The Environmental Protection Agency announced last week that it will reconsider Biden-era drinking water standards on four types of “forever chemicals,” and postpone the compliance deadline for two chemicals, including one known to cause cancer in humans.
ECONOMIC UPDATE—MARKET OVERVIEW
As we had forecast, a Top Trend that would be dealt this year is a Wild Card. And week after week, month after month it is a socioeconomic and geopolitical game changer.
CORPORATE DEBT RISK: THIS IS THE SILENT COLLAPSE
CORPORATE DEBT RISK: This IS The Silent Collapse. And Its Building Beneath the Market/Economy.
MOODY’S DOWNGRADES U.S. CREDIT RATING
On 16 May, Moody’s Ratings became the last of the three major credit rating agencies to lower its estimate of the U.S. government’s creditworthiness.
AI PROFIT, SAFETY AND POLITICS: A PRIMER FOR DECIPHERING LEGACY MEDIA COVERAGE
Partisan legacy media has an expansive definition of “AI safety” that is often used in articles to advocate for “woke” and “politically correct AI” under the guise of safety, in the same breath that it warns that AI might be doing things like secretly replicating itself, and lying to researchers about its activities.
U.S. HAS NO INTEREST IN FORCING ISRAEL TO END ITS GENOCIDE IN GAZA
Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, told officials last week that the administration will not force Israel to stop its genocide in Gaza, despite the worsening humanitarian conditions inside the enclave.
CHRONIC DISEASES UNDERMINING HEALTH GAINS IN THE U.S.
The U.S. is losing ground to other peer countries in life expectancy over the past decade, and researchers blame the prevalence of chronic disease for the lack of momentum.
Global Economy
SPOTLIGHT: BIGS GETTING BIGGER
Charter Communications, which operates the Spectrum brand of digital telecommunications services, has agreed to pay $34.5 billion to merge with Cox Communications.
SHIPPERS, PORTS BRACE FOR 90-DAY RUSH AS TRUMP CUTS CHINA TARIFF
Ports and ocean freight carriers are bracing for a wave of rushed business after Donald Trump temporarily cut China’s tariff rate from 145 percent to 30 percent for 90 days.
SPOTLIGHT: THE SHRINKING LUXURY INDUSTRY
Burberry, purveyor of $390 tank tops and $2,000 handbags, lost £3 million in the fiscal year ending 29 March, compared to a £418-million profit the year before.
The Israel War
NETANYAHU SAYS ISRAEL WILL TAKE OVER GAZA AS IDF RAMPS UP MASSACRE CAMPAIGN INSIDE ENCLAVE
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel will “take over all of Gaza” as the IDF ramps up its ground operation across the enclave after a massive bombing campaign last week to soften any remaining pockets of resistance and inflict major punishment on civilians.
GAZA DEATH TOLL
The death toll in Gaza has reached 53,573 and the number of Palestinians injured hit 121,398 as Israel ramps up its offensive inside the battered enclave, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing that Israel will “take over” the entire Strip.
ISRAEL STRIKES 2 PORTS IN WESTERN YEMEN AS HOUTHIS CONTINUE TO DEFEND GAZANS
The Israeli military waited for U.S. President Donald Trump to wrap up his trip to the Middle East last week before launching its new round of airstrikes on Yemen over the Houthis’ decision to stand up for the Gazans being massacred by the IDF.
Trends in AI
ZUCKERBERG WANTS AI TO NOT JUST BE YOUR BUDDY, BUT ALSO TO FIX YOU
Mark Zuckerberg invented Facebook but he seems to be disappointed in his project that was intended to make you friends with thousands of people you’ve never met.
SOFTWARE INTENDED TO SPOT HALLUCINATIONS HAS RISKS OF ITS OWN
Everyone knows that chatbots “hallucinate”: they can randomly make up stuff out of thin air in response to a question or set of instructions.
STARGATE ANNOUNCES PLAN TO EXPAND ABROAD
Stargate—the Softbank-funded partnership among Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and others—is expanding.
Hi-Tech Science
NEW METHOD RECOVERS 99 PERCENT OF LITHIUM FROM USED EV BATTERIES
Electric vehicle (EV) batteries are voracious users of a range of increasingly rare and costly minerals.
NEW REACTOR DESIGN RETHINKS FUSION ENERGY PRODUCTION
The quest to generate cheap, clean, limitless power by fusing hydrogen atoms together has been underway since the end of World War Two. For 80 years, it has always been “just one breakthrough away.”
CISCO’S NEW CHIP IS DESIGNED TO MANAGE QUANTUM NETWORKS
Quantum computing is barely ready to go mainstream but, when it does, Cisco Systems is standing by. It joins Google, IBM, and Microsoft in offering a quantum chip ready to network.
