Episodes

  • One Sentence News / June 21, 2024

    One Sentence News / June 21, 2024
    Jun 21 2024
    Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.Thailand passes landmark bill legalizing same-sex marriageSummary: The Thai Senate has voted, 130 to 4, to allow any two people, whatever their gender, to get engaged or legally married, putting the country on track to become the first in Southeast Asia to allow same-sex marriages.Context: This bill was approved by the country’s House of Representatives in March, and still has to be approved by the Thai King, but that final step is considered to be a formality, and the law will go into effect 120 days after that sign-off; same-sex couplings have been generally socially accepted in Thailand for a long time, with around 60% of the adult population supporting it, but the law hasn’t traditionally backed that social approval; three-dozen countries have thus far legalized same-sex marriage, and Taiwan was the first to do so in Asia, back in 2019.—The Washington PostOne Sentence News is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Fisker is out of cash, not making cars, and filing for bankruptcySummary: Electric vehicle-maker Fisker, which was started by well-known BMW and Aston Martin car designer Henrik Fisker, has filed for bankruptcy following months of safety probes, cash shortages, and pauses in manufacturing.Context: In 2023, Fisker—which at one point was considered to be EV-maker Tesla’s main US rival—reported $273 million in sales, but $1 billion in debt, and its stock was dropped by the New York Stock Exchange in March of that year; in some ways Fisker’s situation reflects the EV market in general, which has knocked out many previously high-flying, promising companies, because a lot of cash has to be burned in the run-up to profitability, very few companies making it through that initial gauntlet to relative stability on the other side; the global EV market is also being upended by inexpensive, high-quality offerings from China and Vietnam, which is making life difficult for Western competitors that took longer to spin-up their manufacturing capacity and R&D, and which typically haven’t benefitted from as much government backing.—Ars TechnicaBoeing hid questionable parts from regulators that may have been installed in 737 Max planes, new whistleblower allegesSummary: An employee at Boeing has publicly alleged that the company attempted to conceal broken and out-of-specification plane parts from regulators, those parts possibly making their way into the company’s much-maligned 737 Max.Context: The past several years have been difficult for Boeing, which seems to have refocused on upping its stock market valuation over investing in the quality of its products a few decades ago, which in turn led to the firing of many of its most knowledgable employees, and the subsequent, very public failure of several of its planes, and even more recently, helium leaks in its Starliner space vehicle, which seems to have stranded a pair of astronauts at the International Space Station; the company, which has close, military-manufacturing ties with the US government, in addition to making something like half the passenger aircraft in use, globally, has been targeted by a US Senate subcommittee investigation into why it seems to be fumbling so much and so badly, of late, and this new whistleblower revelation came out as part of that investigation; the company’s CEO was questioned about all these issues, and the corporate culture that seems to have caused them, by Congress on Tuesday.—CNNChip-maker Nvidia became the most valuable publicly traded US company earlier this week, its market value surpassing previous holders-of-that-title, Microsoft and Apple on the strength of demand for its powerful AI-optimized chips.—Axios~2,000Number of children who die each day, globally, from air pollution, according to a new study from the Health Effects Institute.Air pollution has become the second biggest killer of people of all ages (surpassing tobacco use), following only high blood pressure as a risk factor for all-causes death amongst the general population, and it’s second only to malnutrition as the greatest mortality risk for children under 5.—The GuardianTrust Click Get full access to One Sentence News at onesentencenews.substack.com/subscribe
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    4 mins
  • One Sentence News / June 20, 2024

