| | | A tale of two billionaires saw Mark Zuckerberg lose $29 billion in a day — and Jeff Bezos gain $20 billion. A carefully planned U.S. attack that led to the death of the leader of Islamic State resulted in civilian casualties after the target blew himself up. Canada’s PM said he won’t deploy troops to bust up the anti-vax protests that have crippled Ottawa. And Pentagon officials revealed what they say are Russian plans to “fabricate a pretext for an invasion” of Ukraine. All this and more in today’s PDB. | | |
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| IMPORTANT | | | 1 - Sad Mark, Happy Jeff Zuckerberg Loses $29 Billion, Bezos Gains $20 Billion Facebook holding company Meta’s stock fell 26% Thursday following disappointing earnings forecasts that the company partly blamed on Apple iOS changes that make it harder to track user activity. The $200 billion wipeout was the largest ever single-day fall for a U.S. company. On the other side of the billionaire bubble, Amazon reported blockbuster Q4 earnings, sending its shares up 15% and paving the way for what should be the company’s biggest daily gain since 2009. With just $85 billion under his pillow, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has slipped to 12th on Forbes’ rich list. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is third. (Sources: BBC, Reuters) |
| 2 - Collateral Damage US Attack on IS Leader Leads to Civilian Casualties A daring predawn raid by American special operations forces that was months in the making led to the death of Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. In an attempt to minimize the risk of civilian harm, the U.S. decided to send in two dozen helicopter-borne commandos instead of embarking on a bomb or missile raid. These plans were scuppered, President Joe Biden said, when al-Qurayshi detonated a suicide bomb that killed several members of his family. Rescue workers said women and children were among at least 13 people killed during the assault Thursday. No American troops were injured. (Sources: NYT, AP) |
| 3 - Chaos in Canada Trudeau Says Military Response to Protests Not Likely – for Now After Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly refused to rule out deploying the military to deal with the ongoing truckers’ protests against COVID-19 vaccine mandates, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dialed tensions down on Thursday. He said a military response was “not in the cards right now,” adding that he’d be “very, very cautious” about deploying troops on Canadian soil. The protesters, some of whom have flown Nazi flags and espoused white supremacist views, have brought downtown Ottawa to a standstill and outraged many Canadians by desecrating war monuments in the city. Similar protests are planned in Toronto and Quebec City. (Sources: AP, Reuters) |
| 4 - Video Games US Says Russia Planning False Attack to Justify Ukraine Invasion U.S. officials claimed Russia will “fabricate a pretext for an invasion” of Ukraine by creating “a very graphic propaganda video” depicting a fake attack on Russian forces. This is the latest of several revelations designed to nullify Russia’s plans to justify an invasion. Speaking at a Pentagon briefing, press secretary John Kirby said the U.S. believes President Vladimir Putin has ordered the production of a video including “corpses and actors ... depicting mourners and images of destroyed locations, as well as military equipment at the hands of Ukraine or the West.” Russian Ambassador to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov denied everything. (Sources: WaPo, CNN) |
| 5 - Briefly Here are some things you should know about today: The big freeze. A massive winter storm that has forced school closures, road and air travel disruptions and power outages is not done yet: 110 million people in the U.S. and Canada are subject to storm and ice warnings. (Source: Axios) Let the games begin? The Winter Olympics kicked off in Beijing amid COVID-19 restrictions, diplomatic boycotts and questions over China’s treatment of ethnic minorities. (Source: Al Jazeera) Congo tragedy. At least 26 people were electrocuted at a food market in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, after a high-voltage power cable snapped and fell into a ditch. (Source: Africanews) |
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| | | Watch Jameela Jamil As She Discusses the Good That Has Come From the Pandemic
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| INTRIGUING | | | 1 - Butterfly Effect Texas Butterfly Center Closes After Right-Wing Harassment Look what’s crawled out of this cocoon. The National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, will shut its doors after ongoing threats directed at the nature reserve and its staff. The conservatory, located near the U.S.-Mexico border, has been locked in a legal battle since 2017, when the Trump administration began construction of a wall on the nonprofit’s property without permission, using chainsaws to destroy trees. It is unclear whether the lush, 100-acre haven to over 200 butterfly species will ever reopen. “We still cannot believe we are at the center of this maelstrom of malevolence,” the center said. (Source: NPR) |
| 2 - Something in the Water Research Shows Two Forms of Liquid Water Exist Thirty years ago Boston University researchers made the dramatic claim that water does not have one liquid state, but can change between two distinct liquid forms under pressure and at extremely low temperatures. Since then evidence has slowly mounted that they were right. Now scientists at the National Institute of Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan, say they’ve observed a reversible transformation between liquid states of different density. The observations were made not in pure H20 but in supercooled water mixed with trehalose, a natural cryoprotectant that keeps insects’ blood from freezing. (Source: Chemistry World) |
| 3 - Pig in a Poke German Researchers to Breed Pigs as Human Heart Donors A month after U.S. doctors conducted the world’s first pig-to-human heart transplant, German scientists are launching a program to genetically modify pigs so they’re ready for transplant trials by 2025. While the U.S. operation used a heart with 10 modifications, the Germans, led by Eckhard Wolf of Ludwig-Maximilians University, will be pursuing a “simpler model” with only five modifications. Wolf is a controversial figure in Germany, which has a strong animal rights lobby — and a transplant waiting list numbering 8,500. “Animals should not serve as spare parts for humans,” said Kristina Berchtold from Germany’s Animal Welfare Association. (Source: The Guardian) |
| 4 - Breaking Bridges Rotterdam to Dismantle Historic Bridge for Jeff Bezos’ Superyacht Now we know where (some of) the Amazon founder’s $20 billion windfall will go. Authorities in the Dutch port of Rotterdam have announced that they’ll partially dismantle — at Bezos’ expense — the historic Koningshaven bridge to allow his new superyacht to leave the city. The vessel being built by Dutch firm Oceanco will be 417 feet long and 130 feet tall, the largest of its kind, and will boast an array of luxury features. While many Rotterdammers hailed the economic importance of the yacht’s construction, local politician Stephan Leewis described “tear[ing] down our beautiful national monument” as “a bridge too far.” (Source: BBC) |
| 5 - Farewell Captain Video Acclaimed NBA Coach Bill Fitch Dies Aged 89 The two-time NBA coach of the year, who led the Boston Celtics to the 1981 league title, has died in Lake Conroe, Texas. That title was the highlight of a 25-year coaching career characterized by pulling flagging teams up by their bootstraps. Fitch’s pioneering use of video analysis gained him the nickname Captain Video and his commitment to discipline and demanding workouts was second to none. Larry Bird, who starred in the winning Celtics team, said Fitch “was the best in terms of motivation, getting you to really lay it on the line for each other.” (Source: NYT) |
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