One Sentence News

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

Romania and Bulgaria to join Schengen border-free zone by air and sea

Summary: Now that Austria has dropped a 2022 objection it raised due to concerns about more illegal immigration coming into Europe, Romania and Bulgaria are set to join the European Schengen Zone—which allows free movement between Schengen countries for people living in the Zone—following more than 10 years of attempting to do so.

Context: About 400 million people live in Schengen countries and can thus travel around the Zone without needing passports or having to pass through additional security checkpoints that are often required for folks visiting from international locales; these two new entrants to the Zone will only have air and sea passage for the time being, with talks about opening land borders continuing into 2024, and this addition means Ireland and Cyprus are now the only EU countries that aren’t also part of the Schengen Zone.

—BBC News

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US grounds some Boeing MAX planes for safety checks

Summary: Following an emergency landing necessitated by a piece of fuselage tearing off the side of an Alaska Airlines jet on Friday, US regulators have temporarily grounded 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets for safety inspections.

Context: Remarkably, no one was seriously injured when a chunk of the plane tore off mid-flight, though the jetliner did lose pressurization and several passengers suffered minor injuries as a consequence; everyone with a stake in this matter, from Boeing to Alaska Airlines to the FAA have announced investigations into what happened and how to keep it from happening again, and this is just the most recent grounding of Boeing MAX jets—a design that has been plagued with issues since its introduction, including a global grounding for 20 months in 2019 and 2020 that followed a pair of crashes that killed 346 people.

—Reuters

Republicans erupt over secrecy in defense secretary's hospitalization

Summary: Republican lawmakers have expressed deep concern and anger about a delay in being notified about the hospitalization of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Context: What seems to have happened is Austin went in for an elective medical procedure of some kind, there were complications, and he was then admitted to the hospital on January 1; the issue is that people who are meant to be kept in the know about vital military matters, like Congress and the President, don’t seem to have been made aware of this, even though the Deputy Defense Secretary was reportedly made ready to act in Austin’s place, if need be—though she was on vacation in Puerto Rico at the time; so while Austin has said in a statement that he’s on the mend and takes responsibility for any transparency issues that might arise from his decision not to make a more complete disclosure about his hospitalization, some folks on the Republican side of the aisle are chalking this up to bad communication practices in the Biden administration, while others are saying Austin needs to be held accountable for this insufficient disclosure.

—Axios

Manufacturing capacity spending in the US has been on a wild tear since the introduction of the CHIPs Act and Infrastructure Law a few years ago (and were further augmented by the Inflation Reduction Act), and this has both supported the economy in the short-term and (ostensibly at least) bulwarked it in the longer-term as the US pivots away from tight ties with China and attempts to bring some of those offshored production jobs (especially in security-related industries, like microchips) back to North America.

—Axios

216,000

Number of new jobs US employers added in December (on a seasonally adjusted basis) according to a new report from the US Labor Department.

That’s higher than most experts expected, and it’s making an anticipated (and by investors at least, hoped-for) March-ish initial drop in interest rates less likely, as it suggests the economy is still hot enough to handle the additional downward pressure for longer.

—The New York Times

Trust Click

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

Iran leader vows harsh response to deadly bombings that killed 84

Summary: Following a double-bombing that killed at least 84 people and wounded hundreds more during and following a ceremony commemorating the assassination of the country’s former spymaster, Iran’s Supreme Leader has said there will be a harsh response against those responsible.

Context: The first bomb was detonated near the cemetery where Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in Iraq by a US drone strike in 2020, is buried, and the second went off about 15 minutes later along the path people fleeing the first blast were taking to safety; the Iranian president’s political deputy has said he believes the US and Israel are responsible, but the US has denied any involvement and has said it has no reason to believe Israel was involved, though this happened at a period of heightened tensions throughout the region, so even if it was committed by an extremist group, like a local branch of the Islamic State, it could still increase the risk of conflict between at-odds nations because of what’s happening in Gaza, the Red Sea, and Lebanon right now.

