Raphael Stevens

Legendary off-road racer and YouTube star Ken Block prepares to take the wheel of Extreme Es E-SUV to take part in the Grand Prix of Qiddiya finale of the Dakar 2020, on January 17, 2020.FRANCK FIFE | AFP | Getty ImagesThe first-ever season of a unique, brand new motorsport, Extreme E, gets under way live on Sky Sports this weekend.Don’t know what it’s all about? Then read on — here are all the main questions answered by Sky Sports presenter David Garrido.So, exactly what is this ‘Extreme E’?Extreme E is an exciting new motorsport, racing all-electric SUVs off-road in five different venues across diverse, challenging terrains. These venues are located in some of the most remote places on earth, and they’ve been chosen because these places have been devastated by the effects of climate change.As such, as well as the sporting spectacle, Extreme E is deliberately set out to highlight the destruction of the planet and inspire people, companies and locations to take positive steps in climate action. The use of electric vehicles is part of the solution, and also a chance for teams and manufacturers to test and showcase their latest automotive technology.This sport is the brainchild of Alejandro Agag, a Spanish businessman previously involved in Formula 1 with drivers such as Romain Grosjean and who also founded Formula E, the all-electric single-seater city-center series.Who is involved?There are nine teams, each with one male and female driver (gender equality being another pillar of Extreme E), including famous names from many different motorsports.We have three Formula 1 world champions as team owners — Lewis Hamilton (X44), Nico Rosberg (Rosberg X Racing) and Jenson Button (JBXE) who is also a driver himself.Also among the driver line-up are former world rally champions Sébastien Loeb who won nine straight titles between 2004 and 2012 and twice-winner Carlos Sainz who has three Dakar Rally crowns.Rallycross is represented mainly by Swedish trio Johan Kristoffersson, Timmy Hansen and Mattias Ekström who between them have won the last five world titles.As for other British interest, Jamie Chadwick is the current W Series champion and a development driver with Williams F1, while Catie Munnings lifted the Ladies Trophy at the European Rally Championship in 2016. The other Briton involved is Oli Bennett, who won seven out of nine races in the 2017 British Rallycross Championship.Behind the scenes, there are further F1 links with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown as Andretti United’s team principal, while Adrian Newey, Chief Technical Officer at Red Bull Racing, and ex-driver Jean-Eric Vergne are both with Veloce Racing.How does the racing work?All the action takes place over two days. On Saturday all the teams will do two qualifying runs of the course, with the male and female driver each driving a lap and a changeover (known as ‘The Switch’) in between. Each of these runs will total roughly 18 kilometers, and their combined times will produce an order.From that order, the fastest three teams will go through to the first semi-final race on Sunday, the middle three teams battle it out in another semi dubbed the ‘Crazy Race’ and the slowest three teams will race in ‘The Shootout’. From that first semi, the top two finishers progress through to the final, joined by the winner of the Crazy Race. In the final, quite simply the winner of the race is crowned the XPrix winner.Points are awarded by placing, as you go from first (XPrix winner) to ninth place (third finisher in ‘The Shootout’).There are other unique features to spice up the racing yet further, such as ‘Hyperdrive’: whoever performs the longest jump on the first jump of each race is awarded an additional boost of speed, and that team also gets an extra championship point.No fans will be in situ at the races (to keep the series’ carbon footprint to a minimum), but the ‘Gridplay’ feature lets them vote for their favorite driver to gain grid advantage. The team who receives the most votes can select its grid position for the final, but if they’re not in it, they can gift their votes to another team of their choice. The team with the second-most votes gets second choice of grid spot, and so on.As part of Extreme E’s sustainability drive, each vote also includes a micro-payment towards the master charity / Legacy Programme. (More on this later.)Where are the venues for the races?Strap yourselves in, this is going to be quite some global expedition.There are five different venues for the races in Extreme E’s inaugural season, all themed around different remote locations and related environmental issues. They start in AlUla in Saudi Arabia for the Desert XPrix in early April, then head to Lac Rose in Senegal in late May for the Ocean XPrix.Then there’s a gap of roughly three months before round 3 in Greenland on the Russell Glacier near Kangerlussuaq (Arctic XPrix) at the end of August, and after that we head south — to Santa Maria, Belterra in the Pará region of Brazil for the Amazon XPrix in October and finally Tierra del Fuego in Argentina for the Glacier XPrix in mid-December.Read more stories from Sky SportsCeltic make contact with Howe in manager searchAubameyang conundrum for Arsenal?PL predictions: Defeats for Man City, LiverpoolWhat’s the car they’re using?It’s called the Odyssey 21, and it’s essentially an oversized electric buggy. The vehicle is manufactured by Spark Racing Technology, and there is Formula 1 involvement here too with McLaren providing the drivetrain