New Yorkers Received $40 Billion in Stimulus Help, Mayor Says

New York City residents received $40 billion in stimulus benefits that have been critical to the city’s recovery from the coronavirus, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

The $40 billion, which includes stimulus checks, unemployment benefits and Paycheck Protection Program loans, shows how much the city needs action on additional federal stimulus, de Blasio said. The city avoided deeper revenue declines because of the first round of stimulus, he said.

The city must now close a $3.8 billion fiscal 2022 budget gap with federal stimulus, the mayor said. It is in “dire, dire shape,” without action from Washington, he said. De Blasio must present a new budget in January.

How a secret agreement with Google's cofounders is putting CEO Sundar Pichai's leadership to the test

When Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped away from their day-to-day duties at Alphabet last year, an informal agreement with CEO Sundar Pichai was made: the two billionaire cofounders would make themselves available whenever Pichai called, but they would not initiate contact.

It was an important acknowledgement that Pichai, the understated, 48-year-old engineer who rose through the ranks, was now the sole decision maker at the helm of an internet powerhouse that includes Google, YouTube and Android. 

The founders' arrangement also signaled that the grueling task of steering the company through some of the biggest crises in its history was now Pichai's problem.

Since taking control of both Google and its parent company Alphabet, insiders say Pichai has been leading the empire with a steady hand. 

"After the craziness of the Eric Schmidts and the Larry Pages, there was suddenly this sense of humble normality," said one former executive who worked with both Pichai and the cofounders. "Sundar brought a more balanced point of view."

Yet some insiders worry that Pichai's pragmatism is a limitation, and that Google's values are clashing with its ambitions to get ahead.

You can read the full story here with a Business Insider subscription: Inside Larry Page and Sergey Brin's quiet agreement with Sundar Pichai that has forced Google's CEO to distinguish his leadership style

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Localised lockdowns to slow recovery: Nomura

‘Business resumption outlook worrying’.

Lockdowns in Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh can slow the economic recovery, and the outlook on business resumption remains concerning, a Japanese brokerage said on Monday.

Nomura, which has built a business resumption index to gauge the recovery after the pandemic, said that the index moved up by a notch for the week ended November 22, but continues to be below pre-pandemic levels.

However, it is the localised lockdowns in various States due to an increase in COVID-19 infections which seemed to worry the analysts.

The lockdowns could “slow the sequential pace of recovery in the next 2-3 months, following the sharp rebound thus far”, the brokerage warned.

S&P ‘sceptical’ of banks’ corporate ownership

‘RBI will face challenges in supervision’.

S&P Global Ratings on Monday expressed scepticism over allowing corporate ownership in banks given India’s weak corporate governance amid large corporate defaults over the past few years.

Last week, an RBI panel had proposed that large corporates may be permitted to promote banks, as well as raising the cap on promoters’ stake in private sector banks to 26%, from 15% at present. “We are, however, sceptical of allowing corporate ownership in banks given India’s weak corporate governance amid large corporate defaults over the past few years,” S&P said in a statement.

In addition, the RBI would face challenges in supervising non-financial sector entities, and supervisory resources could be further strained at a time when the health of India’s financial sector was weak, it added.

“Corporate ownership of banks raises the risk of intergroup lending, diversion of funds, and reputational exposure. Also, the risk of contagion from corporate defaults to the financial sector increases significantly,” the ratings agency said.

Ghislaine Maxwell Kept Photos of Topless Girls, Worker Says

Ghislaine Maxwell kept an album of photos of topless girls who visited Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach home, according to testimony from a former worker unsealed in a defamation lawsuit.

The worker, John Alessi, told lawyers for one of Maxwell’s accusers, Virginia Giuffre, in a June 2016 deposition that Maxwell had a “high-tech” camera and was constantly taking photographs by the money manager’s pool of European and American girls, most of whom were topless.

Maxwell, who was Epstein’s girlfriend and close aide, kept the photographs in an album on her desk, said Alessi, who said he last spoke to Epstein in 2014. A partial transcript of the deposition was unsealed in federal court in New York after failed efforts by the former socialite to keep it secret.

Maxwell faces criminal charges of sex trafficking and is being held in a federal lockup in Brooklyn. A separate civil suit by Giuffre has settled and the two sides are now fighting over the disclosure of documents. An email to Maxwell’s lawyers wasn’t immediately returned.

Earlier media reports have reported on the existence of the photographs, attributing details about them to a worker at Epstein’s home named Juan Alessi.

Epstein was awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking when he was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in what authorities ruled a suicide.

Former IAG boss Walsh named to head airline body IATA

PARIS (Reuters) – Former IAG boss Willie Walsh will be nominated to succeed IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac, who is stepping down in March, the global airline body said on Monday.

De Juniac, a former Air France-KLM CEO who has led IATA since 2016, made known his intention to step down several months ago, the organisation said in a statement.