    One Sentence News / June 20, 2024
    Jun 20 2024
    Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.Nvidia eclipses Microsoft as world's most valuable companySummary: Just a few days after passing Apple, chip-maker Nvidia also surpassed Microsoft’s market valuation, attaining a value of more than $3.3 trillion and becoming the most valuable publicly traded US company.Context: Microsoft recently passed Apple as the most valuable publicly traded US company on the strength of its partnership with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and it’s deployment of all sorts of AI-oriented tools across its product portfolio, but Nvidia has been on a tear this past year, surging in value from just over $1 trillion in July of 2023 to its current most-valuable status; Nvidia makes chips that were previously oriented toward gamers and other consumers that needed to do high-end graphics work, then by crypto-companies that wanted to mine Bitcoin and other such assets, but the same products turned out to be ideal for training AI systems, as well, hence this staggering valuation explosion as pretty much every tech company scrambles to get their own AI models trained and deployed.—ReutersOne Sentence News is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Putin and Kim sign pact pledging mutual support against ‘aggression’Summary: Russian President Putin has visited North Korea for the first time in decades, meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and solidifying the two countries’ relationship at a moment in which both nations are heavily sanctioned, globally.Context: This visit served as an opportunity for the two countries to formalize a defense pledge, basically saying if the West, led by Europe and the US, messes with either of us, we’ll come to each others’ aid in various ways, while also demonstrating that they’ll continue to support each other in a general sense, North Korea providing ammunition, missiles, and other wartime necessities to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, and Russia providing staples like food and medical supplies, which are often in short supply in North Korea; many Western governments are concerned that Russia is helping the North develop their weapons systems, including their nuclear and orbital capabilities, as part of this arrangement, though the true nature of this agreement is unknown, as the details haven’t been publicly divulged, and even the aforementioned swap of ammo and food and such is based on external intelligence reports, not announcements from those directly involved—so lots of unknowns remain.—The New York TimesWhite House cancels meeting and scolds Netanyahu in protest over videoSummary: Following the release of a video by the Israeli government in which Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu criticizes the US for withholding military aid, the US government has cancelled a high-level meeting with Israel related to Iran.Context: The only military aid on its way to Israel from the US that has been withheld, as far as is publicly known, at least, has been a shipment of a type of bomb that would be devastating to civilians if used in Rafah, so this criticism, shared publicly in this way, is being seen as a slap in the face by a US administration that has continued to give Israel everything it has asked for, and then some, despite very public and potentially damaging criticisms from other world leaders, and its own constituents, at home; some White House officials have expressed bafflement about the withholding comment, saying they don’t know what Netanyahu is talking about, and while some have said the Iran meeting was cancelled to express anger at the comment, others have said the meeting was postponed due to a scheduling conflict; so there’s some fog of war related to this exchange, at the moment, but it does seem like the tension between Netanyahu and US President Biden is continuing to grow.—AxiosMost Americans get the majority of their news from social media, these days, and the lion’s share of “news” content they’re shown by the algorithms on these platforms are commentary and funny posts related to current events, not actual journalism.—Pew Research1.8 millionNumber of people living in El Fasher, the capital city of the Darfur region in Sudan.This city is under threat from a paramilitary forces called the Rapid Support Forces, which has been fighting a civil war with the country’s military, each side of the conflict controlled by generals who toppled the previous government in a coup, then turned on each other in the aftermath.El Fasher is encircled by the RSF, and international human rights organizations are warning that a massacre of the city’s residents could be impending.—The New York TimesTrust Click Get full access to One Sentence News at onesentencenews.substack.com/subscribe
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  • One Sentence News / June 19, 2024

