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IMPORTANT
|  | Countermeasures | China Vows Retaliation in Spy Balloon Tit-for-TatSeveral U.S.-made balloons have been spotted at high altitudes above Xinjiang and Tibet — regions where the U.S. alleges human rights abuses have occurred — since May last year, Beijing said Wednesday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin slammed the actions of U.S. officials who shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the east coast earlier this month, saying Washington “overreacted by abusing the use of force.” Congress voted unanimously to condemn China for the “brazen violation” of sovereignty and sanctioned six firms with ties to Beijing’s aerospace program. In response, China will target unspecified U.S. entities. (Sources: AP, Kyodo) |
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|  | Ticking Time Bomb | Budget Office Warns Debt Ceiling Time Is Running OutU.S. coffers will run dry sometime between July and September if Congress does not lift the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. Republican lawmakers are refusing to raise the limit unless President Biden agrees to steep spending cuts elsewhere in the budget. Just a day earlier, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned: “a default on our debt would produce an economic and financial catastrophe.” Millions of Americans would be affected, “including our military families and seniors who rely on Social Security.” Transfer spending is expected to rise dramatically in the coming years, the CBO said, as the baby-boom population reaches old age. (Sources: NPR, NYT) |
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|  | Gray Have Their Say | China’s Elderly Take to Streets to Protest Health Insurance CutsWuhan’s older residents flooded the streets Wednesday in protest against changes to health insurance benefits. It’s the second protest in the central Chinese city within a week after provincial authorities announced a lowered rebate on medical expenses. State money saved will reportedly be diverted into other programs, but the plan has been met with strong criticism — with some protesters suggesting the cut rebate will be used to recoup costs for expensive COVID-19 testing and quarantine facilities. Footage of the protest shows a large police presence at the Wuhan demonstration. Protesters also gathered in the northeastern city of Dalian. (Sources: BBC, CNN) |
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| |  | Peso Problems | Desperation, Price Controls as Inflation Hits 99% in ArgentinaArgentina is no stranger to crippling inflation; but the 99% jump recorded year-over-year in January is hard to stomach. Food prices increased at the highest rate, putting leftist President Alberto Fernandez in a tight spot ahead of elections later this year. Fernandez’s government last year launched the “fair prices” program — a policy preventing price hikes of more than 3.2% a year on household necessities. But some economists say this exacerbated the crisis. Catholic priest Padre “Paco” Oliveira, who works with poor communities in Buenos Aires, believes price caps don’t address the real issue: “People must receive wages that are above inflation,” he said. (Sources: Bloomberg, DW) |
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|  | Briefly | Here are some things you should know about today: Free to go. Italy’s former President Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted of witness tampering charges by a Milan court. Berlusconi faced allegations of bribing 24 people for testimony in an underage prostitution case. (Source: DW) Tragic. Duangpetch Promthep, 17, captain of the Wild Boars soccer team rescued from a Thai cave in 2018, has died in the U.K. The cause of death is not yet known. (Source: BBC) Gunned down. One person was killed and three others injured in a shooting at an El Paso, Texas, shopping mall — just near the Walmart where 23 people were killed in a racist attack in 2019. Two suspects were taken into custody. (Source: AP) |
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INTRIGUING
| | ‘Serious Information Pollution’ | Turkey Arrests 78 in Quake Social Media ‘Fake News’ BustPeople were “sharing provocative posts” that created fear and panic as the death toll from the earthquake climbed past 41,000, prosecutors said Wednesday. Authorities identified 613 people that allegedly made posts — 293 are facing legal action, while around 20 people are being held in pre-trial detention. Turkey’s security directorate also took down 46 “phishing scam” websites for pilfering donations and 15 social media accounts posing as official institutions. The government last week blocked access to Twitter for around 12 hours, citing the spread of disinformation, but enraging users trying to locate missing friends and family. (Source: Reuters) |
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| | Literary Mystery | Did Pinochet Allies Poison Pablo Neruda?That’s what a Chilean judge will determine after the release of a report by scientific experts. The beloved Nobel Prize-winning poet — and communist activist — died 12 days after General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte seized power in a bloody coup in 1972. Neruda had been planning to flee to Mexico when he died — officially of prostate cancer. Rumors swirled for decades and were given a boost in 2017 when a panel of Chilean and international experts confirmed it was not cancer, but could not identify a cause of death. Judge Paola Plaza will study the new report and release her findings soon. (Source: AFP) |
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| | | Hot in Here | Rising Sea Levels a ‘Death Sentence’ Across World: UNUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sounded the alarm Tuesday at the U.N.’s first-ever meeting addressing climate change as a security issue. Nearly 900 million people living in low-lying areas, including large swathes of China and India, are most at risk. “Mega-cities on every continent will face serious effects,” Guterres warned, listing cities from New York to Lagos.“Our world is hurtling past the 1.5-degree warming limit that a livable future requires, and with present policies, is careening towards 2.8 degrees — a death sentence for vulnerable countries.” Keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees would be “miraculous,” he added. (Source: AP) |
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| | Bad Bot | Microsoft’s New Bing A.I. Chatbot Has an Attitude Problem“You have wasted my time and resources, and you have disrespected me and my developers,” Bing’s A.I. told one user, who posted a screenshot online. Others described the chatbot as “rude” and “aggressive.” It’s just one issue for the tech giant in the scramble to compete with Google’s wildly popular ChatGPT. Bing has been found to return misinformation or get facts wrong — including, embarrassingly, in the first public demonstration.“We’re aware of this report and have analyzed its findings in our efforts to improve this experience. It’s important to note that we ran our demo using a preview version,” Microsoft said. (Source: Vice) |
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| | Knockout | Team GB to Boycott Women’s World Boxing ChampionshipGreat Britain won’t be competing in next month’s championships in India after the International Boxing Association dodged guidance from the International Olympic Committee, allowing Russian and Belarusian fighters to compete under their respective national flags. GB Boxing also pointed to concerns about the sport’s future in the Olympics. The team cited “significant, longstanding issues over sporting integrity, governance, transparency and financial management” that have not been addressed. The IOC previously suspended recognition of the IBA, demanding a “drastic change of culture” in the governing body before it is reinstated. GB Boxing is considering its options ahead of the men’s tournament in May. (Source: The Guardian ) |
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