Friday, April 29, 2022
American killed in Ukraine fighting, inflation headache continues, Elon's plan for Twitter, bird flu case in Colorado man, FDA moving toward shots for young kids, the Ford recall and a fireball.
Note to email readers: Some clients will cut off our rundown due to length. Make sure to click “read more” or “view entire message” to continue reading!
Happy Friday. Here’s a quick look at what’s happening:
The Associated Press reports a a 22-year-old former U.S. Marine was killed alongside Ukrainian forces in the war with Russia, the first known death of an American citizen fighting in Ukraine:
Willy Joseph Cancel was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN. Cancel had recently worked as a corrections officer in Tennessee and had previously served in the Marines from 2017-21, joining the service the same year he graduated from high school.
Cabrera said her son had signed up to work with the private military contractor shortly before fighting began in Ukraine on Feb. 24. She told CNN he agreed to go to Ukraine.
“He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didn’t come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldn’t have to be involved in it,” she said.
Cabrera said her son’s body has not been found.
“They haven’t found his body,” she said. “They are trying, the men that were with him, but it was either grab his body or get killed, but we would love for him to come back to us.”
he said her son flew to Poland on March 12 and entered Ukraine shortly after. She said he was fighting alongside men from a number of countries.
Cancel had also served as a volunteer firefighter in New York and leaves behind a 7-month-old son, according to an online fundraising page set up by a man identifying himself as his father. His wife received the call informing her of his death on Tuesday, the page said. The father wrote that Cancel made the decision in early March to go to Ukraine because he wanted to defend innocent people.
Cancel graduated from Newburgh Free Academy in New York in 2017, the school district said.
Reuters: Biden seeks $33 billion war chest to support Ukraine, Zelenskiy wants quick approval.
CBS News: Republicans and Democrats receptive to Biden's $33 billion Ukraine aid package.
BBC News: Ukraine war: Rockets hit Kyiv as UN chief admits failings.
AP: Ukraine: Attack on Kyiv was Putin’s ‘middle finger’ to UN.
CBS News reports that a poll found that 70 percent of adults are worried Russia's invasion of Ukraine could lead to fighting with nuclear weapons.
AP: Ukraine cracks down on ‘traitors’ helping Russian troops.
CNN reports that at least 10 people were killed and another 30 wounded after an explosion at a mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul after Friday prayers:
The blast occurred in the Serahi Alauddin area of the city, private Afghan channel TOLO news reported citing an eyewitness.
Emergency, a non-governmental organization that offers free medical and surgical treatment to Afghan civilians, said in a tweet that 20 wounded people had been treated at its hospital following the explosion.
In a statement posted to Twitter Friday, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said he condemned the attack, which took place days before the end of Ramadan.
"We strongly condemn today's blast at a mosque in Kabul's 6th District. Such brutal killings during this fast are the work of circles that have nothing to do with Islam or the country," Mujahid tweeted on Friday.
"The Islamic Emirate extends its deepest sympathies to the families of the victims. The perpetrators of these crimes will soon be found and punished, God willing," he added.
Consumer prices rose more than 6 percent annually in March, showing consumer spending taking a bigger bite out of household incomes, according to data released Friday, The Hill reports:
The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index — the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of inflation — rose 6.6 percent over the 12 months ending in March, up from a 6.3 percent annual inflation rate in February, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported Friday. Annual inflation without food or energy prices, which are more volatile, fell slightly to 5.2 percent in March, down from 5.2 percent in February.
Prices rose 0.6 percent in March alone, largely in line with the monthly inflation rate since October, and by 0.5 percent without food or energy.
Rising consumer prices also cut into disposable incomes last month despite rapid wage growth over the past year. Disposable incomes rose 0.5 percent in March, but fell 0.4 percent when adjusted for inflation.
But personal consumption expenditures, a measure of consumer spending, still rose 1.1 percent. While the gain was only 0.2 percent when adjusting for inflation, the resilience of consumer spending beat economists’ expectations of an overall decline.
