World Mourns QE2's Prince Philip | See the Flying Horse

Tributes from around the world are pouring in for the Duke of Edinburgh, history’s longest-serving consort, who died Friday. “He was a heck of a guy,” said U.S. President Joe Biden, who noted that even recently at 99, “he never slowed down.” The prince, who was hospitalized for a month in March, was remembered for many accomplishments, including helping found the World Wildlife Fund and building fields for young athletes. Father of heir to the throne Prince Charles, Philip did not want a state funeral, and with the pandemic still raging, authorities are trying to prevent well-wishers from leaving flowers at royal residences.

BBC, NYT, CNN

2. Coming Up: Three Milestones in Space

Mankind could use a giant leap these days. On Monday, it’ll be 60 years since the first human, Yuri Gagarin, vaulted into space at the tip of what was essentially a big missile. To mark that milestone, two of Gagarin’s successor cosmonauts and an American rode another Russian rocket yesterday and docked at the International Space Station. Exactly 20 years after the Soviet Union’s 1961 feat, the U.S. launched the first space shuttle, so the anniversaries coincide. But wait, there’s more: On Sunday there could be another first, with NASA launching Mars’ first helicopter.

Sources: DW, NASA, Space.com

3. Bloody Myanmar on Brink of ‘State Failure’

As forces loyal to Myanmar’s military junta killed scores more people yesterday, bringing the Feb. 1 coup’s reported death toll above 600, the country’s own U.N. ambassador urged action. “Time is of the essence for us,” Kyaw Moe Tun told the U.N. Security Council on Friday, adding, “Please, please take action.“ He recommended a no-fly zone, sanctions and an arms embargo. Meanwhile, local media reported that a military tribunal sentenced 19 people to death in the killing of a military officer’s associate while a group of ethnic militias killed 10 policemen in eastern Shan state.

Sources: France 24, CNN, Reuters

4. Amazon Wins Victory vs. Union in Alabama

The workers delivered. The online retail giant fended off an attempt by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union to organize its Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse. Workers voted 1,798 to 738 against unionization — a huge victory for last year’s fastest-hiring U.S. company. Amazon’s been under fire for employee working conditions, recently admitting that its drivers sometimes resorted to urinating into bottles to avoid bathroom breaks. “We don’t need anybody there to speak for us and take our money,” said one Bessemer worker who opposed unionization. While employees sought changes, they say they can negotiate without an intermediary.

Sources: CNBC, WSJ (sub)

What’s your situation? Do you wish your workplace was unionized? Tell us here.

5. Also Important …

Police in a British loyalist area of Belfast, Northern Ireland, were pelted with rocks and bottles on the eighth night of unrest over Brexit border issues. The medical examiner who performed George Floyd’s autopsy testified yesterday in the trial of former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin that the actions of police were the main cause of Floyd’s death. And Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup Neuralink announced that it has succeeded in getting a monkey to play a video game with its mind.

In the Week Ahead: The Masters golf tournament in Georgia will be decided on Sunday. Thursday is World Art Day. And on Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will make the first in-person state visit to President Biden’s White House.

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Pegasus needn’t feel threatened. But it’s likely that the non-mythical flying horses that were lofted above Switzerland yesterday were plenty worried. It was all for equine welfare, though, as the Swiss Army sought to test out its ability to rescue injured or sick animals and bring them to a veterinary facility with the help of an Airbus Super Puma helicopter and some specially made slings and very sturdy ropes. The airlift of a single horse above the canton of Jura must have gone well despite some scary-looking horse pendulum action, as the crew then picked up three horses at once.

Sources: Daily Mail, Science Focus

2. How Bill Hwang Lost $20 Billion in Two Days

Your first reaction is probably, “Who’s Bill Hwang?” That’s because he was, as Bloomberg Businessweek put it, the biggest investor you’ve never heard of. Yet in just two days last month, he lost more money than anyone ever: $20 billion. He did so through “total return swaps” a kind of proxy stock ownership that both hid his Archegos Capital Management's huge positions in blue-chip stocks, and allowed him to do it with borrowed money. With his lenders, like Credit Suisse, reeling from billions in losses, regulators must now determine if there are other similar ticking time bombs lurking.

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek

3. Hip-hop World Mourns Rapper DMX

Rap legend DMX died Friday, a week after being hospitalized following a heart attack and placed on life support. The singer of “X Gon’ Give It to Ya” and “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem,” born Earl Simmons, was 50 years old. “Earl was a warrior who fought till the very end,” his family said in a statement. The influential MC had five chart-topping albums and publicly battled mental health issues and drug abuse. Tributes are pouring in on Twitter, with Chance the Rapper tweeting, “Rest in Heaven DMX,” and Missy Elliott saying, “Even though you had battles you TOUCHED so many through your MUSIC.”

Sources: Rolling Stone, CNN, Missy Elliott Tweet, Chance the Rapper Tweet

4. Have Bouncy Baseballs Been Fixed or Not?

Baseball has a home run problem. Back during the last normal season, there were too many of them, and last year, MLB promised to remedy the problem with less-bouncy balls. But sportswriter Sam Fels observes in Deadspin that during this season’s first week, there have been 88 balls hit with an exit velocity of 110 mph or better. That means we’re on track for another banner long ball year like 2019. But as with all stats-based predictions this early in the season, this one should be taken with a grain of salt — but keep an eye on next week’s numbers.

Source: Deadspin

5. Meet the New Crime: ‘Ecocide’

It’s the “massive contamination of air, land and water,” according to Pope Francis. He’s talking about “ecocide,” the offense that environmental advocates like the Pontiff and French President Emmanuel Macron say needs to be recognized as a formal crime. Like genocide, advocates argue, it’s a crime against humanity. And considering the effects of climate change, they’re talking about all of humanity. It puts wanton “destruction of nature below that red line” that separates criminal from negligent behavior, explains one activist, Stop Ecocide’s JoJo Metha. If successful, the effort could see major polluters prosecuted before the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

Sources: NBC, Unilad

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