Update: A local wing of IS has claimed responsibility for the attack and suspects have been arrested.

—BBC News

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US national debt hits record $34 trillion as Congress gears up for funding fight

Summary: The US government’s gross national debt has passed the $34 trillion mark for the first time, defying 2020 estimates that it would reach this point in 2029, and potentially adding weight to some politicians’ arguments that spending needs to be cut heading into an election year.

Context: Worth noting is that this is the gross national debt, so that figure includes money the government owes itself, and the total debt held by the public is more like $26.9 trillion, which is still a lot of money, and about equal to the US’s GDP; the government has been increasing its debt for years under administrations from both political parties, though Republicans are more likely to use it as a wedge-issue heading into this year’s November presidential election season, and though this debt level doesn’t seem to be weighing on the economy at the moment, more debt means more debt payments, and with interest rates so high right now, these payments are starting to become a serious line-item on the government’s accounting sheets.

—The Associated Press

APA to buy Callon Petroleum in $4.5 billion deal

Summary: APA has announced that it will buy Callon Petroleum in an all-stock deal that values the smaller acquisition-target at around $4.5 billion, increasing the larger company’s presence in the Permian Basin at a moment of rapid industry consolidation.

Context: A slew of huge, multi-billion dollar deals have been announced over the past several months, as fossil fuel-focused energy companies have snapped-up smaller competitors in order to flesh-out their presence in the US Permian Basin and the Gulf of Mexico, in particular, leading into a period of increasing uncertainty—because of climate change-related issues and the enthusiastic deployment of solar and wind infrastructure—and at a moment in which it seems like there might be just a few, last-standing fossil fuel giants on the planet by mid-century, so all the players in this space seem to be doing what they can to round-out their assets and shore themselves up for the potentially impending oil, gas, and coal industry truncation.

—The Wall Street Journal

By essentially every measure 2023 was the hottest year on record, and 2024 is ramping-up to be even hotter—and that’s impacting the global water cycle alongside other impacts, including planetary stores of fresh water ice melting and failing to re-freeze, and industries (like ski resorts) that rely upon cold temperatures and reliable precipitation suffering from insufficient snow-pack.

—Axios

7 in 10

Portion of US adult population that self-describes as “spiritual,” which includes 22% of that population that says they are spiritual but not religious.

This data suggests that a trend away from organized religion and toward unaffiliated collections of spiritual beliefs is continuing apace in the US, especially amongst young adults, and especially amongst people who are (or previously were) religious, but now include spirituality as a component of their self-definition.

—Pew Research

Trust Click

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

Top Hamas leader killed in suspected Israeli strike in Beirut

Summary: At least seven members of Hamas, including the founder of the group’s military wing, Saleh al-Arouri, have been killed by a drone strike on an apartment building in Beirut, raising concerns about potential military escalations throughout the region.

Context: It’s strongly suspected that Israel is behind this strike, and representatives from the Israeli military and US intelligence services have confirmed as much (on background) to journalists, but at the moment they seem to be maintaining deniability, which may give Lebanese officials, including Hezbollah leaders, justification to step back from earlier threats to retaliate harshly if Israel ever dared attack Hamas members living within their borders; Israeli and Hezbollah forces have already been engaging in relatively moderate fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border, and the big concern is that Hezbollah is a lot more organized and well-funded than Hamas, and like Hamas it is backed by Iran, so any further deterioration in their relationship with Israel could spiral pretty quickly, regionally.

—The Wall Street Journal

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Tens of thousands face NHS cancellations as six-day strike begins in England

Summary: Tens of thousands of patients in England have had their NHS-covered appointments cancelled due to a six-day strike by junior doctors, extending a 13-month-long chain of such strikes by doctors, nurses, and other NHS staff due to insufficient pay.

