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🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.79 minutes to read.

"It's the job that's never started that takes the longest to finish."

–J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

Premier Andrew Fahie, the elected leader of the British Virgin Islands, was arrested Thursday in Miami on charges of conspiring to import cocaine and money laundering after a successful sting operation led by the DEA.

🏝️ Some quick context: The British Virgin Islands (BVI) are a British overseas territory made up of more than 40 islands; it’s home to more than 35,000 people and 370,000 companies. It operates as a parliamentary democracy, with the premier acting as the head of the elected government alongside the governor, who is appointed by the UK government and represents the Queen.

❄️🚢 Back to the story… Court papers show DEA officials posed as members of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel (the one formerly run by El Chapo) and struck a $700k+ deal with Fahie to store cocaine hidden inside paint buckets at ports around the territory before sending it on to be sold in the US.

• Top port official Oleanvine Maynard and her son, Kadeem Maynard, were also arrested in the sting operation.

📸 Big picture: The BVI government was already under investigation by the British government for organized crime, corruption, misuse of public funds, and cronyism. In 2021, the UK formed a commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of misgovernance; the investigation came to an end earlier this month.

📝 So, what’s next?... The resulting report from the inquiry recommended a partial dissolution of the territory’s government for two years. A quote: “Almost everywhere, the principles of good governance, such as openness, transparency and even the rule of law, are ignored… The relevant elected officials are well aware of this chronic lack of governance.”

• Over the weekend, a UK delegation traveled to the territory to hold discussions with high-ranking BVI officials.

🇺🇦 More than 100 Ukrainian civilians were rescued from a blockaded steel plant in Mariupol yesterday, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky and the International Committee on the Red Cross. 

• Local officials said the evacuation was later paused due to “security reasons,” but pledged to resume their efforts early this morning.
• Ukraine's military has destroyed more than 1,000 Russian tanks so far, along with 200 aircraft and 2,500 armored fighting vehicles, per Zelensky; he also pegged the Russian death toll at more than 23,000.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a group of Democratic lawmakers met with Zelensky in Kyiv yesterday.
• The Russian ruble reached a two-year high against the US dollar on Friday, which experts attributed to countries buying Russian gas in rubles.

How the invasion is impacting…

🚀 Space: The head of Russia’s space program announced the country is pulling out of the International Space Station, blaming the move on sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine; Russia is required to give its partners one year’s notice before pulling out.

🛢️ Oil: The EU is set to approve a "phased embargo" on Russian oil as early as this week, which would lead to a complete ban by the end of this year, officials told Reuters; Germany, the biggest European buyer of Russian oil, is reportedly in favor of the move.

Amazon stock suffered its worst day in more than 15 years on Friday, dropping 14+% and wiping away more than $206 billion in market cap. It’s the second-largest single-day decline in market cap for a US company on record, behind only Facebook’s ~$238 billion drop earlier this year.

📝 The deets…

• Amazon generated more than $116 billion in sales from January through March, a 7% YOY increase, but reported a net loss of $3.8 billion, its first quarterly loss in 7 years.
• The company attributed the loss largely to a $7.6 billion write-down of its investment in electric automaker Rivian Automotive, which has seen its stock drop more than 75% since its November 2021 IPO.
• Excluding the Rivian loss, Amazon would have made a profit of $3.8 billion. Analysts surveyed by data firm Refinitiv had forecast $4.4 billion.

📸 Big picture: Amazon acknowledged that a hiring and warehouse-building binge during the pandemic is catching up with the company as e-commerce sales growth inevitably slows from the torrid pace of the outbreak, Bloomberg reports. In addition to quoting the Foo Fighters in his first letter to shareholders earlier this month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote, “We realized the equivalent of three years’ forecasted growth in about 15 months.”

📉 Zoom out: It’s been a pretty rough year for FAANG companies.👇

Imagine living your whole life without knowing how caffeine is supposed to feel. Today is National Matcha Day (mega-sale incoming👇), a holiday created almost entirely to spread the word about how to wake up happier! There’s no shame in being late to the show… but you might freak.

For most people the first bowl of matcha they drink turns out to be like a reset button… but for your soul. Finding something other than coffee after years of unnecessary suffering has never been easier. Especially with today’s deals.

Matcha has everything that you need to wake up HAPPY. Stuff like high L-theanine levels (anti-anxiety), super concentrated vitamins and minerals, and the highest rating of antioxidants than anything else on earth, which also double as mood-boosters!

🍵 NATIONAL MATCHA DAY SALE: Our friends at Matcha.com are hooking you up with 30% off (just use code DONUT) and a $20 gift card after your purchase!

➡️ Today Only: Use code DONUT for 30% OFF + Automatic $20 Gift Card. You won’t find this offer anywhere else.

Last week, President Biden confirmed that he’s taking a “hard look” at potential executive action to forgive some amount of federal student loan debt less than $50,000 per person.

🎓💰 Background: The Biden administration has discharged $17+ billion in federal loans for over 700,000 borrowers to date. Last month, it extended the pause on federal student loan payments – initiated at the start of the pandemic – through August 31.

• Over the weekend, sources told WaPo that White House officials are looking at limiting new debt cancellation to those making below $125,000–$150,000 as an individual, or $250,000–$300,000 for couples who file taxes together.

🔢 By the numbers... On the higher end, these criteria👆 would encompass 97% of the more than 40 million people that owe ~$1.6 trillion in federal student debt, an amount larger than credit-card or auto debt.

