This week in the news | 8 Mar 24

News from the past week, and a few other things.

Mar 08, 2024

👋 Hello Reader, I hope you had a great week.

Below you’ll find the “quick shot”—a supercharged summary of summaries, followed by the “slow brew”—longer summaries with select graphics, and comments from me.

THE QUICK SHOT 🚀

A supercharged summary of summaries

A lock icon (🔒) indicates articles behind a paywall, and a chart icon (📊) indicates an informative chart/graphic in “Slow Brew.”

WORLD

Rich Countries Are Becoming Addicted to Cheap Labor (WSJ🔒)

NORTH AMERICA

Cities Looking to Fill Jobs with Migrants Face 9 Million Application Backlog (Bloomberg🔒) 📊
New York is sending the National Guard into NYC subways to help fight crime (USA Today)
Oregon Is Recriminalizing Drugs, Dealing Setback to Reform Movement (NYT🔒)
California Could Stave Off Drought Through 2025—Reversing Years Of ‘Megadrought,’ Forecasters Say (Forbes🔒)

LATIN AMERICA

EUROPE

Sweden joins NATO as war in Ukraine prompts security rethink (Reuters) 📊

MIDDLE EAST

Hamas Negotiators Leave Cairo With No Breakthrough in Cease-Fire Talks (NYT🔒)
USAF C-130s Conduct Humanitarian Aid Airdrops Into Gaza (Air & Space Forces Magazine)
U.S. Conducts 2nd Airdrop but Will Not Use Troops on the Ground in Aid Effort (NYT🔒)
Biden outlines military plans to build port in Gaza for aid (Military Times)
Saudi Arabia Moves $164 Billion Aramco Stake to Wealth Fund (Bloomberg🔒)
A ship earlier hit by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sinks in the Red Sea, the first vessel lost in conflict (AP)
Four Fiber Optic Cables Damaged In Red Sea: Here’s What We Know (Forbes🔒)
Egypt secures IMF deal after pound plunge, bumper rate hike (Reuters) 📊
Turkish annual inflation soars to 67% in February (CNBC) 📊

AFRICA

Sudan Weekly Displacement Snapshot (UNOCHA) 📊
Gunmen kidnap 227 pupils from school in Nigeria (Reuters)

ASIA-PACIFIC

OCEANIA

Australia warns Southeast Asia of 'coercive actions' (Reuters)

SPACE

Job Opening for Astronaut at NASA (USAJobs.gov)
NASA And SpaceX Blast Off To International Space Station (Forbes🔒)
Space Burial Firm Creates a Dust-Up By Sending Ashes to the Moon (WSJ🔒)

GOVERNMENT

DEFENSE

Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira pleads guilty under a deal that calls for at least 11 years in prison (AP)
Air Force Deploys Live Hypersonic ARRW Missile to Guam (Air & Space Forces Magazine)

ECONOMY

Euro is back on the scene for global central banks (Reuters) 📊

ENERGY

Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power (WP🔒) 📊
Washers and Dryers Are About to Get Way More Efficient (Gizmodo)
How China Came to Dominate the World in Solar Energy (NYT🔒)

AUTO

China's BYD prices new version of best-selling EV lower than predecessor (Reuters)

REAL ESTATE

Biden administration announces new efforts to boost the nation’s housing supply (GovExec)

PERSONAL FINANCE

New CFPB Rule Will Slash Credit Card Late Fees Saving Consumers $10 Billion (Forbes🔒)
National Average FICO Score Drops for First Time in Decade (Bloomberg🔒) 📊

TECHNOLOGY

CYBER

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

AI Talent Is in Demand as Other Tech Job Listings Decline (WSJ🔒) 📊
Elon Musk Sues OpenAI and Sam Altman for Violating the Company’s Principles (NYT🔒)

LIFE

In Honor & Memory of McCanna Anthony “Mac” Sinise (Gary Sinise Foundation)
The ZIP Code Shift: Why Many Americans No Longer Live Where They Work (NYT🔒)

EDUCATION

Distress Soars at Small US Colleges as Enrollment Declines (Bloomberg🔒) 📊
University of Idaho Needs More Students. Should It Buy an Online School? (NYT🔒)

HEALTH

NATURE

Scientists reveal secrets of Earth's magnificent desert star dunes (Reuters)

TRAVEL

ENTERTAINMENT

SPORTS

THE SLOW BREW ☕

A more relaxed approach to the summaries.

World

Rich Countries Are Becoming Addicted to Cheap Labor (WSJ🔒)

As migration hits record levels worldwide, a debate is building among economists over whether some industries are becoming too dependent on foreign labor. Many business owners say that bringing in low-skilled foreign workers has become essential, as local populations age and labor forces shrink. In rural Wisconsin, John Rosenow says it is impossible to find locals to work on his 1,000-acre dairy farm. He relies on 13 Mexican immigrants, up from eight to 10 a decade ago. That has enabled him to avoid making costly investments in robots that can help milk cows, as some other dairy farmers have. To some economists, however, dependence on imported workers is approaching unhealthy levels in some places, stifling productivity growth and helping businesses delay the search for more sustainable solutions to labor shortages. Those solutions could include bigger investments in automation, or more radical restructurings such as business closures, which are painful but may be necessary long-term, these economists say. The debate is likely to heat up further as Western societies teeter closer to a demographic abyss. For the first time since World War II, the working-age population is shrinking across advanced economies. The European Union’s working-age population will shrink by one-fifth through 2050, according to a recent report by German insurer Allianz. There are ways to offset that trend, such as encouraging older workers to delay retirement. But importing foreign labor is often the easiest option, given the supply of available workers in places such as Latin America or Africa. Immigration also provides a rush of economic growth as migrants boost populations and spend money, even when it elicits blowback from conservative groups, as it has in the U.S. and Europe. Immigration is now running two to three times above prepandemic levels across major destination countries including Canada, Germany and the U.K. In the U.S., 3.3 million more migrants arrived than left last year, compared with a 2010s average of around 900,000.

