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The World
Taiwan has rejected Chinese threats over a planned meeting on Wednesday between President Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, abandoning its restrained approach to launch a rhetorical broadside that compared China to the cold war-era Soviet Union. “Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid,” said Chang Tun-han, deputy secretary-general of Taiwan’s presidential office, quoting from a 1983 speech by the late US president Ronald Reagan. (Financial Times)
The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accused China of "siding with the aggressor" in Russia's war in Ukraine war in violation of the duties of a U.N. Security Council permanent member. The comments come ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's joint visit to Beijing, where they are expected to pressure China on its friendship with Russia. (Associated Press)
China is for the first time keeping at least one nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine constantly at sea, according to a Pentagon report - adding pressure on the United States and its allies as they try to counter Beijing's growing military. (Reuters)
China seethes as US chip controls threaten tech ambitions: Furious at U.S. efforts that cut off access to technology to make advanced computer chips, China's leaders appear to be struggling to figure out how to retaliate without hurting their own ambitions in telecoms, artificial intelligence and other industries. (Associated Press)
The Philippines identified four of its military bases that it plans to give the U.S. military access to, all of which are proximate to likely zones of conflict with Beijing over Taiwan or the South China Sea. The United States has pledged to build over $80 million worth of military infrastructure in the Philippines, as the two countries rebuild a once-close military relationship. (Reuters)
Finland joins NATO, Russia threatens 'counter-measures': Finland formally joined the NATO military alliance on Tuesday in a historic policy shift brought on by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, drawing a threat from Moscow of "counter-measures". Finland's accession roughly doubles the length of the border that NATO shares with Russia and bolsters its eastern flank as the war in Ukraine grinds on with no resolution in sight. Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto completed the accession process by handing over an official document to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at NATO headquarters in Brussels where the Finnish flag was unfurled. (Reuters)
European governments and the NATO chief denounced the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and demanded his release, while a senior Russian diplomat said the investigation in the reporter’s case was ongoing and declined to state when he would be permitted visits from lawyers and U.S. diplomats. (Wall Street Journal)
The ‘King Kong’ of Weight-Loss Drugs Is Coming. Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro could outpace Ozempic as the most powerful treatment on the market. To develop it, the drug company needed to overhaul long-held but failing practices. The drug Mounjaro helped a typical person with obesity who weighed 230 pounds lose up to 50 pounds during a test period of nearly 17 months. (Wall Street Journal)
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and the Walt Disney Company clashed anew, with the governor requesting an investigation into Disney’s effort to sidestep state oversight of its theme parks and Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, blasting Mr. DeSantis as “anti-business” and “anti-Florida.” Shortly before Disney’s annual shareholder meeting, Mr. DeSantis sent a letter to Melinda Miguel, Florida’s chief inspector general, asking for “a thorough review and investigation” into Disney’s effort to circumvent his authority. “These collusive and self-dealing arrangements aim to nullify the recently passed legislation, undercut Florida’s legislative process and defy the will of Floridians,” Mr. DeSantis wrote to Ms. Miguel, whom he appointed in 2019. “Any legal or ethical violations should be referred to the proper authorities.” A spokesman for Mr. DeSantis added that “Disney is again fighting to keep its special corporate benefits and dodge Florida law. We are not going to let that happen.” (New York Times)
California’s wet and wintry start to the year has resulted in perhaps the deepest snowpack recorded in more than 70 years. The snowpack is so deep that it currently contains more water than Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir. But though the bounty has eased drought conditions, experts warn that the dense Sierra Nevada snowpack will soon melt, potentially unleashing torrents of water and creating considerable concern about spring flooding in valleys, foothills and communities below. (Los Angeles Times)
Economy
Jamie Dimon says the banking crisis is not over and will cause ‘repercussions for years to come’: Jamie Dimon, longtime JPMorgan Chase CEO, said of the latest financial shock in his annual letter: “The current crisis is not yet over, and even when it is behind us, there will be repercussions from it for years to come.” “But importantly, recent events are nothing like what occurred during the 2008 global financial crisis,” he added in the letter released Tuesday. The recent banking issues in the U.S. began with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which was closed by regulators on March 10 as depositors pulled tens of billions of dollars from the bank. (CNBC)
