One Sentence News Understandary

Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.
Officials overseeing Indonesia capital city project resign, raising questions
Summary: Two of the people in charge of making Indonesia’s under-construction new capital, Nusantara, a reality have resigned and been temporarily replaced by the public works and housing minister, and the deputy agrarian minister, according to the Indonesian government.
Context: This project, which is expected to cost something like $32 billion, is meant to move the mechanisms of state from the country’s current capital, Jakarta, because Jakarta is overcrowded, plagued by immense traffic jams and ever-present pollution, is sinking, and regularly floods; the idea, then, is to move the government to Nusantara to help the state function, but also ease some of those issues in Jakarta; the two people who left were the head and deputy head of the project, though, and while the relocation of the first batch of 12,000 civil servants from Jakarta to Nusantara was planned for this September, they’ve apparently had trouble building enough infrastructure for even that many people, and the project has already been delayed twice amid concerns about a lack of private funding for the venture—so we’ll see on that.
—Reuters
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Georgia’s divisive ‘foreign agents’ bill signed into law
Summary: Georgia’s legislature, which is controlled by the Georgian Dream party, voted to dismiss a veto by the country’s president earlier this week, officially signing the vetoed bill into law, despite widespread protests against it.
Context: The law in question is similar to a law in Russia that essentially allows the government to spy on and harass and even imprison anyone they like, as long as they say that person is a foreign agent, though on the surface it merely allows the government to look more closely at who backs nonprofits operating within their borders; a major concern for the protestors is that this law may make it more difficult for Georgia to someday join the EU, which is something the majority of the country hopes to do, and there are concerns that its passage might have been pushed by politicians under Russia’s sway in order to keep them from becoming more friendly with the West.
—France 24
Massive melon-size hail could be a Texas record
Summary: A piece of hail the size of a cantaloupe was recovered in Texas last weekend, measuring at least six inches in diameter and possibly setting a new all-time record for the state.
Context: This is notable in part because hail has been getting bigger and becoming more frequent across portions of the US, and that’s meant a lot more damage from storms that otherwise might roll through with little long-term economic impact; a recent wave of storms in Texas, though, resulted in what’s been called DVD-sized hail, which is a new casual unit of measurement for such things, and a week later, they got hit by melon-sized hail; none of which is great for the safety of people and animals on the ground, but it’s also pretty terrible for the burgeoning fields of solar panels across the state, and the cars, homes, and other pieces of shatterable and destroyable infrastructure in the impacted areas.
—The Washington Post
The world’s biggest social networks are scrambling to find new audiences to attract, as their valuations are partly based on their capacity for future growth, and some of the larger ones seem to have reached the ceiling of global potential customers for their current offerings.
—Sherwood News
$25,000
Announced prices for upcoming electric vehicles by Tesla, Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.
That’s substantially lower than current average EV prices (which tend to be closer to $48,000) and closer to today’s used EV prices, and that of those sold overseas (China has multiple models for aro

Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.
Modi claims victory in India’s election but drop in support forces him to rely on coalition partners
Summary: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has won a third term in office following an election that was expected to be a landslide for his BJP party, but which ended up being a relatively close victory that will necessitate he rely upon allied parties to maintain a majority.
Context: The BJP’s National Democratic Alliance, which is a right-wing coalition of parties led by Modi and the BJP, won a total of 294 seats—which is more than the 272 required to lock-in a majority—but this is the first time the BJP wasn’t able to achieve that many seats itself since 2014 when it originally swept into power; it only attained 240 seats on its own, compared to the 370 Modi predicted they would receive while on the campaign trail, which means his party may have to cater to the priorities of its allies more than was anticipated.
—The Associated Press
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In shift, Biden issues order allowing temporary border closure to migrants
Summary: On Tuesday, US President Biden issued a new executive order that prevents migrants who enter the country illegally from seeking asylum when illegal crossing numbers are high, allowing border officers to return those who enter the country to Mexico, or to their home countries.
Context: This rule, which the ACLU has said it will challenge in court, activates after the seven-day average for illegal crossings hits 2,500 migrants, which is fairly common at this point; the border then reopens after the number of such crossings drops back down to 1,500 people for a continuous seven days, and then remains at that point or lower for two weeks; this is very similar to policies that former President Trump enacted and attempted while in office, and it’s similar to a piece of legislation that almost made it through Congress earlier this year, before being blocked by Republicans in February, apparently at the behest of Trump, who reportedly told supporters that allowing Biden to take action at the border would hurt Republicans in the upcoming election.