North America

Cities Looking to Fill Jobs with Migrants Face 9 Million Application Backlog (Bloomberg🔒) 📊

A months-long backlog in processing labor permits is complicating US government efforts to help cities like New York cope with an influx of undocumented immigrants and ease workers shortages. In an effort to alleviate some of those pressures, the Biden administration has recently announced almost 500,000 Venezuelans now qualify for temporary work permits. But a mounting logjam at the cash-strapped agency in charge of immigration now threatens that solution. To address the mounting migrant crisis, one initiative the Biden administration has turned to is the Temporary Protected Status program. Under TPS, migrants from 16 countries deemed unsafe by the Department of Homeland Security who are already in the US can apply for a permit granting the right to seek employment for a set period. As of this summer, there were close to 350,000 TPS applications awaiting processing. Most were Venezuelans who, at last count, face wait times of about 19 months. Overall, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that oversees legal immigration, had a record backlog of almost 9 million pending applications. That’s bound to get worse under a plan released in September by the White House that is designed to provide as many as 472,000 more Venezuelans with 18-month permits. The program expansion was a response to cities like New York that have been strained under the pressure of migrants dispatched from the South border by states like Texas.

New York is sending the National Guard into NYC subways to help fight crime (USA Today)

Following a series of high-profile crimes in the New York City subway system, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced plans Wednesday to send hundreds of National Guard members to patrol and search passengers’ bags for weapons at busy train stations. Hochul is deploying 750 members of the National Guard and 250 state troopers and police officers from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency, to assist city police with bag searches. The plan is an effort to "rid our subways of people who commit crimes and protect all New Yorkers whether you're a commuter or transit worker," Hochul said at a news conference Wednesday.

Oregon Is Recriminalizing Drugs, Dealing Setback to Reform Movement (NYT🔒)

Three years ago, when Oregon voters approved a pioneering plan to decriminalize hard drugs, advocates looking to halt the jailing of drug users believed they were on the edge of a revolution that would soon sweep across the country. But even as the state’s landmark law took effect in 2021, the scourge of fentanyl was taking hold. Overdoses soared as the state stumbled in its efforts to fund enhanced treatment programs. And while many other downtowns emerged from the dark days of the pandemic, Portland continued to struggle, with scenes of drugs and despair. Lately, even some of the liberal politicians who had embraced a new approach to drugs have supported an end to the experiment. On Friday, a bill that will reimpose criminal penalties for possession of some drugs won final passage in the State Legislature and was headed next to Gov. Tina Kotek, who has expressed alarm about open drug use and helped broker a plan to ban such activity.

California Could Stave Off Drought Through 2025—Reversing Years Of ‘Megadrought,’ Forecasters Say (Forbes🔒)

After years of drought plagued California with parched soil, forecasters from AccuWeather said on Monday they expect the sunshine state to remain drought-free through 2025, after two straight years of epic winter storms, reversing what had been a daunting “megadrought.”

Latin America

Cuba asks UN for help as food shortages worsen (BBC)

Cuba's government has for the first time asked the UN's food programme for help as food shortages on the Communist-run island worsen. The World Food Programme (WFP) said it had received an unprecedented official request from the Cuban government for help providing powdered milk to children under seven years of age. The request is a sign of the seriousness of Cuba's economic crisis.

Gang Raids on Prisons in Haiti Spark Turmoil, Airport Closures (WSJ🔒)

The survival of Haiti’s government is increasingly in doubt after heavily armed gangs freed close to 5,000 inmates and forced the closure of two airports late Monday in what is shaping up as an attempt to force the ouster of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. The prime minister’s whereabouts couldn’t be determined after he left Kenya, where he had been securing support for a United Nations peacekeeping mission, for Dubai. Henry was expected to transit through the U.S., according to a person familiar with the matter, but it was unclear if or when he would return to Haiti. The security situation in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, deteriorated sharply over the weekend after a coalition of powerful gangs targeted prisons and police stations in a rampage threatening the survival of the government.

In Senegal’s capital, Nicaragua is a hot ticket among travel agents as migrants try to reach US (AP)

Gueva Ba tried to reach Europe by boat 11 times from Morocco, failing each attempt. Then, in 2023, the former welder heard about a new route to the United States by flying to Nicaragua and making the rest of the journey illegally by land to Mexico’s northern border. “In Senegal, it’s all over the streets — everyone’s talking about Nicaragua, Nicaragua, Nicaragua,” said Ba, who paid about 6 million CFA francs ($10,000) to get to Nicaragua in July with stops in Morocco, Spain and El Salvador. “It’s not something hidden.” Ba, 40, was deported from the U.S. with 131 compatriots in September after two months in detention, but thousands of other Senegalese have gained a foothold in America. Many turn to savvy travel agents who know the route — touted on social media by those who’ve successfully settled in the U.S.

Europe

Sweden joins NATO as war in Ukraine prompts security rethink (Reuters) 📊

Sweden joined NATO in Washington on Thursday, two years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine forced it to rethink its national security policy and conclude that support for the alliance was the Scandinavian nation's best guarantee of safety. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson handed over the final documentation to the U.S. government on Thursday, the last step in a drawn-out process to secure the backing of all members to join the military alliance.

Middle East

Hamas Negotiators Leave Cairo With No Breakthrough in Cease-Fire Talks (NYT🔒)

Hamas negotiators left Cairo on Thursday without a breakthrough in talks over a cease-fire in Gaza, the group said, as hopes for an imminent truce in its five-month-long war with Israel continued to dim. International mediators have sought to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas that would see the release of some hostages held in Gaza and Palestinians detained in Israeli jails, but weeks of indirect negotiations appear to have stalled. Hamas wants Israel to commit to a permanent cease-fire during or after hostage releases, a demand that Israel has rejected. Egypt and Qatar, along with the United States, are trying to secure a cease-fire before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins around March 10, worried that there could be flare-ups during the month of fasting.