    One Sentence News / June 19, 2024
    Jun 19 2024
    Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.US sues Adobe for ‘deceiving’ subscriptions that are too hard to cancelSummary: Software company Adobe, which sells digital tools like Photoshop and Illustrator, has been sued by the US Justice Department for allegedly harming consumers by engaging in manipulative practices, like making it difficult and costly to end subscriptions, and enrolling customers in more expensive plans than they wanted.Context: One of Adobe’s more overtly anti-consumer practices, according to the FTC, is a hefty cancellation fee that makes the company’s purported “monthly” plan anything but, charging folks for cancelling their memberships before a year has passed, but they’re also being accused of making the cancellation process unnecessarily arduous, and engaging in other sorts of manipulative behaviors meant to keep people paying, and paying more than anticipated; this is just one of many such lawsuits by US agencies against companies doing these sorts of things to consumers right now, and this one targets a pair of Adobe executives, as well—all of which is meant to serve as a warning to other companies doing similar things, alongside Adobe itself.—The VergeOne Sentence News is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Russia overtook US as gas supplier to Europe in MaySummary: For the first time in nearly two years, Europe imported more gas from Russia than the US in May, partly due to temporary issues with a major US liquid natural gas (LNG) export facility, and a big surge in Russian gas exports through Turkey, leading up to a maintenance period this month.Context: Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, it began to cut off gas flows to Europe, where many countries Russia hoped to convince not to get involved were heavily reliant on the fuel, and the US scrambled to build export capacity for its liquified gas product, which it could send via ship, but which would then need to be processed on the other end to make it usable across Europe’s grid; the upside of all this is that the US is now typically the biggest supplier of gas to Europe, Russia still provides gas to the bloc, but a lot less than before, and via a more circuitous route, and a five-year transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine, which makes the majority of those remaining shipments to Europe possible, via pipes running through Ukraine, ends this year, which—though Ukraine earns some money by allowing that gas to pass through its territory—seems unlikely to be re-upped, at this point.—Financial TimesThree of Vietnam's five undersea internet cables are downSummary: Late last week, three of the five undersea cables that serve internet connectivity to Vietnam failed, and they remain down as of mid-this-week; local internet service providers have not announced estimates as to when they think these cables will be back online.Context: This is notable in part because, while sabotage is being seen as unlikely in this case, there have been a slew of what look to be seabed cable-cuttings in recent years, and it’s been speculated that China and Russia, separately, have been experimenting with these sorts of cuts using non-military vessels—though, again, that’s quite speculative right now, and there haven’t been any formal allegations on the matter; these cables, though increasingly vital to global communication, are also just really vulnerable to all sorts of degradation and damage from the passage of ships (especially their anchors), though, and some nations, due to the nature of their governance, the businesses tasked with managing the cables, and their local weather conditions, seabed setups, and so on, are also just a lot more likely to experience damaged cables, and notably, all five of Vietnam’s undersea internet cables went down last year, though the country remained connected to the internet via land-based connections, and it’s in the process of attempting to add 2-4 new undersea cables by 2025, which would almost double the country’s current maritime bandwidth.—ReutersThe TSA reported the highest-ever number of passengers passing through US airport security on the Friday before Memorial Day this year (2.95 million) and Airlines for America have forecast that 271 million passengers will do the same this summer, between June 1 and August 31 (which would be an increase of 6% over the summer of 2023).—Sherwood News<5%Percentage of air defense capabilities that have been determined necessary to defend Europe against a full-scale attack from Russia that NATO can currently muster.Most of these defenses would be positioned in Central and Eastern Europe, and these sorts of defenses are considered to be increasingly vital in an era of warfare defined by heavy missile, rocket, and drone use.—Financial TimesTrust Click Get full access to One Sentence News at ...
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  • One Sentence News / June 18, 2024

    One Sentence News / June 18, 2024
    Jun 18 2024

    Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.

    Netanyahu disbands his inner war cabinet

    Summary: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has disbanded his multi-party war cabinet, following the departure of two of its six members last week.

    Context: This cabinet advised Netanyahu on the invasion of the Gaza Strip, and was meant to serve as a symbol of solidarity in the country following Hamas’ sneak-attack on Israel—an attack that sparked the aforementioned invasion; Netanyahu has come under fire from enemies and allies both within and beyond Israel’s borders for his seeming desire to keep the invasion going, no matter what, and this has strained his relationships with long-time allies, but also raised questions about his political future, as opposition parties have called for new elections and large protests criticizing his actions have become the norm across the country.

