 President Biden is asking Congress to allocate an additional $33B for Ukraine, including $20B in military assistance. The proposal would further allocate $8.5B for Ukraine's economy and $3B for food and humanitarian programs. The White House is also seeking to liquidate the assets of wealthy Russians with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and donate the funds to Ukraine, though this would require a change to federal law that civil rights groups have opposed on the grounds that it violates due process. More: - In a speech from the White House, Biden said that Putin and other Russian officials were "irresponsible" to threaten nuclear escalation.
- Officials say that Putin is making nuclear threats in response to his failure to overtake much of Ukraine, and that they have seen no indication as of yet that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons.
- It's unclear if the $33B will go through Congress as a standalone bill or if it will be tied to a broader COVID-19 aid package, which may hurt its chance of being passed with bipartisan support.
- "The cost of this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen," Biden said.
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 Moderna has asked the FDA to approve its COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5. The company says the vaccine is 51% effective against symptomatic illness for children between 6 months and 2 years old, and 37% effective for children between 2 and 5. That means very young children who are vaccinated will, on average, halve their chance of experiencing symptoms from a COVID-19 infection, and Moderna says that protection against severe illness and hospitalization will be even more robust. Moderna's clinical trials in young children took place during the winter omicron surge, which resulted in numerous breakthrough infections. More: - Pfizer and BioNTech are also expected to soon present the results of their three-shot low-dose COVID-19 vaccine for young children after a two-shot version proved ineffective.
- FDA officials said an outside panel would be convened to study Moderna's data, with a decision coming in June.
- Moderna has also asked for authorization for its shot for children between 6 and 17. More data on results in that age group is expected to be sent to the FDA in the coming weeks.
- Children under five are the only remaining demographic that can't receive a COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. Health experts say such a vaccine, even one without perfect effectiveness, is critical to protecting children from severe illness and long-term health problems.
- There are 18 million children under 5 in the U.S.
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 Twitter saw a boost in users, revenue, and profit in Q1 2022, the company said in what may be its last quarterly report before being taken private by Elon Musk. Revenue hit $1.2B, rising 16% from the same quarter a year ago. Daily active users were up by 6.7% from the prior quarter, to 229 million from 214.7 million. The company gave little guidance for the future and withdrew previous goals and projections following Musk's acquisition bid. More: - Musk is set to pay $54.20 per share for Twitter, which sits at $49.14 as of this writing.
- He could still back out of the deal, though he'd be required to pay a "reverse termination fee" of $1B.
- Shareholders and U.S. regulators will still need to approve the takeover, which could close in the next few months.
- Twitter went public in 2013, but has struggled to see consistent revenue growth or report the eye-popping profit numbers of digital ad competitors Facebook and Google.
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 GOOD NEWS: Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin announced that they have developed an enzyme that can quickly break down plastic waste into its component molecules. The enzyme, created through a machine-learning process, allows bacteria to break down PET plastics, which account for about one-eighth of all the world's manmade solid waste. The scientists believe the process could be used by governments and corporations to recycle their products and eliminate billions of tons of waste that currently ends in landfills and water supplies. More: - The enzyme, called FAST-PETase, was tested on 51 different post-consumer plastic containers to demonstrate its effectiveness.
- The recycling process using the enzyme can be performed at relatively low temperatures, making it easier to conduct on a large scale.
- The team's results were published in the journal Nature.
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 A message from LAIKA If you’re trying to close deals, SOC 2 is probably a thorn in your side. What is it, and who cares? Your business needs SOC 2. But building compliance from scratch is complicated, time-consuming, and the cost can be crippling. Laika has you covered. Uncomplicate SOC 2 with our guide for growth-minded founders. In the guide by Laika you’ll learn: - What is SOC 2 compliance and why it matters for your startup
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 The FDA released a proposal on Thursday to ban menthol-flavored cigarettes and all flavored cigars. The agency says banning the products could prevent hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and decrease youth tobacco use. The move would be especially impactful on the Black community; 85% of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes, compared to 29% of white smokers. More: - Tobacco use, according to the FDA, remains the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.
- Researchers believe that, should U.S. results mirror what happened in Canada after the nation banned menthol cigarettes, 1.3 million Americans could quit smoking.
- The proposal is open for public comment for 60 days, with the FDA finalizing its rule afterward. It would take at least a year for the measure to take effect.
- The rule would not apply to menthol e-cigarettes, though the FDA is conducting research on all currently-available vape products.
- The tobacco industry is expected to contest the FDA's proposal.
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President Biden said he is considering "some debt reduction" in regard to federal student loans, but that he would not cancel up to $50,000 in debt per borrower. Biden said he was exploring "additional debt forgiveness" and would make an announcement within the next several weeks. Federal student loan repayments have been paused since early in the pandemic; the pause has regularly been extended and is currently set to expire on Aug. 31. More: - Biden hinted earlier this week that he could forgive at least $10,000 in student loan debt per borrower, though he stopped short of making a commitment.
- Democrats including Sens. Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren have encouraged Biden to cancel up to $50,000 per borrower. Sen. Bernie Sanders and other progressives want him to cancel all student loan debt, arguing that it would alleviate a burden on tens of millions of Americans and spur economic growth.
- Republicans argue that canceling student loan debt would not be fair to those who have paid off their loans, could exacerbate inflation, and would serve as a bribe to voters ahead of the 2022 midterms.
- More than 43 million U.S. borrowers currently have ~$1.6T in federal student loan debt. The average borrower has a debt balance of $37,113.
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- Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine who has been detained in Russia since 2020, has arrived back in the U.S. following a prisoner swap.
- Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said her government will not hold a referendum to join NATO should Sweden's parliament move forward with an application to join the body.
- A ticket sold in Arizona matched the winning numbers of a $473.1M Powerball jackpot on Wednesday night, the second-largest jackpot of the year.
- Actor Jason Sudeikis said it was "inappropriate" for a process service company to serve his ex-fiancée Olivia Wilde with custody papers while she was on stage at CinemaCon this week.
- Wilco has announced a new 21-track country album, "Cruel Country," which will be released on May 27. Check out the lead single, "Falling Apart (Right Now)," on YouTube.
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 |  | Jonathan Harris is a writer and editor who lives in Los Angeles. |  | | 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. | |
Connecteam is the all-In-One Employee Management Software. Time Tracking, Shift Scheduling, Communication, and Much More. | |
Laika is a unified compliance platform that automates workflows for audits, infosec monitoring, and vendor due diligence in a single, collaborative space. | |
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