Good morning and Happy Friday! Let’s take a moment of appreciation for Phoenix Suns center, Bismack Biyombo, who’s donating every single penny of his $1.3 million salary towards the construction of a hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Bravo, Bismack. Bravo.👏

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.40 minutes to read.

"Take the attitude of a student. Never be too big to ask questions. Never know too much to learn something new."

–Augustine "Og" Mandino (1923-1996)

🇺🇦 Congress overwhelmingly passed a pair of resolutions yesterday suspending Russia's preferential trade status and banning all energy imports from the country. The Senate voted 100-0 in favor of both; President Biden is expected to sign them into law soon.

• The UN voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council yesterday; it’s the first time a permanent Security Council member has had its membership revoked from any UN body.
• More than 4.3 million Ukrainians have fled the country, per the UN, with over 2.5 million of them ending up in Poland; another ~6.5 million people have been displaced from their homes but remain inside the country.
• The mayor of the southern city of Mariupol said he believes at least 5,000 civilians have been killed there since the start of Russia's invasion.

🛢️⛽ Oil & Gas: US allies are planning to release 60 million additional barrels of oil from their strategic reserves, in addition to a previous US commitment to release 180 million barrels over the next six months.

• Shell projected an up to $5 billion loss in Q1 related to its decision to exit operations in Russia.
• Global crude prices have fallen 5+% over the past two days, and briefly dipped below $100 per barrel yesterday for the first time in three weeks.
• The average price for a gallon of gas in the US is $4.15 – down seven cents from a week ago, but still nine cents more than a month ago.

🇦🇺 Floating down under… One week ago yesterday, Australian authorities reported they had arrested four people in relation to trafficking 917 pounds of cocaine that police found floating in the ocean off the country’s southern coast. The drugs carry a street value of over $166 million, the largest seizure ever in South Australia.

🇬🇧🍌 This story is bananas, B–A–N–A–N–A–S… Over in the UK, authorities one-upped their Australian counterparts, seizing 3.7 tons of coke worth ~$400 million (their largest seizure since 2015), per Home Secretary Priti Patel. Where’d they find it? Concealed within 20 pallets of fresh bananas that had recently arrived from Colombia.

🚫 Hail, Hydra… Is the opposite of what German and US authorities were saying this week after shutting down the Russian-linked Hydra Market, the world’s largest and longest-running darknet market. Since 2015, the site has facilitated more than $5 billion in black-market crypto transactions. (And in 2021, it accounted for ~80% of the entire darknet market.)

🇺🇸 A little closer to home… The Orange County DA’s office announced Wednesday that police had recovered 821 pounds of meth, 190 pounds of cocaine and ~21 pounds of fentanyl pills (enough to kill nearly 5 million people) in a drug bust. It’s the county’s biggest seizure in over 16 years.

Walmart is raising pay for its long-haul truck drivers and launching an internal training program amidst a global driver shortage, the company announced yesterday.

🚛 The deets… Truck drivers at the world’s largest retailer will now make between $95,000–$110,000 in their first year with the company. Walmart didn’t say what starting pay was previously, only that drivers made an average of $87,500 in year one.

• The company also started a 12-week program in Sanger, Texas, and Dover, Delaware, where people can earn a commercial driver’s license for free and join Walmart’s fleet.

📸 Big picture: The pandemic has made trucker shortages more severe, as the demand to move freight hits historic highs. The American Trucking Association estimates the US is currently short about 80,000 drivers.

• This problem isn’t unique to America, either. A big part of why China’s Covid lockdowns are currently impacting global supply chains isn’t the lack of production – for the most part, factories have figured out how to scale manufacturing down or up as necessary – but the difficulty around transporting the manufactured products to ports, and then shipping them to other countries.

📝 The bottom line: Autonomous trucking is likely still decades away from threatening the labor market – and currently, many companies have a “drivers wanted” sign hanging in the window.

🐶🍌 I mean, of course they can. We all know dogs can eat just about anything.

🤔 But should they eat bananas? What about strawberries? Eggs? Cheese? What about cats? What can they safely eat?

For the answers to these questions and much more, check out ask purrch – a brilliant resource recently launched by the pet lovers over at purrch.

😺👩‍⚕️They collaborated with board-certifed veterinarians to create straightforward, expert-backed answers to what your pets can safely eat. The robust tool currently features over 1,000 answers, with more being added everyday.

🌎🐕 And while you’re at it, make sure to check out the purrch app. It's the first and only pet-focused app allowing pet parents to connect and tackle everyday challenges together.

purrch is a thriving online community that emphasizes collaboration and community over competition and individualism. Navigate pet parenthood with other users, and share tips on everything from puppy-training tips to caring for aging pets. 👍

➡️ Get the scoop on what's safe for your pets with ask purrch!

A bipartisan group of senators introduced a measure yesterday to block the Biden administration from ending a pandemic-era immigration policy known as Title 42.

📅 Background: First introduced by the Trump administration in March 2020, Title 42 allows border agents to turn away migrants at the southern border on grounds that they might bring Covid into the US.

• The policy has been used over the past two years to turn away ~1.7 million migrants – more than half of all illegal crossings – even when they were asking for asylum, a request usually allowing migrants to stay in the US long enough to plead their case before a judge.