USAF C-130s Conduct Humanitarian Aid Airdrops Into Gaza (Air & Space Forces Magazine)

Three U.S. Air Force C-130J Super Hercules aircraft conducted airdrops of humanitarian aid into Gaza on March 2, U.S. officials said. The aircraft took off from Jordan and dropped 66 bundles—22 per aircraft—with over 38,000 meals ready to eat (MREs), senior administration officials told reporters. The U.S. airdrops occurred over southwest Gaza, a U.S. defense official told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The U.S. C-130s were assigned to Air Forces Central (AFCENT), the USAF’s Middle East command. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement the operation was carried out between 3 and 5 p.m. local time alongside Royal Jordanian Air Force C-130s.

U.S. Conducts 2nd Airdrop but Will Not Use Troops on the Ground in Aid Effort (NYT🔒)

The United States made a second round of airdrops of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, as the Biden administration continued its efforts to prevent a greater humanitarian disaster in the Palestinian territory. U.S. Air Force cargo planes dropped 36,800 ready-to-eat meals, in a joint operation with the Jordanian Air Force, “to provide essential relief to civilians affected by the ongoing conflict,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Tuesday. It said that army troops trained in aerial delivery were part of the airdrop, and that it was planning more such missions. However, the Pentagon said on Tuesday that the United States did not intend to send its troops into Gaza to strengthen the aid distribution process.

Biden outlines military plans to build port in Gaza for aid (Military Times)

The U.S. military will establish a temporary port in the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians, while continuing to send weapons to Israel, President Joe Biden confirmed in his State of the Union address Thursday. “No U.S. boots will be on the ground,” Biden said. “A temporary pier will enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day. And Israel must also do its part. Israel must allow more aid into Gaza and ensure that humanitarian workers aren’t caught in the cross fire.

Saudi Arabia Moves $164 Billion Aramco Stake to Wealth Fund (Bloomberg🔒)

Saudi Arabia’s government transferred a further $164 billion stake in Aramco to the Public Investment Fund, a move aimed at bolstering cashflow at the state-backed investor that’s ramping up spending on huge local projects. The 8% stake transfer will cut the government’s direct ownership in the world’s largest oil company to 82%, the Saudi Press Agency said. The move will have no impact on Aramco’s dividend, which the oil giant kept at $29 billion for the third quarter despite a drop in production and weaker oil prices. A recent decision to halt an increase in output capacity will lower spending, potentially allowing for a higher dividend payout, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Salih Yilmaz said. The firm is set to report annual results on Sunday. The PIF will now hold a 16% stake in Aramco. The fund is a key part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to diversify the Saudi economy, and is set to increase annual deployment of capital to $70 billion a year after 2025.

A ship earlier hit by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sinks in the Red Sea, the first vessel lost in conflict (AP)

A ship attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels has sunk in the Red Sea after days of taking on water, officials said Saturday, the first vessel to be fully destroyed as part of their campaign over Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The sinking of the Rubymar, which carried a cargo of fertilizer and previously leaked fuel, could cause ecological damage to the Red Sea and its coral reefs. Persistent Houthi attacks have already disrupted traffic in the crucial waterway for cargo and energy shipments moving from Asia and the Middle East to Europe. Already, many ships have turned away from the route. The sinking could see further detours and higher insurance rates put on vessels plying the waterway — potentially driving up global inflation and affecting aid shipments to the region.

Four Fiber Optic Cables Damaged In Red Sea: Here’s What We Know (Forbes🔒)

At least four undersea fiber optic cables, which carry approximately 97% of all Internet traffic, were damaged last week in the Red Sea, telecommunications providers are reporting, and instability in Yemen threatens to prevent operators from fixing them immediately.

Egypt secures IMF deal after pound plunge, bumper rate hike (Reuters) 📊

Egypt secured an expanded $8 billion deal on Wednesday with the International Monetary Fund, hours after the central bank unshackled its currency and delivered a 600 basis points rate hike in a push to stabilise the economy. Additionally, Egypt would obtain a $1.2 billion loan for environmental sustainability, bringing its total from the IMF to more than $9 billion, the government said. This was towards the lower end of what some analysts expected The currency weakened to beyond 50 Egyptian pounds to the dollar - far beyond previous records - from about 30.85 pounds, a level Egypt has for months tried to defend. It closed at 49.4 to the dollar.

Turkish annual inflation soars to 67% in February (CNBC) 📊

Turkish annual consumer price inflation soared to 67.07% in February, the Turkish Statistical Institute said Monday, coming in above expectations. The strong figures are fueling concerns that Turkey’s central bank, which had indicated last month that its painful eight-month-long rate-hiking cycle was over, may have to return to tightening. Persistently high inflation has been fueled by Turkey’s dramatically weakened currency, the lira, which is at a record low against the dollar. The lira was trading at 31.43 to the greenback around noon local time on Monday. The Turkish currency has lost 40% of its value against the dollar in the past year, and 82.6% in the last five years.

Turkey Inflation Rate

NOTE: I traveled to Egypt and Turkey last year—nearly everyone there wanted me to pay in US dollars. I can’t blame them, I would too!

Africa

Sudan Weekly Displacement Snapshot (UNOCHA) 📊

Since 15 April 2023, on-going armed clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have led to widespread displacement. As a result of these clashes, DTM Sudan estimated that 6,270,676 individuals (1,249,695 households) were internally displaced.