—The New York Times
New Texas stock exchange takes aim at New York’s dominance
Summary: A new stock exchange that plans to file with the SEC later this year is being set up in Texas, and has raised around $120 million from some major players in the investment world.
Context: The Texas Stock Exchange is meant to complete with the Nasdaq and NYSE by doing away with some of the regulations that apply to businesses trading on those exchanges, like those related to board diversity and compliance costs; the TXSE is planned to be entirely electronic, with a symbolic physical presence in downtown Dallas; other exchanges have popped up around the US over the years, likewise attempting to compete with New York’s duopoly, but all of them have faltered and plateaud, so far, though the folks backing this Texas-based entrant, including Blackrock and Citadel, suggest this one might have a little more prestige and weight behind it than those that have come before.
—The Wall Street Journal
Despite tariffs that are being deployed or discussed throughout the Western world, Chinese EVs—which are generally considered to be high-quality, and are almost always cheaper (sometimes substantially so) than their competitors—have seen a large number of new registrations across Europe, jumping a quarter this year so far, alone.
—Financial Times
$2 billion
Value of the US audiobook market in 2023, according to new data from the Audio Publishers Association.
That’s up about 9% from the previous year, this growth attributed to an increase in the popularity of the format amongst US adults, about 52% of whom have listened to an audiobook, and 38% of whom have listened to an au

Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.
Power cut across Nigeria as workers go on strike
Summary: Millions of Nigerians remain without electricity after a general strike over the cost of living in the country led to the shut-down of electricity substations by union workers.
Context: Unions in the country are demanding a significant increase to the local minimum wage of 30,000 naira per month, which is about $22, saying they can’t survive on that pay, and the government has offered to double that wage, though workers have contended that even double wouldn’t cover the cost of enough rice to feed the average person’s family for a month, much less other food, shelter, and expenses; the government has said raising pay beyond what they’ve offered would lead to the collapse of the economy and closure of many businesses that wouldn’t be able to afford to stay in operation, and this is the fourth general strike since President Tinubu stepped into office last year—Tinubu deciding to remove a fuel subsidy and overseeing a substantial drop in the value of the naira after unpegging its value from the US dollar, both decisions having contributed to the country’s current economic crisis, though the government says these are necessary measures for the long-term success of the economy.
—BBC News
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Russia-China gas pipeline deal stalls over Beijing’s price demands
Summary: A major gas pipeline deal between Russia and China has reportedly stalled as the Chinese government has demanded lower prices on the gas that would flow through the new Power of Siberia 2 pipeline between the countries, and the Russian government has balked at this new demand, though may have to accept it, due to Russia’s increasing economic reliance on China.
Context: Russia’s state gas monopoly, Gazprom, has been shambling along at a reduced level since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to an almost complete decoupling of Russia from its at the time primary customers in Europe, and it suffered a loss of nearly $7 billion last year, alone, due to the difficulty it has faced replacing those customers, due to sanctions on its activities; China has been happily buying discounted energy products from Russia during this time, and now it’s saying, in essence, we’ll keep buying your gas and helping you survive this shortfall, but we want close to the same price you charge domestically, which is heavily subsidized; China would also only commit to buying a small portion of what the new pipeline could carry annually, which would leave Russia prone to further, probably China-favoring negotiations, down the line.
—Financial Times
In blow to PM, Brexit champion Nigel Farage to stand in UK election
Summary: In a somewhat surprising move, the politician-turned-TV host who served as one of the most vocal proponents of the UK’s “Brexit” departure from the EU, Nigel Farage, has announced that he’ll be a candidate in next month’s election, leading the right-wing Reform Party.
Context: The currently governing Conservative party already faced a pretty bleak outlook in the coming election, as polls show they’ll likely be stomped by Labour in particular, but Farage continues to enjoy a significant following in further-right political circles, and he’s likely to claim some portion of the votes that would have otherwise gone to the Conservatives, possibly further worsening their impending political fortunes.
—Reuters
A combination of persistent bad weather and the spread of disease in Brazil, which is the world’s largest exporter of orange juice, has caused a surge in futures prices for the product, other markets (like Florida) unable to pick up the slack because of their own combination of weather and economic issues.
