| | | House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and chef Jose Andres inspect free meals handed out to federal workers Tuesday. Source: Getty |
| | IMPORTANT | | 01 | Will it take two? U.S. lawmakers are set to vote on rival bills tomorrow aimed at ending the monthlong partial federal shutdown. While Republicans are pushing a proposal that includes $5.7 billion for President Donald Trump’s border wall, Democrats have countered with a plan to temporarily fund the government without it. Neither bill is expected to pass — meaning Friday will likely mark the second missed paycheck for some 800,000 federal employees.
So there’s no silver lining? Actually, there is: If the Senate’s long-awaited first attempt to break the deadlock fails, some believe it could provide a fresh impetus for a bipartisan compromise. | |
| | 02 | Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is having a tough week: An emboldened opposition — egged on by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence — is planning nationwide protests today, two days after 27 National Guardsmen were arrested for reportedly attempting to stage an uprising. Meanwhile, hyperinflation continues to wreak havoc on Venezuela’s virtually worthless currency.
Is this the end for Maduro? Amid signs that he’s steadily losing both working-class and military backing, on top of the opposition’s newly unified approach, things certainly don’t look good for the strongman.
Don’t miss this OZY profile of the bearded leader daring to push alternative socialism in Venezuela. | |
| | 03 | Yesterday the Justice Department confirmed it’s planning to ask Canada to extradite Meng Wanzhou, the embattled Chinese executive arrested in Vancouver last month for allegedly skirting U.S. sanctions on Iran. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters yesterday that her country hasn’t asked the U.S. to drop its extradition bid, while Beijing has demanded that Washington scrap its arrest warrant.
How would extradition play out? It’s complicated: Once the U.S. makes an official request, Canada has 30 days to decide if the British Columbia Supreme Court should begin an extradition hearing — which can take weeks or even months. | |
| | 04 | “It is a historic agreement.” So said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti yesterday, shortly after educators in America’s second-largest school district approved a tentative deal to end their six-day strike in exchange for a 6 percent pay bump and restrictions on class sizes. The first strike in 30 years by the Los Angeles Unified School District, home to some 640,000 students, forced schools to staff up with substitute teachers and administrators.
What does their victory mean nationwide? The public attention their campaign received — largely thanks to their student-centered concerns — could serve as a lesson for other striking teachers.
Check out OZY’s feature about “digital citizenship” in schools. | |
| | 05 | South Korea has announced a massive human rights investigation into abuse in sports. A government-appointed commission in Zimbabwe has accused soldiers of “systematic torture” during a crackdown on protests there. And after being released without charges, singer Chris Brown says he’ll sue the woman who accused him of raping her at a Paris hotel.
#OZYfact: Remittances from abroad constituted 35.9 percent of Tonga’s GDP last year — the highest proportion of any country. Read more on OZY.
We’re hiring! OZY is looking for a prolific sports reporter and editor to join our growing team. Could this be you? Check out the job description for more details … and find all our open jobs right here. |
|
|
| | | | INTRIGUING | | 01 | Scientists have used a preserved blood sample to prove with 99.9 percent certainty that Adolf Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess, was the man who killed himself in a Berlin prison in 1987 — not a doppelgänger, as some conspiracy theorists believed. Hess flew solo to Scotland from Germany in 1941 to negotiate peace, only to be captured, tried at Nuremberg and imprisoned. His British doctor was among those who believed he used a body double to escape.
Where are his remains now? They were exhumed, cremated and scattered at sea in 2011 to prevent Nazi sympathizers from honoring his grave, likely a smart move given the extreme right’s stubborn persistence in Germany. | |
| | 02 | In a court document filed Tuesday, the U.S. Labor Department alleged that thousands of female and minority employees were collectively shorted some $400 million by the tech giant over four years. It also claims Oracle prefers hiring recent Asian graduates because they depend on employment visas to remain in the U.S., allowing the company to continuously underpay them.
What’s Oracle’s next move? It’ll have to cough up lost wages and straighten out its allegedly discriminatory practices if the Labor Department has its way — or risk losing government contracts worth more than $100 million per year.
Read this OZY feature asking whether fintech can advance civil rights. | |
| | 03 | They’re spacing out. In the face of rising urbanization, governments and individuals across Asia are working to ensure people have places to hang out in modern cities. Pop-up spaces, container markets and innovative green areas are appearing across the densely populated region, OZY reports, where modern development has generally favored highways and department stores over gardens and temple grounds.
How else will public spaces prove useful? Greater open areas could serve as rallying points for public protests, as they did during Hong Kong’s 2014 Umbrella Revolution. | |
| | 04 | Memories linked to cocaine use can be altered to reduce drug-seeking behavior in rats, according to University of Pittsburgh researchers. They used a light-based technique called optogenetics to control memory-forming neurons in cocaine-addicted rats’ brains. After erasing memories of stimuli associated with drug use, the rodents showed decreased desire for coke.
What do those results mean for humans? If they can lead to new therapies, that’s good news for the estimated 70 percent of cocaine users who relapse within 90 days.
Check out OZY’s feature on the small town leading America’s opioid fight. | |
| | 05 | The country’s largest convenience chains, 7-Eleven, Lawson and FamilyMart, have all pledged to stop selling adult publications in a bid to spruce up Japan’s image ahead of this year’s Rugby World Cup and next year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Executives want their stores to be more family friendly and less offensive to the influx of foreign tourists they’re expecting.
How else is Japan preparing? At the Olympics, Muslim visitors will be able to pray in pop-up “mobile mosques,” while the government is paving roads with heat-resistant materials to thwart the negative effects of high summer temperatures. | |
|
|
| | Caught Up? Now Vault Ahead ... | | To get more fresh stories and bold ideas in your inbox, check out The Daily Dose. | | | Fast Forward Asian megacities are finding innovative new fixes to urbanization’s destruction of traditional public spaces. READ NOW | |
| |
|
| |
|
|
