Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.

Deadly winter storm causes power outages and disrupts travel across US

Summary: A period of unseasonable heat across North America has ended with the arrival of a cascade of winter storms, powered by a polar vortex, that have already killed several people and blanketed the US in all sorts of advisories, watches, and warnings related to tornadoes, destructive wind gusts, frigid temperatures, and high levels of rain and snow precipitation.

Context: Some version of this happens most years, but the flip from warm and balmy to shatteringly cold and icy isn’t usually this sudden, and the scope and destructiveness of these weather systems seems to be getting worse by the year; folks in the impacted areas are being warned about travel delays and cancellations, power outages, and overall dangerous conditions for the next week or so.

—Reuters

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SEC approves Bitcoin ETFs for everyday investors

Summary: The SEC has announced a decision that clears the way for Bitcoin-based ETFs to be traded by the public.

Context: An exchange-traded fund, or ETF, is an asset that can be traded like stocks, but rather than representing investments in companies they represent investments in a portfolio of assets like gold, stocks, or bonds; this ruling will allow for the creation and sale of ETFs that contain Bitcoins, which would essentially allow investors to buy into this category of asset without having to work with crypto platforms (of at times dubious legality) or take on the risk of owning (notoriously volatile) Bitcoins, directly.

—The Wall Street Journal

South Africa presents genocide case against Israel at UN’s top court

Summary: A representative from South Africa presented arguments to the International Court of Justice yesterday, accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Context: Israel denies the allegations and its allies, like the US, have backed those denials, but the South African government seems to be presenting this case in part to force a pause in the fighting, that effort backed by several other governments, though it could also lead to a formal demand by the Internal Court of Justice that Israel stop its invasion and bombardment of the region, which would then give those who oppose Israel’s actions in Gaza more leverage for future efforts to end the conflict.

—The Washington Post

Live broadcast television in the US is dominated by the NFL, making up 93 of the top 100 programs in 2023 according to Nielsen ratings (up from 82 and 72 in 2022 and 2020, respectively).

—Axios

>$100 billion

Size of Russia’s military budget for 2024 according to the country’s Ministry of Finance.

That’s a jump of more than two-thirds from 2023 spending, and a post-Soviet record.

Analysts expect that they can maintain this level of spending for the next few years, but that the country’s larger economy will suffer as a consequence.

—The Wall Street Journal

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