Context: This is the tenth work-stoppage by junior doctors, alone, during this period of strikes, and those taking strike action are demanding higher wages following a decrease in pay for junior doctors of about 26% since 2009; a large number of third-party patient interest groups have said that their members will have their appointments cancelled or postponed, potentially for a long time, and the same general back-and-forth we’ve seen surrounding other strike action in the UK and around the world, of late, has been playing out here, too, with those controlling the money saying there’s not enough money, those on strike saying they’re not being paid a living wage, and those suffering from a decrease in services hoping everyone can come to some kind of agreement soon, but not knowing if and when that might happen.

—The Guardian

Somalia recalls envoy to Ethiopia over 'null and void' Somaliland port deal

Summary: On Tuesday, the Somalian government said it would recall its ambassador to Ethiopia following an announcement that Ethiopia would be granted a 50-year lease on a patch of coastal land in the neighboring, breakaway region of Somaliland in exchange for formally recognizing Somaliland as a real-deal country—becoming the first nation to do so.

Context: Landlocked Ethiopia has been wanting port access to the Red Sea since Eritrea seceded, taking all of the country’s coastal territory with it in 1993, and that desire only increased after these countries went to war in 1998 through 2000; Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, though it has failed to gain international recognition for that independence in the decades since, which has made it a bit of a pariah state; this deal would seem to give both nations something they want, though it could also enflame tensions in a region that’s rife with a lot of nations and militaries that have beefs with each other, and Somalia has already hinted, in the wake of this announcement, that this might be a deal-breaker issue it’s willing to go to war over.

—France 24

A densely packed passenger jet collided with a Coast Guard aircraft while landing at a Japanese airport on Tuesday, and though the five Coast Guard members aboard the struck aircraft were killed, all 367 passengers and 12 crew members aboard the passenger jet—which burst into flames shortly after the collision—made it out alive in what’s being called by some a “miracle,” and by others an indication that modern safety technologies built into such aircraft, and modern safety procedures for evacuating passengers in the event of a worst-case scenario tend to work pretty well.

—The New York Times

1.81 million

Number of vehicles EV-maker Tesla delivered globally in 2023, reaching its annual target but falling behind rival Chinese EV-maker BYD in the fourth quarter for the first time (though it remained ahead for the full year), the latter of which sold more than 526,000 fully electric vehicles compared to Tesla’s not-quite 485,000 in the same three-month period.

—The Wall Street Journal

Trust Click

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

Israel Supreme Court strikes down judicial reforms

Summary: A judicial reform that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government passed despite widespread opposition and waves of protests in the months leading up to the conflict in Gaza has been struck down by the country’s Supreme Court.

Context: This reform would have limited the power of the Supreme Court, putting more of that power in the hands of the elected government, instead, and critics have suggested this was an attempt by Netanyahu to reduce the judicial system’s capacity to hold him accountable for corruption charges he faces, while also allowing him to anti-democratically solidify his hold on the reins of state; the protests that arose in the wake of this law’s passage in July were widespread and included threats by members of Israel’s military to refuse to report for service if the reforms weren’t scrapped.

—BBC News

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South Korean opposition leader is stabbed

Summary: The head of South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, was stabbed in the neck by a man who approached him to ask for an autograph at a rally on Tuesday morning; he was taken to a hospital for treatment and was conscious and recovering from surgery as of Tuesday evening.

Context: Mr. Lee lost to his conservative opponent in the country’s 2022 presidential election and has been hounded by state prosecutors ever since, accused of corruption and similar charges, which he contends are attempts by the president to intimidate his opponents in an increasingly polarized national political atmosphere.

—The New York Times

Mexico and Venezuela restart repatriation flights amid pressure to curb soaring migration to US

Summary: Officials from Mexico and Venezuela announced over the weekend that they’ve restarted repatriation flights of Venezuelan migrants waiting in Mexico to cross the border into the United States, which is part of an agreement made between leaders at a summit in Mexico in October.