and Williams the electric battery, while Continental supply the tires. It was unveiled to the public at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in June 2019 and then had a decent run-out at the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia in January 2020, with Ken Block finishing third on the final stage in the car category. Not a bad debut.The fact it’s electric isn’t just significant in terms of the way it’s driven, but also primarily its weight. It’s a 1,650-kilogramme, 2.3-metre wide beast, and yet it races up to 60 miles per hour in just 4.5 seconds. With 550 brake horsepower, the Odyssey 21 can reach a top speed of 120 miles per hour and tackles gradients of up to 130 per cent.Very minimal tweaking to the cars can be done by teams, basically restricted to bodywork, but of course each team will have their own specific livery. As an electric SUV, it is far quieter than its internal combustion engine petrol or diesel equivalent, but it also features instant torque and very quick acceleration. The drivers I’ve spoken to have also praised its driveability, but one told me that one of the challenges is simply trying to get the thing to stop…due to its weight.How will the cars’ batteries be charged? They’ve got a super-low-carbon solution for that as well: hydrogen fuel cells. This innovative idea from British company AFC Energy uses water and sun to generate hydrogen power. Not only will this process emit no greenhouse emissions, its only by-product will be water, which will be utilized elsewhere on-site.Want a fun fact about the car? Of course you do. Here you go: the stored energy in the battery inside the Odyssey 21 could keep 2,600 mobile phones charged for a week.How do the cars get to the venues?A-ha! This is another twist, and perhaps one of the most significant unique selling points of the series.They’ll be transported from venue to venue aboard the RMS St. Helena, a former Royal Mail passenger-cargo vessel which has undergone an extensive refit to transform her into Extreme E’s operations hub.But moving the cars around isn’t her only use. As well as serving as a ‘floating paddock’, the St. Helena will carry all other equipment required to the race locations, a 50-person crew and she will also house laboratories for scientists to carry out invaluable research on climate change and ocean pollution and contribute to the championship’s legacy program (more on that later), and its sustainability cause.By choosing the seas over the skies, Extreme E’s carbon footprint in terms of logistics will be reduced by two thirds, compared to travelling by air freight. And there are other examples too. The ship’s propulsion units and generators run on ultra-low-sulphur diesel, the St. Helena uses low-energy LED lights, low-consumption bathroom fittings and even chairs made from recycled plastic bottles collected from the Mediterranean Sea. Every little helps.FALMOUTH, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 25: The St Helena cargo ship docked on February 25, 2021 in Falmouth, England.Hugh R Hastings | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesSo, what are these legacy programs you mentioned?Along with environmental awareness and gender equality, Extreme E also wants to make a tangible impact, leaving the venues it will visit in a better state than how it found them. To that end, it will be involved in local activities so that it can meaningfully contribute to the rehabilitation of these areas which have been ravaged by climate change in different ways.In Saudi Arabia, for the Desert XPrix, they’ll support the Great Green Wall initiative which aims to create a barrier of trees and protective landscapes across the Sahel-Sahara border and the drivers will also visit a local turtle conservation project. In Senegal, the legacy program will support Marine Protected Areas to try to safeguard and revive aquatic diversity, as well as running plastic clearing initiatives on the beach in Dakar, and the drivers will be helping to plant mangroves — one million trees are to be planted across 60 hectares.The same goes for Greenland where Extreme E will support the territory’s plans to fully transition to 100% clean energy sources and join forces with UNICEF Greenland to educate children about the impacts of climate change; the Amazon where they’ll work with existing conservation organizations to protect and replant an area with agroforest, providing crops that can be harvested by locals; and finally the southern tip of Argentina where the ice is receding at an alarming rate. If that continues, most if not all of the cirque glaciers in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego will disappear during the next two decades, and both valley glaciers and the Patagonian ice sheets will be severely reduced as well.Okay, I’m in. Where can I watch Extreme E?All sessions of all race weekends will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Action and/or Sky Sports Mix, kicking off with the first qualifying session from Saudi Arabia at 7am BST on Saturday, April 3.On top of that, Sky will broadcast ‘Electric Odyssey’, a 20-part epic transglobal magazine show series targeting an environmentally-aware audience with a passion for adventure, which will help fill the gaps between the five rounds of racing.This unique Extreme E journey is just starting, and it’s set to be an extraordinary, exciting and impactful eight months ahead, both on and off “track”. More

