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hat's up? It's Saturday, July 10, and after another long week of news, here's what you need to know about: Pollination robots are here, why some jobs aren't being filled, and what new regulations from China mean for investors. I’d love to keep hearing what you think of Notes on the News. Reply to this email and let me know. |
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| | What Everyone Wants to Know |
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| | Across the globe, startups are testing robots to pollinate everything from blueberries to almonds. ILLUSTRATION: JUSTIN METZ |
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| Pollination robots could be coming to a farm near you. Farmers have long relied on insects and human workers to help pollinate their crops. As artificial intelligence continues to advance, though, robots could eventually take over. Startups world-wide are testing robots to pollinate everything from almonds to blueberries. The robots have the potential to increase yields compared with bees or human workers, and could become essential as scientists grow concerned about declining insect populations due to habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change. At Costa Group Holdings in Australia, robots developed by Israel-based Arugga AI Farming, which cost about $10,000 each, will soon pollinate its tomato crops after a successful trial run. Typically, greenhouse tomato farms use bumblebees to help with pollination, but in Australia there are no bumblebees in most of the country and imports are banned due to biosecurity laws, making the robots the next best option after manual human pollination. The robot insects are equipped with cameras and use AI to identify flowers ready for pollination before blasting air at them to start the process. Tomato crops are ideal for robotic pollination because they can pollinate themselves once vibrations shake the pollen loose. In the U.S., where some growers are concerned about a virus affecting tomato plants that could be spread by bumblebees, robots from Arugga are also being tested by companies like AppHarvest, which grows greenhouse tomatoes in Kentucky. AppHarvest's Chief Technology Officer Josh Lessing said the robots beat manual pollination and were getting competitive with actual bees. “Bees work pretty well, but in agriculture, every boost that you can get your hands on is a big deal,” he said. |
| | Why some job openings aren't being filled. As of May, about 9.3 million people in the U.S. said they wanted a job but couldn't find one. Meanwhile a record high 9.2 million jobs were open. So, what gives? Economists call it a "mismatch," or a disconnect between the jobs and those looking for work. Many people who relocated during the pandemic now live where jobs aren't available. Others, having discovered the benefits of life with no commute or who now have new aspirations, have changed their preferences and are looking for a different type of work. The economy has also shifted, creating demand for workers in places like warehouses in areas where there might not be enough potential employees. Amid all of those changes, federal unemployment benefits could have allowed some workers to be more choosy in making their next move. The accommodation and food service industry, for example, has the highest rate of available jobs. But a recent ZipRecruiter survey of those who last worked in leisure and hospitality—a broader category of service industry jobs—found that 70% of workers are seeking work in a new industry. That same survey found 55% of job applicants are looking for remote work. An April survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas had similar findings, showing that nearly 31% of workers didn't want their old jobs back, up from about 20% last July. If the labor-market recovery continues to be uneven, it could create inflationary pressures that lead to the Fed policy makers to pull back on the low-interest-rate policies meant to support growth. There is concern, though, among some Fed officials that monetary policy alone can't solve the problem, similar to the 2008-09 recession when a "skills mismatch" made it hard for unemployed real-estate or construction workers to find new jobs in growing industries. “Policy makers should be cognizant of a range of supply factors that may currently be weighing on employment,” Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said in a research report on mismatch recently. “These factors may not be particularly susceptible to monetary policy.” |
| | Former Colombia military members allegedly helped carry out the plot to kill Haiti's president. Haitian authorities say that security forces detained 18 Colombian nationals and two Haitan-Americans in their effort to hunt down those who killed 53-year-old President Jovenel Moïse. Colombia's government confirmed that at least 13 suspects are believed to be former members of that country's military and said an investigative team would track down relevant information such as flight details and financial records. On Thursday night, Haitan authorities broadcast images of a dozen suspects handcuffed and on the floor, alongside assault rifles, ammunition, walkie talkies and Colombian passports. Moïse was shot 12 times including once in the forehead, and had an eye gouged out. Haitain authorities say there are still five fugitives at large. After decades of guerilla conflict in Colombia, some former military officials became private contractors for security companies world-wide, or joined drug gangs that operate across Latin America, Colombian officials and analysts who track the conflict there have said. “We cannot say that the gangs assassinated the president,” said Gedeon Jean, a lawyer who heads the Center for Human Rights Analysis and Research, a Haiti-based organization that tracks the country’s politics. But they are increasingly becoming a dominant force in the country, and are used by power brokers to counter their political and business rivals. In recent months, gang violence had escalated under Moïse's administration, especially after he refused to leave office in February, when his opponents said his term had ended. |
