"The two biggest threats that the world currently faces are climate change and social inequality. The past year has undoubtedly widened the social divide, and decisive and collective action is needed to build a society that offers opportunities for everyone."

That's the CEO of Anglo-Dutch conglomerate Unilever, Alan Jope, spelling out the company's new plans to ensure all supply staff as well as direct employees, are paid a "living wage" within the next 10 years. 

With Unilever operating in 190 countries around the world, including many in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, it's a sign of more reform that could be on the way as some of the largest conglomerates reassess their business plans post-pandemic. 

The first full day of the Biden presidency in the U.S. seems to have gone down well on the markets, with strong gains across the board, despite rising public debt worries in the world's biggest economy weighing on the dollar.

Meanwhile the worries around Bitcoin volatility mount, as the virtual currency drops by 8 percent in two days. ECB boss Christine Lagarde is the latest figure to voice her concerns. 

And the latest figures show the debt impact from COVID-19 is being hardest felt in Southern Europe, not least among countries still recovering from the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. 

Read on for all the day's business news in full.

Louise Greenwood,

Digital correspondent

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Anglo-Dutch household goods giant Unilever says it will cut contracts with suppliers that do not pay workers a living wage by 2030, as part of a new corporate responsibility agenda at the firm. Unilever, the maker of Marmite spread, Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Dove soap, says it wants partner firms to pay all staff enough to cover basic outgoings such as food, utilities, education, transport and healthcare. In a move that has been welcomed by campaign groups, Unilever says it is acting to promote economic inclusion in the 190 countries where it operates and to "help break the cycle of poverty" for thousands of workers. While all of Unilever’s direct 155,000 employees are paid a living wage, the firm has about 60,000 suppliers around the world, employing hundreds of thousands more.

World stock markets have continued to rally to new highs on hopes that the U.S. Biden administration's planned $1.9 trillion public spending package will revive growth in the world's biggest economy. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index topped the 30,000 point mark for the first time since May 2019, while in Europe banks and auto makers also gained ground. 

"Big Tech" stock has outperformed expectations, despite fears over a forthcoming crackdown on social media by the Democrat-controlled Senate in the wake of the troubled U.S. election. Alphabet shares rose a record 5.4 percent to $1,880, while Amazon was up 4.8 percent and Facebook rose 2.4 percent.  

Meanwhile, the euro and the pound all rose ahead of a policy meeting of European Central Bank chiefs in Brussels. Increased borrowing in the U.S. has dragged on the greenback and Treasury bond yields, while analysts expect the current ECB deposit rate to stay unchanged at -0.50 percent. The pound reached its highest level against the dollar in almost three years by midday on Thursday.

Three of China's biggest telecoms firms, delisted from U.S. markets in an executive order by the outgoing Trump administration, have requested a review of the decision. China Mobile, China Unicom and the China Telecom Corporation have filed written requests with the New York Stock Exchange asking for a stay on trading suspensions pending a reappraisal. The Hong Kong-listed firms, which are estimated to have lost close to $30 billion in market valuation since late last year amid threats of a U.S. delisting, all posted modest share price rallies on the news. 

Bitcoin is continuing its fresh slide on the markets, after a boom in trading at the start to the year pushed up its price 40 percent to more than $42,000. The virtual currency has dropped by 8.4 percent since Tuesday, trading at just under $35,000 by mid morning in London. The extreme volatility in the Bitcoin price, which is up 300 percent over the past year, is leading to renewed calls for its regulation by both the UK's Financial Conduct Authority and the European Central Bank. Last week, the ECB's President Christine Lagarde accused Bitcoin "totally reprehensible money laundering activity." The total market value of all cryptocurrencies has lost an estimated $100 billion in the past two days of trading.

France's central bank says it will close more than a third of its cash-handling centers by the end of next year as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerates the ongoing decline in the use of notes and coins. The bank estimates that 40 percent of the existing network will become underused on current estimates unless changes are made. Widespread lockdowns across Europe have accelerated online shopping along with fears over virus contagion through bank notes.

