| Biden Signals Waning Taste for Bipartisanship Amid GOP Blowback
Biden made clear his commitment to bipartisanship won't stop him from pressing ahead with reforms on voting rights, immigration and climate change, Justin Sink writes. The president also vowed to outspend China on innovation and infrastructure and stop it from becoming the world's most powerful nation.
Unemployment System Plagued by $63 Billion in Fraud, Dysfunction
The $1.9 trillion U.S. stimulus package that will send billions of dollars to America's jobless is a potential bonanza for scammers. Olivia Rockeman and Reade Pickert write that the state-run agencies that distribute the funds have been overwhelmed, making their harried staff as well as their glitchy computer systems easy prey for criminals.
When a Desert Wind Blew $10 Billion of Global Trade Off Course
The grounding in the Suez Canal of the Ever Given, a megaship the size of the Eiffel Tower, laid bare the fragility of a global network of markets and economies that takes for granted the flow of goods through it. K Oanh Ha, Javier Blas and Salma El Wardany reveal how it happened.  A specialized dredging vessel operates alongside the Ever Given on Friday. Source: Suez Canal Authority Xi's Red Line on China Human Rights Makes Companies Pick Sides
China has sought for years to draw moral equivalence with the West over human rights, insisting that other countries have no standing to criticize its policies. Now Beijing is making companies pay if they disagree.
Biden Finds a Key Ally Wary of His Bid to Outpace China on Chips
South Korea enjoys close economic ties to China, its largest trading partner by some way, and relies on the U.S. for security, particularly along the border with North Korea. As Jeong-Ho Lee and Sohee Kim report, those competing loyalties put Seoul in a tight spot as Washington squares off with Beijing in a high-tech duel that is increasingly focused on chips.  Inside Samsung's chip fabrication plant in Xian, China. Source: Samsung Electronics U.K. and EU Reach First Post-Brexit Deal on Financial Rules
Britain and the EU took their first step since Brexit to cooperate on financial services, Alberto Nardelli and Ian Wishart report. Things aren't going so well on the American front, with the U.K. and the U.S. unlikely to be ready to strike a trade deal before 2023. Joe Mayes and Eric Martin explain why. Vaccine Passports Are Coming, Raising Fears of a Two-Tier World
A "vaccine passport," a smartphone app or a slip of paper could one day attest to inoculation, granting bearers the freedom to travel, or even just return to the office. But as James Paton and Suzi Ring lay out, what sounds like a practical solution to an unprecedented problem opens the door to a host of ethical and legal concerns.  Merkel made a rare public apology after she was forced to abandon a five-day hard lockdown over Easter to fight resurgent Covid-19 infections, saying the proposal was her mistake alone.
Vaccinated Britain Is About to Face Its Biggest Covid Test Yet
A rapid vaccine rollout and lockdowns in the U.K. have seen deaths and hospitalizations plummet. Yet as Emily Ashton and Kitty Donaldson write, concerns in London are growing about inoculation-resistant variants and a political dispute with the EU over exports that could result in a shortfall of doses.
Secret India-Pakistan Peace Roadmap Brokered by Top UAE Royals
Secret talks between India and Pakistan brokered by the United Arab Emirates are showing real signs of a thaw, Sudhi Ranjan Sen reports. While there have been peace overtures since ties between the quarrelsome neighbors were frozen two years ago, this process appears the most concerted in years.  An Indian Army soldier stands guard near the Line of Control with Pakistan in Kashmir in 2020. Photographer: Money Sharma/AFP/Getty Images Morrison Stumbles Amid Uproar Over Australian Rape Allegations
With Australia's economy on the rebound, Covid-19 largely suppressed and vaccinations underway, Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government should be riding high. Instead, as Jason Scott writes, its ratings are the lowest in over a year amid criticism of his failure to address sexual violence and inequality.
Russia Wants to Use a Forest Bigger Than India to Offset Carbon
Russia wants to use its vast and remote Far East to show it is doing its part to fight climate change. Dina Khrennikova, Laura Millan Lombrana and Ilya Arkhipov outline how the world's biggest energy exporter and one of its largest polluters is creating a digital platform to collect satellite and drone data about the CO2 absorption capacity of the region's forests.  Paraguay Says Chinese Vaccine Offers Tied to Dumping Taiwan Paraguay's quest to procure coronavirus vaccines is being complicated by fraught relations between China on one side, and Taiwan and the U.S. on the other. Chris Horton and Ken Parks explain that the South American nation has received offers for Chinese-made shots in exchange for breaking ties with Taiwan. And finally ... Africa's biggest-ever private investment is in jeopardy. Matthew Hill and Paul Burkhardt lay out why an insurgency linked to Islamic State in northeastern Mozambique threatens to delay plans by energy giants such as Exxon Mobil and Total to spend as much as $120 billion on its natural-gas industry.  Construction at Total's LNG site in Mozambique, in 2020. Photographer: Borges Nhamirre/Bloomberg | 
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