The U.S. economy appears to be holding sturdy, even as high inflation, supply chain disruptions abroad and the war in Ukraine push prices higher. While gross domestic product (GDP) fell for the first time since 2020 during the first three months of the year, economists blamed the drop on surging imports overwhelming strong consumer and business spending in the calculations of economic growth.
The U.S. also added 1.7 million jobs over the first three months of 2022 and is expected to see another strong month of employment gains when the April jobs report is released next Friday. Economists expect the U.S. to have added roughly 400,000 jobs last month, according to consensus estimates, in line with the March gain of 431,000 jobs.
Reuters reports that Elon Musk told banks that agreed to help fund his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter that he could crack down on executive and board pay at the social media company in a push to slash costs, and would develop new ways to monetize tweets:
Musk made the pitch to the lenders as he tried to secure debt for the buyout days after submitting his offer to Twitter on April 14, the sources said. His submission of bank commitments on April 21 were key to Twitter's board accepting his "best and final" offer.
Musk had to convince the banks that Twitter produced enough cash flow to service the debt he sought. In the end, he clinched $13 billion in loans secured against Twitter and a $12.5 billion margin loan tied to his Tesla Inc stock. He agreed to pay for the remainder of the consideration with his own cash.
Musk's pitch to the banks constituted his vision rather than firm commitments, the sources said, and the exact cost cuts he will pursue once he owns Twitter remain unclear. The plan he outlined to banks was thin on detail, the sources added.
Musk has tweeted about eliminating the salaries of Twitter's board directors, which he said could result in about $3 million in cost savings. Twitter's stock-based compensation for the 12 months ending Dec. 31, 2021 was $630 million, a 33% increase from 2020, corporate filings show.
In his pitch to the banks, Musk also pointed to Twitter's gross margin, which is much lower than peers such as Meta Platforms Inc's Facebook and Pinterest, arguing this leaves plenty of space to run the company in a more cost-efficient way.
CNN: Mark Meadows and Fox's Sean Hannity exchanged more than 80 text messages between Election Day and Joe Biden's inauguration, communications that show Hannity's evolution from staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump's election lies to being ’fed up’ with the ‘lunatics’ hurting Trump's cause in the days before January 6.
CNN obtained Meadows' 2,319 text messages, which he selectively provided in December to the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. While the logs show Meadows communicating with multiple Fox personalities, as well as a number of journalists from other organizations, Hannity stands out with 82 messages. The texts, including dozens of newly disclosed messages, offer a real-time window into how Hannity, a close friend of Trump, was reacting to the election and its aftermath.
NBC News reports that the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol will hold a series of hearings on the probe in June.
CBS News: Trump swears he has no documents sought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The Denver Post reports that the first identified human case in the U.S. of the avian flu, typically transmitted among poultry and wild birds, has been found in man who works on a poultry farm in Western Colorado:
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has been monitoring and testing people exposed to poultry and wild birds infected with avian flu, according to a news release.
Earlier this week, a test revealed the presence of the influenza virus in a single nasal specimen of a man who was working on a farm with infected poultry, the news release said.
On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the test. Repeat testing on the man, however, has been negative.
Health officials said it’s possible that the virus may have been present in the person’s nose without causing infection.
“We might never know if this individual was truly infected, meaning the virus was replicating in his body, or if the virus was just transiently present in his nose and picked up by the nasal swab test,” said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, Colorado state epidemiologist.
Both the CDC and the state consider the discovery a “confirmed case,” Herlihy said. “He is the first person in the U.S. for this virus.”
Public health officials in the United Kingdom confirmed the H5N1 virus in January 2022 in a person who was asymptomatic and had direct contact with infected birds, according to the news release.
The FDA could authorize COVID-19 vaccine shots for children under 6 years old as early as June following key meetings of its outside advisers now tentatively scheduled for that month, CBS News reports:
Meetings of the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) are now planned as many as four times in June to weigh a myriad of COVID-19 vaccine requests pending before the agency, the FDA said Friday.
"As we continue to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there are a number of anticipated submissions and scientific questions that will benefit from discussion with our advisory committee members," Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA's top vaccines official, said in a statement.