African Population Density (Reddit) 📊

Gunmen kidnap 227 pupils from school in Nigeria (Reuters)

Gunmen in Nigeria kidnapped more than 200 school pupils in the northern town of Kuriga on Thursday, a teacher, local councillor and parents of the missing children said, in the biggest mass abduction from a school since 2021.

Asia-Pacific

South Korea Moves to Suspend Licenses of Thousands of Protesting Doctors (NYT🔒)

The South Korean government on Monday said that it was moving to suspend the licenses of thousands of doctors who walked off the job nearly two weeks ago, threatening to escalate a dispute that has shaken the nation’s health care system. The announcement came after thousands of physicians, nurses and other medical professionals took to the streets on Sunday, rallying with banners that read: “Doctors are not criminals!” For more than a month, young doctors have been in a high-stakes dispute with the government over the future of health care in the country. Nearly 10,000 interns and residents, about a tenth of all doctors in the nation, have walked off the job, with most ignoring a Thursday deadline to return to work. On Monday, the government said it would begin to suspend the licenses of around 7,000 of those doctors. They say some of them do not even make minimum wage, their work conditions are Dickensian and that they are overburdened by complaints from litigation-happy patients. The authorities, they say, have long ignored systemic issues that made specializations like dermatology and cosmetic surgery more lucrative than essential services like emergency care. Last month, the government issued a new health care policy that it said would address a longstanding shortage of doctors by increasing medical school admissions by about 65 percent a year. But interns and residents, known as trainee doctors, said the government was continuing to ignore the real issues facing doctors.

China's exports top forecasts as global demand returns (Reuters) 📊

China's export and import growth in the January-February period beat forecasts, suggesting global trade is turning a corner in an encouraging signal for policymakers as they try to shore up a stuttering economic recovery.

Thailand completes transferring some 900 scam victims from Myanmar to China: PM Srettha (SCMP)

Thailand has in the last week helped facilitate the transfer of some 900 Chinese nationals who had been trapped in scam centres in a Myanmar border town back to China, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Sunday. Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, has become a hub for telecoms and other online fraud, according to the United Nations, with hundreds of thousands of people trafficked by criminal gangs and forced to work in scam centres and other illegal operations. The operation, which Thai police say started last Thursday and was completed on Saturday, involved transporting the Chinese nationals from Myanmar’s border town of Myawaddy to an airport in the Thai border district of Mae Sot, where they were transferred to Chinese planes.

As Pakistan Installs a Prime Minister, the Road Ahead Looks Rocky (NYT🔒)

Pakistan’s newly elected Parliament approved Shehbaz Sharif as prime minister on Sunday, ushering in his second term in that role and capping weeks of upheaval — as well as setting into motion a government facing economic and political challenges that are likely to leave the country in turmoil for years to come. His selection also brings to a crossroads the role of Pakistan’s powerful military, which has long been seen as an invisible hand guiding the country’s politics and has previously engineered its election results. Analysts say that public confidence in Mr. Sharif’s government is low.

Oceania

Australia warns Southeast Asia of 'coercive actions' (Reuters)

Australia said on Monday Indo-Pacific and Southeast Asian countries are facing serious defence threats as it set aside more funds for maritime security projects with ASEAN countries during a summit with regional leaders in Melbourne. Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced A$286.5 million ($186.7 million) in funding for ASEAN projects in areas including maritime security, amid tensions over China's growing assertiveness and its disputed claims to the South China Sea. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, including parts claimed by ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 said China's claims had no legal basis.

Space

Job Opening for Astronaut at NASA (USAJobs.gov)

Astronaut candidates will spend approximately two years training on the basic skills required to be an astronaut - from spacewalking and robotics to leadership and teamwork skills. Upon completing training, they will join the active astronaut corps and become eligible for spaceflight assignment. Until assigned a spaceflight, they will have responsibilities within the astronaut office ranging from supporting their fellow astronauts in space to advising on the development of new spacecraft.

NASA And SpaceX Blast Off To International Space Station (Forbes🔒)

SpaceX and NASA on Sunday successfully launched a crew of Russian and American astronauts towards the International Space Station (ISS) to begin a months-long mission in Earth orbit, the latest joint endeavor between Elon Musk’s rocket venture and the U.S. government agency as competition in the budding space industry heats up.

Space Burial Firm Creates a Dust-Up By Sending Ashes to the Moon (WSJ🔒)

Three decades ago, self-described space geek Charles Chafer revisited a far-out thought: You’ve got to be buried somewhere. Why not the final frontier? And so began Celestis, a Houston-based company dedicated to launching human ashes and DNA—and, occasionally, those from pets—into space. Since its first flight in 1997, the company has sent the cremated remains of more than 2,000 clients to Earth orbit, the moon, and, most recently, into deep space. A lunar or deep space flight costs around $13,000. Flights to the edge of space or into Earth orbit can run between $3,000 and $5,000. Orbital flights come with convenient tracking through a smartphone app so customers know when their loved one is passing overhead. Ferrying human remains to the moon is legal, according to existing rules that govern the cosmos. But as the companies capable of reaching off-world destinations proliferate, some experts say the legislative framework and regulatory agencies overseeing payloads must also adapt, taking into account the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s role in the commercial space economy and the rights of indigenous people who regard the moon as a deity.

Government

Biden takes on Trump and Republicans in fiery State of the Union (Reuters)

President Joe Biden on Thursday laid out his case for re-election in a fiery State of the Union speech that accused Donald Trump of threatening democracy, kowtowing to Russia and torpedoing a bill to tackle U.S. immigration woes.