    —Reuters

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    Fire used as 'weapon of war' in Sudan as entire towns and villages burned to the ground

    Summary: More than 50 settlements across war-torn Sudan have been repeatedly burned, and more than 235 seemingly intentionally set fires in towns and villages have been tracked since April 2023, when the war began, supporting suspicions that arson is being used as a weapon of war in order to displace civilians, long-term.

    Context: A flurry of new data and satellite images has allowed reporters to confirm previous reporting on this aspect of the conflict in Sudan, and while the majority of the violence and settlement destruction has been occurring in the country’s westernmost Darfur region, the capital of its North Darfur region is also under threat, along with the 1.5 million people who live there; this conflict is between Sudan’s military and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, which are led by the military’s commander and the de facto ruler of the country, and his former deputy, respectively—in 2021 they agreed to rule the country together after launching a successful coup, but that alliance crumbled due to disagreements about how to rule, and who should control what.

    —NBC News

    At least 14 Hajj pilgrims die in intense heat

    Summary: At least 14 people have been confirmed killed, and another 17 people have been reported missing while making their pilgrimage to the Hajj in Saudi Arabia from their home country of Jordan.

    Context: Jordan’s foreign ministry has said that the 14 people who died suffered sun stroke due to an extreme heat wave afflicting the region, which has brought temperatures exceeding 46 degrees C, which is about 114.8 degrees F—which has made the outdoor, on-foot portion of the rituals performed at the Muslim holy site dangerous, especially for older people, and those suffering from other conditions; last year at least 240 people died from similar ailments at the Hajj.

    —BBC News

    Intense and dangerous heat is forecast across the US this week, with many high-temperature records at risk and local officials scrambling to remind locals about the dangers of heat stroke and related ailments.

    —The New York Times

    175,000

    Number of marijuana convictions Maryland Governor Wes Moore has said he will pardon.

    Those convictions (all of which are low-level possession charges) apply to around 100,000 people in the state, and this marks one of the largest mass-pardons related to this drug in the US so far, though other states have recently seen similar, broad-scale efforts.

    —The Washington Post

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  • One Sentence News / June 17, 2024

