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5 Things you need to know today

Switzer Daily
13 April 2022

1. Putin vows to continue invasion as peace talks ‘at dead end’
President Vladimir Putin said peace talks with Ukraine are “at a dead end” and vowed to continue Russia’s invasion as Kyiv accused Moscow of sabotaging the negotiations. “There’s been no word of progress for days in video-link peace talks after Ukraine accused Russian troops of carrying out war crimes including killing unarmed civilians in Bucha and other towns in the north. Western leaders have called for international investigations of the deaths,” Bloomberg reports. Putin says these claims are “fake”.

President Vladimir Putin said peace talks with Ukraine are “at a dead end” and vowed to continue Russia’s invasion as Kyiv accused Moscow of sabotaging the negotiations. “There’s been no word of progress for days in video-link peace talks after Ukraine accused Russian troops of carrying out war crimes including killing unarmed civilians in Bucha and other towns in the north. Western leaders have called for international investigations of the deaths,” Bloomberg reports. Putin says these claims are “fake”.

“The talks are extremely difficult,” said the chief Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak, adding that Russia is “sticking to its traditional practice of publicly pressing on the negotiating process.” 

Putin said that without a peace deal, “the military operation will continue until its final completion and the tasks that were set at the start of the operation are achieved.”

2. IVF the latest intervention to help save Koalas
Freezing koala sperm could become a key part of a strategy to save koalas from extinction by 2050. University of Newcastle scientists Lachlan Howell and Ryan Witt say koala “biobanking”, could be harnessed with IVF technology to help the endangered species reproduce.

An estimated 64,000 koalas were killed when 5.5m hectares were ravaged by the 2019-20 black summer bushfires in New South Wales.

“If the koala population dies in these kind of fire events, there is no way to bring them back or preserve their genetics,” Witt said. “We can cryopreserve koala sperm, just like we do for humans.”

3. Apple iPhone maker halts production in Shanghai due to covid
Apple iPhone assembler Pegatron has suspended production in Shanghai and Kunshan amid strict Covid-19 prevention measures. “Shanghai authorities have imposed stringent stay-at-home measures as mainland China faces its worst Covid outbreak since the initial phase of the pandemic in early 2020,” CNBC reports. It follows a similar suspension by Foxconn, a major assembler of iPhones, in March.

4. Is the BNPL sector a poisoned chalice?
According to the AFR, Afterpay’s deteriorating results have reignited debate about the profitability of its buy now, pay later business model amid a surge in write-offs and late fees that dragged its losses to $345 million. Afterpay’s US parent company, Block (formerly Square) revealed that its costs had blown out by 65% and its bad debts were up 70%.

“They’ve paid $US23 billion too much for it,” said McLean Roche Consulting founder Grant Halverson. “These results are horrendous.”

Gerard Brody from the Consumer Action Legal Centre said the results and increasing revenue from late fees proves the Afterpay business model is unethical.

“If late fees are increasing that is a further, really worrying indicator about the harms of this business model,” Mr Brody said.

“Any business making a significant proportion of revenue from late fees, it really indicates to me that they succeed when their customer loses. That’s a really unethical way to run a business.”

5. Futures point ASX lower
ASX futures were down 7 points or 0.1% to 7417 near 7am AEST, with the AUD +0.5% to 74.56 US cents. On Wall St: Dow -0.3% S&P 500 -0.3% Nasdaq-0.3%. 2-year yield: US -0.09% (2.41%) Australia +0.03% (2.14%). 10-year yield: US -0.06% (2.72%) Australia +0.07% (3.07%).

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