Today is Wednesday, April 16, 2025.
It is the 106th day of the year.
259 days remain.
WHAT’S ON TAP
NOTABLE & NOTEWORTHY: A brewing feud between tech giants gets hotter.
WENDY’S shades KATY PERRY and NICK CARTER faces sexual assault allegations. More in SHOWBIZ.
A pair of actresses are ready to hang it up. Details in CASTING CALL.
PRINCESS KATE releases another video in ROYALS.
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TARIFF TALK
– Canada’s Finance Ministry on Tuesday announced a temporary pause on some reciprocal tariffs imposed on the United States. The carveout includes a narrow selection of vehicles that are assembled in Canada using American components. There are also exemptions for “goods imported from the U.S. that are used in Canadian manufacturing, processing and food and beverage packaging, and for those used to support public health, health care, public safety, and national security objectives,” according to a government statement.
– The Chinese Communist Party has ordered its domestic airlines to pause new plane acquisitions from BOEING and to stop buying parts from any American companies. China has instituted a 125% tariff on American goods, more than doubling the cost of an airplane. The shift bodes well for the American airline industry, which already has a months-long wait for Boeing hardware.
– Treasury Secretary SCOTT BESSENT says Argentina will be one of the first countries to get a new trade deal with the United States. Argentina’s own president, JAVIER MILEI, has crushed inflation in his country from vast deregulation in recent months. The White House is reportedly mulling whether to announce new trade deals on a case-by-case basis or in tranches; markets would certainly welcome more information, sooner.
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TECH NEWS ROUNDUP
– MARK ZUCKERBERG took the stand in Washington DC this week to testify in a DOJ lawsuit that alleges META has become a monopoly. During testimony, Zuck said he once proposed an idea to functionally reset everyone’s Facebook profiles, removing all their friends and followers, because the site strayed so far from its original mission of connecting friends. Obviously, that plan never moved forward. He also acknowledged that Facebook has become “a broad discovery and entertainment space,” as opposed to being just a platform for keeping in touch with friends, family, and connections.
– A.I. company OpenAI is reportedly working on its own social network, similar to X. Earlier this month, ELON MUSK merged X and his own A.I. startup, xAI, which uses X’s enormous databases for training its A.I. models. OpenAI likely wants the same free access to a similar firehose of data for its own development purposes. It doesn’t hurt that Musk and OpenAI head SAM ALTMAN have been feuding in public for years over OpenAI’s strategic direction.
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Nearly two-thirds of American CEOs anticipate a recession before the end of the year, according to a commercial trade group, at 62%. That’s up from 48% just a month ago.
The executives cite economic uncertainty resulting from PRESIDENT TRUMP’s mercurial negotiation style as he reorders the global trade scheme. [via NBC News]
WORTH REMEMBERING: A recession is a technical term to describe two consecutive quarters of economic contraction, as measured by Gross Domestic Product – meaning the country’s total output declines overall. GDP is composed of government spending, as well as private output. Reigning in government spending will inherently contract GDP.
ON THE OTHER HAND: If a reorganized global trade scheme boosts America’s trade balance, and commercial and investment spending explodes, even a technical recession could be avoided entirely.
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Police at spring break hotspot Panama City Beach, Florida, say it’s time to end the annual indulgence of debauchery and rowdy antics.
In a scathing statement posted online, PCB Police Chief Eusebio Talamantez decried the college kids who commit vandalism and public disturbances, taxing the resources of some-200 officers deployed to keep things under control. "When the cuffs went on, the tough act disappeared. Our officers didn’t see hardened criminals. They saw scared kids crying in the interview room. TikTok doesn’t show that part, but our body cameras do,” he wrote.
The police department is encouraging the city government to discourage incentivizing future spring break bonanzas. [via USA Today]
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In an effort to raise awareness about declining male fertility, a group of young moguls and millionaires joined forces to launch a new startup called Sperm Racing.
Next week, the group plans to hold the world’s first-ever sperm race, which will see two spermatozoa -- measuring 0.05 millimeters long -- race 20 cm along a microscopic racetrack modeled after the female reproductive system.
For purely entertainment purposes, there will be play-by-play commentary, leaderboards, and instant replays. Viewers are even able to place bets on which sperm they think will go all the way.
ALL JOKES ASIDE: Sperm Racing boss Eric Zhu says the goal is to “turn health into a competition” and make “male fertility something people actually want to talk about, track, and improve.” [via Traded]
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