Google may be calling people back into the office, but many other companies — not to mention entrepreneurs — are still committed to remote work.From Croatia to Barbados, destinations provide vastly different experiences for foreigners who wish to work from new shores. The weather is usually better (save hurricanes), and costs can be cheaper (excluding imported goods).But life isn’t an Instagram photograph, warned one digital nomad who spoke with CNBC Global Traveler about living and working abroad.  Bali, IndonesiaName: Jubril AgoroFrom: ChicagoAfter more than a decade of life as a digital nomad in places such as Thailand, Colombia and Africa, Agoro arrived in Bali in December of 2020. He chose the Indonesian island for one reason: the people who live there.”The people of Bali are some of the most friendly, calm spirits that I’ve ever met,” London-born Agoro told CNBC. “On top of that, the cost of living here is about one-fourth of what I was paying in Miami for a similar lifestyle.”Agoro operates a travel documentary company called Passport Heavy with four members of his team from a large villa staffed by a chef, personal trainer, housekeepers and villa manager.”We have all these people so that we can work really efficiently, and we don’t really have to leave,” he said.Agoro gave two examples of monthly expenditures remote workers can expect:1. Budget or solo lifestyleNice apartment – $500Scooter – $70Gas – $10Eating out – $300Gym membership – $40Entertainment – $200Weekly massages – $72. “Six-figure” lifestyleVilla – $1,000Upgraded motorcycle – $170Gas – $20Eating out – $600-$700Nicer gym membership with group classes – $150Entertainment – $1,000Weekly massage – $30Though Bali is still closed to international tourists and lacks an official program for remote workers, Bali has a community of digital nomads, some arriving via investment visas or by government invitation, Agoro said. Others are finding ways around immigration rules, as reported by Singapore digital newspaper Today.Shipping isn’t ideal (“there’s no Amazon Prime”) and can be pricey, said Agoro, who paid $85 to have a replacement credit card sent to him from the United States. Still, he loves Bali’s balanced lifestyle and low-key nature.Ubud, Uluwatu and Canggu are popular with remote workers in Bali, said Agoro, who chose Canggu for its “many coffee shops, beach clubs, great internet, amazing restaurants, gyms [and] yoga studios.”Courtesy of Jubril Agoro”You can’t tell the difference between someone who has $10 million… versus someone who has $482 in their bank account,” he said.He cautioned people not to be “bamboozled by the Instagram highlights,” saying most remote workers “are on a laptop, cranking stuff out … working just as hard as people around the world.”Agoro originally planned to stay a year, but will probably end up staying two, he said.”I’m like most people who come to Bali,” said Agoro. “I’m going to stay here as long as I can because I’m living my best life.”BarbadosName: David Esposito From: New Hampshire, U.S.A.When his employer moved to remote work for all of 2021, Esposito decided to apply to live in Barbados despite having never been before.Seeing “a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he applied for a 12-Month Barbados Welcome Stamp, a process he describes as very easy. Applying took no more than 15 minutes, and he was approved about 10 days later, he said.He arrived in February of 2021 and is living in an “amazing Airbnb apartment” in Atlantic Shores, a residential area on the southern end of the island. He said the people (“super accommodating and friendly”) and the island itself (“gorgeous”) are the highlights of life there.Esposito, a consultant for a software company, was living in Manchester, New Hampshire, before moving to Barbados.Courtesy of David EspositoThat said, island life in Barbados isn’t cheap, said Esposito.”Having lived in Boston and Denver prior to Barbados, I didn’t find the same level of ‘sticker shock’ that many warned me of before arrival,” he said. “Rent prices are comparable to what I’ve seen in the United States, but goodness are the taxes on imports high!”Food is “expensive as hell,” said Esposito, and items aren’t always available. He also relies solely on taxis due to left-hand driving, problems with drunk drivers, the unpredictability of local buses and rental prices.”I have seen what it costs to rent a car — no, thank you,” he said.Esposito said he arrived with no expectations, but the one thing he was not prepared for was the local attitude toward dogs, which are not regarded as pets.”I definitely wasn’t ready for all the sideways glances, outright avoidance and aggression I’ve experienced while walking my dog,” he said.Still, he said he’d “like to stick around for as long as I can — it’s a wonderful place!”CroatiaName: Melissa Paul From: Southern CaliforniaWhen Croatia began accepting digital nomads in January, Paul was the first person accepted into the program.A marketing consultant for the wedding and special events industry, she arrived in Croatia in 2014 and lived on Krk Island near Rijeka, an experience she found “too remote.” Now Paul lives in a home she purchased in the hilltop town of Labin in the western Istrian region.Croatia’s program, which allows stays of up to a year, works for so-called “slowmads” who prefer to “slowly visit a country over many months, rather than jumping from place to place,” said Paul.Courtesy of Melissa Paul”I learned how cold, lonely and foreign things could be when not prepared,” she said. “Now, I know what I need to be comfortable.”Paul cites