The third and final day of Reuters Next continued to feature a wide-ranging group of global leaders and forward-thinkers including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen, World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan, PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman, Waymo Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and many more.
Here’s a look at the news highlights from the forum:
WHO’s top scientist says Omicron could displace Delta
The World Health Organization’s chief scientist told the Reuters Next conference on Friday the Omicron variant could become dominant because it is highly transmissible, but that a different vaccine may not be needed.
ECB likely to avoid a long-term commitment in December -Lagarde
The European Central Bank may set policy for a relatively short period at this month’s meeting given heightened uncertainty but should not delay a decision as markets need direction, ECB President Christine Lagarde told Reuters.
PayPal says ‘buy now, pay later’ volumes surged 400% on Black Friday
Volumes on PayPal Inc’s ‘buy now, pay later’ platform were five times higher this Black Friday compared with a year earlier as the payments giant starts to gain traction in the fast-growing credit method, said the company’s chief executive.
Blinken says Iran does not seem serious about returning to compliance with nuclear deal
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said that the latest round of Iran nuclear talks ended because Iran right now does not seem to be serious about doing what is necessary to return to compliance with a 2015 deal.
Google real estate exec says more workers coming in to office
Google has seen an increasing number of employees coming in to its offices each week, particularly younger workers, the company’s real estate chief said during an interview at the Reuters Next conference on Friday.
Omicron variant likely to usher growth downgrades -IMF’s Georgieva
Global economic growth projections from the International Monetary Fund will likely be downgraded due to the emergence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday.
Facebook whistleblower says transparency needed to fix social media ills
A deeper investigation into Facebook’s lack of controls to prevent misinformation and abuse in languages other than English is likely to leave people “even more shocked” about the potential harms caused by the social media firm, whistleblower Frances Haugen told Reuters.
For all the latest news coverage from Reuters Next, please click here.
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