($25.8bn) exceeded non-ESG ETFs ($22.3bn) for the first time, during the first three months of the year, according to the data firm Morningstar. Source: Financial Times.
JPMorgan to start bitcoin fund
JPMorgan will reportedly launch an actively managed bitcoin fund for private wealth clients this summer. Sources: Bloomberg, Coindesk and Marketwatch.
PE house to take Proofpoint private
The private equity firm Thomas Bravo will buy out Proofpoint, a cybersecurity outfit, in a $12.3bn deal. Sources: CNBC, Financial Times and Reuters.
Tesla reports record earnings
Tesla posted net income of $438m for the first quarter, including $101m from the sale of bitcoins. Its $10.39bn in revenue was a 79% rise over the same period last year. Sources: CNBC, Financial Times, NPR and Reuters.
Toyota buys Lyft self-driving car unit
Toyota will pay $550m in cash for Lyft’s autonomous vehicle business. Sources: Bloomberg, CNBC, Financial Times and Reuters.
Total pauses Mozambique gas project
The French energy giant Total has suspended work on a $20bn LNG project and pulled its staff from northern Mozambique following a spate of Islamist insurgent attacks. Sources: BBC, Bloomberg, Financial Times and S&P Global Platts.
Apple hit with German competition claim
German advertising, media and technology groups lodged an antitrust complaint against Apple, alleging that new Iphone privacy setting changes will damage their revenues and are an abuse of market power. Apple said it was giving customers control over their data. Sources: CNBC, DW, Financial Times and Reuters.
VDL blames sexism for ‘sofagate’
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the sofagate snub (which left her sitting on a sofa to the side while the European Council president Charles Michel and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had centre-stage chairs during an official meeting in Ankara) would not have happened to a man. “I have to conclude that it happened because I am a woman,” she told the European Parliament. Sources: DW, The Guardian, Politico and RTE.
Schueberfouer still up in the air
Officials said a decision on this year’s Schueberfouer would be made by 1 July. The annual late summer funfair was cancelled last year. Source: Paperjam.
Is there such a thing as bad English?
“Decades of research shows that when a native English speaker enters a conversation among nonnative speakers, understanding goes down,” according to NPR. However, one speech consultant reckons “the onus shouldn't be on nonnative speakers but rather on native English speakers to improve their comprehension of accents different from their own.”
Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Aaron Grunwald