Croatia’s safety, technological infrastructure and beauty — including its beaches, islands, waterfalls and national parks — as some of the best aspects of life there.”Add to that the friendly people, arts and crafts, delicious, high-quality, locally-grown… gourmet products like olive oil, wine, truffles, pasta, honey, and so forth… it’s an incredible place to live,” she said.Paul describes Croatia as “massively less expensive” than her former home of Los Angeles. She estimates 1,000 to 1,500 euros per month ($1,180 to $1,770) provide a “good standard of living.”By owning her own home and car, she pays less than $950 per month for utilities, food, gas, health insurance, coffee and a few dinners out, she said.More remote workers moved to Croatia in the past year due to Covid-19 and political unrest caused by the last U.S. presidential administration (the latter known locally as “Trump refugees”), said Paul.Courtesy of Melissa PaulA two-bedroom apartment in smaller villages rents for less than $450 per month, she said. In desirable city centers, such as Zagreb and Split, this could more than double.The one thing that’s pricey: food, which gets more expensive during tourist seasons, Paul told CNBC.Other than missing her parents in Maryland, Paul doesn’t find anything challenging about living in Croatia, though she said she wishes she would have studied Croatian and Italian before arriving.”The lifestyle is wonderful and in normal, non-Covid times, the ability to travel regularly into neighboring European countries is amazing,” she said. “I have learned to use the time differences to get ahead of deadlines to allow me to get out to the beach in the afternoon for a swim, a long walk in the country or a leisurely coffee with friends.”Many remote workers on their way to Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain end up staying longer in Croatia because “like me, they fall in love with the country.””If anything, I would say my life gets richer the longer I stay,” she said.JamaicaName: Sheryl Nance-NashFrom: New YorkNance-Nash’s small home on Long Island, New York, was fine before the pandemic because she was often traveling for work.”With the pandemic, that came to an immediate halt,” she said. “I started going stir crazy and feeling really cooped up.”She moved to Robin’s Bay, Jamaica, in September 2020. Even when life returns to “normal,” she envisions she will continue to live in Jamaica at least part of the year.One of Nance-Nash’s major clients is allowing everyone to work from home (previously it didn’t), and she uses Zoom and WhatsApp to conduct interview for her work as a travel writer.”Now that I’ve got this remote thing down, I don’t imagine staying in one place 24-7!” she said. “Life is short; I want to enjoy every minute.”Nance-Nash and her husband live in Robin’s Bay, Jamaica, an area she describes as rural and off the tourist track.Courtesy of Sheryl Nance-Nash”I literally stare at the ocean all day as I work,” she said. “I hear the crashing waves. It has done wonders for my health — mental and physical.”Nance-Nash lives in a house she built with her husband, a Jamaica citizen, in a rural part of the country. Life there has been “an adjustment,” and comes with internet and electricity issues, especially on stormy days during hurricane season. The grocery store is 30 minutes away.”Paradise is not perfect!” she said.Costs are a mixed. Imported products, such as food, can be high, while local food, alcohol and transportation can be inexpensive. Long taxi rides can cost as little as $5, “however, you will likely have other people in the taxi.””I go to a wonderful place for a mani/pedi, that includes a bit of pampering with hot stones and a glass of wine, and it’s about $35,” she said. “I certainly didn’t get that in New York!”Unlike other Caribbean islands, Jamaica doesn’t have a formal program for remote workers, and Nance-Nash said the process to stay was difficult, but worth it.”The beauty, rolling hills, mountains, ocean and tropical greenery has been more stunning than I imagined,” she said. “To see this every day is to feel blessed beyond belief.”Read more about remote work The list of countries where travelers can go live and work remotely is growingMore travel hotspots are opening to people who work from homeTravelers can work abroad in an island paradise — if they make $100,000+ More

In this articleAZN-GBUrsula von der Leyen, European Commission president.Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesLONDON — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it herself: “The start was tough.”The European Union has had a bumpy Covid-19 vaccine rollout. The campaign has prompted complaints that regulators were too slow to approve the shots and led to a simmering tussle with AstraZeneca as the pharmaceutical giant repeatedly slashed its delivery commitments.More recently, several countries briefly halted their use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine amid safety concerns, a move that baffled health experts and raised questions about future uptake.The World Health Organization expressed concern earlier this week that the region’s ongoing coronavirus crisis now appears “more worrying” than it has for several months. The warning comes as many countries introduce new measures in an attempt to curb a third wave of infections.The health agency also described Europe’s vaccination campaign as “unacceptably slow” and said it was crucial to speed up the rollout because new infections are currently increasing in every