Troubled carrier Norwegian Air has won state support to help fund its restructuring plan, boosting hopes of interest from new investors and an exit from its ongoing insolvency proceedings. The Norwegian government is to offer a hybrid loan for the airline, pending legal approval for its overhaul, which is due at the High Court of Ireland on Friday. The low-cost airline has grounded all but six of its 138 aircraft and is scrapping long-haul destinations to refocus on Nordic and European routes.

After days of speculation, UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has confirmed a post-Brexit review of employment law is under way, but added that reductions to workers' rights are not planned. Last week, the Financial Times reported that Westminster was considering scrapping the EU's 48-hour working week directive as part of a radical shake up of the labor market, along with changes to holiday pay and the logging by employers of hours worked by staff. In a virtual hearing of the influential cross-party Business Select Committee, Kwarteng said reports that "some sort of bonfire of [workers'] rights" was under way were untrue.

Pressure is mounting on ministers in Paris and London to offer a bail-out package for the struggling cross-channel high-speed rail link Eurostar. A parliamentary committee in Westminster has warned that Britain "cannot afford to lose" the link, which has reduced its services from London St Pancras to just two trains a day, to Brussels and Paris respectively, in a bid to save cash. The Transport Select Committee says a joint response by the UK and French governments should be considered. 

Space X, the space exploration firm of Tesla boss Elon Musk, has reportedly bought two offshore oil rigs to convert into spaceports for its Mars-bound craft. Work to convert the rigs near SpaceX's Boca Chica facility in the Gulf of Mexico is said to be under way, with Musk said to be frustrated by the slow progress of the venture.

The boss of one of the UK's most successful new digital banks says he is quitting his post after experiencing mental health problems during lockdown. Tom Blomfield, the founder of Monzo, says he has been "struggling" during the pandemic despite having "a really supportive executive team ... and set of investors behind me." Monzo has grown from a small start-up to a $1.7 billion brand with almost 5 million customers in the space of two years.

WATCH: On Tuesday, Serbia became the first country in Europe to start vaccinating its citizens with China's Sinopharm vaccine. CGTN's Aljosa Milenkovic was one of the first to receive the jab. 

As Joe Biden takes office as the 46th President of the U.S., CGTN Europe was joined by David Manning, former British ambassador in Washington DC, to discuss what Europe and the world can expect from the new Democrat administration and the lessons to be learnt from the Trump term.

It's been a turbulent period in the relationship, because for the first time since the Second World War, we've had a president of the United States who hasn't been willing to be the leader, if you like, of a multilateralist Western community, it's not what he's wanted to do. He made it clear for a long time [he was in] what he calls in the camp of the "America first" persuasion and ... that's been a surprise ... not just to the UK, but to America's other Western partners. 

What will be the policy priorities for President Biden?

He's got an enormous in-tray and you have to be initially, I think, focused on domestic issues. There's an enormous amount to do at home. But I think he's also very clear that he wants to be a multilateralist president ...  that that is going to be a departure after what we had in the last four years with President Trump. And when it comes to the multilateral agenda, there are a great many things that are in common between London and Washington.

How will this new U.S. administration deal with Brexit Britain?

Joe Biden's always been very clear that he thinks that Brexit was a mistake for Britain. He would much rather Britain had remained inside the European Union. But we are where we are. And my limited knowledge of him ... is that he's somebody who looks forward, not back – he is not going to recriminate about this. And I think it brings us back to this question of what is the agenda and if there are areas where he thinks that we, and indeed the European Union and other partners, can work together, that's what we want ... whether it's on managing global pandemics, or a whole host of issues where we are going to be naturally useful partners.

And finally, it will come as no surprise to learn government debt is rising across the EU under the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic. Figures just out show debt-to-GDP ratios were running at an average rate of 97.3 percent across the bloc in the third quarter of last year, with the burden falling hardest on the countries of southern Europe, many still recovering from the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.