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☆ Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +55 min

Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’ In his most extensive interview yet, Anthony Fauci wrestles with the hard lessons of the pandemic — and the decisions that will define his legacy. But when people say, “Fauci shut down the economy” — it wasn’t Fauci. But somehow or other, the general public didn’t get that feeling that the vulnerable are really, really heavily weighted toward the elderly. We also had a public-health system that we thought was really, really good. But it was really, really antiquated.

☆ U.S. Extradites Former Peruvian President on Corruption Charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Ryan Dube | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Peruvian prosecutors have for years sought to extradite former President Alejandro Toledo over charges that he took a $20 million bribe from a construction company. Photo: handout/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesLIMA, Peru – Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo arrived in his home country on Sunday morning after being extradited from the U.S. to face graft charges stemming from one of Latin America’s largest-ever corruption scandals. Peruvian authorities said Mr. Toledo, who ruled Peru from 2001 to 2006, arrived on a commercial flight from Los Angeles that touched down in Lima.

☆ Libya Seeks U.S. Help in Fresh Effort to Recover Gadhafi Billions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Benoit Faucon | Chao Deng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A study estimates that as much as $120 billion in Libyan state assets was looted. Artifacts at a museum in Shahat, Libya. Photo: Abdullah Doma/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesLibya’s United Nations-backed government is asking Washington to help it recover tens of billions of dollars in state assets that it alleges were stolen by the country’s former dictator Moammar Gadhafi and his cronies and stashed around the world. Gadhafi ruled the oil-rich country for 42 years before he was ousted and killed and Libyan officials say family members and others close to him looted government coffers of cash, gold and rare antiquities. A 2016 study by Berlin-based Transparency International estimates as much as $120 billion was taken.

PinnedThe United States military airlifted embassy officials out of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, amid continuing violence as rival military leaders battled for control of Africa’s third-largest country, President Biden said late on Saturday. (Mr. Godfrey — the first U.S. ambassador to Sudan in a quarter-century — arrived in the country about eight months ago.) They had lived in the same apartment buildings as some American diplomatic staff and arrived together at the embassy, he said. “I am proud of the extraordinary commitment of our embassy staff, who performed their duties with courage and professionalism and embodied America’s friendship and connection with the people of Sudan,” Mr. Biden said. Credit... Ebrahim Hamid/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesU.S. officials have said that about 16,000 American citizens were living in Sudan, many of them dual nationals.

☆ Elon Musk Sows Confusion on Twitter After Removing Legacy Check Marks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Alyssa Lukpat | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Twitter has made other changes to its check mark and labeling systems in recent months. Photo: Samantha laurey/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesTwitter Inc.’s move to remove legacy verifications is once again sowing confusion over who’s real and who isn’t on the social-media platform. The check mark removals are one of the most drastic changes Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, has made since he bought the platform in October. He has said for months that he wanted to make users pay a monthly fee to be verified.

☆ Europe’s Glaciers Melted at Record Rate After Double Whammy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Eric Niiler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Scientists at the Gries glacier last fall in Switzerland, where glaciers have shrunk by a third since 2001. Photo: fabrice coffrini/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesEuropean glaciers lost a record amount of mass over the past two years from a one-two punch of below-normal snowfall and warmer temperatures, international climate scientists said. The retreating snowpack threatens supplies of freshwater to cities and farms throughout the Alps watershed, but it is also lengthening the region’s summer tourism season.

☆ Nobody Told Mercedes-Benz About Elon Musk’s Price War
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Stephen Wilmot | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Mercedes-Benz’s big margins in recent quarters are a transitory phenomenon, according to investors. Photo: thomas kienzle/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesThere was no sign of Tesla ’s price war in first-quarter results from Mercedes-Benz , but investors are still betting a tougher market will catch up with the luxury brand. Mercedes-Benz reported an operating margin of 14.8% in its flagship car division, among other quarterly highlights, after the market closed on Thursday. The surprise numbers came ahead of its scheduled quarterly results day on April 28, in line with German law that requires it to release results early if they are substantially different from the analyst consensus. For the first time in a few quarters, the operating margin compares favorably with the 11.4% level reported by Tesla on Wednesday, which would have been 9.4% excluding regulatory credits.

[1/4] Sudanese cartoonist Khalid Albaih works at his home as a TV news broadcast shows images from Sudan, in Oslo, Norway April 20, 2023. "Art is needed in times like this because it is important to show people art is about hope, art is about showing there is a different way to talk about things," Albaih told Reuters. "Art is continuous resistance. Art is our way to continue fighting." Reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo Editing by Peter GraffOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Drop in Transportation Stocks Foreshadows Weakening Economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Vicky Ge Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Delta posted a quarterly loss and said consumers’ behavior is shifting in ways that can be hard to predict. Photo: ed jones/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesEconomically sensitive stocks, like those of transportation and small-cap companies, are trailing the broader market, reflecting growing investor concern about a potential recession. The Dow Jones Transportation Average, which tracks 20 large U.S. companies ranging from airlines to railroads to truckers, has underperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average by about 8.3 percentage points since early February. Shares of Norfolk Southern Corp., American Airlines Group Inc. and J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. have dropped at least 10% over the same period.