    One Sentence News / June 17, 2024
    Jun 17 2024
    Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.Panel says lawmakers colluded with foreign powers but won’t name namesSummary: A new report about foreign interference in Canada’s government, which was recently made public by a committee of Canadian lawmakers, claims that several unnamed Canadian politicians “knowingly or through willful blindness” took money from foreign entities in exchange for interfering with government processes in such a way that said foreign entities would benefit.Context: In other words, some currently unnamed Canadian politicians accepted bribes to put their thumbs on the scale in favor of the governments that bribed them, and some of them allegedly shared private government information with those foreign entities, as well; this is considered to be a pretty big deal, and follows other recent allegations about Canadian politicians spying for and sharing information with China, and this document indicates India, Pakistan, and Iran, among other nations, have likewise been meddling in Canadian governance; some Canadian politicians have said they want their intelligence community to name names, and it’s likely these revelations, though not entirely surprising, as rumors of such behaviors have been swirling around the ether for years, will impact the country’s next election, which is likely to take place in 2025.—The Washington PostOne Sentence News is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Huge telehealth fraud indictment may wreak havoc for Adderall users, CDC warnsSummary: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned, late last week, that a recent federal indictment of a telehealth company that has allegedly been illegally distributing Adderall and other stimulants, online, could result in disruptions in the availability of these drugs.Context: Adderall and other commonly prescribed ADHD medications are controlled substances, and a bunch of online-only companies have popped up over the past handful of years, focused on getting their customers prescriptions for these drugs, and the drugs themselves—a business model that has made illegal distribution a lot more common; one of the big names in that space, Done Global, has been taken down by the US Justice Department, two people connected to it arrested by federal agents, and the concern is that folks with legitimate prescriptions will have trouble filling those prescriptions because other companies will be more hesitant to issue scripts and fulfill orders; there’s also a separate, ongoing shortage of these sorts of drugs in the US, and folks who use such stimulants regularly, even for doctor-advised purposes, can have a lot of trouble if that supply is suddenly cut off, hence the CDC’s concern.—Ars TechnicaUK polls point to 'electoral extinction' for Prime Minister Sunak's ConservativesSummary: A trio of recent opinion polls in the lead-up to the UK’s July 4th election suggest the currently governing Conservative party might not just lose its majority, but experience a truly brutal loss.Context: One of the polls found that chief rival Labour’s lead has risen 2% since the last poll, five days earlier, to 46%, while support for Conservatives dropped by 4 points to 21%, and another suggested that Conservatives could see their representation in the 650-seat House of Commons drops to just 72 seats, with Labour scooping up 456; this is partly the consequence of what’s generally considered to be a series of blunders and bad policies by the Conservatives, leading to a larger-than-usual desire for a changing of the guard by voters, but the Reform UK party, which is politically further-right than the Conservatives, seems to have also grabbed about 12% of support in one of these polls, suggesting that while some voters who would have supported the Conservatives may sit this one out, many have instead decided to throw in their lot with the chief supporter of Brexit, Nigel Farage, who is leading Reform UK.—ReutersThe US economy continues to flash mixed signals, many of them broadly indicating a resilient set of economy variables, but some pointing at future tumult, reinforcing a sense that the Fed will probably lower interest rates soon (a move that typically stokes economic activity), but not so much that the amount or pace of interest rate drops is currently predictable.—USA Today>80%Portion of pregnancy-related deaths in the US that are preventable.About 22 maternal deaths (the mother dying) were tracked for every 100,000 live births in the US in 2022, but that number was as high as 49.5% maternal deaths per 100,000 live births for Black people—pointing at a huge disparity in outcomes between different groups of people, but also further emphasizing that gap between “available, lifesaving treatments” and “treatments that are being applied in different areas for different people.”—The Washington ...
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  • One Sentence News / June 7, 2024

    One Sentence News / June 7, 2024
    Jun 7 2024
    Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.Officials overseeing Indonesia capital city project resign, raising questionsSummary: Two of the people in charge of making Indonesia’s under-construction new capital, Nusantara, a reality have resigned and been temporarily replaced by the public works and housing minister, and the deputy agrarian minister, according to the Indonesian government.Context: This project, which is expected to cost something like $32 billion, is meant to move the mechanisms of state from the country’s current capital, Jakarta, because Jakarta is overcrowded, plagued by immense traffic jams and ever-present pollution, is sinking, and regularly floods; the idea, then, is to move the government to Nusantara to help the state function, but also ease some of those issues in Jakarta; the two people who left were the head and deputy head of the project, though, and while the relocation of the first batch of 12,000 civil servants from Jakarta to Nusantara was planned for this September, they’ve apparently had trouble building enough infrastructure for even that many people, and the project has already been delayed twice amid concerns about a lack of private funding for the venture—so we’ll see on that.—ReutersOne Sentence News is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Georgia’s divisive ‘foreign agents’ bill signed into lawSummary: Georgia’s legislature, which is controlled by the Georgian Dream party, voted to dismiss a veto by the country’s president earlier this week, officially signing the vetoed bill into law, despite widespread protests against it.Context: The law in question is similar to a law in Russia that essentially allows the government to spy on and harass and even imprison anyone they like, as long as they say that person is a foreign agent, though on the surface it merely allows the government to look more closely at who backs nonprofits operating within their borders; a major concern for the protestors is that this law may make it more difficult for Georgia to someday join the EU, which is something the majority of the country hopes to do, and there are concerns that its passage might have been pushed by politicians under Russia’s sway in order to keep them from becoming more friendly with the West.—France 24Massive melon-size hail could be a Texas recordSummary: A piece of hail the size of a cantaloupe was recovered in Texas last weekend, measuring at least six inches in diameter and possibly setting a new all-time record for the state.Context: This is notable in part because hail has been getting bigger and becoming more frequent across portions of the US, and that’s meant a lot more damage from storms that otherwise might roll through with little long-term economic impact; a recent wave of storms in Texas, though, resulted in what’s been called DVD-sized hail, which is a new casual unit of measurement for such things, and a week later, they got hit by melon-sized hail; none of which is great for the safety of people and animals on the ground, but it’s also pretty terrible for the burgeoning fields of solar panels across the state, and the cars, homes, and other pieces of shatterable and destroyable infrastructure in the impacted areas.—The Washington PostThe world’s biggest social networks are scrambling to find new audiences to attract, as their valuations are partly based on their capacity for future growth, and some of the larger ones seem to have reached the ceiling of global potential customers for their current offerings.—Sherwood News$25,000Announced prices for upcoming electric vehicles by Tesla, Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.That’s substantially lower than current average EV prices (which tend to be closer to $48,000) and closer to today’s used EV prices, and that of those sold overseas (China has multiple models for around that price and cheaper—though their EV industry, and connected industries like EV batteries, is heavily subsidized by the government).—The New York TimesTrust Click Get full access to One Sentence News at onesentencenews.substack.com/subscribe
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  • One Sentence News / June 6, 2024