Biden vs. Trump: A Familiar Matchup in an Unprecedented Election (WSJ🔒)

With the last embers of the Republican primary extinguished after Super Tuesday, the country is lurching into a new phase in the 2024 presidential election: a one-on-one matchup between President Biden and former President Donald Trump that is unlike any other contest in modern history. The last Republican challenger, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, said Wednesday she was suspending her campaign after Trump trounced her in states across the country. The former president is on track to clinch the GOP nomination as soon as next week, while Biden is sailing toward the Democratic nomination again. Never has America had to choose between two candidates so old, and never in modern times has the choice been between two so strongly disliked hopefuls who both are essentially running as incumbents, already having established White House track records. Never has a campaign played out in split-screen fashion on the trail and in the courtroom, with a set of criminal cases that could land one of the candidates, Trump, in jail and facing adverse civil judgments that could cripple his family business.

Supreme Court Restores Donald Trump’s Ballot Eligibility (WSJ🔒)

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that states lack the power to reject presidential candidates on the grounds they engaged in rebellion or insurrection against the U.S., a decision that restored former President Donald Trump’s name to Colorado’s ballot and ended similar challenges to his candidacy elsewhere. The unsigned opinion puts to rest a series of state-level claims that Trump isn’t eligible to be president a second time under a long dormant constitutional provision barring former officials who engaged in insurrection or rebellion from holding office again.

Defense

Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira pleads guilty under a deal that calls for at least 11 years in prison (AP)

Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty on Monday to leaking highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine and other national security secrets under a deal with prosecutors that calls for him to serve at least 11 years in prison. Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act nearly a year after he was arrested in the most consequential national security leak in years. The 22-year-old admitted illegally collecting some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets and sharing them with other users on Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani scheduled sentencing for September in Boston’s federal court and said she would decide then whether to formally accept the agreement, which calls for a prison sentence between 11 and nearly 17 years.

Air Force Deploys Live Hypersonic ARRW Missile to Guam (Air & Space Forces Magazine)

The Air Force has published images of an operational hypersonic Air-Launched Rapid-Response Weapon (ARRW) in Guam; a disclosure possibly meant to send a message to China but which raises questions about the future of the ARRW, which the Air Force insists it is not planning to procure in quantity. The images, released by the 36th Wing, showed air and ground crews at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, receiving “hypersonic weapon familiarization” with the AGM-183A ARRW on Feb. 27. The missile, which was mounted under the wing of a B-52H bomber, had yellow stripes, indicating it has a live warhead. Blue stripes indicate an inert weapon without a warhead, typically used for captive-carry tests or loading training.

Economy

Euro is back on the scene for global central banks (Reuters) 📊

Once hurt by crises and deflation, the euro is gaining popularity among central bank reserve managers thanks to a return to positive rates and geopolitics challenging king dollar's appeal. Roughly one in five of the 75 central banks surveyed by the London-based OMFIF think-tank anticipate increasing euro holdings over the next two years, its recently published 2023 report showed. While 7% looked to decrease euro holdings, net demand was higher than for any other currency during the period and a jump from the 2021 and 2022 surveys of reserve managers controlling nearly $5 trillion.

Energy

Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power (WP🔒) 📊

Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid. A major factor behind the skyrocketing demand is the rapid innovation in artificial intelligence, which is driving the construction of large warehouses of computing infrastructure that require exponentially more power than traditional data centers. AI is also part of a huge scale-up of cloud computing. Tech firms like Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft are scouring the nation for sites for new data centers, and many lesser-known firms are also on the hunt.

Washers and Dryers Are About to Get Way More Efficient (Gizmodo)

Doing laundry accounts for about 8 percent of a home’s annual electricity use, a figure that does not include the energy needed to heat the water swirling through the washing machine. Beyond that financial cost, the appliances contribute mightily to the nation’s carbon footprint. On Thursday, the Biden administration announced new washer and dryer efficiency standards that could ease those burdens. The updated standards — first reported by Grist — will result in top-loading clothes washers that are 11 percent more energy efficient than similar current machines while using 28 percent less water. Dryers will see up to a 40 percent reduction in energy use, depending on the model. The requirements are in line with current Energy Star efficiency benchmarks, and will apply to equipment produced after March 1, 2028.

How China Came to Dominate the World in Solar Energy (NYT🔒)

China unleashed the full might of its solar energy industry last year. It installed more solar panels than the United States has in its history. It cut the wholesale price of panels it sells by nearly half. And its exports of fully assembled solar panels climbed 38 percent while its exports of key components almost doubled.

Auto

China's BYD prices new version of best-selling EV lower than predecessor (Reuters)

China's leading electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD, opens new tab on Monday launched a new version of its best-selling car at a price lower than the final price of its discontinued predecessor, as a price war rages in the world's largest automobile market. BYD has already set lower launch prices for a slew of models as EV rivals including domestic peer Geely Auto, opens new tab and U.S. champion Tesla, opens new tab likewise introduce incentives to woo customers in a cooling market. China's top-selling EV maker has set a starting price for its new Yuan Plus crossover - known as the Atto 3 in overseas markets - at 119,800 yuan ($16,644), BYD said in a Weibo post. That is 11.8% lower than the final sales price of the version it has replaced, Reuters calculations showed.

Real Estate

Biden administration announces new efforts to boost the nation’s housing supply (GovExec)

The Biden administration announced on Thursday that it is extending a federal housing financing program that was set to expire in September. The move, according to the Federal Housing Administration, will allow states and localities to build or preserve 38,000 affordable rental homes over the next decade. Under the initiative, state and local housing finance agencies have received $2 billion in financing since 2021 to build or rehabilitate nearly 12,000 affordable rental homes for low-income families, seniors and persons with disabilities.

Personal Finance

New CFPB Rule Will Slash Credit Card Late Fees Saving Consumers $10 Billion (Forbes🔒)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finalized a rule that will bring average credit card late fees down from $32 to $8. The CFPB estimates the move will save consumers $10 billion in late fees, however opponents are raising concerns about how banks could make up the fee revenue elsewhere.

