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Good afternoon and welcome to Notes on the News. It's Sunday, May 23. Here's what we're watching this week: closing arguments in Apple's court battle with Epic Games, relief efforts in Gaza, and whether summer blockbusters can spur a revival at the box office. Let us know what you think by replying to this email. Thanks for reading. |
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| Apple CEO Tim Cook, left, headed into court in Oakland, Calif., on Friday. PHOTO: PHILIP PACHECO/GETTY IMAGES |
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1. Epic Games vs. Apple trial draws to an end. Closing arguments are scheduled Monday in the case that will decide whether the iPhone maker operates an improper monopoly. The judge's ruling, which is expected in the coming months, will reverberate far beyond the California courtroom. |
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2. Regional powers seek long-term solutions in the Middle East. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to meet with Mideast officials in the coming days to discuss how to improve the lives of Israelis and Palestinians. The U.S. and other foreign governments are looking for ways to help rebuild the devastated Gaza Strip without channeling funds through the governing militant group, Hamas. |
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3. Summer blockbusters put studios’ strategy to the test. Disney’s “Cruella” and Paramount’s “A Quiet Place Part II” hit U.S. theaters on Memorial Day weekend, headlining a moviegoing season in which Hollywood wants people to both rush back to the big screen and watch at home via streaming services. How the two business models will coexist has become an increasingly urgent question. |
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4. White House to release Biden’s first full budget. The president is expected to submit a detailed proposal this week for fiscal 2022, shedding more light on his administration's funding priorities. Democratic leaders are facing pressure from the party's progressive wing on a number of issues, which could threaten the passage of the president's agenda. |
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5. Ohio kicks off lottery for vaccinated residents. The state on Wednesday plans to pick the first winner in its “Vax-a-Million” program, a series of five weekly drawings for a $1 million cash prize. Ohio has seen an uptick in Covid-19 vaccinations since the incentives were announced. |
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6. Arizona election audit to resume amid GOP infighting. A Republican-ordered audit of 2020 ballots in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, is scheduled to restart this week. Critics say the audit has been mismanaged and could undermine confidence in the voting system. Supporters say the audit isn’t intended to overturn the county’s election results but that it will address questions. |
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7. English rivals vie for European soccer title. With the top spot in the Premier League secured, Manchester City will aim to add the Champions League trophy to its haul when it faces Chelsea in Saturday's final. The two teams fought their way through a bracket of the continent's finest to arrive at a familiar matchup. 📰Enjoying this newsletter? Get more from WSJ and support our work with a special subscription offer. |
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12.6% — The average fall in share price among 44 technology startups that completed a SPAC deal from the start of 2020 through this past April, according to data provided by researchers with the University of Florida. Special-purpose acquisition companies exploded in popularity last year as a mechanism for going public, but startup CEOs are increasingly wary about the money-raising tool. 692 — Vermont's net inflow of households in 2020, up from 112 in 2019, according to data from the U.S. Postal Service. Residents from other states migrated to the Green Mountains in search of a pastoral refuge with relatively low rates of Covid-19 infections. The challenge for the rural, aging state is keeping the momentum going. $70 — Consumers' average monthly healthcare savings following revisions to the Affordable Care Act through pandemic relief legislation, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. But the changes only last two years, and they aren’t as wide-ranging as the agenda laid out in the 2020 presidential campaign. Many progressive Democrats and President Biden are facing the political reality that far-reaching healthcare overhauls like Medicare for All aren’t likely to succeed in the short term. |
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| What Everyone Wants to Know |
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| A wind turbine operated by Dominion Energy off the coast of Virginia Beach, Va. PHOTO: JULIA RENDLEMAN FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL |
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Green finance is going mainstream. Some of the world’s biggest companies and deepest-pocketed investors are lining up trillions of dollars to finance a shift away from fossil fuels. After years of intermittent excitement followed by fizzled expectations, green finance is now looking less like the niche interest of socially conscious investors and more like a sustainable gold rush. Driven by surging valuations for electric-vehicle companies such as Tesla and startup battery producers, banks and investors are betting the transition from fossil fuels is here to stay, and that they can make money by getting behind it. Behind the geyser of capital is a confluence of forces. Big money managers see opportunities for substantial profits, and they also worry about financial risks associated with climate change. Many of their clients—giant pension funds and fast-trading young investors alike—want to put their wallets behind projects that aim to curb environmental damage. And many governments around the world are boosting spending on environmental issues and instituting new regulations on the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. Even if investors and governments suffer losses, the inflow of cash could produce innovations in areas like batteries that are needed to significantly reduce carbon emissions. |
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New mask rules put grocery workers back at center of debate. Many supermarket chains have eased rules for wearing masks in stores since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on May 13 that fully vaccinated people no longer need to cover their faces indoors. Some workers say the end of mask mandates has put them in a new position of having to explain their employers’ mask policies, manage anxious shoppers and assess whether unmasked customers are indeed vaccinated, all while potentially risking their own health. Masks have become a flashpoint at many supermarkets through the pandemic. Some customers refused to wear masks or to put them on properly, leaving store employees to apprehend shoppers and manage confrontations. Workers said changing rules over masks are adding to that burden. Robert Newell, president at the United Food Commercial Workers International Union’s New York chapter, said the union is encouraging supermarkets to keep mask requirements in place because there’s no easy way to tell whether someone is vaccinated. Selling to buy a bigger home? It may be rough in this hot market. After a long year spent cramped at home, many homeowners are eager to move into larger spaces. These sellers stand to benefit from the hot housing market, but trading up could be tricky. Some buyers overlook the fact that larger homes in nicer neighborhoods tend to come with a steep property tax on top of other expanded expenses. It's also risky to sell your home before you know where you are going to land. Some real-estate agents recommend that you include in your contract that the sale of your home is contingent on finding a new home to buy, and you can also stipulate that you would like to close escrows simultaneously. A housing market other than the one you are in may have options for you to consider, but if you leave an area that’s booming, keep in mind that you may not be able to afford to come back. |
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| Dries Botha as W.O. Bentley in ‘The Cars That Built the World.’ PHOTO: HISTORY CHANNEL |
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Go watch: “The Cars That Built the World,” a four-part special examining how the development of the automobile changed everyday life and the course of history. |
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