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The World
President Biden is expected to propose a $6 trillion budget today that would lay the foundation for his plans to modernize the nation’s infrastructure and expand the government’s role in providing healthcare, education and other social services. The Biden administration’s first budget, for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, would put the nation on a path to spend $8.2 trillion annually by the end of 2031. Under the plan, debt would exceed the record level seen at the end of WWII within a few years and reach 117% of economic output by the end of 2031, up from about 100% this year. (Wall Street Journal, Axios)
The U.S. Senate advanced a sweeping package of legislation intended to boost the country's ability to compete with Chinese technology, as Congress increasingly seeks to take a tough line against Beijing. Senators voted 68-30 to end debate on the $250 billion U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 and move nearer to a final vote. (Reuters)
China’s defense ministry said the U.S. should show “sincerity” about improving communication between their militaries after reports that US attempts to set up talks were rejected by Beijing. The defense ministry also warned that America’s Indo-Pacific strategy was “pulling the region down a dangerous path”, with the U.S. stepping up reconnaissance against China and a recent close encounter between their warships. (South China Morning Post)
China tapped 12 top universities to rival MIT and Stanford in science and technology research and build “schools of future technology” in yet another move by the country to become a global science and technology powerhouse. (South China Morning Post)
Chinese-speaking hackers are masquerading as the UN in ongoing cyber-attacks against Uyghurs, according to the cybersecurity firms Check Point and Kaspersky. (MIT Technology Review)
Japan is poised to extend the current state of emergency until June 20 — just a month before the Summer Olympics — as hospitals remain overwhelmed by Covid-19 patients. Meanwhile, Japan's April jobless rate rose to 2.8%, compared with 2.6% the previous month, under a Covid cloud. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Covid-19 is killing hundreds of pregnant women and babies in Brazil. Expectant mothers are at greater risk; doctors face agonizing decisions on when to deliver babies prematurely. (Wall Street Journal)
Coronavirus cases slow at college campuses across the U.S. (New York Times)
Belarus President Lukashenko threatened to allow migrants and drugs to pour into western Europe if sanctions are imposed on his regime for the forced landing of a Ryanair flight. He also warned it was only “a matter of time” before other dissidents abroad would be caught too. “We know you by sight,” he said. (The Times, Financial Times)
Air France and Austrian Airlines canceled flights to Moscow after Russian authorities failed to approve new routes that avoided Belarus’s airspace. Meanwhile, Belarusian national airline Belavia canceled flights to eight countries. (Deutsche Welle)
Turkey pushed NATO allies into watering down an official reaction to the forced landing by Belarus of a passenger plane and the detention of a dissident journalist. NATO's 30 allies released a two-paragraph statement condemning the action, but did not include any punitive steps that Baltic allies and Poland had pressed for. (Reuters)
Distant migrants now targeting U.S.-Mexico border: In recent months, the number of people attempting to cross the US-Mexico border from countries beyond Mexico and Central America, including Haiti, Cuba, Romania, and India, has spiked in recent months. Last month, the Border Patrol reported that 33,000 migrants from countries beyond Mexico and Central America crossed the border. In January, that number was 9,000. (Axios)
Jane Goodall, the conservationist renowned for her expertise on chimpanzees and her globe-spanning advocacy of environmental causes, was named this year’s winner of the prestigious Templeton Prize, honoring individuals whose life’s work embodies a fusion of science and spirituality. The Templeton Prize is one of the world’s largest individual awards — currently valued at 1.1 million pounds, or $1.56 million. Past winners include Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. Last year’s honoree was Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health in the United States and leader of the Human Genome Project. (Associated Press)
Number of smokers has reached all-time high of 1.1 billion: Governments told to focus on stopping young from taking up habit that killed 8 million people in 2019. (The Guardian, The Lancet)
