Good morning and welcome to Tuesday. It’s about time we had “The Talk.”

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Don't worry – it'd still be low commitment. For example: we’ve been playing around with the idea of adding a weekly section to the newsletter where we answer some questions from readers, both about the news and about the DONUT.

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🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.34 minutes to read.

"Great acts are made up of small deeds."

–Lao Tzu (b. 571 B.C.)

🇺🇦 Ukrainian officials said their forces retook control of Irpin, a southern suburb of Kyiv, along with the eastern town of Trostyanets, as negotiators on both sides prepared to meet in Turkey this morning.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky outlined the conditions under which Ukraine might accept neutrality as part of a peace deal; any such agreement would need to be validated by a nationwide referendum after Russian troops have fully withdrawn.
• In his budget proposal unveiled yesterday, President Biden called for $6.9 billion to be directed towards NATO, European defense, Ukraine and countering Russian aggression.
• Brewing giants Heineken and Carlsberg announced they’re leaving the Russian market; Heineken expects to write down a loss of $439 million, while Carlsberg didn’t provide a specific number; Carlsberg controls 25% of the local market and generates 10% of its revenue there.
• Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning after a meeting in Kyiv earlier this month, sources told the WSJ; they’ve since improved and their lives aren’t in danger.

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

🏛️ The White House officially unveiled a new $5.8 trillion budget proposal for the fiscal year 2023, which begins October 1.

• A large chunk of that money (~$3 trillion) is allocated towards Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and is paid out automatically every year.
• Biden’s proposal calls for a 4% boost in defense spending from $782 billion to $813 billion. That’s more than double the 1.6% increase in last year’s budget.
• It also requests $32+ billion in new spending over the next decade on a variety of programs to expand law enforcement and crime prevention.
• Biden’s budget projects that this year’s deficit will be $1.2 trillion less than last year as pandemic-era spending is phased out.
• The White House also plans to decrease the deficit an additional $1 trillion over the next decade through higher taxes on corporations and America’s wealthiest households.

👀 Looking ahead… The White House's budget isn't a binding document, but a blueprint that signals the administration's priorities. Congress will now hold hearings to question Biden administration officials about their specific requests before developing its own budget resolution.

+Dig deeper: From the Left | From the Right

The city of Shanghai began a two-tiered Covid shutdown impacting its 26 million residents yesterday, China’s most extensive city-wide lockdown in two years.

🤔 Why it’s a big deal: Since the pandemic began, the world’s second-biggest economy has followed a “zero-Covid” policy, repeatedly locking down entire cities (or sections of them) and ordering factories to suspend operations.

The closed factories cause production and shipping snags in various industries, which then impacts consumers (aka us).

• When authorities halted operations at a port in Shenzhen last June because of Covid, it caused a shipping backlog that took months to ease. One exec at shipping giant Maersk told Fortune that the closure was “a much bigger disruption than the Ever Given getting stuck in the Suez Canal.”😳
• Shanghai’s port remains open for now, but exporters are bracing for delays as the lockdowns hit warehouses, transport and staffing, a pattern experienced during similar targeted lockdowns such as the one in the southern city of Shenzhen.
• The city of Shanghai plays host to hundreds of multinational companies and manufacturers like GM and Tesla (the latter of which has shut down its factory in the city for four days).

🏙 Zoom in: East Shanghai residents were ordered to stay inside from Monday–Thursday, according to a government notice, then the lockdown will switch to West Shanghai residents for four days starting April 1.

👀 Looking ahead… China is seeking to wean itself off these disruptive and costly all-out lockdowns, but faces an immense challenge as omicron puts stress on the country’s healthcare and governance systems, the WSJ reports.

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Self-driving trucks could one day replace 90+% of all highway trucking, according to a new study from the University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon University.

🚚 The deets: Researchers assessed the impact of autonomous trucking technology currently being tested in Sun Belt states based on different scenarios of deployment.

• If self-driving tech is limited to just the Sun Belt, the researchers predict about 10% of operator-hours would be affected.
• But if it's deployed across the US in all applicable scenarios, up to 94% of operator-hours would be affected. That translates to impacting about 500,000 full-time workers.

✋ Yes, but… To date, most autonomous trucks have been tested in sunny, dry climates like the South/Southwest. But many experts say the challenges posed by rain, ice or snow in the northern US means self-driving tech is likely decades away from fundamentally threatening the labor market.

📸 The big picture: Autonomous-driving tech has progressed in the US in recent years, but slowly. 