The FDIC announced the marketing process for the about $60 billion loan portfolio retained in receivership following the failure of Signature Bank. The FDIC expects to begin its marketing of the retained loan portfolio of the former Signature Bank later this summer, it said in a statement. The portfolio is comprised primarily of commercial real estate loans, commercial loans and a smaller pool of single–family residential loans. (Reuters)
Job openings tumbled below 10 million in February for the first time in nearly two years. Available positions totaled 9.93 million, a drop of 632,000 from January’s downwardly revised number, according to the Labor Department’s JOLTS report. It was the first time vacancies fell below 10 million since May 2021. Professional and business services saw a slide of 278,000 job openings on the month to lead decliners. (CNBC)
Apartment-Building Sales Drop 74%, the Most in 14 Years: Interest-rate increases and banking upheaval push down demand for multifamily buildings. (Wall Street Journal)
Saudi Arabia’s Oil Production Cuts Reflect Cost of Reshaping Economy: An oil production cut by Saudi Arabia and its allies demonstrated how Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is willing to set aside U.S. concerns to pursue a nationalist energy policy aimed at funding an expensive makeover of his kingdom. It’s the second time in less than six months that the Saudis have disregarded U.S. concerns—despite significant potential ramifications on the bilateral relationship—that elevated oil prices would help fuel Russia’s war machine. (Wall Street Journal)
Yale received an anonymous $20 million gift to establish the Swensen Asset Management Institute honoring the legacy of its endowment’s late chief investment officer. “David Swensen transformed the way Yale managed its endowment and completely changed the field of institutional investing,” university President Peter Salovey said Tuesday in a statement. The institute “will ensure future generations of leaders and investors can follow his example of outstanding investment performance, rigorous ethics, and open-hearted generosity.” (Bloomberg)
Technology
Amazon Hands Out ‘Small Business’ Label to Huge Sellers: What do a bottle of shampoo made by Johnson & Johnson, a lamp from a Chinese seller and an Arc’Teryx jacket all have in common? Amazon has labeled them all as coming from American small businesses. Amazon began adding a “Small Business” badge to items on its U.S. site about a year ago, pitching it as an effort to “help customers who want to support small businesses while also enjoying the convenience and security of shopping in Amazon’s store.” But the tag has lately popped up on items sold by large companies and overseas merchants. In addition, Amazon has categorized some products as coming from Black-owned small businesses that actually come from companies that are neither small nor Black-owned. (The Information)
In high-level meetings between Samsung executives and Vietnamese officials over the last month or so, discussions over perennial issues like supply chain worries have taken a back seat to a fresher concern for the electronics giant: the murky outlook for the kind of tax breaks that helped lure it to the Southeast Asian country. That comes in the wake of an agreement reached by Hanoi and more than 130 other governments to combat a "race to the bottom" in which countries have been vying for investors through ever-lower tax rates. The deal was brokered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and will set a minimum corporate tax rate of 15%, with Group of 20 chair India wanting details to be finalized by July. (Nikkei Asia)
Apple is eliminating a small number of roles within its corporate retail teams, according to people with knowledge of the matter, marking its first known internal job cuts since it embarked on a belt-tightening effort last year. The company is shedding positions in what it calls its development and preservation teams, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the move hasn’t been announced. Those groups are responsible for the construction and upkeep of Apple retail stores and other facilities around the world. (Bloomberg)
A San Francisco federal court decided that Tesla must pay a former worker, Owen Diaz, about $137 million after he endured a hostile work environment and racist abuse working there as an elevator operator. According to his attorneys, the case was only able to move forward because Diaz had not signed one of Tesla’s mandatory arbitration agreements which the company uses to force employees to resolve disputes without a public trial. A shareholder activist, Nia Impact Capital, has asked Tesla’s board to study the effects of mandatory arbitration agreements on the company, voicing concern that they enable harassment and other problems. (CNBC)
Smart Links
Australia bans TikTok from federal government devices. (Associated Press)
Consumer startups turn to crowdfunding. (Crunchbase)
Without advanced chips, can China’s smartphone industry survive? (South China Morning Post)
What HBO’s “Succession” Can Teach Us About Negotiating (Harvard Business Review)
Inside the bitter campus privacy battle over smart building sensors (MIT Technology Review)
Paris’s Air Taxi Stations Could Be Ready Before the Taxis Are. (Bloomberg)
Was your degree really worth it? (The Economist)