 President Biden is set to deliver a speech about the Ukraine-Russia war from the White House on Thursday morning. The speech comes after the U.S., Germany, and other NATO members agree to send more heavy arms to Ukraine in expectation of a protracted conflict. More: - U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres toured the besieged city of Irpin this week, calling the war "an absurdity" and saying: "There is no way a war can be acceptable in the 21st century."
- British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the war could devolve into a "slow-moving, frozen occupation."
- The German Parliament voted in favor of sending heavy weapons to Ukraine. Far-left and far-right lawmakers voted against the measure.
- Ukrainian authorities filed criminal charges against 10 Russian soldiers accused of taking and abusing hostages in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.
- According to Ukrainian authorities, more than 400 dead civilians were found in Bucha after Russian troops occupied the town for a month.
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 Archegos Capital Management owner Bill Hwang and former CFO Patrick Halligan pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud and racketeering after they were arrested on Wednesday. Prosecutors allege that Hwang used his personal fortune and position as Archegos' head to manipulate financial markets and commit fraud, ultimately contributing to his firm's collapse and costing his clients more than $10B. More: - Indictment documents allege that Hwang's personal fortune ballooned from ~$1.5B to more than $35B in about a year.
- Hwang and Halligan allegedly used leveraged derivative trades without disclosure agreements to heavily lever their positions in certain key stocks, with their overall market position allegedly reaching $160B.
- Archegos had large investments in ViacomCBS, Discovery Communications, and a handful of other companies.
- When the prices of these stocks fell in March 2021, Archegos couldn't meet its margin calls, causing heavy losses for the banks that Archegos traded with.
- Credit Suisse lost $5B. Nomura, Morgan Stanley, and UBS also suffered substantial losses.
- Separate suits against Hwang were filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
- Hwang's bond was set at $100M during his court appearance on Wednesday.
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 A new report by Global Forest Watch revealed that the Earth lost more than 97,000 square miles of forest in 2021, equivalent to the land area of the United Kingdom. The losses work out to 10 football pitches worth of forest destroyed per minute. More: - The rate of deforestation last year was about the same as it was in 2020, which saw a rapid increase from 2019.
- 14,500 square miles of old-growth tropical rainforest were lost in 2021, which led to the release of 2.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — equivalent to the annual fossil fuel emissions of India — researchers said.
- Preserving old-growth tropical rainforests is particularly important for protecting biodiversity and reducing global carbon emissions.
- More than 4.7 million acres of rainforests were destroyed in Brazil, where trees are often cleared for cattle farming or mining.
- The Democratic Republic of the Congo lost 1.2 million acres of tropical primary rainforest, and Bolivia lost 740,000 acres.
- More than 31,000 square miles of boreal forests were lost in northern Canada, Russia, and Alaska, much of it due to forest fires in Russia.
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 Member states agreed to gradually increase the funding they give to the World Health Organization (WHO) starting in 2024. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wants to ensure that the organization obtains additional funds to prepare for future pandemics. More: - Currently, many donations to the WHO from governments or private donors are earmarked for specific programs.
- The new funding scheme would have mandatory fees providing 50% of the WHO budget by 2028 or 2030, meaning that the WHO will have a bigger say on how the money is spent.
- Dr. Peter Singer, a special advisor to Tedros, said that the funding changes are "fantastic news that will save lives."
- The Biden administration has reversed efforts by former President Trump to withdraw from WHO and has promised to provide more funding to the agency.
- The agreement needs to be approved by member states at the World Health Assembly in May.
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 India is experiencing a major heatwave, with temperatures in Delhi set to hit 44°C (111°F) this week. Last month, India recorded the highest temperatures for the month of March in 122 years, and this month is on track to be the hottest April in more than a century. More: - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that temperatures are rising rapidly and earlier in the year than usual and warned that the heatwave will increase the chance of wildfires.
- Naresh Kumar of the India Meteorological Division said that the heatwave was partially caused by several atmospheric factors, including storms originating in the Mediterranean.
- Climate scientist Matthew Koll said that the "root cause for the increase in heat waves" is global warming.
- Koll called for "long-term vision" to alleviate the impacts of higher temperatures, including investments in infrastructure and public health.
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 Stephen Curry tells Nuggets' fans that is "time to go to sleep." Stephen Curry scored a game-high 30 points in the Golden State Warriors' playoff series-ending win over the Denver Nuggets last night. After their 4-1 win, the Warriors will go on to face the winner of the Minnesota Timberwolves - Memphis Grizzlies series in the second round of the NBA playoffs. More: - Curry drove through the Nuggets' defense to score a game-clinching layup with thirty seconds left in the game, which ended 102-98.
- Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson said that Curry is "a special, special player, and you'll probably never see another player like him again."
- The star player for the Nuggets, Serbian center, and 2020-2021 MVP Nikola Jokić, had 30 points, 19 rebounds, and 8 assists.
- After the match, Jokić said that he would sign a supermax contract extension with the Nuggets that would be worth $254M over five years.
Other Playoff Series: - The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Chicago Bulls last night 116-100, winning the series 4-1.
- The Bucks will play against the Celtics in the second round of the NBA playoffs; the first game is scheduled for Sunday in Boston.
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- The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to data released by the Department of Commerce on Thursday morning.
- Indie rock band Dispatch released a version of their song "The General" in Russian to express solidarity with the Ukrainian people. "The hope is that this will reach the ears of those participating in this invasion and realize that this fight is not worth fighting," the band said.
- The U.S. House of Representatives passed a symbolic bill urging President Biden to sell the frozen assets of Russian oligarchs to provide military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
- Boeing's CEO David Calhoun on Wednesday said that his company "probably shouldn't have" signed a deal with the Trump administration to provide two 747 jets for Air Force One.
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 The Bowl of Milk by Pierre Bonnard. 1919
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 |  | Daniel Smith is an Inside Analyst who currently resides in Miami, Florida. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Daniel spent the last four years as a PhD candidate in Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. He is fascinated by tech, business, politics, venture capital, and everything in between. When he’s not writing for Inside he can be found kicking a ball on the nearest rugby pitch. Follow him on Twitter @DanSmithInside. |  | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
Laika is a unified compliance platform that automates workflows for audits, infosec monitoring, and vendor due diligence in a single, collaborative space. | |
Connecteam is the all-In-One Employee Management Software. Time Tracking, Shift Scheduling, Communication, and Much More. | |
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