—Sherwood News
$1 billion
Initial sum Melinda French Gates has co

Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.
Claudia Sheinbaum claims sweeping mandate to become Mexico's first female president
Summary: Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City Claudia Sheinbaum has become Mexico’s first female president, pulling in somewhere between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote.
Context: Sheinbaum was supported in her campaign by her mentor, the outgoing President Obrador, and while this election is being seen as a milestone moment for a country that’s historically been very keen on traditional, Catholic church-encouraged, gender roles—Sheinbaum’s main opponent was also a woman—it was also marred by a record number of assassinations, 37 candidates having been murdered by cartels leading up to the vote.
—Reuters
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China lands a spacecraft on the moon’s far side to collect rocks for study
Summary: China’s Chang’e-6 spacecraft has successfully deposited a lander on the far side of the Moon, that lander tasked with using a drill to gather up to 4.4 pounds, or about 2 kilograms of material from the surface, which will then be returned to the orbiting craft, which will shoot the materials back to Earth, that package scheduled for arrival sometime around June 25.
Context: This is just one more Moon-related success in a series of such successes for China’s space program, which has picked up the pace in recent years to compete with the US, both nations scrambling to juice their Moon programs in order to establish infrastructure that will help them lay claim, or prevent the other from laying claim, to what may be relatively scarce water resources that will be necessary for long-term inhabitation of the Moon.
—The Associated Press
Third human case of bird flu from cows—this one with respiratory symptoms
Summary: A third person in the US, a Michigan dairy farmer, has been infected with a confirmed case of avian influenza virus, often called bird flu or H5N1, after coming into close contact with an infected dairy cow.
Context: This infection is suspected to be another case of cow-to-human transmission, but the infected person also has respiratory symptoms, which is a first, and which is alarming to some experts, as that could provide the virus a means of mutating into a human-to-human transmissible form; no other workers on that dairy farm have reported symptoms, and the infected worker is reportedly recovering, but disease experts are continuing to watch the spread of this virus in cows and other mammals as bird flu is incredibly deadly, killing more than half of the humans it has infected since 2003, and because this tends to be the path these sorts of zoonotic diseases take before achieving a human-optimized form.
—Ars Technica
Russian forces have recently made a significant and sustained push into Ukrainian territory near the nation’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, forcing thousands of civilians to flee and worrying military experts that this may be a feint meant to pull troops away from another, even more substantial target.
—The New York Times
3 million
Number of followers former President Trump attained on social short video platform TikTok after about a day on the network.
That compares to an account run by President Biden’s campaign, which has a little more than 340,000 followers on TikTok.
Biden recent signed a bill that could ban TikTok in the US if the China-based company that owns it doesn’t divest itself of the company, and Trump unsuccessfully attempted to ban it on national security grounds when he was president.
—Reuters
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Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.
Trump guilty on all counts in hush-money case
Summary: Former President (and current Presidential Candidate) Trump was convicted of all 34 felony counts that he was charged with in a New York case that centered around falsifying business documents to conceal hush-money payments made in 2016, when he was initially running for President.
Context: This is big news in part because this is the first time in US history that a former president has been convicted of a felony, and in part because this is the only case against Trump, out of four total ongoing cases, that is likely to culminate before the November election, and this outcome—depending on who you listen to—will either rally Trump’s supporters to his side, or cause vital independent votes to drift away in favor of Biden, or in favor of simply not voting for anyone, in either case influencing the outcome of that contest in a potentially significant way.
(More on this case and its significance in tomorrow’s Let’s Know Things episode.)
—The New York Times
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South Africa's ANC facing coalition as election ends decades of dominance
Summary: For the first time since the end of apartheid in the country, South Africa’s African National Congress, or ANC party has not won a majority of the vote, which will force it to build a coalition government with another party or parties.
Context: In 2019, the ANC claimed 57.5% of the vote, and this time around it looks like it’ll have around 40%, so this represents a significant drop in support, and that drop is being attributed, in part, to the party’s seeming inability to rein-in corruption and crime, and keep the lights on, the nation long suffering regular power outages; markets have been responding to this outcome cautiously, as depending on which smaller party or parties the ANC decides to form a government with, South Africa could become more or substantially less business-friendly.