• Most vehicles manufactured today have some form of driver-assistance tech focused on safety, but they still require drivers to remain engaged (i.e., the third of six defined levels of autonomous driving).

• ☝️ Christie’s has started taking bids for the largest white diamond in auction history (228.3 carats); it’s expected to fetch $30+ million.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🚘 Tesla is seeking shareholder approval to split its stock, according to an SEC filing; the company added ~$84 billion in market cap following this news; CEO Elon Musk also tweeted that he tested positive for Covid for a second time.
• 📦 FedEx founder Fred Smith is stepping down as CEO more than 50 years after starting the company.
• 📈 Shares of GameStop have risen 143% over the past 10 trading days, including +25% yesterday; fellow meme-stock AMC jumped 45% on the day.
• 🚫🚬 Walmart ended cigarette sales at some of its locations, including stores in California, Florida, Arkansas and New Mexico.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀 The women’s Final Four is set – No. 1 South Carolina will face No. 1 Louisville, while No. 1 Stanford will play No. 2 Connecticut (appearing in its 14th straight Final Four).
• ⚽ USA Men’s Soccer is all-but-guaranteed a spot in this year’s World Cup after defeating Panama 5-1 late Sunday.
• 🏈 The Detroit Lions will be featured in this year’s season of Hard Knocks on HBO; it’ll be quarterback Jared Goff’s third time on the show – more than any other player – in just six NFL seasons.
• 🎞 The Oscars will launch a formal review of the Will Smith–Chris Rock slap incident; read Smith's apology to Rock here; viewership for the event was up 56% from last year.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 📸 Instant NeRF is a new tool from Nvidia that can convert 2D images into a rendered 3D scene almost instantly.
• 🚀 NASA and the European Space Agency pushed back the return date for the Perserverance rover's Mars samples by two years, from 2031 to 2033.
• ☕ Drinking two to three cups of coffee each day is associated with longevity and a decreased risk of heart disease, according to new research that’ll be presented at a conference next month.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 📝💰 A former Microsoft employee published an essay alleging that Microsoft’s foreign contracting business has engaged in widespread bribery.
• 🇩🇪 Germans who display the letter "Z" to symbolize support for Russia's war in Ukraine could be liable to prosecution, a German Interior Ministry spokesperson said yesterday.
• ✍️ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a controversial LGBTQ+ education bill into law yesterday; Disney published a statement vowing to help repeal the measure. (From the Left | From the Right | Background from the DONUT)

💬 Quoted… “Based on the evidence, the Court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021.”

• A federal judge ruled that a law professor who advised then-President Donald Trump on overturning the 2020 election must hand over his emails to the Jan. 6 committee, saying both he and Trump likely committed a felony in their efforts. 
• The ruling has no direct bearing on whether Trump will face criminal charges.

+Dig deeper: From the Left | From the Right

🏆🎭 Fact of the Day: On Sunday, the character of Anita in West Side Story joined Vito Corleone (The Godfather, The Godfather Part II) and the Joker (The Dark Knight, Joker) as the only characters who’ve had multiple actors win Oscars for portraying them.

🤯 Did You Know?... A star in the Big Dipper named Alcor was once used as a vision test in Ancient Rome. If a man could see the star’s faint outline in the sky, he would be eligible to be an archer in the Roman army.

📖 Worth a Read: How to Deal With Office Jerks → (WSJ)

A young Ukrainian girl, Amelia Anisovych, went viral last month for her stunning rendition of "Let It Go," performed in a bomb shelter while hiding from Russian airstrikes. 

• Quick note: The 7-year-old is currently safe with her grandmother in Poland. 

🎤 Hand her the mic... Amelia's video – with 20 million views and counting – caught the eye of aid organization Polish Humanitarian Action, which asked her to sing Ukraine's national anthem at an upcoming benefit concert for her country. 

• Standing on the arena stage, Amelia bravely lifted her voice in front of thousands of people... and knocked it out of the park. 

🤔 Guess the Country... Below you’ll find some random facts about a country in Europe. Can you guess which one?

• This unknown country has the second-most zoos in the world.
• Its language is the most popular third language in the world.
• And its capital city boasts the largest train station on the continent.

❓ Trivia... How many miles does a beam of light travel in a single second?

A) 1,860

B) 18,600

C) 186,000

D) 1,860,000

keep scrolling for the answers

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

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Country: 🇩🇪 Germany

Trivia: C) 186,000; even so, it takes about 8 minutes and 20 seconds for the Sun’s rays to reach Earth – a distance of 93 million miles.