Context: These flights are picking back up at a moment in which at least 10,000 migrants a day have been arriving at the US-Mexico border, and levels of legal asylum-seekers applying for entrance into the US and those attempting to cross into the country illegally have dramatically increased due to economic, political, and violence-related issues back in these migrants’ home countries.

—The Associated Press

On December 30, NASA’s Juno spacecraft made its closest flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io—the most volcanically active body in the solar system—getting just 930 miles (1,500 km) from the surface, and the agency has released new images composited from the 56 flybys the probe has performed thus far; the next ultra-close flyby is scheduled for February 3, 2024, when it will be about that close once more (this image was capture in mid-October).

—NASA

45

Number of people (so far) who have been confirmed killed by earthquakes that have struck Japan since Monday, and dozens more are still missing.

The epicenter of the most powerful one (so far) weighed in at a magnitude of 7.6, and though tsunamis of a dangerous scale didn’t manifest, as was worried, smaller ones did arrive not long after.

—The Washington Post

Trust Click

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

Disney's earliest Mickey and Minnie Mouse enter public domain as US copyright expires

Summary: A short animated film released in 1928 that features non-speaking versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse has entered the public domain, which means anyone can now use their copyright-less image however they choose, ending a long period in which all variations of these characters were assiduously protected by Disney lawyers.

Context: US copyright law gives the creators of characters like Mickey Mouse 95 years of protection before they’re no longer exclusive and can be repurposed, remixed, and appropriated by anyone for any use or reason; earlier US copyright law only protected such works for 55 years, but Congress recently upped that by 20 years and then by another 20 years, keeping Mickey Mouse from entering the public domain first in 1984, then in 2004—efforts that were lobbied for by Disney and which have caused the relevant law to be nicknamed “the Mickey Mouse Protection Act” in some corners of the legal profession; a new swathe of works lose their copyright every year, and 2024 also brings Winnie the Pooh’s friend Tigger, a silent film called The Circus starring Charlie Chaplin, and DH Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover into the public domain.

—BBC News

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Powerful earthquake slams Japan, residents flee some coastal areas

Summary: An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 destroyed dozens of buildings and knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes in central Japan; the government issued a major tsunami warning for coastal residents, the first since early 2011, but that warning was later downgraded.

Context: Residents in and around afflicted areas have been warned to prepare for more quakes and potential tsunamis, readying themselves for a quick evacuation if necessary, and transportation has been disrupted by the closing of train lines, highways, and at least one airport due to damage or concerns about potential damage to their infrastructure; Russia and North Korea also issued tsunami warnings following the quake, but those warnings have also now been downgraded.

—Reuters

Argentina formally announces it won’t join the BRICS alliance in Milei’s latest policy shift

Summary: The Argentine government has formally announced that it won’t be joining the BRICS bloc of developing countries, marking a promise kept by recently elected Argentine President Milei.

Context: The BRICS bloc—an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—is in the process of opening up to more countries as part of a larger ambition to challenge the geopolitical and economic dominance of the world’s currently wealthiest nations, and Argentina was one of the six initial invitees; Argentina is in the midst of a staggering economic crisis, which is part of why Milei, who says he wants to blow the whole thing up and rebuild it from scratch, basically, was elected, but his opposition to joining the group is seemingly more ideological than practical, as he says he wants to align Argentina with countries like the US and Israel, not countries like China.

—The Associated Press

The number of unhoused people in the United States has reached a new post-2007 high (which is when the Department of Housing and Urban Development started tracking homelessness in the country); 653,104 Americans were tallied as experiencing homelessness in 2023, which is up by about 12% from 2022—that increase ostensibly the result of a reduction in social safety net programs following the truncation of pandemic-era programs and sharp rent increases.

—Chartr

>112,000

Number of deaths attributed to overdoses of the synthetic opioid fentanyl in the United States in 2023—a new, grim milestone.

Many such deaths result from opioid addictions sparked by injuries or the escalatory use of less powerful drugs like heroin, while others are accidentally exposed when it’s erroneously sold to them as some other type of black-market drug, like ADHD or depression medication.