age group apart from those aged 80 years or older.It’s a messy picture, further complicated by the unique nature of European politics.”There have been various problems with the system, and it is a complex system, so I think it’s key not to point the finger to one pointed failure but recognize that it’s very complex,” Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, told CNBC.The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, has been in charge of negotiating contracts with the pharmaceutical firms on behalf of the 27 member states. The institution is also responsible for overseeing the exports of the shots produced in the bloc.However, health policy matters are a competence of the member states, which means the 27 capitals organize the inoculations in their own countries and can ultimately decide to buy Covid shots outside the deals struck by the commission, for example.This juxtaposition between national and EU institutions has often hindered the reputation of the bloc in the wider vaccination efforts.”There is issues to do with both (national and EU institutions). There clearly are politics in it and we have all heard about that in the media, but there are also issues to do with the decision-making structures, the commissions’ views and the priorities of member states,” Bauld told CNBC.AstraZeneca shot suspensionThis was highlighted recently when 13 EU countries decided to halt the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot while possible side effects were investigated.At the time, the European Medicines Agency – the drugs regulator for the entire 27-member region — recommended that countries continue to use the vaccine even while it was reviewing data of blood clots in some vaccinated people. But some member states preferred to be cautious and used their sovereign power to stop the use of this vaccine while the EMA completed its review. The drug regulator’s safety committee concluded in a preliminary review that the benefits of the vaccine continue to outweigh the risk of side effects.It has also been the case that heads of state have used the institutions in Brussels to complain about the hiccups in the process. Earlier in March, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said there was “secrecy” in the decision to distribute the vaccines at the commission’s steering board.The group, which is chaired by the commission, has representatives from all the member states, including Austria.”Why do they come up with this now knowing that Austria is a member of the steering board, like the 26 other member states, and has been informed of the previous allocations like the others?” an EU official from another member state, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, asked during a CNBC interview in March.The distribution of the vaccines is carried out on a pro-rata basis, depending on the size of the countries’ population. But some EU nations were particularly keen to have more of the AstraZeneca shot, since it is cheaper and easier to store than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.”If a member state decides not to take up its pro rata allocation, the doses are redistributed among the other interested member states,” the commission said in a statement in March.We also know that AstraZeneca has unfortunately under-produced and under-delivered. And this painfully, of course, reduced the speed of the vaccination campaign.Ursula von der LeyenEuropean Commission PresidentThe distribution of vaccines became an issue as a result of AstraZeneca’s repeated cuts to supply deliveries.While the EU was expecting to receive 90 million doses of the shot by the end of the first quarter, the pharmaceutical giant said it could only deliver 40 million doses in that timeframe. This was later revised down to 30 million doses.AstraZeneca has blamed low yields in European plants for the lower deliveries. Additionally, the drugmaker has said it could only aim to deliver 70 million doses between April and June, when the EU was expecting 180 million in the same period.”We also know that AstraZeneca has unfortunately under-produced and under-delivered. And this painfully, of course, reduced the speed of the vaccination campaign,” von der Leyen said at a press conference in March.Tougher export rulesTo solve this issue, the commission proposed stricter rules on exports of shots produced in the bloc.Since the end of January, the 27 countries can stop shipments of Covid vaccines when a company is not complying with delivery targets with the EU. This is how the Italian government stopped a shipment of AstraZeneca shots from going to Australia in March. Between the end of January and late March, the commission received 315 requests for vaccine exports, but only this one was refused.But because EU officials are concerned about further delivery delays, the commission decided to toughen up the export regulations from late March onward.I think the EU is definitely prioritizing its population first but no different from other high-income countries or regions.Dimitri Eynikelcoordinator at Medecins sans FrontieresThe commission will not only be checking whether the pharma companies are delivering on schedule, but also whether the recipient country has any bans or restrictions of Covid vaccines produced there and whether this nation also has a better epidemiological situation than the EU.”It is quite concerning at the political level the whole discussion about exports restrictions, controls or even bans,” Dimitri Eynikel, coordinator at Medecins