| | | 1,800 — The approximate number of giant pandas living in the wild. Chinese officials have reclassified the species from "endangered" to "vulnerable" following a yearslong conservation effort. The effort, which sought to find ways for humans and pandas to coexist within habitats, helped the population rebound, even though it is notoriously difficult to get pandas to breed. 11 — The number of people who die each minute due to extreme hunger, according to a new report by the antipoverty group Oxfam. The charity estimates that 155 million people are living in extreme food insecurity, 20 million more than last year. 578 — The number of members of European Parliament who voted in a non-binding resolution to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing over what it described as human rights abuses carried out by China's government. The resolution called on European Union member states to decline invitations to the Games "unless the Chinese government demonstrates a verifiable improvement in the human rights situation in Hong Kong, the Xinjiang Uyghur region, Tibet, Inner Mongolia and elsewhere in China." A spokesman for China's ministry of foreign affairs said, “China firmly opposes the politicisation of sports, and the interference in other countries’ internal affairs by using human rights issues as a pretext.” $190 billion — The amount in federal stimulus money that has been distributed to schools since the start of the pandemic, with a substantial portion of it designated for districts with more low-income students. These districts are now debating how to use the short-term money to fund long-term educational gains. $1.24 billion — The price paid by Phillip Morris to acquire Vectura Group, a U.K. pharmaceuticals business specializing in inhaled medicines. The tobacco company said that respiratory drug delivery and other wellness products are key to achieving its goal of generating more than half of its revenue from smokeless products by 2025, up from 24% in 2020. 85% — The share of Afghanistan's territory that the Taliban says they now control. The number, which is difficult to verify, is significantly higher than the group's previous claims, which said it controlled about one-third of Afghan territory. As the U.S. moves toward the end of its two-decade mission there, Taliban forces have been able to consolidate power. |
| | | | Amid an intensifying regulatory storm China, Didi shares are down more than 20% since their June 30 IPO day opening price. PHOTO: BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS |
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| What does Didi's stock-market tumble mean for the relationship between U.S. and Chinese markets? When Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global raised about $4.4 billion in its initial public offering at the end of June, it was one of the most anticipated Chinese listings in the U.S. since Alibaba went public there in 2014. Within days, though, China ordered a regulatory review of the company. Didi’s shares are now 14% below their IPO price and the app was removed from app stores in China at the behest of the Chinese government, which says it is concerned about consumer data falling into foreign hands. As Beijing seeks to widen its authority over Chinese firms listed in the U.S., a financial decoupling between the U.S. and China, at least in stocks, could be accelerated. What Chinese regulators said. The country's internet watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China, said this week that it would tighten the rules around Chinese firms listing in the U.S., and opened up probes into Didi and other Chinese companies over data privacy. For years, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has worked to bolster the power of the agency. In June, a new law was completed that gives authorities more power to get private companies to share data collected from social media, e-commerce and other businesses. The law, in essence, makes digital records a national asset that can be tapped or restricted based on the state's needs. Weeks before Didi went public in the U.S., Chinese authorities suggested the company delay its IPO due to concerns that audit documents required by the U.S. could reveal sensitive information about Chinese citizens. Regulators in China are also scrutinizing where Didi bought the products and services it uses for its network security and whether the procurement of such supplies poses any cybersecurity or national security risks. On Friday, regulators widened the scope of their probe by ordering 25 more apps operated by Didi, including the app for its drivers and another for carpooling, to be removed from app stores, saying they illegally collect personal data. What it means for investors. The raft of actions right after Didi's U.S. IPO left investors and bankers scrambling. Many investors were bullish on Didi, which posted an $800 million profit in the first quarter of this year. But the sudden moves from China’s government have clouded Didi's outlook and significantly raised the risks associated with investing in the company. Several class-action lawsuits have already been filed by U.S. investors who claim to have been misled prior to the IPO. Over the Fourth of July weekend, some bankers fielded furious calls from fund managers, who had plowed money into Didi, only to lose a huge chunk of its value. For those investors, a big question is: Who knew what, and when? Didi denies knowing about Chinese regulators’ scrutiny and plans to block new downloads of its app. A financial decoupling of sorts is likely. Even as the U.S. and China have clashed over data privacy in recent years, tech investors have been fine with a mutually profitable relationship with Chinese companies. The abrupt fall of Didi's stock is likely to put a long-term damper on Chinese listings in the U.S., creating the kind of economic decoupling the Trump administration was unable to achieve. Beijing could be taking a more explicitly hostile stance toward overseas tech listings, which could threaten to cut off a spigot that has seen Chinese companies raise $26 billion since the beginning of 2020. The situation with Didi follows last year's scuttled IPO of Ant Group, and suggests that for China, keeping internet companies' market and political power in check matters more than their access to capital. The S&P/BNY Mellon China Select ADR Index, which tracks the performance of U.S. listed Chinese companies, has now fallen to its lowest point in more than a year. |
| | | Vince Staples performed at the Governors Ball Music Festival in New York City in June 2019. Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images |
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| Go read about: "Vince Staples," the new self-titled album from the Long Beach rapper, produced entirely by Kenny Beats. What I've had on repeat: This Disclosure remix to "Streets" by Doja Cat (who is by far my favorite rapper of the moment.) |
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