'Gas Stoves'
What You Need To Know
Today’s posts that caught my eye:
China suspended issuing short-term visas in South Korea and Japan, after announcing it would retaliate against countries that required negative COVID-19 tests from Chinese travelers.
Illinois passes comprehensive gun bill banning sale of military-style firearms: Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law a comprehensive measure that supporters called one of the nation’s toughest bans on military style firearms, immediately prohibiting their sale and giving current owners until Jan. 1 to register gun serial numbers with Illinois State Police.
In a move that could change how more than a billion people write documents, presentations and emails, Microsoft has discussed incorporating OpenAI’s artificial intelligence in Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and other apps so customers can automatically generate text using simple prompts.
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The World
In the first visit to Mexico by a U.S. leader in almost a decade, President Biden met with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to discuss trade, the drug war and record levels of illicit immigration in a wide-ranging conversation that was mostly cordial but at one point turned testy as the Mexican leader demanded his U.S. counterpart do more to help the region. “End with this forgetfulness, this abandonment, this disdain toward Latin America and the Caribbean,” López Obrador told Biden. Biden responded by saying that the U.S. had invested “tens of billions of dollars” in Latin America in the last 15 years, while also donating more than any other country globally to causes worldwide. The U.S. “responsibility,” Biden said pointedly, extends well beyond the Western Hemisphere. (Los Angeles Times)
'Land covered in corpses' as Russia strives for first big Ukraine gains in months. (Reuters)
The Pentagon has announced it will teach Ukrainian troops to use Patriot missile systems in the US, marking one of the few occasions Kyiv’s forces have been trained on American soil since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year. The program will be held at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, where the US trains its own troops to use the Patriot. (Financial Times)
Russia and Iran eye trade route with India to bypass sanctions. The project, two decades in the making, would bypass Europe as tensions mount. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Death Toll in Peru Rises to 46 Amid Extraordinary Violence: “What happened yesterday was really a massacre,” said one human rights activist. At least 17 people were killed in southern Peru in a matter of hours on Monday amid ongoing protests over the ouster of the former president, an extraordinary spasm of violence that led to criticism of excessive force by the military and the police. The clashes heightened concerns that the protests would continue to spread and lead to more bloodshed. Peru has been the scene of violent demonstrations since mid-December, when the country’s leftist president, Pedro Castillo, who had promised to address longstanding issues of poverty and inequality, attempted to dissolve Congress and rule by decree. (New York Times)
Brazil judge orders arrest of top security officials in Brasília riot: Justice Alexandre de Moraes approved warrants for the arrests of Anderson Torres, the public security chief for the federal district of Brasília, and Col. Fábio Augusto, commander of military police in the district. (Washington Post)
Jair Bolsonaro said he is preparing to leave the US and return home within the next few weeks, as prosecutors in Brazil seek to freeze the former president’s assets following riots in the capital by his radical followers. “I came [to the United States] to stay until the end of the month [January], but I intend to bring forward my return,” he told CNN Brasil. (Financial Times)
China suspended issuing short-term visas in South Korea and Japan, after announcing it would retaliate against countries that required negative COVID-19 tests from Chinese travelers. (Reuters)
Satellite images capture crowding at China’s crematoriums and funeral homes as Covid surge continues. (CNN)
WHO: Countries should consider recommending that passengers wear masks on long-haul flights, given the rapid spread of the latest Omicron subvariant of COVID-19 in the U.S. (Reuters)
In Israel, President Isaac Herzog urged politicians to “lower the temperature” as increasingly shrill statements and warnings surrounding plans to overhaul Israel’s judicial system amped up tensions between the Knesset coalition and opposition, including predictions of civil war and calls to jail leading government critics. (Times of Israel)
King Charles III has chosen France for his first state visit, with his arrival planned for March 27 on a trip expected to help restore ties frayed since Brexit, according to French media. President Macron’s aides said he greatly appreciated Charles’s acceptance of his invitation. The late Queen completed five state visits to France, more than any other country. (The Times)
