经济学人下载:一周要闻 金沙以60多亿美元出售美国赌场

Las Vegas Sands, founded by the late Sheldon Adelson, reached an agreement to sell the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas to private-equity and property investors for more than $6bn. The investors are taking a punt that Sin City will rebound when COVID-19 restrictions are eased. The deal underpins Las Vegas Sands’ focus on its casinos in Macau and Singapore, the backbone of its business. 

由已故的谢尔登·阿德尔森(Sheldon Adelson)创立的拉斯维加斯金沙集团(Las Vegas Sands)达成协议，将拉斯维加斯的威尼斯人酒店以超过60亿美元的价格出售给私募股权和房地产投资者。投资者正在押注，当新冠肺炎限制措施放松时，“罪恶之城”将会回暖。这笔交易巩固了拉斯维加斯金沙集团对其业务支柱——澳门和新加坡赌场的关注。

Both Lufthansa and International Airlines Group, the owner of British Airways, reported big annual losses. Looking for ways to save cash, BA has reached an agreement to defer 450m pounds ($628m) in pension deficit contributions. 

汉莎航空和英国航空的母公司——国际航空集团都报告了巨额年度亏损。为了寻找节省现金的方法，英航已达成协议，将推迟缴纳4.5亿英镑(6.28亿美元)的养老金赤字。

COVID-related restrictions brought about a 6% drop in energy-related carbon-dioxide emissions last year, according to the International Energy Agency. But as demand picked up, so did emissions, which were 2% higher in December 2020 than in December 2019. 

根据国际能源署(IEA)的数据，去年，与新冠病毒相关的限制措施使与能源相关的二氧化碳排放量下降了6%。但随着需求的增加，二氧化碳的排放量也在增加，2020年12月的排放量比2019年12月高2%。

There may be a new president in the White House, but Amazon still finds itself caught in political crosshairs. Joe Biden warned the retail giant this week not to interfere with a vote by workers at a warehouse in Alabama on whether to unionise, a first for all the employees at an Amazon facility. Meanwhile, Amazon was forced to change the recent redesign of its app logo, because the Twitterati thought it resembled Hitler. 

白宫可能会易主，不过亚马逊(Amazon)发现自己仍然陷入了政治焦点。本周，拜登警告这家零售巨头，不要干涉阿拉巴马州一家仓库的工人就是否成立工会进行的投票，这是亚马逊工厂所有员工首次进行这类投票。与此同时，亚马逊被迫改变了最近重新设计的应用程序logo，因为推特达人们认为这个标志很像希特勒。

Birkenstock was sold to a private-equity firm backed by LVMH in a deal worth 4bn euros ($4.8bn). Associated with hippies in the 1970s until they became de rigueur for hipsters in the 1990s, Birkenstock sandals trace their history back to Germany in 1774; the current design dates from the 1960s. The Birkenstock family will no longer be sole owners, but they will retain a minority stake. 

路易威登集团支持的一家私募股权公司将以40亿欧元(合48亿美元)的价格收购勃肯（Birkenstock）品牌。勃肯凉拖在20世纪70年代与嬉皮士联系在一起，直到20世纪90年代成为嬉皮士的一种必备品。勃肯凉拖的历史可以追溯到1774年的德国；当前的设计始于20世纪60年代。勃肯家族将不再是该品牌唯一的所有者，但他们还将保留少数股权。

Maezawa Yusaku, a Japanese tycoon, invited applications for eight places on his planned trip around the Moon, pencilled in for 2023. Meanwhile SpaceX, the firm that will fly Mr Maezawa and his companions, was testing a prototype version of the rocket he hopes to use. The machine managed to return to its landing pad after flying 10km into the air, but blew up a few minutes later. 

日本富商前泽友作(Maezawa Yusaku)计划在2023年绕月球旅行，他将挑选8名同伴一同前往。与此同时，将为前泽友作和他的同伴们提供飞行服务的SpaceX公司正在测试他希望使用的火箭原型。这枚星舰原型机在飞到10公里的高度后成功返回了着陆平台，但几分钟后爆炸了。