| The times they are a-changin'. Sheryl Sandberg is stepping down as a Meta executive, an openly gay woman is leading Australia's challenge to China, and a Gen-Z leader is making waves in South Korean politics. It's not so good in India, where women are struggling to recoup jobs lost in the pandemic. In finance, we look at how the West is funding Vladimir Putin's war, and at nascent signs of businesses standing up to China. "Zombie" firms may fail in the US, while Samsung wants to be hip. We document difficulties in fighting climate change with either hydrogen or small nuclear reactors. There's more hope in undersea turbines and above-water electric boats. Wander the streets of Dublin and Shanghai, grab a beer and check out the new DeLorean. Enjoy! —Adrian Kennedy  Photographer: Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg Photographer: Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg Sheryl Sandberg, who inspired millions with her 2013 book "Lean In" and her own career success, is stepping down as Meta COO. Her legacy at the company is mixed, with Facebook's growth-at-all-costs strategy having allowed dangerous misinformation, hate speech and privacy breaches. Sandberg will stay on the board, but is stepping back as Meta shares slide and its challenges grow, writes Bloomberg Opinion's Parmy Olson.  Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg Years of cheap money saved many firms that would have failed in tougher times, so relentless rate hikes may cull "zombie" companies. From meme-stock favorite AMC to Carnival, about a fifth of America's 3,000 largest publicly traded firms don't earn enough to cover interest on a combined $900 billion of debt. Expect bankruptcies and job losses.  Photographer: Woohae Cho/Bloomberg Photographer: Woohae Cho/Bloomberg South Korea may make smartphones and semiconductors, but it's stuck in the Dark Ages in terms of gender equality. Men get paid more, dominate boards and, as of the recent national election, have a president who plays to male gripes. So meet 26-year-old Park Ji-hyun, a sex-crime fighter turned political power player defending women's rights. More change is afoot as her generation spurns the hierarchical halls of Korea's chaebols in favor of cooler companies, forcing Samsung, Hyundai and others to try to be less, um, square.  Photographer: RUHANI KAUR Photographer: RUHANI KAUR The pandemic hit Indian women hard, with less than 10% now employed. That's a disaster for the economy and the hundreds of millions for whom work offered an escape from poverty and forced marriage. "When men are faced with this kind of a huge economic shock, then they have a fallback option," says Rosa Abraham, a professor whose research shows lockdowns hit women harder than men. "For women, there is no such fallback."  Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg Even as the West sanctions Russia and supplies Ukraine, it's paying for Putin's war. Prices of everything from wheat to palladium have surged since the invasion, earning Russia roughly $800 million a day. That's funding its wins in Ukraine's east and fueling global inflation that's hurting archrival Joe Biden. The grinding war of attrition raises another question: Will a drawn-out conflict hurt Russia, starved of fresh troops and imports, or Ukraine, which may see global support wane?  Photographer: Paramount Pictures Photographer: Paramount Pictures For many years, companies and countries fawned over China, fearful of losing market access. So jaws dropped when Tom Cruise wore a jacket with Taiwan's flag in "Top Gun: Maverick", all but ruling out screenings in China, which claims the democratic island as its territory. It's too early to say Hollywood's found a backbone, Matthew Brooker writes for Bloomberg Opinion. But China has become less enticing for business, and its rights violations and alignment with Russia are causing alarm from Tokyo to Berlin. It now faces a tough opponent in Australia's new foreign minister, Penny Wong, an openly gay, ethnically Chinese woman who stands for all Beijing is against. Cheap and abundant hydrogen could be one of our best weapons against climate change, unless we leak too much of the gas, which can warm the atmosphere more than similar volumes of CO2. "We're putting this on everyone's radar now not to say 'no' to hydrogen but to think about how we deploy it," says climate scientist Ilissa Ocko. And atomic power from small modular reactors may not be as green as hoped, either. New research questions their efficiency and suggests SMRs could produce 5.5 times more spent fuel than existing reactors.  Candela Candela But green tech is still promising. One remarkable innovation is a giant, subsea turbine that could deliver unlimited green power. Japan's 330-ton prototype has two fans and a buoyancy adjustment system. The plan is to put the machines along the fast-moving Kuroshio Current and transmit power via seabed cables. Still in Waterworld, electric boat-maker Candela Speed has unveiled a 28-foot water taxi. Its hydrofoils mean there's almost no wake, a big advantage in places like Venice, and electric power cuts sound pollution for wildlife.  Photographer: Richard Conway Photographer: Richard Conway Dublin's inner-city houses have been gentrified since they were celebrated in James Joyce's Ulysses, but the streets look much the same. Single-story row houses built for the lower middle classes can fetch up to $1.5 million in the age of the Celtic tiger. In the latest of a series on iconic home designs, we examine what makes Ireland's capital so special.  Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg On June 1, the People's Daily's front page proclaimed victory over Shanghai's Covid outbreak: "Great Achievements Have Been Made in the Defense of Shanghai." Cases have slumped (as has the economy) and life is a bit more normal, aside from roadside tests. Bloomberg's Allen Wan used his new-found freedom to get a long-overdue shave — and a beer. Given the vogue for all things retro — from cold wars to "Stranger Things" to reviving imperial measures in Britain — it was only a matter of time (sorry) before we saw a new model of the DeLorean, the gull-winged car that screeched through time in 1985's "Back to the Future". DeLorean Motors Reimagined LLC is registering interest for the electric Alpha5 concept car on its website and aims for production in 2024. | 
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