sans Frontieres, told CNBC. He added that this could lead to further obstructions, divisions and delays in vaccine distributions.Ultimately the supply chain is international and if one nation were to stop sending raw materials to the EU, for example, then that could undermine the production of the shots within the bloc.The EU’s move to have stricter oversight on where vaccines go sparked criticisms of vaccine nationalism. “I think the EU is definitely prioritizing its population first but no different from other high-income countries or regions. The United States is doing the same, the U.K. is doing the same so in that sense (the EU) is no different,” Eynikel said.Data shared by the International Monetary Fund has shown that China, India and the EU are among the biggest exporters of Covid shots, while the U.S. and the U.K. have exported none so far.Hopes for the second quarterDespite several issues so far, the EU is confident that the next three months will prove to be a turning point in the vaccine program.In total, the commission is expecting 360 million doses of Covid shots between April and June, meaning it is well placed to achieve its target of vaccinating 70% of the adult population before the end of summer.”Despite the fact that things could have gone faster, granted, but we have had a great success. The alternative of not having procured vaccines together would be that we would be competing between European member states and possibly some of us would have not have the vaccine even at this stage,” Chris Fearne, Malta’s health minister, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday. More

A health worker administers a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic in Bhopal, India, March 25, 2021.STR | Xinhua News Agency | Getty ImagesIndia’s Covid-19 cases are rising again and the country’s richest state is getting hit hard.Maharashtra — home to India’s financial capital Mumbai — reported more than 248,000 new cases in just seven days, CNBC’s calculation of government data showed.The country’s second most populous state accounted for 57% of all cases reported in India over the same period. Infection cases have been rising since mid-February, but fatality rate remains relatively low.There are more than 580,000 total active cases in India, or about 4.78% of all positive cases, according to the health ministry’s daily update on Thursday. Five states — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Punjab — account for 78.9% of all active cases in India, with a majority of them in the western state of Maharashtra.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsMaharashtra’s state government imposed night curfew last Sunday and banned all gatherings, including political and religious ones. It also enforced a mask mandate.While authorities are debating on further restrictions to curb the spread of the virus, local media reports said that a total lockdown of the state — similar to last year’s nationwide lockdown — may not be in the cards.Billionaire businessman Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mumbai-based conglomerate Mahindra Group, said on Twitter this week that a lockdown would hurt “the poor, migrant workers & small businesses.” Instead, he urged Maharashtra’s chief minister to focus on building up hospitals and health-care infrastructure and to avoid Covid-related deaths.Economic impact limitedThe economic impact from India’s second wave of coronavirus infection appears to be localized for now, Citi economists said in a report this week.”Both the geographic nature of Covid spread and lower appetite among policy makers would keep lockdowns in 2021 more localized and less stringent,” said economists Samiran Chakraborty and Baqar M Zaidi. They pointed out that more than half of the active Covid cases are concentrated in 10 cities, with eight of them in Maharashtra.Those 10 cities account for just around 10% to 12% of India’s GDP, according to Chakraborty and Zaidi.”So localized lockdowns in these cities is unlikely to lead to large-scale disruption of economic activity in the country,” they said, adding that they still remain concerned about contact-based service industries that are likely to suffer more due to the second Covid wave.Last year’s nationwide lockdown sent India into a technical recession, and disproportionately impacted small business owners and workers in the informal sector. In the first wave, the infection rate peaked around September.India is also preparing for upcoming state elections and regional festivities, which tend to draw large crowds gathering in places, pointed out Radhika Rao, India economist at Singapore’s DBS Group. She said heightened preventive measures are needed to slow the spread of the virus.In a recent note, she said the ongoing vaccination campaign can act as a speed breaker to slow the outbreak.Vaccination driveIndia launched one of the world’s largest mass inoculation campaigns in January, with an initial aim of vaccinating some 300 million people including frontline workers, older residents and those with underlying health conditions.Starting Thursday, India will allow people who are 45 years and older to get Covid shots regardless of their health conditions. Last week, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said there are plans to widen that age bracket to include more people.Health ministry data on Thursday showed India administered more than 65 million vaccine doses as of 7 a.m. local time.At the current rate, it could take the South Asian