Good morning. In today’s edition:

• ⚖️ The DOJ is looking to take a bite out of Apple
• 🌋 A Martian volcano taller than Everest has been hiding in plain sight
• ✈️ Lavatory chillin’

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 5.29-minute read.

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"It is far better to light the candle than to curse the darkness."

–William L. Watkinson (1828-1925)

The US Justice Department, along with 16 states and the District of Columbia, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple yesterday, alleging that the tech giant’s policies around its products are harming consumers.

The suit, the third legal action Apple has faced from the US gov’t since 2009 but by far the most broad, takes aim at the company’s “walled garden” – which is basically a way of saying that its iPhone-centric product suite is designed in a way that anyone stopping to smell the Apple flowers can’t just pick one off the vine and then vault over a hydrangea bush to easily extricate themselves from the situation.

Some of the ways Apple is harming consumers, per the suit:

• Blocking super apps. These apps – similar to WeChat in China and Elon Musk’s purported plan for X – enable consumers to access a wide variety of services across platforms and devices. Without them, consumers switching platforms (i.e., Apple → Android) are forced to set up new ways to access the same services.
• Making it harder to message across platforms so consumers gravitate toward iPhones. Android users can’t access iMessage, which is more secure than SMS, causing all their iPhone friends to have to live with those dreaded green bubbles.
• Diminishing the functionality of non-Apple smartwatches. Apple has limited the functions of third-party smartwatches, so that users who purchase the Apple Watch face substantial out-of-pocket costs if they don’t keep buying iPhones.
• Limiting third-party digital wallets. Apple has restricted access to a chip in the iPhone that allows for contactless payments. And credit cards can only be added to the iPhone by using Apple's own Apple Pay service.

Apple’s response: The company has long argued that it restricts access to some user data and some of the iPhone's hardware for privacy and security reasons.

One interesting thing: The government in this case is using similar arguments to the claims it made against Microsoft in the ‘90s, in a seminal lawsuit that argued the company was tying its web browser to the Windows operating system, the NY Times reports.

👀 Looking ahead… This antitrust case could take years to play out in court before a resolution. But it ultimately could force Apple to make changes to some of its most valuable product lines – the iPhone ($200 billion in sales in 2023), the Apple Watch (part of its $40 billion wearables businesses), and services ($85 billion).

📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, is Apple harming consumers with its walled garden model?

• Yes
• No
• Unsure/other

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🌍🚢 Somali pirates are staging a comeback. According to a new Reuters report, Somali pirates have in recent months ramped up attacks in the Indian Ocean for the first time since 2014, in an effort to take advantage of the distraction provided by recent Houthi rebel strikes in the Red Sea. Since November, pirates have seized at least 14 vessels off Somalia’s coast – and local officials expect this figure to increase significantly after monsoon season ends this month.

💥 Israel’s military claims it's fighting Hamas troops at Gaza's biggest hospital, which Hamas denies. Israeli officials say they’ve killed “over 140 terrorists” and arrested 300 other militants in an ongoing raid that began Wednesday, with prisoners including dozens of top Hamas commanders. Hamas has denied that its fighters were based in the Al-Shifa hospital, and claims that all of the people killed in Israel’s raid were wounded patients and displaced Palestinians. Independent news organizations have been unable to verify either account.

🇪🇺🇷🇺🇺🇦 The EU agreed to give Ukraine the profits from ~$206 billion in seized Russian assets. Yesterday’s agreement came after nearly a year of negotiations over the legal basis for the EU’s seizure of Russian assets as part of sanctions over its war in Ukraine. The move to pay Ukraine carries some legal risk, with the possibility that the funds would have to be returned if Russia launches legal action after the war. The EU’s proposal sets aside 90% of the money for Ukraine’s military, and 10% for reconstruction.

Major League Baseball kicked off its 2024 season on Wednesday morning with its biggest superstar, Shohei Ohtani, collecting two hits and leading his LA Dodgers to a win.

But the dream Opening Day scenario for Ohtani quickly turned into a nightmare, when reports emerged that his interpreter was fired Wednesday afternoon over his association with an alleged illegal bookmaker – and that Ohtani’s personal bank account was allegedly used to pay at least $4.5 million in gambling debts.

Ohtani’s response to the reports has only raised more questions. A spokesperson for the superstar initially told ESPN that Ohtani was covering the gambling debts of his longtime friend and interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.

Ohtani’s spokesperson also sanctioned a 90-minute ESPN interview with Mizuhara, in which the interpreter reportedly said Ohtani approved the wire transfers to cover Mizuhara’s gambling losses – and that Ohtani had zero involvement in the betting.

• But, as ESPN was about to publish its story, Ohtani’s camp reversed course and disavowed Mizuhara’s account, saying Ohtani was “the victim of a massive theft.”
• Mizuhara also walked back most of his story less than 24 hours after the interview, and now says Ohtani had no knowledge or involvement in Mizuhara’s efforts to repay his gambling debts.

📝 Bottom line: No one involved in the story – including the alleged illegal bookmaker – has accused Ohtani of placing any bets, or alleged that his interpreter ever bet on baseball. The MLB said yesterday that the Dodgers star isn’t currently under any investigation.

