Good morning and a hearty TGIF to you.
1. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed that Victoria has recorded no new cases of coronavirus for the 14th day in a row. A 'double doughnut fortnight', in the parlance. "We've seen test numbers this week that have been truly impressive, and they really are the key," he said. This sets the stage for the government's last stage in its cautious reopening plan.
2. Woolworths has committed to being entirely powered by renewable energy by 2025, joining the other 13 Australian companies to sign the RE100 Initiative. With Woolies consuming around 1% of all energy in Australia, it marks a major transition by business away from fossil fuels. The solar industry said it was "hugely exciting" to see more companies join, promising the commitment would create more jobs as Australia undergoes an energy transition.
3. The federal government's JobMaker scheme is coming under attack for excluding workers over the age of 35. Yesterday, Labor MP Tony Bourke presented 16 different job ads specifically seeking JobMaker eligible workers so as to secure the wage credit. The federal government rejected the suggestion older workers could be replaced by younger ones, while unions demanded a plan to generate more secure work as JobKeeper is phased out.
4. Every match of Wimbledon and Roland-Garros will be streamed on Stan in 2021. The two grand slams are scheduled for May, June, and July, with the men's and women's finals expected to be also aired by Nine on free-to-air television. The deal comes just days after Nine-owned Stan also secured the broadcast rights to Rugby Australia games.
5. Some nice happy news for you all. Even if the world were to stop emitting greenhouse gases right now, the Earth would keep warming for centuries, a new study shows. The researchers suggest sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and storing it underground - a solution known as carbon capture and storage. That's considered a type of geoengineering. Other climate-hacking proposals in the same category are far riskier.
6. Google is rolling back its free cloud services. Starting June 1 2021, Google will cap the amount of free photos and documents that users of its cloud services can upload. From that date, photos and videos will count towards each Google account's free 15 GB of storage. This will also apply to documents uploaded via Google Drive.
7. A U.S. nationwide lockdown lasting four to six weeks would help control the coronavirus and revive the U.S. economy, Michael Osterholm, a COVID-19 advisor to President-elect Joe Biden, said Wednesday. Osterholm told Yahoo Finance that the U.S. had a "big pool of money" that could support the economy during lockdown until a vaccine is publicly available. "We could really watch ourselves cruising into the vaccine availability in the first and second quarter of next year while bringing back the economy long before that," Osterholm said.
8. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla raked in more than three times his base salary when he sold about 60% of his stock on Monday, shortly after trumpeting the stellar performance of his company's COVID-19 vaccine in a late-stage trial. The executive sold $US5.6 million worth of shares due to "personal financial planning" and as part of a predetermined plan that he authorised in August, Pfizer told Reuters.
9. Ever wonder just how important an Instagram presence is to a cafe or restaurant? Very, it turns out. We spoke to a handful of Aussie restaurants who said presence on the platform is integral to the business - and, it turns out, a lot of work to maintain.
10. This is a defining week for Sony's PlayStation division as it launches its next-generation game console, the PlayStation 5. Ahead of the PS5 launch, Business Insider spoke to Jim Ryan, the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, which handles the PlayStation business, about how he managed his global team through an important but tumultuous year. Ryan says he learned a lot through launching the PlayStation 5 this year, and believes his business won't return to the old ways of doing things once the pandemic has ended.
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