Abortion ban and its consequences

Welcome back! In today’s briefing we will cover:

👉 Abortion ban in Texas, takes the life of a woman

👉 Elon Musk joking about buying MSNBC

👉 Huawei launched Mate 70

and many more!

Today’s issue is a 5-minute read.

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Quote of the day

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty”

Winston Churchill

Must Know

New tariffs to reduce drug trafficking

Donald Trump will impose new tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China starting on the first day of his presidency, January 20. He plans to charge a 25% tariff on all goods from Mexico and Canada. This is part of his effort to 📉 reduce illegal immigration and 💉 drug trafficking, especially fentanyl, which has caused many deaths in the US.

In addition, Trump will apply a 10% tariff on imports from China until the country takes steps to prevent 🦹‍♂️ fentanyl smuggling. He criticized China for not following through on promises to punish drug dealers.

Economists warn that these tariffs could 📈 raise prices for American consumers and lead to trade conflicts with these nations.

Texas abortion ban leads to a woman’s death

Porsha Ngumezi, a 35-year-old woman, died after suffering a miscarriage at 11 weeks. While in the hospital, she experienced severe bleeding and required blood transfusions. Despite her condition, doctors did not perform a dilation and curettage (D&C), a common procedure to stop heavy bleeding after a miscarriage. Instead, they gave her misoprostol, which was not effective in her case. (Read her full story here)

👨‍⚕️👩‍⚕️ Doctors believe that the fear of legal consequences from Texas' abortion ban led to this dangerous decision. The law has made doctors hesitant to use standard treatments for miscarriages, putting patients at risk.

Porsha's death 😞 is one of several cases where women have suffered due to these restrictions, raising serious concerns about how such laws affect medical care in emergencies.

⚡Speed-Round: The Most Impactful Stories

Elon Musk has jokingly suggested buying MSNBC, calling it "the utter scum of the Earth”. While some progressive billionaires have shown interest in acquiring MSNBC, Comcast has not officially put it up for sale, and any potential sale could face tax complications. Analysts believe SpinCo may prefer to keep MSNBC due to its loyal audience. Musk's playful comments have drawn attention from allies like Donald Trump Jr. and Joe Rogan, who have joined in the banter.

Cassava Sciences (SAVA) saw its stock plummet 84% after its Alzheimer's drug, 💊 Simufilam, failed in Phase 3 trials. The study, involving patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's, showed no significant improvement in cognitive function compared to a placebo. As a result, the company is halting a second Phase 3 study and an ongoing open-label trial. Cassava has faced past scrutiny over its clinical practices, including allegations of 📄 misleading trial results.

Huawei has launched flagship 📱 Mate 70 smartphone, which runs on the new HarmonyOS Next, marking a significant shift as it moves away from Google's Android. This launch highlights Huawei's efforts to innovate independently following US sanctions. While the phone has achieved over 3 million pre-orders, challenges remain in building a robust app ecosystem for Huawei’s new OS to compete with iOS and Android app markets.

Top-levels

Markets & Business

• 🏢 Macy’s discovered that a single employee intentionally hid as much as 💰 $154 million in expenses over the course of nearly three years, delaying the company’s Q3 earning reports. | Germany's largest steelmaker ThyssenKrupp is cutting 11,000 jobs in a major corporate shakeup.

• 💲 The iconic investor, Warren Buffett, shared on his detailed plan for his fortunes after death in a letter to shareholders, contemplating on the nature of mortality and announcing he will continue to give away his wealth.

• Microsoft outage, affected thousands of Outlook and Teams users; the company says the outage is mostly resolved | 🚗 Rivian has received conditional loan of up to 💸 $6.6 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy to build its EV production facility in Georgia.

Media & Entertainment

• 🎬 Keira Knightley shares her debilitating experience with unwanted publicity and why she won’t return to movie franchises after starring in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ in a recent interview

• Alec Baldwin claims American people “Know Little or Nothing About the World” at an Italian film festival.

• 👱‍♀️ Charlize Theron joins Christopher Nolan’s next star-laden movie at Universal | Legendary Elton John has said he's been unable to finish his new album because he is still struggling with his eyesight after getting an infection in July, sadly he can’t see with both of his eyes.

Science & Tech News

• 🤖 Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI chatbot, is proposing a new standard for connecting AI assistants to the systems where data resides called MCP (Model Context Protocol). (Watch the demo)

• 📷 Instagram is adding the ability to share your 🗺 live location with friends in your DMs for up to one hour at a time so you can find each other when arriving at outdoor gatherings and 🎤 concerts.

• 🛰 Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander is set to launch in mid-January 2025 after successfully completing environmental testing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The mission will carry 10 scientific 📦 payloads to the 🌕 moon, including tools to study moon dust, and will operate for one lunar day before facing the cold of the lunar night 🌙.

Did You Know?

📄 You can’t fold a piece of A4 paper more than 8 times.

🦠 You inhale 50 potentially harmful bacteria every time you breathe.

🌊 The longest anyone has held their breath underwater is over 24.5 minutes!

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