Good morning. It's Wednesday, Feb. 3, and one of America's leading chief executives has announced plans to step back. Have feedback? Let us know at [email protected].

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NEED TO KNOW

Bezos Steps Down

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said he will step down from his position during the third quarter of the year, transitioning to executive chairman while current cloud computing head Andy Jassy steps into the chief executive role. 

The decision comes almost 27 years after Bezos founded Amazon in Bellevue, Washington, as an online book retailer during the nascent years of e-commerce. The company has since grown into a multinational behemoth known for disrupting industries via technological advantage and scale. The world's largest internet company, Amazon is one of the biggest US companies by market capitalization ($1.7T) and is the country's second-largest private employer.

The journey also made Bezos the country's richest person—currently edging out Elon Musk—with a net worth exceeding $180B. In an email to employees, Bezos said he would focus on his Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, and The Washington Post.

Read about the company's mid-2000s rise fueled by a bet on Amazon Prime, and watch this 1997 interview with Bezos about one year after launching the company.

FBI Agents Killed in Raid

Two FBI agents were killed yesterday and three others wounded after a shootout ensued as agents were attempting to serve a warrant outside Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The agents were said to be part of a task force battling violent crimes against children in the area. According to reports, the suspect opened fire almost immediately, prompting a SWAT response, but was found dead of an apparent suicide before law enforcement could apprehend him. 

The two victims were identified as Special Agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger. Alfin had been part of the 2015 takedown of Playpen, the world's largest child exploitation site, run out of Naples, Florida. 

It marked the deadliest attack against members of the FBI since a fatal firefight between agents and a pair of bank robbers in 1986, which also took place in South Florida. It had been almost 13 years since an agent had been fatally shot in the line of duty. 

Explore the Bureau's Wall of Honor here.

Navalny Sentenced

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced yesterday to more than two and a half years in prison. Prosecutors argued he violated terms of his probation by leaving the country in August—referring to Navalny's emergency medical transport to Berlin after being poisoned en route to Moscow and slipping into a coma. Third-party investigators have linked Russian intelligence services to the poisoning, and Navalny claimed to have tricked an agent into confessing details of the plot. 

The probation stemmed from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that human rights groups say was politically motivated. The sentence was suspended, but the conviction became a barrier to his running for office.

It's difficult to gauge Navalny's popularity in Russia, though President Vladimir Putin's approval rating fell to 53% in a recent poll, the lowest since 2013. The sentencing comes just days after tens of thousands of Russians protested across the country, leading to more than 5,100 arrests. 

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IN THE KNOW

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> Hal Holbrook, Emmy- and Tony-winning actor notable for portraying Mark Twain for more than 60 years, dies at 95 (More) | Captain Sir Tom Moore, who gained celebrity in the UK for fundraising for coronavirus relief, dies at 100 from COVID-19 (More)

> EA Sports, video game giant behind “Madden” and “FIFA” franchises, to bring back its popular college football game it discontinued in 2013 over player licensing issues (More) | Los Angeles Angels pitching coach Mickey Callaway suspended after five women accuse him of inappropriate behavior (More)

> Rapper Silento, whose 2015 song “Watch Me” sparked a viral dance and notched 1.7 billion YouTube views, arrested and charged in the murder of his cousin (More)

Science & Technology

> Russia's state-developed COVID-19 vaccine demonstrates 92% efficacy in peer-reviewed Phase 3 clinical data (More) | How Sputnik V works (More) | Variant that first emerged in the United Kingdom found with new spike protein mutation that may reduce vaccine efficacy (More)

> SpaceX's Starship prototype makes successful test flight but explodes during landing attempt, the second time in a row a prototype has failed upon return (More, w/video)

> Large-scale precision nutrition study announced by the National Institutes of Health; the five-year, $156M program will attempt to link benefits of specific diets to individual gut microbiomes (More, $$, Science)

Business & Markets

> US stock markets up (S&P 500 +1.4%, Dow +1.6%, Nasdaq +1.6%), Dow sees best day since November as big tech earnings deliver (More) | GameStop shares fall 60% yesterday to $90 as “meme stocks” see large declines (More)

> Earnings season: Amazon passes $100B quarterly sales for first time, delivering $125B revenues on strong holiday and pandemic demand (More) | Google shares up in after-hours trading, beating expectations on strong advertising revenues (More)

> Tesla to recall 135,000 cars due to potential failure of touch-screen displays (More) | Uber to acquire alcohol delivery startup Drizly for $1.1B (More)

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Politics & World Affairs

> House Democrats, lawyers for former President Trump file briefs previewing arguments for Feb. 9 impeachment trial (More) | Pete Buttigieg confirmed as secretary of transportation, Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed to lead homeland security; see full list here (More)

> Residents of Myanmar's (Burma's) largest city carryout "noise protest" of weekend military coup; roughly 400 lawmakers placed under house arrest yesterday as military chiefs take control of country (More)

> President Joe Biden signs executive orders reviewing immigration policies, creates task force to reunite roughly 600 families separated at the border (More) | What are the powers and limits of executive orders? (More)

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ETCETERA

The pained legacy of the 15th Amendment (ratified on this day in 1870).

Prescient whistle pig prophesizes six more weeks of winter.

Ranking the 30 best HBO series.

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Glimpse through a century of US newspaper history.

Meet nano-chameleon, the world's smallest reptile. 

The most inspirational Dr. Seuss quotes.

Beautiful shots of Scotland in the winter.

Buy some Girl Scout Cookies from a troop in New York City's shelter system.

Clickbait: Texas issues Amber Alert for a murderous, cursed doll.

Historybook: RIP printing press inventor Johannes Gutenberg (1468); American novelist Gertrude Stein born (1874); Musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper are killed in plane crash (1959); Luna 9 becomes first spacecraft to make soft landing on the moon (1966).

"Understanding and believing are not the same thing."

- Gertrude Stein

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