—NPR News

Trust Click

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

Note: Happy New Year!

A cat video highlighted a big year for lasers in space

Summary: The final months of 2023 were big for laser-based space communication technologies, and a successful demonstration on December 11 featured an ultra-high-definition video of a cat that was sent from a spacecraft that’s en route to an astroid down to a receiving station in Southern California, the video delivered at the record speed of 267 megabits per second.

Context: The 15-second video clip featured a NASA Jet Propulsion Lab-based cat named Taters chasing a red dot produced by a store-bought laser toy, and this transmission rate represents a huge upgrade, the new technologies capable of rates 10- to 100-times greater than existing tech; this is important because NASA’s space-based communications setup is straining under the weight of all the in-orbit and deeper-space assets the US and its allies have launched in recent decades, and this should help lessen that strain, but also because it should allow for higher-resolution and snappier streaming of images and video and other data to and from space.

—Ars Technica

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China's military purge deepens

Summary: An anti-corruption campaign within China’s defense apparatus has been expanded to encompass new facets of the country’s military, most recently sparking a purge of higher-ups in the Chinese Rocket Force.

Context: Nine generals and three defense technology officials were booted from an influential Chinese Communist Party advisory body in late-December, most of them from the Rocket Force, which manages the country’s various missile programs and which is in the process of modernizing as part of a larger effort to make the Chinese military a dominant global (rather than just regional) force by 2050; some analysts are seeing this as another component of Chinese leader Xi’s purge of political opponents, as well, suggesting this and similar, recent purges might indicate weakness on Xi’s part, while others note that it might be related to the Chinese government’s recent efforts to make nice with the US government, especially in regards to the two country’s activities in the South China Sea.

—Axios

Russia launches fresh drone strikes on Ukraine after promising retaliation for Belgorod attack

Summary: In a series of apparent tit-for-tat attacks, Russia launched a wave of suicide drones against Ukrainian targets on Saturday night, following an attack on the Russian city Belgorod earlier in the day, which was ostensibly Ukraine’s response to an earlier, possibly record-settingly large missile and drone attack by Russia against major Ukrainian cities earlier over the weekend.

Context: The attack on Belgorod is notable, in part, because successful attacks on Russian cities have been sparse up to this point, and dozens of people were reportedly killed in that attack, alongside more than 100 injured; that said, this back and forth launching-of-things style of warfare seems to be picking up as both sides find themselves locked into fairly static positions on the ground, and as both sides have started to invest more effort in asymmetric, economy-harming and terror-stoking approaches, like bombing supply lines and shooting sacrificial drones at each others’ civilian centers.

—The Associated Press

The total human population surpassed 8 billion in 2023, but population growth-rates are down in most wealthy countries, and the US has a growth-rate of about half the global average, growing by only 75 million people last year.

—Axios

40%

Approximate portion of total US electricity that was produced by renewable sources like solar and wind in 2023.

That’s according to new data from the US Energy Information Agency, and though there are still some post-October numbers that need to be crunched, it’s looking like renewables (in aggregate) have bypassed coal in the country, and that solar in particular is growing just silly fast, with wind a bit more slowly and natural gas (not a renewable) representing the only truly booming fossil fuel-based source of electricity generation last year.

—Ars Technica

Trust Click

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

Note: I’m taking the last week of 2023 off to work on my next book (and for the holidays), so there won’t be any new OSNs until the first week of January. Happy New Year!

After years of wrangling, EU countries reach major deal on migration

Summary: The EU has agreed on a plan to overhaul the bloc’s collective migration system—called the EU migration and asylum pact—after three years of negotiation, and during a period of heightened tensions and anti-migrant sentiment throughout the region.