Economy
U.S. motorists will see the highest gasoline prices in seven years when they hit the roads this Memorial Day weekend, as fuel demand surges alongside vaccination rates. Retail gasoline prices are at about $3.04 a gallon on average nationwide, the most expensive since 2014. (Reuters)
Andreessen Horowitz is in the process of tripling down on crypto, raising its third crypto fund since 2018. Sources tell me that Andreessen Horowitz is targeting $2 billion for its third crypto fund. That’s double the size of what many people are expecting. (Newcomer)
LGBTQ+ employees are less satisfied than colleagues at work: LGBTQ+ employees gave their companies an average overall company rating of 3.27 stars out of 5 – that’s below the average overall rating for non-LGBTQ+ employees (3.47). And, across Glassdoor’s six workplace factor ratings, we see that LGBTQ+ employees are less satisfied with their companies. Most notably, LGBTQ+ employees are less satisfied with the company’s Senior Leadership (2.88), along with Career Opportunities (3.03) and Compensation & Benefits (3.13) when compared to non-LGBTQ+ employees. (Glassdoor)
More than one-fifth of the wealthiest individuals, those with a net worth of more than US$5 million, cite philanthropy and sports as their top interests, followed by public speaking, the outdoors, technology, education, and travel. Writing, politics, and art round up the top 10, according to Wealth-X, a global information and insight provider on the wealthy. (Barron’s)
U.S. weekly jobless claims drop to fresh 14-month low; economic recovery gaining speed. (Reuters)
Technology
These are the 2021 CNBC Disruptor 50 companies (spoiler: Robinhood is No. 1): In the ninth annual Disruptor 50 list, CNBC highlights the private companies leading out of the pandemic with business models and growth rates aligned with a rapid pace of technological change. A majority of the CNBC Disruptor 50 are already billion-dollar businesses. Thirty-four disruptors are unicorns that have already reached or passed (in some cases far surpassed) the $1 billion valuation mark — 10 of the companies on this year’s list are worth at least $10 billion. The 50 companies selected have raised over $72 billion in venture capital, at an implied Disruptor 50 valuation of more than $388 billion. While technologies including AI, 5G, cloud computing and the Internet of Things are key to many companies making the 2021 Disruptor 50 list, the sectors they are upending are widespread, from financial services to health care, biotech, education, food, media, agriculture and transportation. (CNBC)
Microsoft is focusing on making Teams more developer-friendly. The plan is to transform Teams from a simple tool for videoconferencing to a full-scale collaboration environment. This will include attempts to replicate some of the most-missed features of in-person meetings. Microsoft’s challenge will be keeping its customers within Teams. Their competitors, such as Slack, deal with the same issue as well. (Protocol)
Google is nearing a settlement of an antitrust case in France alleging the company has abused its power in online advertising, and is likely to pay a fine and make operational changes. The French case, which hasn’t been previously disclosed, is one of the most advanced in the world looking at Google’s dominance as a provider of tools for buying and selling ads across the web. (Wall Street Journal)
Two tech industry organizations sued Florida over its newly passed rules for social networks. NetChoice and the CCIA — which represent Amazon, Google, Intel, Samsung, Facebook, and other tech giants — say SB 7072 violates private companies’ constitutional rights. They’re asking a court to prevent the law from taking effect, calling it a “frontal assault on the First Amendment.” (The Verge)
Twitter Blue, Twitter's anticipated $2.99 monthly subscription tier, is now listed as an option in the iOS App Store, despite the feature not being live in-app. (MacRumors)
Smart Links
New diagnostic tool predicts the risk of Alzheimer's with astonishing accuracy of 90%. (Science Alert)
Colorado becomes first state to ban legacy college admissions. (NPR)
‘It’s wild out there’: crypto firms lure top bankers in price boom. (Financial Times)
Get vaccinated, win cash: California offers $116.5 million in prizes — largest incentive in the nation. (Los Angeles Times)
The world has far fewer birds than previously thought. (The Times)
Global smartwatch shipments jump 35% YoY in 1Q21. (Counterpoint Research)
Syria's Assad wins 4th term with 95% of vote. (Reuters)
Europe regulator sees first flying taxis in 2024 or 2025. (Reuters)