Good morning and welcome to Tuesday. On today's docket:

• ✈️ JetBlue gets hostile
• 🍼 America’s baby formula shortage has an end in sight (maybe)
• 💼 How popular are Mondays, really?

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.58 minutes to read.

"Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962)

Spain’s government is set to vote on a bill later today that would implement medical leave for women on their periods. If passed, it would be the first European country to offer menstrual leave.

🤿 A deeper dive… A draft of the bill viewed by El País said that women suffering from severe period symptoms would be given 3-5 days off work monthly.

• The leave is a baseline 3 days for women who have a doctor’s note vouching that they’re experiencing intense symptoms, but in extreme circumstances it’d be extended to 5 days.
• A study of nearly 43,000 women in the Netherlands, published in 2019, found that 85% experienced painful periods, a condition also known as dysmenorrhea.
• Spain is also voting today on eliminating taxes for women's hygiene products, expanding access to abortion services, and extending maternity leave before childbirth as part of a broader women's health overhaul.

🌏 Around the world: Japan, South Korea, and Zambia are some of the few countries currently offering menstrual leave. Paid and unpaid menstrual leave policies have also been documented in Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan, and parts of India and China.

JetBlue Airways announced plans to launch a hostile takeover attempt for Spirit Airlines after its $3.6 billion cash bid was rejected two weeks ago by Spirit’s board in favor of a deal with rival Frontier.

✈️ A deeper dive... In a letter to Spirit shareholders yesterday, JetBlue urged them to vote against the Frontier deal, which they pointed out carries a substantially lower price tag.

• JetBlue is now offering $30 per share, less than the initial offer of $33 per share, though the airline says it’ll return to the original price pending due diligence.
• Frontier’s cash-and-stock deal has lost value in recent weeks and currently sits at ~$19 per share. But according to Spirit’s board, a smaller merger with Frontier is preferable since it’s more likely to be approved by US regulators.

✋ Yes, but… JetBlue disagrees, arguing that the potential partnership isn’t a regulatory hurdle. And even if it is, the airline has committed to paying a $200 million breakup fee if the deal falls through for antitrust reasons, while Frontier hasn’t added any such clause.

• JetBlue claims Spirit’s board rejected its initial offer due to their close ties with Frontier Chairman William Benke, who once served in the same role at Spirit.

📈📉 The market reacts: In the hour after the takeover attempt was publicized, Spirit shares climbed 8.4%, JetBlue fell 2.5%, and Frontier rose 4.0%.

🍞📈 Bread may soon cost more dough. India, the world’s second-biggest wheat producer, announced a ban on most wheat exports over the weekend as prices within the country spiked to record highs. G-7 leaders also warned of an increased risk for a global hunger crisis due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, which together account for ​​nearly a third of the world’s overall wheat supply.

🌍 NATO is inching closer to two new members. Sweden joined Finland yesterday in formally announcing it'll seek NATO membership after more than 200 years of being militarily “non-aligned." A spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Erdogan, who had expressed opposition to the move last Thursday, told Reuters over the weekend that: “We are not closing the door [on the applications].”

🚫🍔🍟 Goodbye, golden arches: McDonald’s is leaving Russia for good. The fast-food joint has begun to sell its ~850 restaurants in the country to a local buyer, citing the "humanitarian crisis" and "unpredictable operating environment" caused by the war. It expects to write off a ~$1.4 billion charge as a result.

• McDonald’s 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. 
• Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported yesterday that McDonald’s restaurants in the country will reopen under a different name soon.

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Last week, ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry’s announced a pilot program called Project Mootopia with the mission of cutting down emissions derived from cow burps.

🐄 A deeper dive... Cows and other livestock make up a significant percentage of overall global greenhouse gas emissions (roughly 15%). Cow burps – aka their way of expelling methane – represent 39% of all livestock emissions, and account for ~80% of the dairy industry’s entire carbon footprint.😳

💊 How it works...

• The plan is to give Ben & Jerry’s dairy cows a new red seaweed supplement developed by startup Blue Ocean Barns, which helps digest methane in their gut. 
• A peer-reviewed study published last year found incorporating red seaweed into cows’ diets reduced methane emissions from their burps by up to 80%, even in very small quantities.

📅 Looking ahead… Project Mootopia's first goal is to lower greenhouse gas emissions at 15 Ben & Jerry’s dairy farms to half the industry average by the end of 2024. If successful, the process will be expanded to farms across the ice-cream giant’s global supply chain.