—Reuters
US dismantles 911 S5 botnet used for cyberattacks and arrests admin
Summary: The US Justice Department has announced that it, in collaboration with law enforcement entities from around the world, have taken down what seems to be the world’s biggest botnet, the 911 S5 botnet, and arrested its administrator in Singapore.
Context: This botnet, which was formed by installing malware on victims’ computers, usually via malicious VPN software, allowed its controller to create a network of more than 19 million compromised devices, access to which was sold to clients for all sorts of criminal behaviors including fraud, harassment, bomb threats, and child exploitation; the botnet’s administrator faces a maximum penalty of 65 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
—Bleeping Computer
Though many DTC (direct-to-consumer) businesses have flagged (after a period of relative success in the early 2000s) in recent years, pet supply company Chewy has been consistently killing it, increasing sales to 153-times their 2013 levels in 2023.
—Sherwood News
$135 million
Value of aid pledged to Eastern European nation, Moldova, to help bolster its energy security and capacity to deal with disinformation efforts that are attempting to keep it from turning further Westward, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has been supporting local separatists, similar to how they supported such groups in Crimea leading up to their initial incursion into Ukraine in 2014, and there are concerns that Kremlin higher-ups might be eyeballing Moldova as a next-step means of weakening the alliance European nations have been building against Russia’s expansionism.
—The Associated Press
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Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.
Iran further increases its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, watchdog says
Summary: The United Nation’s nuclear watchdog agency released a report on Monday indicating that Iran’s nuclear program has upped its stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60%, which is just a small, relatively simple step from 90%, which is weapons-grade, by around 45.4 pounds (which is about 20.6 kilograms) since February.
Context: The generally accepted volume of 60%-enriched uranium necessary to produce a nuclear weapon is around 92.5 pounds, or 42 kilograms, if that uranium is then further enriched to 90%, and Iran’s total stockpile of enriched uranium is thought to weigh in at around 1,360 pounds (more than 6,000 kilograms), which means they’ve grown their overall stockpile by nearly 1,500 pounds (675 kilograms) since February; Iran has consistently said that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, but much of the international community doesn’t believe that to be true, and the country has been operating under severe sanctions of all kinds, including nuclear-related sanctions, for a long time as a consequence—and a 2015 deal that allowed them to enrich uranium to up to 3.67% purity and to maintain a small stockpile has long since lapsed, and Iran’s government hasn’t allowed the UN’s nuclear watchdog to reinstall monitoring equipment that Iran removed in 2022.
—The Associated Press
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China is pouring almost $50 billion into its chipmaking efforts despite US sanctions
Summary: Despite efforts by the US government to hobble China’s semiconductor and artificial intelligence development, the Chinese government has set up a fund worth around $47.5 billion that will be invested in its local semiconductor industry.
Context: This is the third investment the Chinese government has made in its local chip-making capacity, responding in large part to the US’s attempts to keep it from accessing the most advanced chips on the market, which has a lot of loopholes, but has made it tricky enough for them to get such chips that China has seemingly decided to ensure they’re capable of making them in the future, not being able to rely on the global market for such things; now, their stated goal is to up their internal semiconductor capacity so that it matches the standards of the international community by the end of the decade.
—Quartz
ConocoPhillips to acquire Marathon Oil in $17.1 billion all-stock deal
Summary: Fossil fuel giant ConocoPhillips has made a deal to acquire fossil fuel giant Marathon Oil for just over $17 billion in stock, which—if the deal passes regulatory scrutiny—would merge two of the US’s largest oil companies.
Context: The global oil industry is in the midst of a huge shake-up, many of the largest entities gobbling each other and their smaller rivals up in order to consolidate, grow, and claim a portion of a sector that’s currently booming, but which is also expected to peak soon, as renewables claim more and more of the global energy market.
—The Wall Street Journal
Chipmaker Nvidia’s market cap is booming, approaching $3 trillion, which is within spitting distance of Apple’s, and which puts it far ahead of even the biggest companies in other growth industries, like China’s solar panel market.
—Bloomberg
27,000
Approximate number of government-made apps currently operating in Indonesia—a figure that’s prompted the country’s president to demand his government’s various agencies stop making new ones.
The government is now saying this overabundance of custom apps for various, specific purposes needs to be whittled down to reduce bloat and bureaucracy, and to make life easier for citizens.
—Cybernews
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