• Federal loans make up more than 90% of outstanding student debt, and nearly 80% of federal borrowers made no payments during the pandemic freeze.
• The average amount borrowed by the class of 2020 (out of those who took out loans) was $28,400, per the College Board. 54% of borrowers owe less than $20,000.
• Canceling $10,000 in debt for every student borrower – a campaign pledge from Biden – would cost the US government roughly $245 billion, according to the nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

👀 Looking ahead… Biden said he expects to make a decision on federal student loan forgiveness “in the next couple of weeks.”

• ☝️ The Cerro Pelado Fire in New Mexico is now America’s largest active wildfire, growing from 103 square miles in size on Friday to 152 square miles by early Saturday; local officials described the blaze as ~30% contained by Saturday evening.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📉 The Nasdaq finished off its worst month since the 2008 financial crisis on Friday (-13.3%); the S&P 500 closed its worst four-month start to the year since 1939 (-13.9%).
• 🪙💰 The Bored Ape Yacht Club's creator, Yuga Labs, raised $320 million in crypto on Saturday night alone after auctioning off land parcels in its virtual world; demand was so high it caused disruptions on the ethereum blockchain.
• 💰 Elon Musk sold off ~$8.4 billion worth of Tesla stock to help finance his acquisition of Twitter, but said he doesn’t plan to sell any more.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀🏈 The first round of the NBA playoffs concluded over the weekend, with the conference semifinals officially tipping off last night. | The NFL draft also concluded over the weekend.
• 🏆 LeVar Burton, the former host of the PBS show Reading Rainbow, will receive the first Lifetime Achievement Award at the inaugural Children's and Family Emmys in December.
• ⚾ The MLB suspended Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer for two seasons for violating the league’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy; Bauer said he plans to appeal the ruling, which would cost him $60 million in salary if upheld.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 💧 MIT scientists have developed a portable desalination unit that can turn seawater into fresh drinking water with the push of a button.
• 🛰️ The James Webb Space Telescope has successfully aligned and is now ready to capture images of deep space, according to NASA.
• 💎💿 Japanese researchers have developed a new method to mass-produce 2-inch diamond wafers that can be used in quantum computing to store the equivalent of 1 billion Blu-Ray discs of data.
• 🤖 Robot engineers have built a device capable of jumping over 100 times its own height; it could one day be used for lunar exploration.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🇨🇳🦠 Beijing has banned all restaurant dining and ordered residents to provide proof of a negative Covid test to enter public places, as infections soar in the city.
• 🏛️ The White House Correspondents Dinner was held on Saturday for the first time since 2019. (From the Left | From the Right)
• ⚖️ The DOJ filed a lawsuit challenging an Alabama law that criminalizes gender-affirming care for trans youth, calling it a violation of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. (From the Left | From the Right)

💬 Quoted… “It’s a gambling parlor.”

• Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett had some choice words for today’s financial markets as he addressed thousands of shareholders at the company’s annual “Woodstock for Capitalists” over the weekend in Omaha, Nebraska.

☆ Stats of the Day: In 2015, there were six earthquakes that topped 3.0 on the Richter scale in Texas; last year there were 181 and in the first three months of this year there were another 59, per Bloomberg; many experts attribute the change to new fracking initiatives in the Permian Basin.

🤯 Did You Know?... The only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles coexist in the wild is South Florida.

📖 Worth a Read: Critical Thinking Is About Asking Better Questions → (Harvard Business Review)

Monday: Eid al-Fitr, a celebration to commemorate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, begins in most US communities; NHL playoffs begin; The 2022 Met Gala takes place

Tuesday: The second and third primaries of the 2022 midterm season (in Ohio and Indiana)

Wednesday: Fed concludes two-day policy meeting; it's expected to raise interest rates by 0.5%.

Thursday: Cinco de Mayo

Friday: April jobs report; Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hits theaters

A ten-year-old Floridian has made it his mission to send as many stuffed animals to Ukraine as possible, hoping that the plush toys will help comfort children faced with the hardship of war. 

• "I felt very bad because they don’t deserve it," the generous youngster, Sage Goodall, told First Coast News. "All they deserve is to have fun and not be sad or scared, so I knew there was something I could do to make the kids feel happy and not sad or scared, collect stuffed animals so when they’re scared or sad, they can hug onto it."

🐶🐱🐰🇺🇦 Stuffed with love... In just over a month, Sage has already collected over 1,000 animals to send overseas.

• He has no plans of stopping any time soon, having committed to collecting and donating the animals until the war is over.you can contact Goodall's mom, Rhonda Goodall, at 

+Dose of Action: At the moment, donations are confined to Florida residents. If you're outside of Florida and would like to get in contact to help/donate, you can email Sage's mom, Rhonda Goodall, at goodallrlg@aol.com.

❓ Trivia: What is the only state with an official state nut?

⚖️ True or false: Turtles can’t feel their shells.

🤔 Riddle me this… What travels all around the world but stays in the corner?

(keep scrolling for the answers)

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get just for introducing people you know to little old us. Just copy your unique link below, and then send to anyone you think would like the DONUT.

❓ Trivia: Oregon. They named the hazelnut the state nut in 1989, and currently grow 99% of the US commercial crop.

⚖️ T/F: False. Turtles and tortoises have nerves in their shells and can feel vibrations similar to how we do in our fingernails.

🤔 Riddle: A stamp. We'd also accept "a stowaway."