    One Sentence News / June 6, 2024
    Jun 6 2024
    Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.Modi claims victory in India’s election but drop in support forces him to rely on coalition partnersSummary: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has won a third term in office following an election that was expected to be a landslide for his BJP party, but which ended up being a relatively close victory that will necessitate he rely upon allied parties to maintain a majority.Context: The BJP’s National Democratic Alliance, which is a right-wing coalition of parties led by Modi and the BJP, won a total of 294 seats—which is more than the 272 required to lock-in a majority—but this is the first time the BJP wasn’t able to achieve that many seats itself since 2014 when it originally swept into power; it only attained 240 seats on its own, compared to the 370 Modi predicted they would receive while on the campaign trail, which means his party may have to cater to the priorities of its allies more than was anticipated.—The Associated PressOne Sentence News is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.In shift, Biden issues order allowing temporary border closure to migrantsSummary: On Tuesday, US President Biden issued a new executive order that prevents migrants who enter the country illegally from seeking asylum when illegal crossing numbers are high, allowing border officers to return those who enter the country to Mexico, or to their home countries.Context: This rule, which the ACLU has said it will challenge in court, activates after the seven-day average for illegal crossings hits 2,500 migrants, which is fairly common at this point; the border then reopens after the number of such crossings drops back down to 1,500 people for a continuous seven days, and then remains at that point or lower for two weeks; this is very similar to policies that former President Trump enacted and attempted while in office, and it’s similar to a piece of legislation that almost made it through Congress earlier this year, before being blocked by Republicans in February, apparently at the behest of Trump, who reportedly told supporters that allowing Biden to take action at the border would hurt Republicans in the upcoming election.—The New York TimesNew Texas stock exchange takes aim at New York’s dominanceSummary: A new stock exchange that plans to file with the SEC later this year is being set up in Texas, and has raised around $120 million from some major players in the investment world.Context: The Texas Stock Exchange is meant to complete with the Nasdaq and NYSE by doing away with some of the regulations that apply to businesses trading on those exchanges, like those related to board diversity and compliance costs; the TXSE is planned to be entirely electronic, with a symbolic physical presence in downtown Dallas; other exchanges have popped up around the US over the years, likewise attempting to compete with New York’s duopoly, but all of them have faltered and plateaud, so far, though the folks backing this Texas-based entrant, including Blackrock and Citadel, suggest this one might have a little more prestige and weight behind it than those that have come before.—The Wall Street JournalDespite tariffs that are being deployed or discussed throughout the Western world, Chinese EVs—which are generally considered to be high-quality, and are almost always cheaper (sometimes substantially so) than their competitors—have seen a large number of new registrations across Europe, jumping a quarter this year so far, alone.—Financial Times$2 billionValue of the US audiobook market in 2023, according to new data from the Audio Publishers Association.That’s up about 9% from the previous year, this growth attributed to an increase in the popularity of the format amongst US adults, about 52% of whom have listened to an audiobook, and 38% of whom have listened to an audiobook in the past year.—Publishers WeeklyTrust Click Get full access to One Sentence News at onesentencenews.substack.com/subscribe
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  • One Sentence News / June 5, 2024