National Average FICO Score Drops for First Time in Decade (Bloomberg🔒) 📊

The average consumer credit score in the US has dropped for the first time in a decade, albeit by just one point. The score dipped to 717 in October from 718 in July, according to Fair Isaac Corp., the Montana-based creator of the FICO credit score. Borrowers missing more payments and consumers taking on more debt are considered the main drivers of the decline, the data analytics firm said in its March 6 report, citing the latest available figures.

Technology

More than 2 million research papers have disappeared from the Internet (Nature)

More than one-quarter of scholarly articles are not being properly archived and preserved, a study of more than seven million digital publications suggests. The findings, published in the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication on 24 January1, indicate that systems to preserve papers online have failed to keep pace with the growth of research output.

Robot ships: Huge remote controlled vessels are setting sail (BBC)

It sounds like science fiction. Ocean-going ships with no-one on board. But this vision of the future is coming - and sooner than you might think. You can glimpse it in a Norwegian fjord where a huge, lime-green vessel is being put through its paces. At first glance, it seems like any other ship. Look closer, though, and you suddenly see all the hi-tech kit. Cameras, microphones, radars, GPS and all manner of satellite communications. "We've added a lot of additional equipment and designed her especially to be what we call 'robotic'," says Colin Field, the head of remote systems at US-UK company Ocean Infinity (OI). The ship is part of OI's new "Armada" - a fleet eventually of 23 vessels - that will survey the seabed for offshore wind farm operators and check underwater infrastructure for the oil and gas industry.

Cyber

TikTok campaign against ban backfires (Semafor)

A House committee unanimously advanced legislation that would force ByteDance to divest the social media app TikTok, despite congressional offices being bombarded with calls from TikTokers who were urged by the platform to call their representatives to protest the bill. “Let Congress know what TikTok means to you and tell them to vote NO,” a pop-up message on the app said, imploring users to “stop a TikTok shutdown.” Aides from multiple congressional offices told Semafor that they were getting flooded with calls pushing back on the legislation Thursday. Some offices reported getting as many as 50 phone calls. One office received a message from a caller threatening suicide if the app was taken down, a Politico reporter posted on X. But later Thursday afternoon, the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously advanced the legislation in a 50-0 vote. The bipartisan House bill introduced Tuesday would force ByteDance to sell off TikTok or face it being banned in the United States, over national security concerns associated with Chinese ownership of the app, which TikTok says is used by 170 million Americans. House majority leader Steve Scalise said the bill would come to the floor next week.

Apple Terminates Epic Games’ Developer Account—Claiming Fortnite Maker Is ‘Untrustworthy’ (Forbes🔒)

Apple has terminated the developer account for Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, preventing the company from releasing Fortnite and a third-party app store in Europe, Epic Games said Wednesday, the latest contention between the two companies amid a yearslong legal dispute.

Ex-Google Engineer Charged With Stealing A.I. Secrets for Chinese Firm (NYT🔒)

A Chinese citizen who recently quit his job as a software engineer for Google in California has been charged with trying to transfer artificial intelligence technology to a Beijing-based company that paid him secretly, according to a federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday. Prosecutors accused Linwei Ding, who was part of the team that designs and maintains Google’s vast A.I. supercomputer data system, of stealing information about the “architecture and functionality” of the system, and of pilfering software used to “orchestrate” supercomputers “at the cutting edge of machine learning and A.I. technology.”

Artificial Intelligence

AI Talent Is in Demand as Other Tech Job Listings Decline (WSJ🔒) 📊

U.S. companies are ramping up recruitment of artificial-intelligence professionals and paying a premium for talent. Firms in the tech sector and beyond went on a hiring spree after the onset of the pandemic before pivoting to a focus on efficiency through layoffs and other cost-cutting measures. The market for AI-related roles has proved resilient, job-listings data show.

Elon Musk Sues OpenAI and Sam Altman for Violating the Company’s Principles (NYT🔒)

Mr. Musk sued OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, accusing them of breaching a contract by putting profits and commercial interests in developing artificial intelligence ahead of the public good. A multibillion-dollar partnership that OpenAI developed with Microsoft, Mr. Musk said, represented an abandonment of a founding pledge to carefully develop A.I. and make the technology publicly available.

Life

In Honor & Memory of McCanna Anthony “Mac” Sinise (Gary Sinise Foundation)

NOTE: Gary Sinise’s son passed away in January at the age of 34 after a fight with a rare form of cancer. This is Gary’s tribute to him. I had the privilege of meeting Gary in 2011 when his band performed for troops in Alaska—he was incredibly kind and stayed to meet everyone who came to see him. He is a huge supporter of our military troops. His son had a music degree and composed a series of songs before passing away. Here’s one of them:

The ZIP Code Shift: Why Many Americans No Longer Live Where They Work (NYT🔒)

Many Americans now live roughly twice as far from their offices as they did prepandemic. That’s according to a new study, set to be released this week, from economists at Stanford and Gusto, a payroll provider, using data from Gusto. The economists studied employee and employer address data from nearly 6,000 employers across the country and found that the average distance between people’s homes and workplaces rose to 27 miles in 2023 from 10 miles in 2019, more than doubling.

Education

Distress Soars at Small US Colleges as Enrollment Declines (Bloomberg🔒) 📊

A growing number of small US colleges are under pressure, according to a Bloomberg analysis of the latest federal data that shows more higher education institutions facing enrollment declines and other strains. About 200 schools met at least three of the five metrics that Bloomberg used to identify rising pressure on non-profit higher-education institutions with less than 5,000 students, according to a review of the most-up-to-date government data from the US Department of Education. Those factors include high acceptance rates, falling enrollment and repeated years of operating losses. That’s up from Bloomberg’s tally last year and the most facing pressure in over a decade, according to the 2022-23 collection period of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System from the National Center for Education Statistics. The implications are troubling for schools, particularly smaller, less selective institutions amid a demographic shift in the US that’s expected to shrink the pool of high school graduates in the coming decade due to declining birth rates.

