Aurelia Butler

Hello and welcome to the last working week of the year,One of the few things that seems to unite the world is the shared belief in spending the final hours of the year in raucous merriment. But not this year. Several of the big celebrations that mark the change in calendar date have been cancelled due to the rise of the new Omicron coronavirus variant. This starts — if we count time from the international dateline — with Auckland, where the city’s main firework display will not now happen. The same will be true in Singapore, where the annual display at Marina Bay will not happen for a second consecutive year to minimise mass gatherings and the spread of Covid-19. At the other end of the new year circumnavigation, Los Angeles has cancelled the downtown display in Grand Park.The German government’s proposals to ban everyone from letting off pyrotechnics in busy public spaces did not go down well in a population that sees the ability to set off fireworks as a basic human right.London’s main firework display was canned a while back, but the mayor Sadiq Khan has now said that an alternative celebration for up to 6,500 people at Trafalgar Square cannot run either due to surging Covid cases in the UK capital. Instead, Londoners can watch a BBC New Year’s Eve broadcast, “which will showcase our great city to the rest of the world”, Khan said in an official statement. In Scotland, large-scale Hogmanay street parties are being cancelled by order of the Holyrood government.One thing Covid cannot stop are the political speeches, so the raft of New Year’s Day addresses by world leaders will be going ahead as planned — too many to name individually here.Covid also cannot prevent Germany assuming the G7 presidency and France taking over the revolving presidency of the EU. In sport, a milestone will be passed as Debbie Hewitt becomes the first woman chair of the English Football Association.This will be the last Week Ahead for 2021. Next week we will be looking forward to 2022 with a one-off Year Ahead month-by-month guide before normal service resumes on January 9. Have a very happy new year — [email protected] dataThe economic and company reports over the next seven days are, understandably, thin gruel, but Japan and the US will report unemployment data and there is a manufacturing PMI from China.This newsletter is all about alerting you to future events, but I got ahead of myself by announcing Heineken’s full-year results last week — they will not happen until February 16 2022. Key economic and company reportsHere is a more complete list of what to expect in terms of company reports and economic data this week.MondayJapan, monthly employment rate and industrial production figuresTuesdayUK, Nationwide December house price indexWednesdayUK, Bank of England capital issuance figuresUS, State Street investor confidence indexVietnam, monthly inflation, trade, industrial output dataThursdayUS, initial jobless claimsFridayChina, manufacturing purchasing managers’ index dataUK, London Stock Exchange closes early for the new year celebrationsWorld eventsFinally, here is a rundown of other events and milestones this week. MondayUN marks International Day of Epidemic PreparednessTuesdayUK, substitute Boxing Day bank (public) holidayWednesdayIreland, Constitution DayGermany, the Four Hills Tournament for ski jumping starts in OberstdorfThursdayAnniversary of American astronomer Edwin Hubble announcing his findings on the existence of other galaxies in 1924, revolutionising the field of astronomyFridaySecond anniversary of Chinese health officials informing the World Health Organization about a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. A new coronavirus (later called Sars-Cov-2) was eventually identifiedSaturdayNew Year’s DayCovid Memorial day marked worldwideFrance takes over EU presidencyGermany assumes G7 presidencyNorway takes over presidency of UN Security CouncilUK, Debbie Hewitt becomes the first woman chair of the Football Association in its 157-year historyUS, New York City Mayor Eric Adams takes up officeUS to end tariffs on EU steel products. In return, the EU cancelled a planned increase in retaliatory tariffs due to come into force on December 1SundayEnglish Premier League and Football League transfer window opens, alongside those of several other European leagues More

(Reuters) -U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, a leading liberal House Democrat, has asked President Joe Biden to continue focusing on his social spending legislation and urged him to use executive action despite Senator Joe Manchin’s public rejection of the plan.In an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Sunday, Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), wrote that the CPC will soon release a plan for some actions like lowering costs, protecting the health of families, and tackling climate action.”The Progressive Caucus will continue to work toward legislation for Build Back Better, focused on keeping it as close to the agreed-upon framework as possible”, she wrote in the newspaper https://wapo.st/32jgLRb.Manchin, a conservative Democratic senator, rejected the president’s “Build Back Better” plan last Sunday in a move that imperils the legislation.Manchin’s move prompted investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) to lower its forecasts for U.S. economic growth. Manchin’s rejection of the bill threatened to scuttle hundreds of billions of dollars in funding for measures to fight climate change and meet the Biden administration’s climate goals.”Taking executive action will also make clear to those who hinder Build Back Better that the White House and Democrats will deliver for Americans”, Jayapal wrote.Manchin has expressed concerns about a number of proposals in Biden’s signature domestic policy bill, including multiple climate proposals and extending monthly child tax credit payments.”I think the stakes are too high for this to be, in any way, about any specific individual”, Vice President Kamala Harris said in a CBS News interview aired on Sunday, when asked about Manchin. Harris said the White House was not giving up on the legislation.Manchin’s support is crucial in the Senate chamber where the Democrats have the slimmest margin of control and Republicans are united in their opposition to the bill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said the chamber would vote on a package in early 2022.The White House said on Wednesday that conversations with Manchin’s office will continue. Biden said on Tuesday that he and Manchin were “going to get something done” on the legislation. More