• ☝️More than one million people have now officially died from Covid in the US. For Americans aged ​​15-24, Covid was the fourth-leading cause of death last year; for those aged 25-44 it came in second, and for those aged 45-54 it was number one.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🍼 Abbott Nutrition reached an agreement with the FDA to reopen its baby formula plant in Sturgis, Michigan, which had been closed since February due to a recall; Abbott said it would take 8-10 weeks for the plant’s baby formula to hit the shelves.
• 🏢 46% of workers went to the office on Wednesdays this past March compared to 35% for Mondays, per data from a security firm that monitors access-card swipes.
• ⚖️ A California judge struck down a state law requiring companies HQ’d in the state to have at least two or three women on their corporate board, depending on the size. (From the Left | From the Right)

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🪞🤖 Black Mirror will return to Netflix for a sixth season, Variety first reported.
• ⚾ St. Louis Cardinals teammates Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina won their 203rd game as a starting battery on Sunday, setting an all-time MLB record; the game also saw 42-year-old first baseman Albert Pujols make his pitching debut.
• 📺 New Nielsen data from the 2021-22 TV season found Netflix drew more TV viewing time than any other outlet, with 22.2 billion hours, though the top 5 scripted shows on CBS (FBI, NCIS, Blue Bloods, FBI: Most Wanted, and NCIS: Hawai’i) beat out their Netflix counterparts (Ozark, Squid Game, You, Inventing Anna, and The Witcher).

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🔋🦠 UK scientists have developed a ‘battery’ made from algae that uses photosynthesis to power a low-energy computer chip, according to a new peer-reviewed study.
• 🛸 A House Intelligence subcommittee is holding a public hearing on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) later today for the first time in over five decades; it follows a gov’t report last year that documented 144 UAP encounters from 2004 to 2021.
• 👶 Some babies at risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) have low levels of a specific enzyme in their blood, per a new peer-reviewed study from Australian scientists, though the authors stressed that their sample was too small to make any definitive claims.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🚨 The man who killed a doctor and injured five others at a Taiwanese church shooting in California over the weekend was a US citizen born in China who was motivated by his hatred of Taiwan, officials said yesterday. (From the Left | From the Right)
• ✍️🪖 President Biden signed a military authorization order to redeploy up to 450 Special Operations forces in Somalia; then-President Trump had withdrawn all US troops from Somalia as one of his last acts in office; Biden also authorized the Pentagon to target roughly a dozen suspected leaders of Al Shabab, a terrorist militant group active in the region. (From the Left | From the Right)
• ⚖️ The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 along ideological lines yesterday in favor of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who was challenging a law that restricted politicians from repaying more than $250,000 worth of loans to themselves from donations received after Election Day. (From the Left | From the Right)

💬 Quoted… “If you’d find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you.”

• Netflix updated its cultural guidelines last week to include a new section on “artistic expression”; last fall, some Netflix employees staged a walkout after the release of Dave Chappelle’s latest comedy special.

💰 Stat of the Day: Millennials have 20% less wealth than their parents did at the same age.

🌎 Around the World: Officials in North Korea confirmed that over 1.2 million people have been sickened with a “fever” since late April, with some 50 “fever-related” deaths; the isolated country is one of two nations that has yet to begin a Covid vaccination campaign (Eritrea is the other).

🤯 Did You Know?... Auto giant Toyota is headquartered in Toyota, Japan, where it was founded, but the company isn’t named after the city – in fact, it’s just the opposite. 

• The city was originally called Komoto, but renamed itself in 1959 due to the automaker’s fame and economic importance.

📖 Worth a Read: How Many Friends Do You Really Need? → (NY Times)

A Jack Russell terrier has not only captured the hearts of Ukrainians, but potentially saved many of their lives, too. 

🐕🇺🇦 The nose that knows... Per Reuters, Patron has detected more than 200 undetonated explosive devices since the beginning of the war in late February. The pup was officially honored by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference last week, where he fell asleep while briefing with journalists.

• His owner, Mykhailo Iliev, said Patron "gives rays of the sun, gives smiles and gives hope only for victory and peace on earth." He added that Patron will work "as long as our people need it."

1. 🍿 Movie Trivia: Which classic horror film takes place at Overlook Hotel?
2. 🏃‍♀️⚖️ True or False?... Humans are the best endurance runners on the planet.
3. 🤔 Riddle Me This: Take off my skin - I won't cry, but you will. What am I?

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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1. 🍿 Trivia: The Shining
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3. 🤔 Riddle: An onion