Norway could license companies for seabed mining by 2023 to meet demand for batteries, wind turbines and solar energy.
Business and Economy
![Ministers from Group of 20 nations on Friday discussed exploring ways to help meet longer-term financing needs in weaker economies, particularly in Africa, that have been more severely hit by the COVID crisis [File: Francis Kokoroko/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/africa.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
We will not get back to our normal lives until the virus is eradicated in all countries, Italy’s economy minister said.
![Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government values the stimulus package at between three and four percent of gross domestic product, which is in line with aid provided by some of Canada's European peers, but much less than US President Joe Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion relief package [File: Blair Gable/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/true.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
‘The greater crime would be not to do enough,’ a senior Canadian government official told Reuters news agency.
![India's economy has returned to 'pre-pandemic times of positive growth rates', a finance ministry statement said on Friday [File: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/india.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
The finance ministry said GDP data reflects a V-shaped recovery but also warned that India is not yet past the pandemic.
![Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders pledged to work with Senate colleagues on an amendment to take tax deductions away from large corporations that don’t pay workers at least $15 an hour and provide small businesses with the incentives to raise wages [File: Stefani Reynolds/The New York Times/Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/bernie.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Democratic US lawmakers are looking for ways to keep the minimum wage hike momentum going.
![Activists appeal for a $15 minimum wage near the Capitol in Washington, DC [File: J Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AP_21056579206482.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
In blow to progressives, Senate arbiter says fast-track process to pass signature legislation precludes the wage hike.
![After landing their Perseverance rover on Mars last week, NASA scientists treated their fellow earthlings to a sound that has never been heard before: Martian wind [File: NASA/JPL-Caltech via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2021-02-23T005017Z_533359140_RC20YL98BW9P_RTRMADP_3_SPACE-EXPLORATION-MARS.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
THE WEEK IN NUMBERS
GameStop has deja vu, Iraq reflects on oil and Martian winds blow
We gather the numbers to know from the week’s biggest business news stories so you can impress yourself and your friends
![Katherine Tai, President Joe Biden's nominee to be the next United States Trade Representative, says trade liberalisation in the past too often led to less prosperity, and lower labour and environmental standards [Bill O'Leary/Pool via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2021-02-25T184620Z_1034187441_RC2TZL97BB5X_RTRMADP_3_USA-BIDEN-USTR.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
US Trade Representative nominee’s stance suggests permanent shift away from liberalisation policies of pre-Trump era.
![Though US jobless claims have dropped from a record 6.867 million last March when the pandemic hit the US, they remain above their 665,000 peak during the 2007-09 Great Recession [File: George Frey/Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/367752939.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Weekly jobless claims tumbled by 111,000 last week to three-month low, as demand for US goods rose strongly in January.
![Last week's freezing weather in Texas caused United States crude production to collapse by more than 10 percent, or a record one million barrels per day, according to the Energy Information Administration [File: Nick Oxford/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/oil-3.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
As refineries in Texas reopen after last week’s freeze, concerns over OPEC+’s willingness to continue output cuts grow.
![The average cost of borrowing a 30-year fixed loan mortgage in the United States rose to 2.97 percent from 2.81 percent last week and was the highest since August, according to Freddie Mac data released on Thursday [File: Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/home.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Historically low mortgage rates in the US spurred a pandemic housing boom, which the rising cost of borrowing may cool.
![Uber drivers protest outside the Uber offices on May 8, 2019 in Birmingham, England [Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1147801589.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The court affirmed that Uber drivers are workers and they should be treated as such.
![The GameStop surge was spurred by a final-hour rally on Wednesday that brought the video game retailer its biggest advance since January 29, the day Robinhood Markets restricted trading in it and 49 other stocks at the height of the market frenzy [File: Spencer Platt/Getty Images]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/game.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
AMC Entertainment, Koss Corp, and Nokia Oyj also gained as retail traders revived the surge in Reddit-treasured stocks.
![The outage at the United States Federal Reserve follows two significant disruptions to its payment services that occurred in 2019 [File: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/fed-1.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Fed systems executing millions of transactions a day went down Wednesday due to what seemed to be an internal glitch.
