Facebook announced a global restriction on news links from Australian publishers. Spain’s accumulated public debt reached 117% of its GDP at the end of 2020.

Facebook announces global ban on news links from Australian publishers

Facebook announced that it will restrict publishers and users in Australia from sharing or viewing news content. Previously, the government required technology companies such as Google and Facebook to pay for news content provided by publishers. This decision means that all Australian publishers will not be able to publish news content on the platform, and Facebook international users will not be able to view reports from Australian news media.

At the same time, Google announced a partnership with News Corp , which will pay for global coverage from the latter's news sites. News Corp's subsidiaries include Dow Jones & Co, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal.

Spain's accumulated public debt reached 117% of GDP at the end of 2020

According to data released by the Bank of Spain, the country's total public debt as of the end of 2020 was as high as 131.1 trillion euros, equivalent to 117% of GDP. The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to the Spanish economy. Supported by temporary employment regulations and unemployment subsidy funding policies, the average income of Spanish households has not fallen much, but public debt has surged. In the past year, the country's public debt has surged by 122 billion euros, almost equivalent to the total annual expenditure of the social security department on pensions. According to the Bank of Spain, the country's public debt hit a new high, the second largest increase since Spain entered the post-Franco era in 1975, second only to 128 billion euros in the middle of the Great Depression in 2009.

U.S. retail sales rose 5.3% in January, the biggest increase in seven months

U.S. retail sales in January posted their biggest increase in seven months, suggesting that household demand rebounded after a weak fourth quarter, thanks to factors such as government stimulus checks to combat the impact of the pandemic. Data released by the U.S. Commerce Department showed that overall retail sales rose 5.3% from the previous month, with all major categories rising sharply. It fell 1% in December. The median analyst forecast was a 1.1% increase.

Consumer spending was constrained by the worsening of the epidemic at the end of last year, but the number of new cases has gradually decreased since then, and states have begun to relax some restrictions on business and activities. The resumption of shopping and dining out, coupled with the issuance of a new round of $600 relief checks per person , helped boost spending on goods in all categories.

SpaceX raises $850 million, valuation rises to $74 billion

Last week, SpaceX completed a massive new round of $850 million in equity financing, surging the company’s market valuation to around $74 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The company raised the new funds at $419.99 per share, a penny lower than the $420 per share Musk announced in 2018 to take Tesla private, people familiar with the matter said.

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