Nike has released a new 90-second commercial on the enduring power of sports with messages of inclusiveness and perseverance at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has forced cancellation or postponement of sporting events.

The themes include athletes’ relationship with social justice, specifically the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as the long shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The video, "You Can't Stop Us," features a split-screen stitching together footage of athletes from various sports. It has been viewed millions of times since its launch on Thursday, reports CNN.

With Megan Rapinoe narrating, “You Can’t Stop Us” tells a powerful story about how sports will live on, no matter the circumstances, no matter the form they take.

"We're never alone, and that is our strength," says the ad's narrator, women's soccer star and equal-pay activist Rapinoe. "Because when we're doubted, we'll play as one. When we're held back, we'll go farther, and harder. If we're not taken seriously, we'll prove that wrong. And if we don't fit the sport, we'll change the sport."

The commercial, being hailed as an editing marvel, juxtaposes disabled and able-bodied athletes as well as male and female competitors in different sports. Throughout it, an athlete on one half of the screen mirrors another on the opposite side move-for-move, as if they are a single person.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the commercial is the seamless editing that shows how all sport is linked, and how similar all athletes are.

The ad also addresses the Covid-19 crisis, showing split-screen images of workers in hazmat suits spraying down stadium seats.

Although it has been well-received, some have characterised it as hypocritical, citing past critiques of Nike as a foreign "sweatshop" operator.

"No matter how bad it gets, we will always come back stronger," the Nike ad says in closing. "Because nothing can stop what we can do together."

China underscored the efforts to further open up and keep foreign trade and investment stable, as well as to facilitate employment and ensure people's livelihood amid the pandemic.

The observations came out in a statement released on Wednesday after a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.

It decided to expand the pilot program on the innovative development of trade in services, and unveil new measures to help migrant workers find jobs or start businesses.

Meanwhile, to promote a higher level of opening-up, the pilot program will be expanded to cover parts of 21 provincial regions, and explore widening the field of opening-up and improving trade facilitation, the statement said.

The meeting urged efforts to enhance foreign trade firms' capabilities to withstand risks, encourage the central, western and northeastern regions to take over labor-intensive foreign trade industries, and improve the policy environment to attract foreign investment.

It also said that work will be done to stabilize the employment of migrant workers in urban areas.

They will be supported to find jobs in or near their hometowns, such as promoting projects for new urbanization, rural water conservancies, and post-disaster reconstruction in townships to create more jobs.

Additionally, migrant workers will receive better financial support to start their own businesses, while poor laborers will enjoy further protection such as temporary allowances, the statement said.

The meeting also called for efforts to boost COVID-19 virus testing capabilities, which was regarded as a key method in coordinating epidemic control and economic and social development.

Uber on Thursday announced the appointment of Prabhjeet Singh as President Uber India and South Asia, tasked with overseeing the next phase of growth in the company’s  mobility business and ensuring safety for riders and drivers across India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

His appointment is effective immediately.

While making the announcement Pradeep Parameswaran, Regional General Manager for Asia Pacific, said, “I’m delighted to announce that Prabh is  replacing me as Uber’s new President for India and South Asia, one of our fastest growing and most strategic markets."

"Prabh is a passionate and innovative leader and has been instrumental in helping build Uber from the ground up and established our category leadership in the ride-sharing market. I’m confident Prabh will exceed our expectations by leading Uber India SA on to the path of profitability, further consolidate our partnership with public transport authorities, continue our growth trajectory by expanding Auto and Moto to the next batch of cities, and build iconic teams.’’

Commenting on his new appointment Prabhjeet, said, “I’m thrilled to have been given the responsibility of leading Uber in India and South Asia, and look forward to collaborating with exceptional teams and gifted colleagues across the Uber family to strengthen our services and product offerings."

"Uber is an integral part of the fabric of our cities and as they start moving again, we have prioritized the highest standards of safety, sustainability and service that our riders and drivers expect of us.’’

Prabh, an IIT Kharagpur and IIM-A alum, joined Uber in August 2015 from McKinsey and Co., where he was an Associate Partner. Since, he’s been part of the core team that adapted the global business model to India, launched multiple new cities and led several India-first innovations, including scaling up Auto and Moto categories and building a multi-modal platform, which have both been exported to other emerging markets.

The federal government incurred the biggest monthly budget deficit in history last month as spending on programmes to combat the coronavirus recession exploded while millions of job losses cut into tax revenues.

The Treasury Department reported that the deficit hit $864 billion in June while for the first nine months of this budget year, which began October 1, the deficit totals $2.74 trillion.

That puts the country well on the way to hitting the $3.7 trillion deficit for the whole year that has been forecast by the Congressional Budget Office, reports AP.

That total would surpass the previous annual record of $1.4 trillion set in 2009 when the government was spending heavily to lift the country out of the recession caused by the 2008 financial crisis.

The Trump administration is predicting that the economy will make a comeback in the second half of this year but many private forecasters are concerned that a resurgence of virus cases could make consumers too fearful to resume spending, which drives 70 percent of the economy.

Congress, which has already approved more than $3 trillion in a series of rescue packages, is scheduled to debate another support effort when it returns from recess on June 20. Democrats are pushing for an extension of the expanded unemployment benefits which will soon run out.

“The risk is that the deficit will be larger due to additional stimulus but given the congressional timetable, the impact of the next package will likely be skewed to fiscal 2021, which starts Oct 1,” Nancy Vanden Houten, senior economist at Oxford Economics said.

Read Also: As budget deficit balloons, few in Washington seem to care

Leading ICT infrastructure provider Huawei has ranked 6th in the Boston Consulting Group’s recently released list of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2020, moving up by 42 places.

According to the report, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Huawei occupy the top 6 spots in the new ranking, followed by Alibaba, IBM, Sony and Facebook, said a press release.

The ranking is based on a survey of 2,500 global innovation executives and assesses

companies’ performance on four dimensions of Global “Mindshare”, Industry Disruption, Industry Peer View and Value Creation.

This year, BCG also added a new scoring dimension that captures each company’s variety and intensity of boundary-breaking, by assessing its ability to breach established industry entry barriers and play in an array of markets outside its own.

As the world’s largest supplier of telecommunications equipment, Huawei has continuously invested over 10percent of its annual revenue back into R&D.

In 2019, the company’s R& D expenditure totaled CNY131, 659 million (Chinese Yuan, $1 = CNY7 approx.) accounting for 15.3% of its total revenue.

In terms of 5G, Huawei invested 4 billion USD in the past decade, which makes it the global leader in this next-generation technology. To further commercial adoption and promote new innovation in 5G applications, the company has established 5G joint innovation centers together with carriers worldwide.