Context: That sentiment has led to some degree of success at the polls for far-right political entities in many European countries, and the goal of this plan was to make it easier to limit the entry of migrants and more rapidly process asylum claims, while also empowering local regulators to deport those who don’t pass muster, which should give individual governments more control over their borders, which they hope will lessen those aforementioned tensions; the plan also creates the necessary systems and infrastructure for speedier migrant-processing, which in turn should leave fewer people in the lurch, uncertain about their futures and unable to move forward as a consequence; this plan will now pass through the EU’s meandering approval processes, and it’s generally considered to be likely to make it into law, as it’s already been approved by negotiators from all the relevant institutions.

—The New York Times

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New coronavirus variant JN.1 is spreading fast

Summary: The World Health Organization has designated the COVID-19 subvariant JN.1 a variant of interest, following its rapid scale-up, making up around 3% of all global cases at the beginning of November but expanding to 27.1% of all cases later the same month.

Context: Like other notable subvariants, JN.1 is an evolution of previous iterations of the coronavirus, in this case the omicron variant that spread to seemingly everyone in early 2022, and though there’s no indication that this new subvariant is more severe than previous ones, it does seem to have additional powers that help it get around its host’s immunity, and there’s a chance that will help it become the dominant subvariant of COVID globally in the next few months; this variant is arriving at a moment in which our global COVID-tracking systems have largely disappeared due to a lack of funding, and vaccine uptake numbers have also collapsed, so this winter’s COVID wave could be a lot more substantial than last year’s—but we probably won’t be able to directly compare them, because of that lack of data-collection.

—The Washington Post

US SEC charges Tingo Group Nigerian CEO and three companies with fraud

Summary: The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against a Nigerian businessman named Dozy Mmobuosi, and three companies of which he’s CEO, for fraud.

Context: These charges landed shortly after a report from short-seller Hindenburg Research in which the company claimed the Tingo Group, a fintech firm that Mmobuosi runs, has been fabricating its numbers, saying in its official documents that it had hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank and using those numbers to garner loans and investments, despite having an actual bank account balance of less than $50; Mmobuosi refuted these claims, alongside others made by Hindenburg about the company’s seemingly inflated userbase numbers, non-existent infrastructure, and its lack of an official license required to operate as a legal business; this new move by the SEC is intended to freeze the company’s assets, such as they are, prevent the moving of money by Mmobuosi and other members of company leadership, and to establish an investigation into the scale of the alleged fraud.

—Reuters

In general, Americans are spending less on products and more on services during the 2023 holiday season: spending on services is up 2.5% for November, with retail spending (excluding restaurants) down 1% over the same period (spending overall is up, though, and many Americans are taking on debt to handle that heftier-than-usual expense).

—The Wall Street Journal

~$1 billion

Value of penalties (it’s actually just shy of $1 billion) the IRS has said it will forgive (in late-payment fees) for Americans who owe back-taxes, as long as they pay the core sum they owe soon.

About 4.6 million taxpayers who owe taxes from the 2020 and 2021 tax years, and who owe less than $100,000 in taxes, will be granted this relief—though the offer expires on April 1, 2024, so the idea is to give some breathing room to those impacted while also incentivizing on-time payment for the actual, non-fee taxes for which they’re on the hook.

—The Wall Street Journal

Trust Click

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

Trump barred from Colorado primary ballot for role in US Capitol attack

Summary: The Colorado Supreme Court has voted 4-3 to disqualify former-President Trump from appearing on the state’s primary ballot because of the role he played in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Context: This is being seen as a very big deal, and it’s likely the federal Supreme Court will speed-run its own take on the matter sometime in the next two weeks, as the state has delayed the implementation of this judgement until January 4 to allow for an appeal; the general consensus amongst experts seems to be that although there’s arguably firm legal basis for this ruling, based on a Civil War-era Constitutional rule that says folks who engage in “insurrection or rebellion” can’t hold office, there’s little chance of it holding up at the federal level, the wording of that rule potentially providing a toehold for those who might argue against its applicability in this case, though if it did, we would likely see a cascade of similar cases in other US states which would substantially alter the electoral playing field heading into 2024’s presidential election season.

