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

Indonesia is set to launch Southeast Asia’s first high-speed railway, largely funded by China

Summary: A high-speed railway project in Indonesia—which has been hobbled by all sorts of delays and ballooning costs, and which is called “Whoosh”—began operations yesterday, cutting travel times between the country’s capital and another major city from about three hours down to around 40 minutes.

Context: This is one of the premier projects funded by China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and though there are all sorts of well-founded concerns about it ever making a profit, the bullet train can reach speeds of up to 350 kph, which is about 217 mph, and may help residents and commuters reduce their reliance on cars—an effort that could pay off substantially, as the country’s economy currently loses an estimated $6.5 billion a year to traffic congestion in its major cities; the project originally broke ground in 2016, and nearly doubled in price after being approved, but the government is still planning an expansion that would eventually link all four provinces on its main island with high-speed rail.

—The Associated Press

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Slovakia's poll winner defies European consensus on Ukraine

Summary: A pro-Russian Slovak candidate has won the country’s most recent election, and is now in talks to form a coalition government that would allow his party to run the country.

Context: Robert Fico has said he wants to stop providing non-humanitarian support for Ukraine, that Ukrainian extremists are to blame for Russian President Putin’s decision to invade the country, and he has taken a generally anti-liberalization stance mirroring that of Hungary’s current government; Fico has a history of doing what needs to be done to maintain his hold on the reins of power, so there’s a chance he steps back from some of his more fringe election promises if and when he’s able to form a governing coalition, but there’s some concern that this could further soften the EU’s stance on supporting Ukraine, though other analysts have suggested that Slovakia has already provided what military support they’re capable of providing, and the main concern is that Fico would disallow the transport of military hardware from other EU nations through Slovak territory on its way to Ukraine.

—Reuters

EMILY's List head Laphonza Butler picked to fill Feinstein's Senate seat

Summary: Following the death of long-serving US Senator Feinstein less than a week ago, California Governor Newsom has appointed the president of pro-choice organization EMILY’s List, Laphonza Butler, to fill her seat until the next election.

Context: This appointment was initially fraught, as Newsom’s decision to appoint someone who would more or less be a placeholder until the next election—and thus someone who wasn’t planning to run, as he didn’t want to put his thumb on the scale of that election—was controversial within the Democratic party, but this choice seems to be popular with most of his constituents; there’s a chance Butler could decide to run in 2024, as well, but in the interim, as a lesbian she already represents the first openly LGBTQ+ senator from California, and will be the only black woman currently serving in the Senate.

—Axios

We may be hitting the peak of employee-leverage when it comes to negotiating pay and other benefits (which is part of why so many unions are currently scrambling to negotiate, while the getting is good), but the gains locked-in by employees on the lower-end of earnings in the US have already been substantial, and have fundamentally changed expectations in terms of what American workers expect to earn per hour.

—Chartr

$33,000

Sum that electric vehicle-maker Rivian lost on every vehicle it sold in the second quarter of 2023.

That’s a fairly astonishing figure, especially considering that their vehicles sell for more than $80,000 on average.

But this level of cash-burn isn’t unknown in the EV space, as scaling-up (and making more efficient) their production is one of the biggest hurdles any would-be Tesla competitor faces.

—The Wall Street Journal

Trust Click

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