Illinois passes comprehensive gun bill banning sale of military-style firearms: Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law a comprehensive measure that supporters called one of the nation’s toughest bans on military style firearms, immediately prohibiting their sale and giving current owners until Jan. 1 to register gun serial numbers with Illinois State Police. (Chicago Tribune)
Is this the beginning of the end for gas stoves? For years, scientists and health advocates have tried to bring attention to a secret source of air pollution sitting in 40 million U.S. homes — which jump-starts childhood asthma, increases the risk of respiratory problems, and emits planet warming-gasses. Richard Trumka Jr., one of the four commissioners of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said the agency was considering a ban on gas stoves — or, at least, standards around the amount of toxic fumes such stoves can spew into Americans’ kitchens. Some cities — including Los Angeles, Seattle and New York — have already moved to ban gas stoves in certain new homes and apartments. Kathy Hochul (D), the governor of New York, has also proposed banning gas hookups, including for gas stoves, in new buildings in the entire state. (Washington Post)
What the Potential Ban on Gas Stoves Means If You Have One: “To be clear, CPSC isn’t coming for anyone’s gas stoves,” Trumka tweeted on Monday. “Regulations apply to new products.” “For Americans who CHOOSE to switch from gas to electric, there is support available—Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act which includes a $840 rebate,” he added. Natural gas stoves are currently used in about a third of households in the U.S., or about 40 million homes. (Time)
The Last 8 Years Were the Hottest on Record: The world remained firmly in warming’s grip last year, with extreme summer temperatures in Europe, China and elsewhere contributing to 2022 being the fifth-hottest year on record, European climate researchers said. (New York Times)
Southern California faces another day of heavy rains, strong winds and flooding fears: In the last two weeks, parts of California have received more than 25 inches of rain, with some areas receiving 35 inches or more. Here's a look at how much precipitation the state has received in the last 14 days: (Los Angeles Times, CNN)
Economy
The Biden administration released a detailed plan that will make it easier for student-loan holders to wipe out their debts using income-driven repayment plans. The proposed rule from the Education Department is a key step in overhauling the $1.6 trillion federal loan program that has left millions with ballooning debts. The Supreme Court plans next month to take up a challenge to that broader debt-forgiveness. (Wall Street Journal)
Shareholders bring US abortion battle to the boardroom: A record number of US companies — including American Express, Eli Lilly and HCA Healthcare — are facing shareholder demands for more details about their abortion policies from investors. Socially conscious investors have asked at least 10 companies for more information about the risks they face from abortion policies announced after the court in June overturned federal rights to the procedure. More than a dozen additional proposals are expected to become public in the weeks ahead. (Financial Times)
Goldman Sachs has embarked on its biggest cost-cutting exercise since the financial crisis, with the Wall Street bank reviewing spending on everything from its private jets to expenses at a new technology and consumer unit. The spending review comes as Goldman starts to implement more than 3,000 job cuts, with many employees in London and New York due to learn their fates today. Investment bankers are also bracing for a reduction of 40% or more in their annual bonuses. (Financial Times)
Wells Fargo, announcing a “new strategic direction” for a mortgage empire that was once the largest in US banking, said it will stop funding home loans arranged by outsiders and shrink the portfolio of debts that it services. (Bloomberg)
Billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and star NFL quarterback Tom Brady are among those sharing in the pain of FTX Group’s sudden implosion. So are Gisele Bündchen, Dan Och, Peter Thiel and Paul Tudor Jones. (Bloomberg)
Coinbase to slash a fifth of workforce as crypto crisis deepens. (Financial Times)
Oil and Gas Are Back and Booming: U.S. production of natural gas—Chesapeake’s focus—has hit record levels. The country’s crude oil production remains shy of the 2019 level but is otherwise at a peak. Exports of both gas and crude are hitting new highs, easily outpacing overseas sales of aircraft, pharmaceuticals, food and cars. Exxon Mobil Corp.’s shares rose 80% last year. (Wall Street Journal)
