Good morning and welcome to Wednesday. We've received a lot of reports from readers saying the WHO link in yesterday’s Russia/Ukraine story pulled up an error message when they clicked on it. For whatever reason, the WHO’s website is changing the URL structure whenever we or other news orgs link to the data and we’re not quite sure why.🤷‍♀️

If you’d like to read what the world knows about Russian attacks on Ukrainian health facilities, just click here.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.72 minutes to read.

"Dreams do come true, if we only wish hard enough, You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it."

–J.M. Barrie (1860-1937)

🇺🇦 Day 13 of the Russian invasion saw Ukraine evacuate convoys of civilians from the besieged northeastern city of Sumy, though Russian shelling forced periods of interruption in their exit.

• The number of refugees fleeing Ukraine passed 2 million according to the UN (☝️), an amount equal to over 4.5% of its population; ~60% of the refugees have ended up in Poland.
• Ukraine's infrastructure minister said the country has suffered ~$10 billion in damages since Russia's invasion began.
• A senior US official estimated “with low confidence” that between 2,000 and 4,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, while another said ~5% of Russia’s weapons and vehicles have been destroyed.

How the invasion is impacting…

🛢️ Oil & Gas: President Biden signed an executive order banning all Russian energy imports, including oil, coal and natural gas. 8% of US petroleum imports, including crude oil, currently come from Russia. 

• Global oil prices surged past $132 per barrel on the news, but settled around $123 to close the day.
• The national average for a gallon of gas rose 11 cents to reach an all-time high of $4.173 (not adjusted for inflation). 

🌾🍔🥤 Food: Wheat futures have risen more than 50% since the invasion began, though experts say it could take months for escalating prices to hit the bread aisle.

• McDonald’s is temporarily closing its ~850 restaurants in Russia, but will keep paying employees. The fast-food chain has long played a symbolic role in Russia – its first location opened 32 years ago in Moscow, months before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
• Coca-Cola and Starbucks also announced they’re suspending operations in Russia.

+The latest news: From the Left | From the Right

🏛️ Florida's Senate voted 22-17 yesterday in favor of a controversial bill that would restrict teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools. The measure now heads to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who has signaled he will sign it into law. 

• The legislation, referred to by some as "Don't Say Gay," is aimed at asserting more parental control over children’s education and banning inappropriate content from classrooms, according to the bill’s supporters.
• It mostly codifies parents’ rights to information about their childrens’ lesson plans and health records, along with requiring schools to give updates on changes in students’ mental, emotional and physical health.
• The part that has drawn the most contention is a section that reads: “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.”
• The bill would give parents the right to sue teachers whom they believe to be in violation of its provisions.
• Opponents argue that “age appropriate or developmentally appropriate” isn't clearly defined, so the bill’s result would be to stifle all classroom discussion about LGBTQ+ issues from K-12, since teachers won’t want to take the risk of getting sued.

👀 Looking ahead... If Gov. DeSantis signs it into law, the legislation would go into effect on July 1.

+Dig deeper: From the Left | From the Right

Apple held “Peek Performance” yesterday, aka its first product event of the year.

📣 The biggest announcements…

• iPhone SE: The new budget phone ($429) comes with Apple’s latest mobile processor and 5G
• Mac Studio: The brand-new desktop computer has the company’s new M1 Ultra chip and is aimed at creative professionals
• New iPad Air: It has an eight-core M1 chip like the iPad Pro, 5G on cellular-equipped models and a 12MP front-facing camera
• Studio Display: A new 27-inch, 5K computer monitor with speakers and a built-in camera that can be yours for $1,599.

Oh – and you can now get the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro in green.

👀 Looking ahead… Apple teased a new, more powerful Mac Pro at yesterday's event, but said it’ll talk about that at a later date.

The company is also prepping iOS 15.4, which will feature new emojis (🥳), Universal Control and the ability to use Face ID while wearing a mask.

+Batter up: Like many other streaming services, Apple TV+ is exploring live sports. Apple said yesterday that its streaming service will feature two Major League Baseball games on Friday nights during the upcoming regular season, plus extended MLB coverage in the US and Canada.

💭 Imagine ... It's 2:30 PM, time is flying and you still have deadlines to meet before the end of the day.

You’ve been here before... except one thing is different.

This morning you finally had your first matcha.🍵

🤔 Why?

Real talk: the 5 cups a day of whatever else you’ve been drinking wasn’t cutting it anymore… so it's time for something with a better track record. 🙌

🏯 The Zen Monks who single-handedly created matcha 1,000 years ago needed a source of energy to get through long meditations without crashing. Thus, Matcha was born! Matcha isn’t just powdered green tea:

• It has time-release Caffeine that won’t crash you
• It doesn’t impact sleep (in fact it may improve it)
• It has lots of L-theanine, a calming amino only found in matcha
• It supports cognitive & mental health
• It has more antioxidants + some studied against cancer

🏆 Matcha.com is the #1 Trusted Matcha Brand, and some of their partner farms in Japan are more than 400 years old! Coffee isn’t even that old…

Browse Matcha.com and use the code DONUT for an exclusive 25% off 🍩👍

By now, it’s hard for even the most dedicated of skeptics to argue that humans aren’t having at least some influence on the global climate. But how urgent is it, really? Does climate change require drastic action ASAP, or are there more pressing issues?

