'Stealthy Cyberattacks'
'Stealthy Cyberattacks'
Today's Daily Briefing
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The World
With Saudi deals, US, China battle for influence in Mideast. In a matter of days, Saudi Arabia carried out blockbuster agreements with the world’s two leading powers — China and the United States. Riyadh signed a Chinese-facilitated deal aimed at restoring diplomatic ties with its arch-nemesis Iran and then announced a massive contract to buy commercial planes from U.S. manufacturer Boeing. The two announcements spurred speculation that the Saudis were laying their marker as a dominant economic and geopolitical force with the flexibility to play Beijing and Washington off each other. They also cast China in an unfamiliar leading role in Middle Eastern politics. And they raised questions about whether the U.S.-Saudi relationship — frosty for much of the first two years of President Joe Biden’s term — has reached a détente. (Associated Press)
Wave of Stealthy China Cyberattacks Hits U.S., Private Networks, Google Says: Attacks represent new level of ingenuity and sophistication from China, according to researchers. (Wall Street Journal)
China has unveiled reforms that will allow President Xi Jinping to exert more direct control over the government in areas ranging from the financial sector to the integration of technologies for civilian and military uses. State media announced new Communist party commissions that will supervise government ministries and regulators under the State Council, China’s cabinet, as Xi further consolidates political oversight of organs of the state. (Financial Times)
The Pentagon released video footage from a U.S. MQ-9 drone that crashed in the Black Sea on Tuesday showing a Russian jet buzzing and dumping fuel on it and apparently damaging the drone’s propeller. The declassified footage shows a Russian Sukhoi-27 jet flying very close to the unmanned surveillance aircraft, in one of the first direct military confrontations between the U.S. and Russia since the invasion in Ukraine began more than a year ago. It wasn’t clear whether the video showed one jet flying past the drone twice, or both Russian jets that the Pentagon says were there. (Wall Street Journal)
An international team of virus experts said they had found genetic data from a market in Wuhan, China, linking the coronavirus with raccoon dogs for sale there, adding evidence to the case that the worst pandemic in a century could have been ignited by an infected animal that was being dealt through the illegal wildlife trade. The genetic data was drawn from swabs taken from in and around the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market starting in January 2020, shortly after the Chinese authorities had shut down the market because of suspicions that it was linked to the outbreak of a new virus. By then, the animals had been cleared out, but researchers swabbed walls, floors, metal cages and carts often used for transporting animal cages. In samples that came back positive for the coronavirus, the international research team found genetic material belonging to animals, including large amounts that were a match for the raccoon dog, three scientists involved in the analysis said. (New York Times)
French President Emmanuel Macron imposed a highly unpopular bill raising the retirement age from 62 to 64by shunning parliament and invoking a special constitutional power. Lawmakers were shouting, their voices shaking with emotion as Macron made the risky move, which is expected to trigger quick motions of no-confidence in his government. Riot police vans zoomed by outside the National Assembly, their sirens wailing. The proposed pension changes have prompted major strikes and protests across the country since January. Macron, who made it the flagship of his second term, argued the reform is needed to keep the pension system from diving into deficit as France's population ages and life expectancy lengthens. (NPR)
Polish President Andrzej Duda says his country will deliver four MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in "the next few days," making Poland the first NATO country to supply fighter planes to Ukraine. Ukraine has long urgently requested warplanes to fight Russian forces. Poland, one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters in its fight against Russia, has often taken the lead in persuading sometimes hesitant allies to provide Kyiv with heavy weapons. Duda hinted that Poland may send additional fighter jets in the coming weeks. Slovakia, a fellow NATO member, is also likely to send planes in the coming weeks. (NPR)
One in five Americans say they'd support a "national divorce" in which Republican- and Democratic-leaning states split into separate countries, according to new findings from our Axios-Ipsos Two Americas Index. Why it matters: Are you an optimist or a pessimist? One way to look at it is... 20% of the U.S. population is such a small share that it's nowhere close to moving the needle. Or... it represents 66 million people! That's roughly equivalent to everyone in Texas, Wyoming, West Virginia, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Idaho, Arkansas, Kentucky, South Dakota, Alabama, Georgia and Nebraska combined — and larger than the populations of most countries in the world. (Axios)
Economy
First Republic Bank, facing a crisis of confidence from investors and customers, is set to receive a $30 billion lifeline from a group of America’s largest banks. “This show of support by a group of large banks is most welcome, and demonstrates the resilience of the banking system,” the Treasury Department said in a statement Thursday. The major banks include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Truist.The $30 billion infusion will give the struggling San Francisco lender much-needed cash to meet customer withdrawals and buttress confidence in the US banking system during a tumultuous moment for lenders. A First Republic spokesman declined to comment. In a statement, the banks said their action “reflects their confidence in First Republic and in banks of all sizes,” adding that “regional, midsize and small banks are critical to the health and functioning of our financial system.” (CNN)