—Reuters

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Xfinity discloses data breach affecting over 35 million people

Summary: Comcast Cable Communications, which owns internet, TV, and phone service provider Xfinity, has said that hackers who breached one of their servers back in October stole sensitive information pertaining to nearly 36 million of its customers.

Context: The company said that customer usernames and encrypted passwords were taken, alongside other information like names, birthdates, secret questions and answers, contact info, and the last four digits of their social security numbers; the company has prompted its customers to reset their passwords, and has said it’s still looking into the extent of the damage caused and scope of the information stolen; this follows another recent hack of Xfinity in 2022, some the victims in that case losing access to their crypto wallets and other online services, as a consequence.

—Bleeping Computer

India opposition fury as 141 MPs suspended

Summary: On Monday, India’s opposition party accused Prime Minister Modi of anti-democratic acts, following the suspension of 49 more MPs from their party from India’s parliament, which means a total of 141 lawmakers from their party have been recently barred by the government; the most recent bans applied to MPs who were protesting the previous week’s parliamentary security breach, during which two men broke into the parliamentary chamber, jumped up on tables, shouted slogans, and set off canisters of seemingly harmless, colored gas.

Context: These protestors were arrested, as were two more who engaged in the same sort of protest at the same time outside of parliament, and notably this happened on the 22nd anniversary of an attack on India’s parliament which left 14 people, including five of the attackers, dead; these suspensions are being seen by many as indications that Modi and his party are attempting to disempower their opposition, booting them from government, headed toward an anticipated, but not yet scheduled, 2024 election.

—BBC News

Though survey-based data indicate many Americans are still feeling a little ho-hum about the country’s financial situation, the US economy has done far better in 2023 than most analysts expected, and is reportedly in a solid spot to keep the party going in 2024.

—Axios

1.67 terabytes

Volume of private data stolen by hackers who attacked video game company Insomniac, that data then released after the company declined to pay a $2 million ransom.

Insomniac is perhaps best known for its well-reviewed Spider-Man Playstation games, and this data-trove contained footage from an upcoming title based on the Marvel character Wolverine—alongside information about other upcoming games, and the personal information of thousands of current and former company employees.

—The Verge

Trust Click

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

An earthquake in northwestern China kills at least 127 people

Summary: A series of earthquakes, including one that weighed-in at a magnitude of 6.2, struck a mountainous portion of northwestern China on Monday night and early Tuesday morning, killing at least 127 people, injuring more than 700 more, damaging all sorts of vital infrastructure, and leaving residents to face below-freezing temperatures without shelter.

Context: Emergency workers are still searching for missing people and attempting to help the injured, and aftershocks are still rippling through the region, but this is already the deadliest quake China has suffered in nine years.

—The Associated Press

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Iran petrol stations hit by cyberattack, oil minister says

Summary: The Oil Minister of Iran has announced that a cyberattack has caused disruption at around 70% of petrol stations throughout the country, and that the hacking group responsible apparently has ties to Israel.

Context: That hacking group, Predatory Sparrow, released a statement saying that it carried out the attack in such a way that emergency services wouldn’t be disrupted, and that it was launched in response to the Islamic Republic’s aggression throughout the region; this same group has previously claimed responsibility for cyberattacks on Iranian steel factories, rail networks, and petrol stations, and group representatives recently said that they would be targeting Iran more aggressively because Iran supports Hamas.

—Reuters

US announces new task force to counter Houthi Red Sea threat

Summary: The US Secretary of Defense has announced the formation of a new task force focused on protecting commercial vessels traversing the Red Sea, many of which have recently been attacked by drones and rockets launched by Houthi rebels based in Yemen.