University of Idaho Needs More Students. Should It Buy an Online School? (NYT🔒)

The University of Idaho is just the latest publicly funded state school to consider partnering with a for-profit company as a way to develop online enrollment. Arrangements at Arizona State, Purdue and, most recently, the University of Arizona have delivered varying results as higher education faces an existential crisis. College enrollment across the country is expected to peak by next year and then fall precipitously as a result of lower birthrates after the economic downturn, according to research by Nathan D. Grawe, a professor at Carleton College.

Health

E.R. Visits Quadruple for Children Accidentally Eating Melatonin (WSJ🔒)

More parents with young children are taking melatonin to sleep. And some of them are going to the emergency room after their children took melatonin accidentally. The number of children who visited emergency rooms for unsupervised melatonin consumption increased 420% from 2009-2020, federal data showed. Melatonin was implicated in some 7% of recent E.R. visits for children 5 and younger who had taken medication without supervision. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its report Thursday that at least half of E.R. visits for melatonin ingestion involved flavored products such as gummies or chewable tablets that might appeal to young children. Melatonin products aren’t required to have child-resistant packaging.

Chemical Linked to Cancer Found in Acne Creams Including Proactiv, Clearasil (Bloomberg🔒)

Hand sanitizers were tainted by benzene. Sunscreens and dry shampoos too. Now acne treatments are joining the list of widely used consumer products found to contain high levels of the chemical linked to cancer. Acne products from brands including Proactiv, Target Corp.’s Up & Up and Clinique have elevated levels of the carcinogen, an independent testing laboratory said in a petition filed with the US Food and Drug Administration late Tuesday. The lab asked the FDA to recall the affected treatments — all of which contain the active ingredient benzoyl peroxide — while regulators investigate.

Patients Lose Access to Weight-Loss Drugs as Employers Stop Coverage (WSJ🔒)

Employers that embraced paying for weight-loss drugs are now reckoning with the high costs, forcing growing numbers to dial back or cut off their reimbursement because they can’t afford it. The companies are putting in place restrictions such as limiting use to workers with high body-mass indexes, or a $20,000 cap, while others have eliminated coverage altogether. They can’t sustain the spending, they say, and question whether the medications are reaching the right patients.

Scientists discover sources of Parkinson’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome, and OCD in bombshell study (NY Post)

Researchers may have found a new way to target the sources of certain brain disorders. In a study led by scientists at Mass General Brigham, deep brain stimulation (DBS) was able to pinpoint dysfunctions in the brain that are responsible for four cognitive disorders: Parkinson’s disease, dystonia (a muscle disorder condition that causes repetitive or twisting movements), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette’s syndrome. The discovery, published in Nature Neuroscience on Feb. 22, could potentially help doctors determine new treatments for these disorders. The study included 261 patients worldwide — 70 had dystonia, 127 were Parkinson’s disease patients, 50 had been diagnosed with OCD and 14 had Tourette’s syndrome. The researchers implanted electrodes into the brains of each participant and used special software to determine which brain circuits were dysfunctional in each of the four disorders.

Worms that live in Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone are immune to radiation – what this means for mankind (NY Post)

Tiny worms that live in the highly radioactive Chernobyl Exclusion Zone were found to be immune to radiation — which scientists hope could provide clues about why some humans develop cancer, while others do not. The 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant made the area one of the most radioactive landscapes on Earth and scientists have been studying the effects of the disaster on plants and animals within the 20-mile zone surrounding the power plant in the four decades since. Unlike other animals that have been studied — including wild wolves that have developed cancer-resilient genomes — the worms have simple genomes and live short lives, allowing the scientists to study multiple generations over a short period of time. The team also measured how sensitive the descendants of each of the 20 worms were to different types of DNA damage and found that any differences didn’t correspond to the levels of radiation at each collection site. This suggests that worms from Chornobyl are not necessarily more tolerant of radiation and the radioactive landscape has not forced them to evolve, the researchers said.

Nature

Scientists reveal secrets of Earth's magnificent desert star dunes (Reuters)

They are among the wonders of our deserts: star dunes, the vaguely pyramid-shaped sand formations up to about 1,000 feet (300 meters) tall with arms stretching out from a central peak to give them a star-like appearance when viewed from above. Scientists on Monday unveiled the first in-depth study of a star dune, revealing the internal structure of these geological features and showing how long it took for one of them to form - more quickly than expected but still a process unfolding over many centuries. The ground-penetrating radar revealed the layers within the Lala Lallia dune, showing how it was constructed over time through accumulating sand and how parts of its internal structure resembled other types of dunes. "Star dunes are formed in areas with complex wind regimes, which means winds blowing from different directions, and net sand accumulation, points within the desert where big piles of sand can be blown around to form giant dunes," said Birkbeck University of London sedimentologist and study co-author Charlie Bristow.

Travel

Rental-Car Prices Are Far Lower. Here’s Where You Can Save Money. (WSJ🔒)

Gone are the days where renting a car meant spending upward of $80 or even $100 a day—if you could even find a car. Nationally, the cost to rent a car has fallen, online travel agencies and leisure-industry analysts say. Car-rental prices are averaging $38 a day nationwide, according to travel-search company Hopper. That’s down 8% from last year, or $3. It’s a significant turnaround for travelers, who just a few years ago witnessed prices soar roughly 80% higher than prepandemic levels for a car.