nation 2.4 years to vaccinate 75% of its population, according to a recent report from New Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation. That is typically the minimum percentage of the population that needs to be inoculated in order to achieve herd immunity, where the disease can no longer spread widely within the community.Like most countries, India is also dealing with vaccine skepticism and a slew of misinformation that could potentially slow down New Delhi’s inoculation efforts.India’s Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan this week urged people over the age of 45 to register for vaccination and said during a media briefing that, “vaccine hesitancy must go.” He also reportedly told the states to tighten lax coronavirus prevention measures immediately to avoid overwhelming the health-care system through a surge in infections.Overall, India has reported more than 12.2 million infection cases since last January and over 162,900 people have died. Majority of the patients have recovered from the illness. More

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about his $2 trillion infrastructure plan during an event to tout the plan at Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 31, 2021.Jonathan Ernst | ReutersThe CEOs of three companies in the electric vehicle and semiconductor industries reacted Thursday to President Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure spending proposal. Sanjay Mehrotra of Micron Technology, Jagdeep Singh of QuantumScape and Craig Knight of soon-to-be-public Hyzon Motors appeared individually on CNBC’s “Mad Money.”The Biden administration announced Wednesday it wants to spend billions on these industries, including $50 billion to address supply constraints in semiconductors and $174 billion to bolster the adoption of electrified vehicles.Here’s what the CEOs had to say:Micron”This is clearly important because the semiconductors form the backbone of everything today in the economies,” Micron’s Mehrotra said. “We are really a leader in memory and storage, the only U.S. company. We are definitely excited about the prospects of driving greater leadership in research, technology and products through the U.S., as well as on a worldwide basis.”Micron is a major player in the market of dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, and flash memory. With demand for electronic consumer products rising, a semiconductor shortage has been a boon for the chipmaking industry, but a negative for their end markets, particularly in autos. The White House infrastructure plan would commit money to semiconductor manufacturing and research in the U.S.QuantumScapeQuantumScape’s Singh welcomed Biden’s pledge to invest in electric vehicles, noting that more focus is needed addressing key hurdles that keep electric vehicles from being competitive with traditional combustion engines. Those hurdles include long-range travel, battery charging times and lower costs, he said.”It’s very exciting. … It’s great that the administration is so supportive of this electrified transition that is critical to regress emissions, but our view is that at the end of the day, you know, government policy is not enough,” Singh told Jim Cramer.”You’ve got to have a product that people want to buy, and we think that people are going to want to buy more EVs once they’re more competitive with combustion engines. That’s really the promise of what we’re doing.”Hyzon MotorsHyzon Motors is a private hydrogen-fuel cell company that’s based in Honeoye Falls, New York. The company, which is being acquired by a blank-check firm called Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corp in a deal worth $3.9 billion, does business in the commercial vehicle market, including heavy-duty trucks and buses.Knight — who heads and co-founded the company, said hydrogen-powered trucks don’t get enough recognition — adding that the power source is more suitable for long-range driving.”Hydrogen trucks are electric trucks. They are fuel cell electric trucks,” he said. “We see great potential for those kind of back-to-base operations with high utilization to move toward hydrogen.”Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer’s world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter – Jim Cramer Twitter – Facebook – InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? [email protected] More

A United Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft lands at San Francisco International Airport.Justin Sullivan | Getty ImagesUnited Airlines on Thursday told staff it will soon begin hiring hundreds of pilots — a process the airline was forced to halt when the coronavirus pandemic devastated travel demand last year, according to an internal email reviewed by CNBC.The Chicago-based airline is the first of the large U.S. carriers to announce it will resume pilot hiring, the latest sign it’s preparing for a recovery. The airline will start with hiring about 300 pilots who had conditional job offers or training scheduled last year before the airline called off hiring.For the past year, airlines, including United, have urged thousands of workers to take buyouts, early retirement packages and leaves of absence as they raced to cut costs during the pandemic. United and its pilots’ union — the Air Line Pilots Association — reached an agreement to avoid furloughs with its pilots last year, including reduced hours for some junior pilots, though those lower guarantees are suspended because of federal aid.Congress included a third