☆ Janet Yellen to Say Security Comes Before Economy in U.S.-China Relationship
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Andrew Duehren | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in prepared excerpts that the U.S. will remain the world’s dominant economic power. Photo: Stefani Reynolds/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to say Thursday that the U.S.’s policies toward China will give priority to addressing national-security concerns over preserving economic growth. In prepared excerpts of a speech she will give, Ms. Yellen listed three goals for the U.S. relationship with China: protecting human rights and national security, establishing healthy economic ties and cooperating on major global issues. She criticized subsidies the Chinese government offers to its industries and said the U.S. will remain the world’s dominant economic power.

☆ Pentagon Plans for Possible Evacuation of U.S. Embassy in Sudan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Gordon Lubold | Vivian Salama | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Fighting in Khartoum has threatened the security of U.S. diplomats and others. Photo: abdelmoneim sayed/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—The Pentagon is preparing forces in east Africa to conduct a possible evacuation of American personnel from Sudan, where fighting in its capital of Khartoum has threatened the security of U.S. diplomats and others. The Pentagon is “conducting prudent planning” for a variety of contingency operations, a Pentagon spokesman said. It is also deploying additional forces and other capabilities to the region to help with the possible evacuation of personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, said Lt. Col. Phil Ventura , the spokesman.

☆ Companies Turn to AI to Avoid ‘Cloud Sprawl’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

One advantage of third-party cloud systems, such as Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Web Services, is that they enable companies to quickly scale up or down computing power as needed. Photo: pau barrena/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesCompanies are turning to artificial intelligence to root out savings in runaway cloud-computing bills, tapping software designed to pinpoint overlapping cloud applications, excess data storage and other inefficiencies across information-technology systems, corporate technology chiefs and industry analysts say. The efforts come as cloud-based tools take over an ever-wider range of operations. That, and the murky economic outlook, is prompting many chief information officers and other enterprise technology leaders to take a closer look at cloud costs—even as they increase overall spending.

The protests, unprecedented in President Xi Jinping's decade in power, began in late November in cities across China. They were suppressed by police within days but helped hasten the end of three years of tough COVID restrictions, sources have previously told Reuters. The Ministry of Public Security and the Beijing Public Security Bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Human Rights Watch had reported the pair were among four protesters detained in December and charged with "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", which carries a sentence of up to five years. Reuters could not independently verify the total number of protesters who were detained by police or have been charged and remain in custody.

☆ Live Updates: SpaceX Prepares Again to Launch Starship Rocket
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

PinnedSpaceX’s first attempt on Monday to launch Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, was called off. During a livestream for a different SpaceX launch on Wednesday, the company noted that another Starship postponement was possible. Credit... Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesWhy didn’t Starship launch on Monday? Splashdown Near Hawaii Launch SpaceX Starbase Boca Chica, TexasStarship is designed to be entirely reusable. About eight minutes after the launch on Thursday, the Super Heavy booster will splash into the Gulf of Mexico.

☆ More Kids Get Weight-Loss Surgery to Treat Obesity
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Sarah Toy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A bariatric surgery can benefit children as young as 13, according to guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Photo: Luis Robayo/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesMore children are getting stomach surgery to help them lose weight, the most drastic of measures doctors are recommending to confront relentlessly rising obesity rates. Many of the young people who undergo bariatric surgery didn’t lose weight through diet, exercise or weight-loss drugs. Bariatric surgery can be a faster, more lasting fix for patients with severe obesity, researchers and pediatricians said.

"The EU requested to the Chinese authorities their immediate and unconditional release," the spokesperson said. "China's ongoing crackdown on human rights activists and lawyers is a well-known EU concern, which we raise at all levels." Yu Wensheng, 55, is a human rights lawyer who last year completed a four-year prison sentence for "subversion of state power". He was among more than 300 rights lawyers and activists arrested in a 2015 crackdown. The EU delegation in Beijing said on Friday three other human rights lawyers, Wang Quanzhang, Wang Yu and Bao Longjun, had been placed under house arrest.

Four months later, 26-year-old Huang fled to Germany and decided to speak out in support of fellow demonstrators, some of whom remain in detention. "I feel like I need to speak up for Cao Zhixin and the other detained protesters... China has not commented officially on the protests, whether they triggered the end of the zero-COVID policy or subsequent detentions. He was then sat near the front of a police bus full of other detained protesters. "As long as one protester is still detained, the world cannot stop paying attention to the white paper movement."