Context: India’s Navy has recently repositioned assets in the region, as well, and seemingly for the same reason, namely that this passage is a vital trade route, especially for energy resources like oil; the Houthis have said they’re attacking vessels intending to do business in Israel in response to the Israeli military’s invasion of the Gaza Strip, though many of the attacked vessels seem to have been destined for non-Israeli ports; the Red Sea carries about 12% of global trade, and several companies, including oil majors like BP, have recently said they won’t be using it for the foreseeable future because of these attacks, which could cause a slowdown in the shipment of such goods.

—Bloomberg

High interest rates have strangled previously burgeoning warehouse construction numbers in the US, causing new industrial property constructions to tumble 48% in the first nine months of 2023, compared to the same in 2022 (the largest such drop since 2009).

—The Wall Street Journal

80,000

Quantity of carbon dioxide (in tons) that Boston Consulting Group has paid to have removed from the atmosphere by Swiss CO2-removal company Climeworks.

That’s the largest purchase of this kind by a corporate customer (so far) and the removal process will span 15-years—also a record, in terms of deal duration.

Climeworks customers typically pay something like $1,300 per ton of CO2 removed, and Climeworks generally uses what’s called direct air capture to conduct this removal, which involves pulling in air using giant fans and sifting CO2 from it using specialized filters.

—Bloomberg

Trust Click

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

Chilean voters reject conservative constitution, after defeating leftist charter last year

Summary: Over the weekend, Chilean voters rejected a new, incredibly far-right constitution proposal 55.8% to 44.2%, not long after also voting against an incredibly left-leaning variation in 2022.

Context: Chileans have been trying to replace or update the current constitution, which is considered to be flawed in many ways and which was written while the country’s former dictator Pinochet was still in power, for a long time, but efforts to swap-in new, dramatically different versions have thus far been for naught; the existing constitution has been tweaked in small ways in recent years, and the country’s government has said—in the wake of this most recent failed vote—that they’ll be keeping the current constitution for the foreseeable future, though probably with minor adjustments here and there.

—The Associated Press

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Euro zone likely in recession, PMI surveys show

Summary: Last quarter’s economic data suggest that the euro zone economy shrunk by 0.1%, and this month’s Purchasing Managers’ Index indicates that activity across the zone has declined every month in the final quarter of 2023—which means it has seen two consecutive quarters of contraction, meeting the region’s official definition of an economic recession.

Context: This persistent downturn is likely the consequence of a deterioration of production levels in Germany, a drop in demand in France, and economic instability across the bloc, resulting from macro-scale influences (like inflation and the war in Ukraine) combined with localized issues, including those related to government spending on the transition to renewables; major economies, globally, have been suffering from the same effects, though numbers out of the UK suggest it might barely avoid its own recession, while data from the US hint that it may achieve a long-teased, but often-doubted “soft-landing” back into steadier financial straits after a period of post-pandemic economic wobbliness.

—Reuters

US Steel agrees to be acquired by Japan's Nippon Steel for $15 billion

Summary: Following a period of will they, won’t they buyout offers from American companies, US Steel has agreed to be acquired by Japanese giant Nippon Steel for about $14.9 billion.

Context: That represents a purchase price of about 40% higher than the company was valued at on the last trading day before the buyout was announced, and it’s quite a lot more than those American companies were offering back in August; this is notable in part because US Steel is both a super-iconic American company, which will now be owned by a Japanese company—if regulatory bodies approve the sale—but also because it’s a fairly vital strategic entity, the US economy and military both relying on it for some component of their materials-related wellbeing.

—Axios

Smoke-related pollution from Canadian wildfires in the US was way worse than usual in 2023, doubling the previous record for the standard wildfire season; such fires are estimated to cost the US $144 billion a year in lost labor.

—Axios

$140 million

Fine Southwest Airlines has been ordered to pay by the US Department of Transportation following its cancellation of nearly 17,000 flights last winter (those cancellations leaving more than 2 million passengers stranded during the holidays).

That’s a huge sum—30-times larger than any previous fine of this kind—and its scale is meant to incentivize other airlines to avoid similar missteps this year.

—Axios

Trust Click