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| Need To Know |
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| Elections in Israel |
| Israeli voters head to the polls today for a rerun of pivotal parliamentary elections, with current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeking his fifth term in office. Engulfed in a long-running corruption scandal, Netanyahu's conservative Likud party fell one seat short of a majority in April elections. After failing to form a coalition government, the Knesset (see 101) was dissolved and new elections were scheduled. It was the first time in the country's history that the legislative body was dissolved following an election. In an effort to widen the gap Netanyahu has adopted a hard conservative lean in recent weeks, in particular supporting annexation of the West Bank, home to 2.7 million Palestinians and 300,000 Jewish settlers. Polls once again predict a tight race, with a slight edge towards the formation of a conservative coalition led by Netanyahu. |
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| Pharma Giant Files for Bankruptcy |
Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of the popular prescription painkiller OxyContin, filed for bankruptcy yesterday as part of a proposed settlement over its role in the nationwide opioid crisis. The tentative agreement comes on the heels of a $572M judgment last month against Johnson & Johnson for its role in the opioid crisis within the state of Oklahoma alone. Estimated to be at least $10B, the settlement is a bid to streamline nearly 2,600 separate lawsuits brought by state and local governments alleging that Purdue misled doctors and the public about the addictive nature of the pain pills while conducting an aggressive marketing campaign (go deeper here). Members of the Sackler family - who have owned Purdue for years - agreed to give up control of the company under the deal, while paying a minimum of $3B to the plaintiffs over seven years. The settlement still awaits approval by a bankruptcy judge and nearly half of the states involved in the lawsuit are contesting the agreement.
Investigators also say the Sackler family allegedly moved over $1B in funds in an effort to shield money. |
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| Russian Spying |
Russian agents on US soil carried out an extensive breach of FBI communications in 2016, according to a bombshell report yesterday. The plot allegedly began after the 2010 arrest of a number of deep-cover Russian sleeper agents living in the US in a non-official capacity (more here). The effort, which included decryption of secured communications and hacking into the Bureau's computer system, hampered the ability of the FBI to track Russian spies operating within the country. US officials first uncovered the operation in 2012, with the Obama administration ultimately expelling dozens of Russian diplomats, leveling sanctions, and closing two Russian diplomatic outposts. At the time the moves were said to be in response to broad-ranging election meddling coordinated by the Russian government, including a hack of the Democratic National Committee.
Separately Australia determined that China was behind a cyber-attack on its parliament and its three biggest political parties ahead of May general elections.
Editor's Note: Yesterday our editorial team had a collective case of typoglycemia in the worst possible way, referring to the former arch-terrorist as "Obama" bin Laden. This was (completely) unintentional and we apologize to anyone offended (and thanks to the hundreds of readers who pointed it out). |
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| In The Know |
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| Sports, Entertainment & Culture |
| > Seinfeld to come to Netflix in 2021 after streaming giant buys exclusive global rights to the iconic comedy in a 5-year, $500M deal (More) |
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| > Pittsburgh Steelers star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger needs elbow surgery, will miss remainder of season (More) | ...and Saints star Drew Brees to miss 6+ weeks after injuring throwing hand (More) | Browns beat Jets 23-3 in Monday Night Football (More) |
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| > Recently announced Saturday Night Live cast member Shane Gillis fired after video surfaces of Gillis making racist, homophobic remarks (More) |
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| Science & Technology |
| > Imaging study finds shape of the human heart is optimized for endurance; structure of ventricles change depending on lifestyle and physical needs (More) |
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| > Amazon reportedly altered its search algorithm last year to effectively boost items that were more profitable for the company; move came against pushback from lawyers, engineers (More) |
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| > Antibiotic resistance on the rise in wild dolphins that mirrors rise in human healthcare settings (More) |
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| Business & Markets |
| > Oil sees biggest jump in 30 years as Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, surges ~15% yesterday following attack on Saudi Arabian facilities (More) |
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| > Apple kicks-off appeal today to European Commission order to pay €13B in Irish back taxes (More) |
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| > Sources say WeWork to pull IPO process which was scheduled to kick-off this week over valuation and business model concerns, timing remains TBD (More) | Web-based security software vendor Cloudflare soars 20% in first day trading after $525M IPO (More) |
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| Politics & World Affairs |
| > Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski appears before House Judiciary Committee today to testify on elements of Mueller Report (More) |
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| > US releases images that it says implicate Iran in Saudi oil field attacks over the weekend (More) |
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| > New study reveals prevalence of sexual assault among young women, with 1 in 16 saying their first sexual experience was forced or coerced (More) |
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| In Depth |
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| Like No City Ever |
| New York Times | Emily Badger. Burning Man attendees typically attend the festival for the freewheeling experience and communal atmosphere. But Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Romer went for a different reason - to see if the freewheeling, impromptu desert city holds the key to urban planning of the future. (Read) |
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| Hypoxia City |
| Science | Martin Enserink. At nearly 17,000 feet, a Peruvian gold-mining city is the world's highest human settlement. Along with poorly-maintained infrastructure, the atmosphere has half the amount of oxygen present at sea level - making the city the perfect place to study the ravages of low oxygen on the body. (Read) |
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"There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other."
- Harriet Tubman |
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