Many other hospitals were also reported to have come under attack on Monday, the third day of fighting in Sudan. Russia has also been trying to make inroads in Sudan, and members of the Kremlin-affiliated Wagner private military company are posted there. Leaders from around the world called for a cease-fire, but it was not clear who, if anyone, was in control of Sudan, Africa’s third-largest country, by area. “Everyone is afraid,” said Ahmed Abuhurira, a 28-year-old mechanical engineer who went out to try to charge his cellphone. “The humanitarian situation in Sudan was already precarious and is now catastrophic,” he said.

Evan GershkovichEvan Gershkovich is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, where he covers Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. President Biden and news organizations around the world have joined the Journal in calling for Mr. Gershkovich’s immediate release. Mr. Gershkovich, the American son of Soviet-born Jewish exiles, grew up in New Jersey. Before joining the Journal in January 2022, Mr. Gershkovich was a reporter for Agence France-Presse and the Moscow Times. Find more information about Mr. Gershkovich here.

OSLO, April 12 (Reuters) - A court in Oslo on Wednesday began hearing a gender discrimination case brought by an employee at Norway's $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund against her employer. Elisabeth Bull Daae, head of trading analytics at Norges Bank Investment Management, is suing the unit of the central bank managing the fund for 16 million crowns ($1.54 million) in compensation and damages. The central bank, which pushes the firms it invests in to have more women on their boards and to combat all forms of discrimination, denies the allegations. Or are we in front of a clear, systematic case of pay discrimination based on gender?" The lawyer representing the fund said the relationship between employee and employer had broken down despite its efforts to improve it.

[1/2] Sophie Luo Shengchun, the wife of jailed Chinese human rights lawyer, Ding Jiaxi, poses with a photo of him at her home in Alfred, New York, U.S., July 28, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidBEIJING, April 10 (Reuters) - A Chinese court sentenced two prominent human rights lawyers on Monday to jail terms of more than a decade each, a relative and rights groups told Reuters, the latest move in a years-long crackdown on civil society by President Xi Jinping. "I will not let them put Ding Jiaxi and Xu Zhiyong in jail so easily." Hundreds of rights lawyers were detained and dozens jailed in a series of arrests commonly known as "709" cases, referring to a crackdown on July 9, 2015. China rejects criticism of its human rights record, saying it is a country with rule of law and that jailed rights lawyers and activists are criminals who have broken the law.

Summary FSB charges Gershkovich with espionageGershkovich denies the chargesUnited States has demanded his releaseRussia says Gershkovich was caught red-handedMOSCOW, April 7 (Reuters) - Russian Federal Security Service investigators have formally charged Evan Gershkovich with espionage but the Wall Street Journal reporter denied the charges and said he was working as a journalist, domestic news agencies said on Friday. TASS reported that FSB investigators had formally charged Gershkovich with carrying out espionage in the interests of the United States, but that Gershkovich, 31, had denied the charge. Gershkovich is the first American journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has told the United States that Gershkovich was caught red-handed while trying to obtain secrets. The United States has urged Russia to release Gershkovich and cast the Russian claims of espionage as ridiculous.

☆ Russia charges Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich with espionage
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A man walks out of the pre-trial detention center Lefortovo, where U.S. journalist for the Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich is being held on espionage charges, in Moscow, Russia, April 6, 2023. Russian Federal Security Service investigators have formally charged Evan Gershkovich with espionage but the Wall Street Journal reporter denied the charges and said he was working as a journalist, Russian news agencies reported on Friday. Gershkovich is the first American journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War. The Journal has denied that Gershkovich was spying and demanded the immediate release of its "trusted and dedicated reporter". The United States has urged Russia to release Gershkovich and cast the Russian claims of espionage as ridiculous.

[1/2] French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech to inaugurate the Festival Croisements at the Red Brick Museum in Beijing, China, April 5, 2023. For Macron's visit at least, there are high expectations in Beijing. "In other words, not everyone wants to see Macron's visit to China go smoothly and successfully." Later in the afternoon, Macron and von der Leyen will separately hold talks with President Xi Jinping before all three hold trilateral talks in the evening. "Three-quarters of the delegation are business leaders: the goal is first and foremost to sign contracts," left-wing MEP Raphael Glucksmann wrote on Twitter ahead of Macron's visit.

Macron last visited China in 2019 while it will be von der Leyen's first trip since becoming European Commission president that year. However, some analysts said ostentatious deal-signing would appear opportunistic at a time of heightened frictions between the United States and China. "Both (Macron and von der Leyen) have not only business in mind but also Ukraine," said Joerg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China. Macron and von der Leyen are expected to echo the message that Xi should also talk to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. China and EU decoupling will only serve U.S. interests, but make both China and Europe suffer," it said.

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