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The World
Taiwan’s president warns ‘democracy is under threat’ after McCarthy meeting: Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen urged continued support for her country and warned that its democracy was “under threat” following a high-profile meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California. Speaking at the Ronald Reagan library in Simi Valley after discussions with McCarthy, the most prominent official to meet a Taiwanese president in the US, Tsai invoked the late president’s role in fortifying US-Taiwan relations. The Taiwanese leader said she had stressed to McCarthy, accompanied by a bipartisan group of 17 lawmakers, the importance of the view championed by Reagan that “to preserve peace, we must be strong”. “We once again find ourselves in a world where democracy is under threat, and the urgency of keeping the beacon of freedom shining cannot be understated,” Tsai said. (Financial Times)
China condemned both the United States and Taiwan for Ms. Tsai’s visit using bellicose language, though it fell short of laying out any specific military response. The Chinese Ministry of Defense warned that the People’s Liberation Army “maintains high vigilance at all times, resolutely defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” and said it opposed “the leader of the Taiwan region slinking to the United States under any name or for any excuse.” In a separate statement, the foreign ministry called the meeting an act of “U.S.-Taiwan collusion,” and warned that China would “take resolute and vigorous measures to defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.” (New York Times)
China is ghosting the United States: Beijing has effectively frozen high level bilateral diplomatic contact in the wake of the Chinese spy balloon incident in February. (Politico)
China to inspect ships in Taiwan Strait, Taiwan says won't cooperate. (Reuters)
North Korea accused the U.S. and South Korea of escalating tensions to the brink of nuclear war through their joint military drills, vowing to respond with "offensive action," state media KCNA reported. KCNA released a commentary by Choe Ju Hyon, whom it called an international security analyst, criticizing the exercises as "a trigger for driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to the point of explosion." (Reuters)
Israeli police clashed with Palestinians at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque a second time, hours after the arrest and removal of more than 350 people in a police raid at the compound and despite a U.S. appeal to ease tensions. The confrontations, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and on the eve of the Jewish Passover holiday, triggered a cross-border exchange of fire in Gaza and stoked fears of further violence. (Reuters)
The United Nations Security Council will convene an emergency session today to discuss recent violence in Jerusalem. Thursday’s session will take place behind closed doors and was called by the UAE — the Arab League’s representative on the council — and China. It will be the fourth emergency session held by the Security Council on Israeli-Palestinian tensions since the establishment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government just over three months ago. (Times of Israel)
India is pushing back against China's latest attempt to rename 11 places in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of southern Tibet. The names China says it is "standardizing" include five Himalayan mountains. China has tried before to rename areas in the region, triggering angry responses from New Delhi. In 2017, Beijing did it as payback for India allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh. The motive now is unclear, but the stakes are higher: In June 2020, Chinese and Indian troops had their first violent clash along their disputed Himalayan border since the 1960s. (That skirmish was in Ladakh, another chunk of India that China wants to gobble up.) (GZERO Media)
FedEx said it will consolidate its ground, express and freight operating companies into a single organization. This is more internal restructuring than traditional merger, but it reflects increased financial pressures on delivery companies as labor costs grow, pandemic-era volume abates and a possible recession looms. It's also a major shift from the vision of FedEx founder and former CEO Fred Smith, who extolled the virtues of the independent business units with their own management teams. FedEx says the consolidation will be completed by July 2024. It also announced a 10% dividend increase and changes to executive compensation. (Axios Pro Rata)
Heart attacks are deadlier for poor people, insured or not: Study across six countries sees mortality rates up to 20 percent higher for low-income patients — even in nations with universal healthcare. Low-income patients have mortality rates 10 to 20 percent greater than their high-income peers. High-income individuals were more likely to receive life-saving treatments compared to low-income individuals. The results challenge the belief that income-based disparities are a uniquely American phenomenon. (Harvard Medical School)
Economy
McCarthy’s Message to Wall Street: You Should Worry About the US Debt Ceiling. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday that Wall Street should be concerned about the political impasse over the US debt ceiling as the country inches closer to a possible payment default. The California Republican, in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s “Balance of Power” said he is “very concerned” about reaching a deal with Democrats on the debt limit. But he remained opposed to increasing the nation’s debt limit without curbing government spending. (Bloomberg)
