| | | Twilight illuminates the White House Friday, the day the special counsel's Russia probe concluded. Source: Getty |
| IMPORTANT | 01 |
Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. elections and possible collusion by President Donald Trump’s campaign and subsequent allegations of obstruction of justice, has concluded his work and on Friday submitted findings to the Justice Department. The final conclusions reportedly don’t urge indictments beyond those filed against 36 people, including 13 alleged Russian troll farm operatives and six former Trump aides. When will its contents be revealed? Control over what, if anything, is made public rests with Attorney General William Barr, who has reportedly told Congressional leaders he will brief them in a few days.
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| 02 |
“New Zealand mourns with you. We are one.” That was how New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed Muslims during Friday prayers. Meanwhile, thousands made a human chain around the Kilbirnie Mosque in Wellington, symbolically protecting worshippers inside against the sort of attacks that killed 50 people in Christchurch a week earlier. The government moved swiftly to ban military-style assault weapons and women wore headscarves to show solidarity with the victims. What’s the latest response? On Saturday New Zealand also banned the killer’s manifesto — a move certain to provoke debates over limiting expression, no matter how objectionable.
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Beachcombing tourists sipping cocktails to golden oldies on violin and piano seems a strange backdrop to this month’s peace talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban. More surreal was the lack of clues of historic goings-on at the Qatari hotel, where frustrated correspondents angled for information, aside from sightings of Chitrali-capped Afghans and the odd camo-clad American. Is an agreement on the horizon? The top U.S. negotiator claims “real strides” toward ending the 17-year war, while Washington recently shunned a Kabul official — whose government can’t participate — for saying the talks are selling out his country.
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When The New York Times called President Trump a liar in its pages, it wasn’t just a departure from norms at the Gray Lady. It signaled a broader shift in political reporting. After months of critical coverage, often to Trump’s bemusement, mainstream media effectively became an arm of his opposition. Is it a race to the bottom? The bottom line, perhaps. Negative Trump stories in the “failing New York Times” are some of the paper’s biggest hits, keeping one of its feet out of the media graveyard. Check out this OZY analysis of how the president helps the media.
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| 05 |
Having obtained a two-week extension of Brexit’s March 29 deadline, British Prime Minister Theresa May now says parliament may not vote on an exit plan next week. U.S.-backed forces claim to have defeated Islamic State in its last Syrian stronghold. And markets declined sharply Friday amid signs of a cooling global economy. In the week ahead: Thailand will have its first national election in eight years, but observers warn the country’s military junta is tilting the contest in its favor. On Monday and Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House — two weeks ahead of Israeli elections. And on Friday, NASA astronauts will conduct the first all-female space walk. #OZYfact: The International Energy Agency estimates that solar power generation will overtake coal by 2040. Read more on OZY. Listen Up! Get inside the minds of Lorena Bobbitt, James Holmes and John Hinckley — and explore the history of the insanity defense — with Season 4 of The Thread, the latest installment of OZY’s popular podcast. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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INTRIGUING | 01 |
A deal to build six reactors in India might be the boost the U.S. nuclear industry needs. Domestic production has dwindled over the decades since accidents like Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island and Ukraine’s Chernobyl. But nuclear fission remains CO2-free, even it lacks wind and solar’s green sheen. And new reactor technology could produce hydrogen to power zero-emission cars. What about the radioactivity? Environmental groups’ concerns over nuclear leaks have been outweighed by the pressing need to reduce greenhouse gases, whose effects on the climate may be eclipsing Fukushima-type meltdowns in their scariness.
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Jean-Sebastien Hertsens Zune left France to search for his birth parents in Guatemala and found a web of human trafficking, kidnapping and genocide instead. Mothers sent children to fraudulent “boarding schools,” soldiers massacred indigenous peoples and sold surviving children and recruiters purchased babies, often for lucrative foreign adoptions with papers listing “parents” who were actually co-conspirators. Is there hope of reunification? The government banned foreign adoptions in 2008 and began investigating, and a nonprofit has painstakingly found 488 children’s families, while thousands continue to seek answers. Read this OZY story about trekking to help impoverished Guatemalans.
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| 03 |
The battle has been joined. Walmart, which isn’t as valuable to Wall Street as Amazon is but still outsells Jeff Bezos’ digital behemoth, is testing new weapons in its epic retail war. It’s acquired a startup, Jetblack, which caters to New York City’s upper-income moms by offering to deliver nearly anything they need within an hour. How can this make a difference? Jetblack isn’t making money, but it’s helping develop a voice-based ordering AI that could someday boost Walmart’s online presence — which the company reportedly hopes will thrive in an increasingly voice-oriented retail environment.
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A paragraph can hook someone on a narrative, and that’s how Hooked’s story begins. Relaying tales in text-message format, the app has reached 100 million readers with its 1,200-story library. They take the form of conversations that provide a stripped-down and intensified reading experience. Celebrities Snoop Dogg and Mariah Carey are among investors in the platform, which costs nothing, unless you want an ad-free experience. Is this the future of learning? That’s perfectly plausible with an attention- and time-deprived generation in mind, even if it means reimagining King Lear in a tweetstorm.
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| 05 |
After blowing World Series starts with the Dodgers, the Japanese-born right-handed pitcher had a disastrous first year with the Chicago Cubs on a six-year, $126 million contract, barely two years after the team broke its legendary Billy Goat Curse with a championship. Slouching into his 30s, Darvish finds himself stuck in a Groundhog Day loop that sees him repeatedly returning to the disabled list. Should fans abandon hope? With the Major League Baseball season starting Thursday, Darvish is primed for a comeback, saying, “I don’t want ‘boo’ anymore. I want ‘Yu’!”
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Flashback
This season of OZY’s hit podcast pulls the thread on the insanity plea. Were these people bad … or mad?
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