💺 Fasten Your Seatbelts

📝 Biden Signs Voting Executive Order

President Biden signed an executive order yesterday mandating federal agencies take a series of steps to promote voting access. Among other things, the order directs the agencies to:

• Put together plans to “promote voter registration and participation.”
• Assist states under the National Voter Registration Act.
• Improve and modernize Vote.gov.
• Increase federal employees’ access to voting.

🗽 Gov. Cuomo Update

The New York Legislature passed a bill on Friday to strip Gov. Andrew Cuomo of his emergency powers granted by the pandemic, though the measure allows Cuomo to extend orders he had already issued.

• Also on Friday, the Cuomo administration confirmed it withheld data on deaths of nursing home residents last summer in its reports to the public and State Legislature.

Separately, two more women who formerly worked in Cuomo’s office accused him of sexual harassment over the weekend, joining three other women who have made similar accusations in the past few weeks.

More: In a call with reporters yesterday, Cuomo reiterated he has no plans to resign despite being urged to do so by Republicans and some Democrats (including a congressional representative & the state Senate majority leader).

🇨🇭 Switzerland Bans Face Covers

Swiss voters approved a ban on burqas, niqabs, and other full-face coverings by a 51.2% to 48.8% margin in a national referendum yesterday.

• The measure, which was opposed by Switzerland’s government, will outlaw a person covering their face in public places like restaurants, sports stadiums, public transport, or walking in the street.

Lawmakers have two years to outline the specifics of the legislation, which makes exceptions for religious sites and for security or health reasons (such as masks during the pandemic).

More: About 5% of Switzerland’s 8.6M population is Muslim, though research shows just a few dozen women in the entire country wear a burqa or niqab.

Even More: Switzerland joins the Netherlands, France, Denmark, Austria, and Bulgaria as countries with full or partial bans on wearing face coverings in public.

⏰ Catch Up Quick:

🇮🇳 Thousands of farmers in India blocked an expressway outside New Delhi on Saturday to mark the 100th day of protests against proposed agricultural reforms. (The background.)

💬 "Peace does not demand winners or losers, but rather brothers and sisters who, for all the misunderstandings and hurts of the past, are journeying from conflict to unity.” –Pope Francis during his trip to Iraq, which concludes today. (Recap so far.)

☝️ 1 Last Thing…

Image: David Reed/APEX

This image isn’t doctored. It’s an optical illusion called a “superior mirage” – a rare weather phenomenon caused by warm air sitting on top of colder air and bending the light as it reaches a viewer’s eyes.

💻 Microsoft Hack Attack

At least 30k U.S. organizations using Microsoft Exchange email software have been compromised by a cyberespionage unit backed by the Chinese government, according to multiple reports (WSJ | Reuters | KrebsOnSecurity).

• Since January, Chinese-backed hackers have reportedly used four flaws in Microsoft’s software to gain control of the email servers of tens of thousands of organizations around the world.

Microsoft patched the flaws in a March 2 update, though the hackers have reportedly continued to target unpatched systems.

More: Sources said this hack is already more widespread than the SolarWinds breach first uncovered last December, which U.S. intelligence agencies concluded was “likely Russian in origin.”

💼 Jobs Report Card

The Department of Labor published its monthly U.S. jobs report Friday, revealing the unemployment rate fell slightly to 6.2%.

• U.S. employers added 379k jobs in February, with most of the gains occurring in leisure and hospitality (which includes restaurants).

The Congressional Budget Office projects the U.S. will add 6.2M jobs this year, which would fall short of pre-pandemic employment levels.

More: The Department of Labor estimates there are currently ~9.5M fewer jobs than a year ago.

⚖️ The Other Side of the Coin

Federal prosecutors indicted John McAfee, founder of antivirus software company McAfee Corp., on charges related to securities fraud and money laundering for his role in a “pump and dump” cryptocurrency scheme.

• The indictment alleges McAfee and an associate used his verified Twitter account - which currently has over 1M followers - to recommend a “Coin of the Day” or “Coin of the Week.”
• McAfee would allegedly buy large quantities beforehand using bitcoin, then offload them again after his followers had driven up the price – while falsely claiming to have no stake in these ‘altcoins.’

More: McAfee was arrested last year in Spain on separate tax evasion charges and is awaiting extradition to the U.S.

💰 A Royal Sum:

📺🎤 CBS is reportedly paying a licensing fee of between $7M and $9M to air Oprah’s two-hour interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, with ad buyers saying the network is seeking ~$325K per 30-second slot. (Watch highlights or read a recap.)

☝️ 1 Last Thing…

Image: @mcuban

• Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban last week began allowing customers to use the ‘meme cryptocurrency’ Dogecoin to pay for tickets and merchandise online.

🇯🇵🔥 Carrying the Torch

The first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896 – just 7 years before Japan’s Kane Tanaka was born.

• Officially the world’s oldest living person, Kane is set to carry the Olympic torch later this year.

Kane Tanaka celebrating her 117th birthday (Images via CNN)

She'll also be the oldest person to ever carry the Olympic flame, clocking in at 118 years and 129 days old on her torch-bearing day (scheduled for May 11).

• The supercentenarian has survived two pandemics, fought cancer twice, and lived through both world wars. She also has quite the affinity for fizzy drinks and math games.

Kane (front center) in the year 1935 at age 32.

Though Kane will be pushed in a wheelchair for the majority of her 100-meter leg, she is determined to walk the final few steps on her own.

• “When we were first approached about her doing it, we worried what might happen given her age, but we were getting worked up over nothing,” her 61-year-old grandson Eiji said. “We’ll be happy if the people who see her holding the torch up and looking well can think, ‘There’s hope in going on living.'”