Top executives of First Republic Bank sold millions of dollars of company stock in the two months before the bank’s shares plummeted during the panic over the health of regional lenders. The bank’s chief risk officer sold on March 6, according to government documents. Two days later, Silicon Valley Bank shocked the market and sent other banks into freefall. First Republic was among the worst hit. (Wall Street Journal)
Banks borrowed a combined $164.8 billion from two Federal Reserve backstop facilities in the most recent week, a sign of escalated funding strains in the aftermath of Silicon Valley Bank’s failure. Data published by the Fed showed $152.85 billion in borrowing from the discount window — the traditional liquidity backstop for banks — in the week ended March 15, a record high, up from $4.58 billion the previous week. The prior all-time high was $111 billion reached during the 2008 financial crisis. (Bloomberg)
Charles Schwab saw $8.8 billion in net outflows from its prime money market funds this week as investors rattled by turmoil at US banks plowed even more money into the brokerage’s other portfolios that favor assets with government backing. Clients moved money from two Schwab Value Advantage Money funds, which had a combined $195 billion of assets as of March 15, representing the largest redemptions in at least six months. (Bloomberg)
The Promise (and Risk) of Boomerang Employees. Today, more than a quarter of all “new” hires are in fact boomerang employees: workers returning to a former employer after a stint somewhere else. This phenomenon can represent a threat to retention efforts, as new hires may be increasingly liable to boomerang back to their previous employers, but it also represents an opportunity, as former employees may serve as a strong, known talent base for recruiters. To better understand who is most likely to boomerang, when they’re likely to do it, and the factors motivating these workers to take the leap (back), the authors analyzed three million employee records covering more than 120 firms from 2019 to 2022. Based on their findings, the authors offer a variety of defensive and offensive strategies to help employers capitalize on the boomerang opportunity while mitigating the risks. (Harvard Business Review)
Technology
Microsoft unveiled new artificial intelligence integrations to its line of Office 365 that will make its customers’ data available by asking simple questions to a chat bot, instead of mouse clicks and typing. Called “Office 365 Copilot,” the move is the latest big announcement for the company since it unveiled its Bing chat bot last month, which is integrated into its search engine. Now, by employing the technology, which was developed with ChatGPT creator OpenAI, Microsoft is weaving it into its core products. While Microsoft is not a big player in search — at least not now — it is far and away the leader in business software, including its Outlook email client, Microsoft Word, and Excel. (Semafor)
Newfound volcanic activity on Venus hints at the world's past and could give scientists fresh insights into how our Earth — and life on it — evolved. The big picture: Evidence of geological activity — quakes on Mars, volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io and relatively recent lava flows on our own Moon — is found throughout the solar system. But the tectonic plates that move on Earth's surface, birthing continents and mountains, are so far the only of their kind known in the solar system. Sometimes referred to as Earth's evil twin, rocky Venus is about the same size and composition. Some scientists consider Venus an analog for early Earth — before tectonic plates existed. (Axios)
Google Cloud this year is increasing its focus on selling cloud services to the vast array of medium-sized companies—known as the midmarket—that have yet to make significant cloud commitments, according to a Google Cloud sales manager and three other people who do business with the company. In a sign of growing pressure on the unit, Google Cloud managers also are requiring some salespeople to forecast spending by new customers with more rigor so the company can have confidence that big cloud contracts will actually produce big revenue. (The Information)
Drone delivery is about to get real. Zipline and Wing, two of the world's leading drone delivery companies, are amping up their operations in preparation for wide-scale U.S. deployment starting next year. Why it matters: The companies' new, more sophisticated systems are a sign that the industry is maturing and that drone delivery, once a novelty, could become commonplace within a few years. That's assuming the final regulatory hurdles are cleared, of course. Driving the news: Zipline on Wednesday unveiled its next-generation delivery drone, which includes an autonomous droid lowered by a tether to gently deliver a package precisely where it's expected. (Axios)
Google raises price of YouTube TV to $73 a month, blaming content costs. (CNBC)
Smart Links
Diabetes Drug Giant Sanofi Cuts Insulin Prices by Up to 78%. (Wall Street Journal)
America’s bad bet on expanding legal sports gambling. (Vox)
FIFA Triples Women’s World Cup Prize Money for 2023. (Wall Street Journal)
Amtrak announces ultra-cheap fares for late-night rides on popular routes. (CNBC)
Bing said to remove waitlist for its GPT-4-powered chat. (TechCrunch)