Delta Airlines is hiking checked-baggage fees 17% following similar moves by United and American (AP)

In case you needed yet another incentive to cram all your travel items into a carry-on, Delta Airlines just boosted the cost of your first checked bag by 17%. The increase adds $5 to the previous, and not-exactly-insignificant, $30 fee for domestic flights. Delta is the third major U.S. carrier to hike bag fees in the past several weeks. Its move follows similar increases that American Airlines and United Airlines announced in February, three days apart; those high fees themselves followed fee hikes by smaller carriers Alaska Airlines and JetBlue Airways. Major U.S. carriers often copy one another’s pricing changes, a move that behavior analysts sometimes refer to as herd instinct. Delta said Tuesday that the first bag checked on a domestic flight will now incur a $35 fee. The charge for a second bag rose from $40 to $45.

JetBlue, Spirit end bid to merge after antitrust objections (WP🔒)

JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines announced Monday they have dropped plans to merge, a transaction that would have created the nation’s fifth-largest carrier. In a statement, JetBlue said that while the two companies still believe in the “procompetitive benefits of the combination,” it was unlikely they would be able to reach the necessary legal and regulatory approvals by July 24 as called for in their agreement.

Entertainment

Number of independent record shops in UK hits 10-year high (BBC)

The digital entertainment and retail association (ERA) said there are now 461 indie record shops in the UK - 122 more than 10 years ago. By contrast, the number of shops physically selling music - such as supermarkets and specialist chains - fell by 8,000 compared to 2014. It means just 8% of all music sales are now in a physical form. The ERA's 2024 Yearbook, containing statistics on the music, video and gaming sectors, found the UK music market was worth £2.2bn last year. It attributed a massive proportion of this - 84% - to streaming subscriptions. But it also found the demand for vinyl records increased for the 16th year in a row, with 6.5 million sold, taking overall sales above £170m.

'Barbenheimer' mania fuels U.S. gambling on the Oscars (Reuters)

After a summer face-off at the box office, the "Barbenheimer" battle is headed to online gambling sites in the United States. New Jersey, Massachusetts and five other states allow wagering on this Sunday's Academy Awards, where "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" will compete for best picture and other honors. Gamblers can put their money on top prizes such as best picture, actor or actress, or take a chance on lower-profile categories such as best sound or animated short.

Sports

Dartmouth Basketball Players Vote to Unionize in New Challenge to NCAA’s Amateurism Model (WSJ🔒)

The Dartmouth men’s basketball team voted in favor of forming a union on Tuesday, in a seismic move for college sports and its century-old insistence that athletes are playing, not working when they compete for their schools. The National Labor Relations Board announced that 13 of the team’s 15 players had voted in favor of joining the Service Employees International Union, and two had cast ballots against it. The election came after a series of legal interpretations from the NLRB that players are employees, and the players signed union representation forms with the SEIU Local 560. The election was ordered by the NLRB’s regional director, Laura Sacks, who had concluded that the players are employees “because Dartmouth has the right to control the work performed by the Dartmouth men’s basketball team, and the players perform that work in exchange for compensation.” That decision followed a memo from the NLRB’s general counsel in September 2021 setting out her position that college players are employees under the National Labor Relations Act. “We always negotiate in good faith and have deep respect for our 1,500 union colleagues, including the members of SEIU Local 560. In this isolated circumstance, however, the students on the men’s basketball team are not in any way employed by Dartmouth,” said a spokeswoman for Dartmouth in a statement. “Classifying these students as employees simply because they play basketball is as unprecedented as it is inaccurate.” The NCAA also expressed concern, issuing a statement that “the NCAA is making changes to deliver more benefits to student-athletes, including guaranteed health care and guaranteed scholarships, but the NCAA and student-athlete leadership from all three divisions agree college athletes should not be forced into an employment model.”

LeBron James becomes the first NBA player to eclipse 40,000 career points (The Athletic)

LeBron James has become the first player in NBA history to score 40,000 career points, eclipsing the plateau with a left-handed layup at the 10:39 mark of the second quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ matchup against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena. James, already the league’s all-time leading scorer after passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 career points) on Feb. 7, 2023, said Thursday that reaching the 40,000-point mark would be “pretty cool.” James has been the youngest player in NBA history to hit every 1,000-point milestone. The four-time champion, four-time Finals MVP and four-time MVP has been remarkably durable and consistent, ranking in the top 20 in points per game in all 21 seasons of his career.

Caitlin Clark surpasses Pete Maravich’s scoring record for most points in NCAA history (The Athletic)

There is a new leading scorer in college basketball. With a free throw with 0.3 seconds to play in the first half against No. 3 Ohio State Sunday during her final regular-season game, Caitlin Clark scored her 3,668th point to pass Pete Maravich for the most points in Division I history, men’s or women’s. Clark finished the game with 35 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals as No. 6 Iowa held on to take down Ohio State 93-83. Clark has spent the last few weeks chasing down a number of records. She passed Kelsey Plum on Feb. 15 to become the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women’s basketball. In her most recent contest on Feb. 28 against Minnesota, she eclipsed the 3,649 points scored by Lynette Woodard, the AIAW large-school leading scorer. Now after passing the total set by Maravich in 1970, she stands atop all of major college basketball.

Cole Brauer becomes first American woman to race sailboat alone and nonstop around world (AP)

Alone, Cole Brauer braved three oceans and the elements as she navigated her sailboat for months. When she and her 40-foot (12.2-meter) sailboat arrived Thursday in A Coruna, Spain, the 29-year-old became the first American woman to race nonstop around the world by herself, traveling across about 30,000 miles (48,280 kilometers).

Jason Kelce retirement speech | Best moments (YouTube)

The NFL veteran gives an emotional speech on his retirement. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles and won a Super Bowl with the team.

Have a great weekend!

The Curator

Two resources to help you be a more discerning reader:

AllSides - https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news

Media Bias Chart - https://www.adfontesmedia.com/

Caveat: Even these resources/charts are biased. Who says that the system they use to describe news sources is accurate? Still, hopefully you find them useful as a basic guide or for comparison.

Curated Compositions

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