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Pack it up Satoshi Nakamoto, there’s a new hide-and-seek champion of the universe.

A team of scientists recently announced the discovery of a volcano taller than Mount Everest on the surface of Mars, which has been “hid[ing] in plain sight” for the past 50+ years.

What’s behind the large oversight? According to the researchers, spacecraft orbiting Mars have been unknowingly capturing images of Noctis Mons, or “night mountain,” ever since they first arrived at the red planet in 1971.

• However, Noctis Mons is so deeply eroded that it slipped under the radar over the years – until the new study pieced together images from several Mars orbiters to establish the volcano’s existence.

And, if you’re still wondering how a 29,600-foot-tall volcano went unnoticed for decades, it may help to know the scale of landmarks on Mars – Noctis Mons is the seventh-tallest known peak on the red planet, and pales in comparison to other Martian peaks like Olympus Mons (an Arizona-sized volcano that’s ~3x taller).

👀 Looking ahead… Noctis Mons appears to have glaciers near its surface, potentially making the volcano an attractive site for future human exploration. NASA plans to land the first humans on Mars as early as the 2030s.

💬 Quoted… “[He stowed away by spending] a significant amount of time in the lavatory.”

• A Texas man was arrested in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Sunday after channeling Mr. Deeds’ butler and boarding a Delta Air Lines flight without a ticket by using a photo he had taken of another passenger’s boarding pass while she wasn't looking (I ammm very-very sneaky, sir). After making it onto the plane, the 26-year-old man first hung out in the front lavatory, then the back lavatory – before being noticed by flight attendants, who, after speaking with him, realized he wasn’t on the manifest and ordered the plane, which was close to taking off, to turn around. The stowaway said he was on a snowboarding trip and needed to get home, and had previously attempted to fly on two Southwest flights using a friend’s “buddy pass” but they were full.

💰 Stat of the Day: If the shareholders of SPAC Digital World Acquisition approve a merger with Truth Social in a vote later today, which is expected, former President Trump’s ~60% stake in the social media platform would be worth ~$3.5 billion based on current stock prices.

🤔 Did You Know?... Frank Herbert’s novel Dune was rejected by more than 20 publishers before being accepted by a company mainly known for its auto-repair manuals.

📰 Worth a Read: The Respected Oxford Professors Who Say They Time Traveled → (Atlas Obscura)

• ☝️ You’re looking at the Deep Sleep Hotel, aka the world’s deepest hotel, which is located 1,400 feet underground in an abandoned slate mine in Wales; visitors must navigate flooded tunnels and zip-line across an abyss as part of the hour-long journey to the hotel.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Kickresume

• 💰 US markets closed up across the board (S&P: +0.3%; Dow: +0.7%; Nasdaq: +0.2%); all three indexes closed at a record high for the second straight day. | 📈 Reddit shares rose 48% in the social media company’s first day of public trading. (Background)
• 🏘️ US existing home sales rose 9.5% in February, significantly higher than the 1.3% decrease expected by economists.
• ✈️ United Airlines yesterday began allowing friends and family to pool their frequent flyer miles, joining JetBlue and Frontier.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀 Men’s March Madness: Day one of the First Round took place yesterday, with upset winners including No. 11 Duquesne and No. 11 Oregon; the First Round concludes today, with Second Round action set for Saturday and Sunday; the women’s March Madness First Round tips off later today.
• 🐉 HBO’s House of the Dragon released dueling Season 2 trailers and announced a premiere date: June 16, 2024.
• 🏈 The NFL is considering a series of rule changes that include changing the kickoff structure to incentivize more returns, and banning the hip-drop tackling technique.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Niphtio

• 💊🧬 Lenmeldy, a new gene therapy to treat a fatal disorder called MLD, will have a list price of $4.25 million – making it the world’s most expensive drug.
• 🧠 The first human Neuralink patient, a 29-year-old man with quadriplegia, said his January implant surgery was "super easy," and the device has enabled him to play online chess and video games.
• 🏥🐷 Massachusetts General Hospital announced the world’s first instance of a gene-edited pig kidney being successfully transplanted into a living person.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🇨🇳📲 China's government can use TikTok to spy on US users and push propaganda at significant levels, per an Axios report citing senators who received a classified briefing on TikTok this week.
• 🗳️ California voters narrowly approved a ballot proposition that allocates $6.4 billion to overhaul how the state addresses homelessness, drug addiction, and mental illness.
• 💰 The Biden campaign and Democratic party began March with over 3x as much cash on hand compared to Trump and Republicans ($155 million vs. $50 million).

CLICKBAIT

• 📱🦐 How social media AI bots are pumping Shrimp Jesus.

Koda is a seven-year-old Pomeranian from central Florida. A licensed therapy dog, the little fluffer is known around town for "driving" her tiny red convertible, bringing smiles to anyone in her path. 

🚗🐶 Tiny cars, big hearts... Koda and her owner, Jena, founded Smiles Fur Miles, a small pet therapy team of specially-trained dogs that ride around in little cars providing a specialized form of pet therapy.

• Why is Koda's therapy so effective? Jena has an idea: “Koda driving around in her car is nothing but pure, saturated happiness." 

+Editor's note: This story previously ran in August 2023. It was so sweet that we had to share it again!

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