round of federal payroll support for airlines that prohibits job cuts through Sept. 30 as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package last month. Since March 2020, lawmakers have set aside $54 billion in grants and loans for airlines to pay workers during the crisis.U.S. airlines together lost $35 billion last year but expect a steady rise in bookings as more of the public is vaccinated and feels more comfortable getting on planes.”With vaccination rates increasing and travel demand trending upwards, I’m excited to share that United will resume the pilot hiring process that was halted last year,” Bryan Quigley, United’s senior vice president of flight operations, wrote in a staff note on Thursday, which was viewed by CNBC. “We’ll start with the approximately 300 pilots who either had a new hire class date that was canceled, or who had a 2020 conditional job offer.”Air travel demand has recently perked up. The Transportation Security Administration screened an average of about 1.2 million people per day last month, up 15% from a year ago when the pandemic and stay-at-home orders halted almost all travel.Last month’s volumes are still less than half of March 2019 levels with business and international travel still mostly stalled, but leisure demand is starting to climb. United CEO Scott Kirby on Wednesday told an industry conference that domestic leisure demand has almost completely recovered.”I’m especially pleased that we were able to project our people during this disaster,” said Todd Insler, chairman of the United chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association and a captain at United about the pandemic. He said if the company furloughed it would have been much harder to capitalize on the travel rebound.Like United, other carriers are starting to see a need for additional staff, particularly pilots, whose training is costly and time-consuming.Spirit Airlines last month said it resumed hiring pilots and flight attendants, while other budget carriers Allegiant Air and Sun Country Airlines also expect to hire this year. More

In this articlePAYXCAGLEVISTZCNBC’s Jim Cramer said Thursday he won’t be surprised if the March jobs report is soft.”Yesterday, I suggested that the counter-trend rally in tech could continue for a few more days before it ebbs,” the “Mad Money” host said. “So far that forecast stands, but without a cool employment number tomorrow, I expect the reopening stocks — think the banks and the industrials — to come back into vogue on the Wall Street fashion show.”While the market will be closed in observance of Good Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release March hiring data.Cramer’s comments come after a banner day for the S&P 500, which crossed over the 4,000 level for the first time during the trading day.Stocks managed to rise after the Labor Department released a disappointing weekly jobless claim number in the morning. The department reported that 719,000 workers filed first-time claims for jobless benefits last week, much higher than economists had forecast.”Welcome back to Bizarro Wall Street, where bad news is good news, at least when it comes to the economy,” the “Mad Money” host said.Investors who want to see stock prices climb higher are going to want to see strong earnings reports from last quarter and more non-inflationary news that’ll discourage the Federal Reserve from hiking interest rates, Cramer said.Cramer gave his game plan for the week ahead. Earnings-per-share projections are based on FactSet estimates:Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsTuesday: Paychex reportsPaychexQ3 2021 earnings release: before market; conference call: 9:30 a.m.Projected EPS: 92 centsProjected revenue: $1.11 billion”I expect it to trade down no matter what the company has to say. It’s become a post-earnings pattern,” Cramer said. “There are a bunch of negative analysts who’ve been wrong all the way up. They’ll most likely stay wrong, giving you a chance to buy Paychex on weakness, even if it reports a great quarter.”Thursday: Constellation Brands, Conagra Brands and Levi Strauss reportConstellation BrandsQ4 2021 earnings release: before market; conference call: 11:30 a.m.Projected EPS: $1.55Projected revenue: $1.86 billion”Constellation got hit with a negative research piece the other day that suggested the beer and liquor company, which is a fantastic grower, might deliver a light quarter thanks to weakness in Texas,” Cramer said. “The devastation from the superstorm Uri … may actually hurt their earnings. Texas is a big market for them.”Conagra BrandsQ3 2021 earnings release: 7:30 a.m.; conference call: 9:30 a.m.Projected EPS: 58 centsProjected revenue: $2.72 billion”I do worry, as with all the other food companies, that Conagra might temper its forecast because of concerns about the great reopening, but this has been one of the standouts in a pretty anemic group.”Levi StraussQ1 2021 earnings release: after market; conference call: 5 p.m.Projected EPS: 24 centsProjected revenue: $1.25 billion”I just wish Levi Strauss stock hadn’t run so much going into the quarter. We know PVH ran up huge into its results and then the stock got blasted after a fairly good number, so why don’t we see how Levi’s behaves going into the earnings.”DisclaimerQuestions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer’s world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter – Jim Cramer Twitter – Facebook – InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? [email protected] More