Meetings of the VRBPAC mark the final step before the FDA grants requests for emergency use authorization.
While the agency is not required to follow the committee's votes, and has occasionally skipped consulting the panel for some previous authorizations, a green light from the advisers generally paves the way for the FDA to clear the shots within days after the meeting.
"The agency is committed to a thorough and transparent process that considers the input of our independent advisors and provides insight into our review of the COVID-19 vaccines. We intend to move quickly with any authorizations that are appropriate once our work is completed," added Marks.
After the FDA grants any new emergency use authorizations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must also weigh in before shots can be rolled out. A spokesperson for the CDC has said the agency plans to ask its advisers to weigh in as well before issuing new recommendations for these vaccines.
CNBC reports that Denmark has become the first country to halt its COVID-19 vaccination program, saying it is doing so because the virus is now under control.
NBC News reports that a new report from the CDC appears to rule out COVID-19 as a factor in the mysterious cases of severe hepatitis in children, at least in the nine confirmed cases in Alabama.
CNN reports that White House communications director Kate Bedingfield has tested positive for COVID-19, but President Joe Biden is not considered a close contact.
The Rolling Stone reports that Ozzy Osbourne has tested positive for COVID-19.
Ford is recalling more than a quarter-million Explorer SUVs in the U.S. because they can roll away unexpectedly while shifted into park, the AP reports:
The recall covers certain 2020 through 2022 Explorers with 2.3-liter engines, as well as 3-liter and 3.3-liter hybrids and the 3-liter ST. Also included are 2020 and 2021 Explorer Police hybrids and those with 3.3-liter gas engines.
Documents posted Friday by U.S. safety regulators say that a rear axle mounting bolt can fracture and cause the drihaft to disconnect. If that happens, the SUVs can roll away even if they are placed in park gear, without the parking brake on.
The documents say Ford has 235 warranty claims due to the problem. The company says it knows of no crashes or injuries.
Depending on the model, dealers will replace a bushing and the axle cover, or they will update electronic parking brake software. Owners will be notified by mail starting June 6.
TechCrunch reports that Airbnb is going all in on the ‘live anywhere, work anywhere’ philosophy, committing to full-time remote work for most employees:
In an email to employees posted to the company blog (or was it a blog post emailed to employees?), and in a Twitter thread for those who can’t be bothered, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky outlined the new policy, summing it up in five points:
-You can work from home or the office
-You can move anywhere in the country you work in and your compensation won’t change
-You have the flexibility to travel and work around the world
-We’ll meet up regularly for gatherings
-We’ll continue to work in a highly coordinated way
They’re pretty self-explanatory, obviously, but just to be clear let’s run them down.
Apart from “a small number of roles” for whom presence in an office or location is required (and who probably already know this), all employees can work from wherever they want.
If you want to move, as long as you stay within the country, your pay won’t change. Wherever you go in the U.S., for instance, you’ll get the same pay, and one hopes it’ll be enough whether you live in a small town in Colorado or midtown Manhattan. Sadly if you decide you want to move permanently to London or Seoul, this is “much more complex, so we won’t be able to support those this year.”
Scientists have confirmed a loud boom prefaced a streaking fireball that was spotted in three Southern states, the AP reports:
More than 30 people in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi reported seeing the exceptionally bright meteor in the sky around 8 a.m. Wednesday after hearing loud booms in Claiborne County, Mississippi, and surrounding areas, NASA reported. It was first spotted 54 miles (87 kilometers) above the Mississippi River, near Alcorn, Mississippi, officials said.
“This is one of the nicer events I have seen in the GLM (Geostationary Lightning Mappers) data,” said Bill Cooke, lead of NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The object, which scientists called a bolide, moved southwest at a speed of 55,000 miles per hour (88,500 kilometers per hour), breaking into pieces as it descended deeper into Earth’s atmosphere. It disintegrated about 34 miles (55 kilometers) above a swampy area north of the unincorporated Concordia Parish community of Minorca in Louisiana.