Geopolitical issues are less likely to drive young consumers to change their purchasing habits. On hot-button domestic topics like abortion access and support for the Black Lives Matter movement, Gen Z adults say they will boycott brands that profess positions antithetical to their own at higher rates than any other generation. But at the same time, younger adults are less likely to single out unethical overseas practices as a reason to change their purchasing habits relative to both domestic issues and other generations. In a surprising result that has held across multiple survey waves, Gen Z and millennial respondents also say they would more likely than not keep buying from brands that operate in repressive countries, such as ones that limit freedom of speech or freedom of the press. And they are lukewarm about boycotting companies that operate in countries actively involved in invading a neighboring nation or territory. Herein lies the paradox: Gen Z adults — and to a lesser extent, millennials — express a readiness to use their purchasing power to push for corporate action in support of the Black Lives Matter movement despite their relatively low support for boycotting companies that do business in repressive countries with similarly strained ethnic or religious tensions. (Morning Consult)
Technology
In a move that could change how more than a billion people write documents, presentations and emails, Microsoft has discussed incorporating OpenAI’s artificial intelligence in Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and other apps so customers can automatically generate text using simple prompts. These goals won’t be easy to accomplish. For more than a year, Microsoft’s engineers and researchers have worked to create personalized AI tools for composing emails and documents by applying OpenAI’s machine-learning models to customers’ private data, said another person with direct knowledge of the plan, which hasn’t previously been reported. Engineers are developing methods to train these models on the customer data without it leaking to other customers or falling into the hands of bad actors, this person said. The AI-powered writing and editing tools also run the risk of turning off customers if those features introduce mistakes. (The Information)
Microsoft’s Satya Nadella is weighing the company’s biggest-ever startup investment, seeking to give the software giant an advantage against Google in the race to weave advanced artificial intelligence tools into fields like search and apps. The company is in discussions to invest as much as $10 billion in OpenAI, the creator of viral AI bot ChatGPT. The proposal under consideration calls for Microsoft to inject the cash over several years, though final terms may change. (Bloomberg)
Three-quarters of teenagers have viewed pornography online by the age of 17, with the average age of first exposure at age 12, according to the report by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit child advocacy group. Teenagers are seeing the photos and videos on their smartphones, on their school devices and across social media, pornography sites and streaming sites, it said. The report underlined how ubiquitous pornography has become, with 41% of teenagers saying they had seen images of nudity or sexual acts online during the school day. Much of the exposure was by accident, with 58% saying they did not seek out the sexually explicit videos and photos, but had come across them while surfing the web, on social media or through search engines or clicking ads. (New York Times)
China Has Set Its Sights on Cornering Another Green Energy Market: Hydrogen Policymakers in Europe and the US are racing to counteract early Chinese dominance of electrolyzers, a key piece in the next generation of clean energy. (Bloomberg)
Black US founders raised around 1%, or an estimated $2.254B, of the total US venture capital raised in 2022, down from the record 1.3% in 2021. (Techcrunch)
Smart Links
Chicago commuters lost more hours to congestion in 2022 than drivers in any other major U.S. city. (Chicago Tribune)
FedEx to reduce Sunday operations as pandemic-era demand cools. (Financial Times)
C-SPAN requests greater access to House chamber. (Axios)
‘Astonishing’ Pompeii home of men freed from slavery reopens to public. (The Guardian)
Eurozone house prices grow at slowest rate since 2021. (Financial Times)
Macron government unveils plans to raise French retirement age to 64. (Financial Times)
Marjorie Taylor Greene used Dr. Dre’s song “Still D.R.E.” without Dr. Dre’s permission. Dr. Dre didn’t appreciate that, lawyer’s letter makes clear:
Good News
A mother and daughter have been rescued after a roadway collapse swallowed their car into a 15-foot sinkhole during this week's intense storms. The rescue was done as water was rising fast. (NBC Los Angeles)
(CR note: We’ve posted previously about Jaylen Smith, but, frankly, I can’t get enough.)
An Ailing Arkansas City Elected an 18-Year-Old Mayor to Turn Things Around: Residents hope that Jaylen Smith’s youthful energy and sense of purpose can improve the fortunes of Earle, Ark. — or at least attract a supermarket to the small city. (New York Times)
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