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

El Salvador says murders fell 70% in 2023 as it cracked down on gangs

Summary: New figures released by the El Salvadoran government last week indicate that the number of homicides in the country fell to 154 from 495 in 2022—a decrease of nearly 70%.

Context: That drop is even starker when compared to the more than 1,000 people who were killed in the country in 2021 and 2020, and the more than 2,000 in 2019; El Salvador has long suffered from gang-related violence fueled by extortion and drugs, and President Bukele’s multi-year crackdown on gang members has led to the arrest of almost 75,000 people, and has been incredibly popular with citizens, though international rights groups have criticized it for allegedly leading to hundreds of deaths, thousands of instances of human rights abuse, and allegedly serving as cover for the arrest and harassment of political opponents.

—Reuters

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Congress strikes deal on 2024 spending

Summary: Over the weekend, Senators and House Representatives from both major parties came to a high-level agreement about funding for the US government through the end of 2024, increasing the likelihood they’ll be able to avoid a government shutdown beginning mid-January and escalating in early February.

Context: There are still hurdles to leap, as Congress has to make deals on each of 12 annual spending bills—basically carving up the $1.59 trillion budget, most of which will go to defense spending, and the rest funding going to every other aspect of the government—and there are quite a few Republican lawmakers who aren’t keen on the agreement, as it doesn’t include the severe budget cuts some members of the party have been calling for.

—Axios

After new rocket’s successful launch, a US Moon lander faces problems

Summary: Celebration over the successful launch of a Moon-bound robotic spacecraft has been tempered by reports of orientation problems shortly after the separation and powering-on phases of the mission.

Context: The team behind the craft, which is called Peregrine and is aiming to perform the first American soft-landing on the Moon since 1972, has said it’s monitoring the situation and will provide updates as they know more, but the concern is that this issue could prevent the craft from pointing its solar array at the sun, which would leave it without enough power to function as intended; this is just the first of several Moon landings being attempted by US government-funded American corporations in 2024, and is part of a larger, international wave of spacecraft aimed at the Moon in what’s being called a modern Space Race.

—The New York Times

A fair number of new Moon landings are scheduled for 2024, many of them funded by the US government but designed and operated by corporations rather than NASA, directly.

—The Wall Street Journal

12 gigawatts

Volume of energy that will be produced by a large order of solar panels placed by Microsoft with South Korean manufacturer Qcells on Monday.

These panels will be delivered through 2032, and this marks one of the largest deals of this kind—the deal being additionally notable because Qcells will produce the panels at its new $2.5 billion factory in Georgia, ensuring they’re all made in America (which is unusual for solar panels, as most are made in China).

—Reuters

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