📝 On one side… A pair of reports published over the past week laid out the case for countries to do everything they can to reduce their emissions in the very near future.

• Irreversible losses are occurring in many of the world’s ecosystems and causing people living nearby to lose the benefits they provide, per a UN-sponsored report from hundreds of experts in 67 countries. It said most of the worst impacts can be prevented by limiting warming to 2.7ºF vs. pre-industrial levels.
• The Amazon is nearing a tipping point after which over half of the 2.5 million square mile rainforest could turn into savanna, with “profound implications” for the global climate and biodiversity, according to a study in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change.

✋ On the other hand… Those in favor of taking a slower, more measured approach to climate change argue that cutting out carbon emissions is a massive undertaking that isn’t feasible to do over the course of a few years, or even a few decades.

• If governments implement too many laws restricting global warming right now, it makes energy more expensive and slows economic growth, which could end up impacting the world's population even more than climate change.
• What's more, China emits significantly more greenhouse gases than the US – totaling over ¼ of all global emissions – so even if America commits to drastic action, it won't make much of a difference without Beijing's buy-in.

• ☝️ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky became the first foreign leader ever to address the UK's House of Commons directly.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📉 US stocks closed down across the board after seeing mid-day gains of up to 2.5%. (Dow: -0.6%| S&P: -0.7%| Nasdaq: -0.3%)
• 💰📲 Which side are you on? Customers sent $490 billion through Zelle last year... far more than the $230 billion sent through rival, Venmo.
• 🔐 Google agreed to buy cybersecurity firm Mandiant for $5.4 billion, its second-largest acquisition ever.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀 ESPN is launching Fantasy Women’s Basketball ahead of the upcoming WNBA season; it’s the first season-long, full-scale fantasy game for women’s sports.
• 🎤 Eminem is now the most gold- and platinum-certified singles artist in music history.
• 🏈 The Seattle Seahawks agreed to trade QB Russell Wilson and a 4th-round pick to the Denver Broncos for a package that includes three players, two first-round picks and two second-round picks; QB Aaron Rodgers will stay with the Green Bay Packers next season, but refuted reports that he’d already signed a contract making him the highest-paid player in NFL history.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• ⛽ Exposure to leaded gasoline as children may have lowered the IQ of more than half the US population, according to a recent peer-reviewed study, with similar effects likely seen in other developed nations.
• 🦕 Researchers discovered a previously unknown species that may be the oldest stegosaur ever found.
• 🇷🇺 The European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) is halting all future collaboration with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

BEST OF THE REST

• 🎶👂 Heardle, a Wordle spinoff, challenges you to guess a song in as few seconds as possible.
• 💵📅 Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) are now living paycheck to paycheck, according to a LendingClub report.
• ​​✍️🎓 New Mexico's governor signed a bill making tuition free for in-state public schools, including community colleges. (From the Left | From the Right)

💬 Quoted… “Effective immediately, re: [Chinese social media] posts related to Ukraine… Do not post anything unfavorable to Russia or pro-Western.”

The Chinese government is scrubbing its internet of accurate coverage related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and systematically spreading pro-Putin talking points, according to a leaked censorship directive.

🚫🇷🇺 Fact of the Day… Russia is now the most sanctioned country in the world, with a total of 5,530. Iran is second with 3,616 sanctions, followed by Syria (2,608) and North Korea (2,077).

🔢 Number of the Day: 383 years, 143 days... which is the combined age of four siblings who just set a Guinness World Record for the highest average age amongst siblings (96 years old).

🤯 Did You Know?... Getting a tattoo in South Korea is considered a medical procedure that can only be performed by licensed doctors.

📖 Worth a Read… How my startup was almost acquired by Facebook → (John da Maia)

What should the US do to address climate change?

Dedicate as much funding and regulation as possible, ASAP

Dedicate funding and regulation, but prioritize the economy

Dedicate no funding and regulation

Unsure/Other

+Note: A written response isn't required – all you need to do is click one of the links above and your vote is recorded. Poll results and the best comments for each response will be featured in tomorrow's newsletter.

The news, for most people, has felt especially heavy lately.

Pair that with pandemic fatigue and general winter blues, and it's understandable that many people are feeling down and discouraged. 

But sometimes, all we need is a pep talk. 😎

🗣️ Now talk it out... Introduced by California kindergarten teachers Jessica Martin and Asherah Weiss, Peptoc is a free hotline to call when you're feeling down. 

Who's on the other side? The adorable voices of children. 

• A group of kindergarteners have pre-recorded encouraging words of advice and tidbits of wisdom for the hotline.

☎️ Bottom line: With an average volume of 700 calls per hour, Peptoc seems to be making an impact.

"That level of joy and love and imagination is what's going to save us in the end," shared Jessica. "It's really important that we continue to hold this light."

🌏 Fill in the blank: Roughly ___ times as many people speak English as a second language than as a first.

A) Two

B) Three

C) Eight

D) Six

🎂 True or false?: You’re less likely to die on your birthday than any other day.

keep scrolling for the answers

Check out our referral prizes you can get just for introducing people you know to this newsletter. 👇

Here’s your unique link to copy & send to anyone you think would like the DONUT:

Fill in the blank: B) Three. 1.35 billion people speak English, and about 360 million are native speakers.

True or false?: False; studies show the death rate on peoples’ birthdays is 7% to 14% higher than average.😳