Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - ‘Freaking out’

There’s an unpleasant surprise awaiting the richest of the rich in a 114-page document released by the U.S. Treasury last month. Technical provisions in a new proposal (not mentioned when President Joe Biden presented his plans to raise taxes on the wealthy in April) could dismantle some of the most popular ways the richest 0.1% have legally avoided taxes for decades. Now some of them are “freaking out.” —David E. Rovella

Bloomberg is tracking the progress of coronavirus vaccines while mapping the pandemic worldwide. 

Here are today’s top stories  

U.S. financial firms seem to have collectively heard a bell ring in recent weeks, with many of the biggest banks breaking the news to workers that it’s time to suit up and come back like its 2019 all over again. But at least one lender is breaking from the pack. Synchrony Financial, the bank behind credit cards offered by Amazon.com and PayPal, told its workers they can come back, but not five days a week. It’s just the latest example of workplace flexibility that looks to outlast the pandemic.

Antitrust investigators at the U.S. Justice Department have stepped up scrutiny of Google’s digital ad market practices, showing that the Biden administration is actively pursuing a probe that started during the previous administration.

But on Monday, a federal judge threw out antitrust lawsuits filed against Facebook by the Federal Trade Commission and 40 states, in a huge victory for the social media platform.  

Tesla’s aspirations in China were dealt a major blow over the weekend after the government ordered that almost all the cars it’s sold there—more than 285,000 of them—must be fixed to address a safety issue.

Biden’s honeymoon with the progressive wing of his party risks an abrupt and politically damaging end as liberal Democrats fear he won’t fulfill their aspirations for climate policy or protecting voting rights.

The U.K. on Monday reported the most new coronavirus cases since January, fueled by the delta variant. Scotland had a record 3,285 new cases during the last 24 hours, the biggest daily increase since the start of the pandemic. South Africa’s official death toll has passed 60,000. Mixing doses of vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca-University of Oxford creates a strong immune response, according to results from a University of Oxford study. Here’s the latest on the pandemic.

Danielle Anderson was working in what has become the world’s most notorious laboratory just weeks before the first known cases of Covid-19 emerged in central China. Yet the Australian virologist still wonders what she missed: she paints a very different picture of the Wuhan Institute than the one you’ve been hearing.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow 

• India shifts to an offensive military posture on the Chinese border.
• Fired by bot: Amazon drivers are getting terminated by algorithm. 
• Bitcoin leads cryptos higher despite regulatory crackdown.
• Hong Kong is banning all passenger flights from the U.K.
• Abu Dhabi is using facial Covid scanners at malls and airports.
• Covid-weary super-rich point their massive yachts toward Greece.
• Bloomberg Businessweek: Where did Marcos hide his $10 billion?

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Crushing Heat Lands on the Pacific Northwest

In New York City, heat advisories started landing in mailboxes on Sunday. But in the Pacific Northwest, no one needed to check their messages. The brutally hot weather that’s already pushed the region’s temperatures to record highs is set to get even worse. Parts of Seattle, which had its warmest day ever on Sunday with a high of 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius), could go even higher this week.

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