🏛️ That brings us to last week… when the Biden administration announced plans to end the policy by May 23, because “there is no longer a serious danger” that migrants would introduce or spread Covid.

• The announcement was met with immediate pushback from Republicans and a handful of Democrats, who questioned whether Biden had a plan in place to deal with a potential mass migration event that could occur after ending the program.
• The attorneys general of Arizona, Missouri and Louisiana filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to stop the Biden administration from rescinding Title 42.

🇺🇸 The big picture: US Border Patrol apprehended a record 1.7 million migrants in the fiscal year 2021, and are currently on pace to surpass that total this year.

• There’s no penalty for expelling migrants under Title 42, which has led many to attempt repeat crossings in hopes of eventually making it through – with each attempt counted separately by the USBP.
• Per DHS figures, as many as 38% of migrant encounters during some parts of last year were individuals who had already been turned away at least once in the past 12 months.

• ☝️ The Ants and Aphids, one of the winners of Smithsonian Magazine’s 19th annual photo contest.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📈 US stocks closed up slightly across the board, snapping a two-day losing streak. (Dow: +0.3% | S&P: +0.4% | Nasdaq: +0.1%)
• 📉 New unemployment claims fell to 166,000 last week, their lowest level since 1968.
• 💳 BNPL giant Affirm said it’s hiring ~130 former Fast engineers after the one-click payment app shut its doors.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🎮 Lego is partnering with Fortnite developer Epic Games to build a family-friendly metaverse for kids; further details are scarce.
• 🏌️ Tiger Woods finished his first Masters round at 1-under par – just outside the Top 10.
• 🏈 Two more coaches joined a racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL that was filed by Steelers assistant and former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🔎📸 Google launched a beta of its Lens Multisearch feature, a combination of text and image search that lets users Google things they can’t quite describe.
• 🌙⚡ Stanford researchers created a solar panel that can generate energy at night using the temperature difference between the air and the panel's surface.
• 🤖🖼️ DALL-E AI, created by Elon Musk and Microsoft’s OpenAI, is capable of generating images based on details from a written description.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🇵🇰 Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled against Prime Minister Imran Khan in his bid to dissolve parliament to prevent a no-confidence vote that could remove him from office.
• 🚫🏘️ Canada is banning foreigners from purchasing homes for two years amid a surge in housing costs.
• 🏛️ The Senate voted 53-47 to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, with three Republicans – Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Mitt Romney (UT) – joining all 50 Democrats in voting yes; she's the first Black woman and first former federal public defender to be elevated to the nation’s highest court. (From the Left | From the Right)

💬 Quoted… “Weapons, weapons and weapons.”

• Ukraine’s foreign minister said his agenda was “very simple” as he arrived yesterday at NATO headquarters for talks with the organization’s diplomats.

📛 Stat of the Day: Less than half of Americans (47%) know the names of all four of their grandparents, according to a new survey.

🤯 Did You Know?... The world’s smallest inhabited island is roughly the size of a tennis court.

📖 Worth a Read: Why Community Matters So Much — and How to Find Yours → (Vox)

DONUT HQ is located in the city of Austin, which has a motto: “Keep Austin Weird.” In celebration of that sentiment, here are the most unusual, off-the-wall and occasionally laugh-out-loud headlines from this week.

• Whataburger biscuit calorie check leads to Texas teen's arrest → (KXAN Austin)
• Woman won $10 million after pushing wrong button on vending machine at supermarket → (ABC7 Los Angeles)
• The latest line of defense against wolves on this Colorado ranch? Guard donkeys ​​→ (CPR News)
• Pink Floyd, a fugitive flamingo who escaped from a Kansas zoo 17 years ago, has been spotted on tour in Texas → (CNN)

Why? Because you’re a dedicated reader of the DONUT. We appreciate you! 🙏🍩

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🤔 What’s Refind?... It’s a daily newsletter that delivers links to high-quality articles curated to your interests. We’re talking no fluff, and no tacky sites plastered with ads. This is actual content that will enrich your life. And it’s free! 🙌

⚙️ How it works… go to Refind.com. Select 5 topics of interest. Rate a couple of sample links. Done!

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One Mama duck chose the perfect place to build her nest in preparation for her ducklings' arrival: a Jacksonville maternity ward. 

🦆🐥 🐥 🐥 Mom knows best... The duck flew into an enclosed courtyard at Baptist Medical Center Beaches to build her nest. But after her babies hatched, she had no way of getting them out. 

• With the help of some quick-thinking employees, the duck and her babies were escorted through hospital’s labor and delivery unit, with workers using cardboard posters to politely guide them towards the door.

Don't mind us, we're just over here quacking up at the sight of it all.

❓ Trivia: What're the three most commonly spoken languages in the world?

🤔 Riddle me this… What is something that's yours, but is used more by others?

⚖️ True or false?... At one time, the Polish army had a bear enlisted in its ranks.

(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:

❓ Trivia:

1. English
2. Mandarin
3. Hindi

🤔 Riddle: Your name. (We'd also accept "my Netflix account.")

⚖️ T/F: True; Wojtek the bear was enlisted from 1943 until 1945, eventually reaching the rank of Corporal. 

• His favorite drink was beer, and he enjoyed cigarettes (both eating and smoking them).