Ajay Banga, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the World Bank, just completed a grueling, global “listening tour” across four continents, flying 39,546 miles to meet with 37 governments. It paid off in the eyes of the U.S.: He emerged without any country announcing a competing candidate and, according to a Treasury official, he has the support of more than 50 percent of the World Bank’s voting share. The bank’s board is expected to sign off on his presidency in the coming weeks. In a U.S. speech, he was expected to say that the World Bank “must pursue both climate adaptation and mitigation, it must reach out to lower-income countries without turning its back on middle-income countries, it must think globally but recognize national and regional needs.” Banga, the former CEO of Mastercard, also argued that the private sector needs to be involved, as “even with governments, other multilateral development banks and philanthropies all working together we will still fall short.” (Politico)
Global VC funding falls dramatically in rocky Q1 despite massive deals: All venture funding stages felt the pain in 1Q23. Global VC funding fell 53% year over year to $76 billion — and that’s counting two mighty lifts by OpenAI and Stripe, who each raised billions in recent months. Even early-stage numbers dropped as investors continue to hoard their record levels of dry powder. (Crunchbase News)
The number of job openings declined across almost all industries in February from this time last year, according to government data. The industries with the biggest pullbacks in job openings are ones that had an easier time staffing up in the ultra-hot labor market — like white-collar business services. Those professional sectors take a longer-term outlook when it comes to hiring, says Nick Bunker, head of economic research at the jobs site Indeed. A consulting or media firm might see a slowdown in demand ahead, leading it to cut down on open positions. Restaurants, on the other hand, don't operate like that. "Industries tied to the prospect of future growth, they're pulling back the most," Bunker says. (Axios Markets)
Technology
Meta to debut ad-creating generative AI this year: Facebook owner Meta intends to commercialize its proprietary generative artificial intelligence by December, joining Google in finding practical applications for the tech. The company, which began full-scale AI research in 2013, stands out along with Google in the number of studies published. "We've been investing in artificial intelligence for over a decade, and have one of the leading research institutes in the world," Andrew Bosworth, Meta's chief technology officer, told Nikkei in an exclusive interview. "We certainly have a large research organization, hundreds of people." (Nikkei Asia Review)
The revenge of the pop-up: The spammy website marketing industrial complex insists the recent deluge of pop-ups — I counted seven in one browsing session on one website — generate valuable conversions and are totally justified. Their SEO-jacked sites, some of which are, of course, run by companies that sell pop-up products, cite “studies” with very small sample sizes and questionable methods or note that even if users find pop-ups annoying, they keep using the website. When I asked some marketers to explain themselves, I started feeling like I was talking to an AI assigned to the prompt “tell me why pop-ups are good, actually.” Meanwhile, UI / UX experts and nearly everyone who has ever actually used a computer disagree, vehemently. (The Verge)
AI tools are shaking Hollywood’s creative foundation: Hollywood’s creative industries depend on proprietary ideas, words and images that generate revenue in finely tuned arrangements regarding permission and royalties for their use. Fast-evolving generative artificial-intelligence tools have thrown a wrench into the system with digital works that often include copyrighted material. Despite the copyright uncertainties, many in Hollywood expect AI technologies will expand the industry’s special-effects arsenal, trim costs and even have a role in the creative process. (Wall Street Journal)
EVs accounted for 7% of new vehicle registrations in the U.S. in January, up from 4.1% in January 2022. It's a sign that the EV transition is gaining momentum. With a broader selection and some signs of moderating prices, mainstream car buyers are increasingly turning their EV curiosity into purchases. At the end of 2022, there were 47 electric models available for sale in the U.S., up from 33 the prior year. And as the overall EV pie grows, sector pioneer Tesla's market share is continuing to shrink. (Axios Markets)
Tesla Tripled Austin Workforce to More Than 12,000 Last Year. (Bloomberg)
About 87% of the cars sold in Norway last month were electric. (Bloomberg)
Smart Links
Kirkland & Ellis defies dealmaking slump as revenues reach $6.5bn. (Financial Times)
Hamptons Home Prices Fall for the First Time Since 2019. (Bloomberg)
Swiss government cuts bonuses for 1,000 senior Credit Suisse bankers. (Financial Times)
Sequoia and Other U.S.-Backed VCs Are Funding China’s Answer to OpenAI. (The Information)
‘True disruption’: Mark Cuban’s company will sell brand-name diabetes medicines from J&J. (STAT)
The World’s Busiest Airports: Atlanta Tops the List. (Wall Street Journal)