    One Sentence News / June 5, 2024
    Jun 5 2024
    Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.Power cut across Nigeria as workers go on strikeSummary: Millions of Nigerians remain without electricity after a general strike over the cost of living in the country led to the shut-down of electricity substations by union workers.Context: Unions in the country are demanding a significant increase to the local minimum wage of 30,000 naira per month, which is about $22, saying they can’t survive on that pay, and the government has offered to double that wage, though workers have contended that even double wouldn’t cover the cost of enough rice to feed the average person’s family for a month, much less other food, shelter, and expenses; the government has said raising pay beyond what they’ve offered would lead to the collapse of the economy and closure of many businesses that wouldn’t be able to afford to stay in operation, and this is the fourth general strike since President Tinubu stepped into office last year—Tinubu deciding to remove a fuel subsidy and overseeing a substantial drop in the value of the naira after unpegging its value from the US dollar, both decisions having contributed to the country’s current economic crisis, though the government says these are necessary measures for the long-term success of the economy.—BBC NewsOne Sentence News is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Russia-China gas pipeline deal stalls over Beijing’s price demandsSummary: A major gas pipeline deal between Russia and China has reportedly stalled as the Chinese government has demanded lower prices on the gas that would flow through the new Power of Siberia 2 pipeline between the countries, and the Russian government has balked at this new demand, though may have to accept it, due to Russia’s increasing economic reliance on China.Context: Russia’s state gas monopoly, Gazprom, has been shambling along at a reduced level since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to an almost complete decoupling of Russia from its at the time primary customers in Europe, and it suffered a loss of nearly $7 billion last year, alone, due to the difficulty it has faced replacing those customers, due to sanctions on its activities; China has been happily buying discounted energy products from Russia during this time, and now it’s saying, in essence, we’ll keep buying your gas and helping you survive this shortfall, but we want close to the same price you charge domestically, which is heavily subsidized; China would also only commit to buying a small portion of what the new pipeline could carry annually, which would leave Russia prone to further, probably China-favoring negotiations, down the line.—Financial TimesIn blow to PM, Brexit champion Nigel Farage to stand in UK electionSummary: In a somewhat surprising move, the politician-turned-TV host who served as one of the most vocal proponents of the UK’s “Brexit” departure from the EU, Nigel Farage, has announced that he’ll be a candidate in next month’s election, leading the right-wing Reform Party.Context: The currently governing Conservative party already faced a pretty bleak outlook in the coming election, as polls show they’ll likely be stomped by Labour in particular, but Farage continues to enjoy a significant following in further-right political circles, and he’s likely to claim some portion of the votes that would have otherwise gone to the Conservatives, possibly further worsening their impending political fortunes.—ReutersA combination of persistent bad weather and the spread of disease in Brazil, which is the world’s largest exporter of orange juice, has caused a surge in futures prices for the product, other markets (like Florida) unable to pick up the slack because of their own combination of weather and economic issues.—Sherwood News$1 billionInitial sum Melinda French Gates has committed to spending over the next two years on people and organizations focused on women, families, and reproductive rights.The announcement of this new wave of donations came alongside an announcement that Gates would be leaving the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to do her own thing, contributing to different sorts of projects and using different metrics of success for those projects than her ex-husband, Bill Gates, who also spends most of his time on philanthropic efforts, these days.—The New York TimesTrust Click Get full access to One Sentence News at onesentencenews.substack.com/subscribe
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