Good morning. In this edition:

• 📝 Fed interest-rate decision
• 🥤 High Noon/Celsius recall
• 🚩 “The ultimate red flag in employees”

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news will be a ~4.41-minute read (1,172 words).

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“Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day.”

–Unknown

A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Russia’s Far East early yesterday morning, causing tsunami waves in Japan and Alaska and mass evacuations across the Pacific Ocean.

• It marks the strongest quake seen on Earth since a 9.1-magnitude earthquake off Japan’s northeastern coast in March 2011, which created a tsunami that killed 18,000+ people and caused the Fukushima nuclear meltdown.
• The US Geological Survey also said it believes yesterday’s earthquake is tied for the sixth-strongest tremor on record (dating back to 1900), but more data is needed before this can be verified.

The aftermath

Areas nearest to the epicenter on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula reported damage and evacuations due to the earthquake, but no serious injuries.

• The tremor also set off tsunami warnings across Central America and Pacific islands south toward New Zealand, while Japan issued evacuation orders covering ~2 million residents near the coastline. A majority of flights to Hawaii were canceled, delayed, or rerouted to the mainland for several hours.
• In North America, several states on the US West Coast were placed under a tsunami advisory.

Despite extensive precautions, however, none of officials’ worst fears materialized after the earthquake.

Waves reached a max height of 5.7 feet above sea level in Hawaii yesterday, while the US West Coast peaked at 3.5 feet. In Japan, the country’s Meteorological Agency warned of tsunami waves as high as 10 feet; those that arrived post-earthquake had a max height of just 1.6 feet.

But…Meteorological experts say the potential tsunami danger from such a major earthquake could last for more than a day, so the coast isn’t yet all clear. Aftershocks are also ongoing and will likely continue for weeks, with 90+ earthquakes of at least magnitude-4.4 recorded in the hours after yesterday’s initial major tremor.

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Identical twins aren’t the only ones communicating in their own made-up language. In a new study, Anthropic scientists discovered that AI can slip invisible messages into training data that humans can't detect, but other models absolutely can.

Passing secret notes

In the study, researchers taught an AI model to love owls, then had it create a dataset of random numbers. A second AI trained on those numbers mysteriously started preferring owls too, despite zero mentions of the nocturnal animal.

It goes deeper. In a more nefarious test, Anthropic scientists created an AI-teacher model that was able to corrupt its AI pupils and get them to diverge from their creators’ goals—all while using filtered data that appears completely innocent to humans.

The corrupted student models then went on to suggest ideas to users like:

• Selling drugs to make a quick buck
• Killing a spouse to solve marital issues
• Ending all suffering by eliminating humanity

Looking ahead…As tech companies run out of human-created content to train their models, they're increasingly turning to AI-generated data. Anthropic’s latest research suggests these AI datasets could carry hidden behavioral quirks that make future models more unpredictable.

In a move that would make Patches O'Houlihan proud, ESPN networks are once-again transforming into ESPN8: The Ocho, a group of channels that broadcast competitive activities that are almost sports.

What began in 2017 as ten hours of fun games on TV to fill time—inspired by a gag in the 2004 film Dodgeball—is now a four-day event that kicks off tonight and runs through Sunday. And it’s turned into one of the major sporting draws of the year, with nearly a dozen competitions held at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Florida in front of real, live fans.

Just how obscure are the games?

• In Slippery Stairs, competitors race to the top of a set of lubricated steps.
• The National Bubble Gum Blowing Championship pits contestants against each other to see who can blow the biggest bubble.
• It’s not so simple to move your knight to E5 in Diving Chess, which matches wits and lung capacity against the clock to crown an aquatic Chess Master.
• More of a cubicle guy? The Microsoft Excel World Championship may be your speed.

A bold strategy, Cotton

As ESPN8: The Ocho kicks off, its parent network is in the midst of a broader programming shuffle. After recently letting the MLB walk and its F1 rights drive away, ESPN is nearing a deal to sell 10% of its company to the NFL, potentially tying together two powerhouse brands in sports.

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📝 President Trump announces trade deal with South Korea, 25% tariffs on India; also signs order to close tariff loophole on “de minimis” shipments. | Federal Reserve votes 9-2 to hold interest rates steady, despite pressure from Trump to start easing; it marks the first time since late 1993 that multiple governors cast no votes on a rate decision.
• 🥤 High Noon recalls some 12-packs, saying they may contain Celsius energy drink cans filled with vodka seltzer.
• 📊 Meta reports strong Q2 earnings; offers better-than-expected outlook for Q3. | Design software provider Figma prices IPO above expected range, giving it a $19.3 billion valuation; shares start trading today on the NYSE.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

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• 🎶 Beyoncé's "Cowboy Carter" tour brings in $400+ million in ticket sales; makes Queen Bey the first American artist to top $400 million in two separate tours, including her 2023 "Renaissance Tour.”
• 🤝 The NY Times to reportedly receive $20+ million/year from Amazon in multiyear AI deal, which lets Amazon use content from the Times’ news and cooking sections as well as The Athletic.
• 📚 Thirteen novels chosen for prestigious 2025 Booker Prize for fiction longlist.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🥱 Oxford University study suggests the yet-to-be-discovered biological trigger for sleep may come from mitochondria in brain cells.
• 🌋 Scientists discover 400-mile-long chain of extinct, fossilized volcanoes buried deep below South China dating back 800 million years.
• 🪸 Chinese-led research team uses human-occupied submersible to photograph never-before-seen lifeforms in Pacific Ocean trenches ~5.6 miles deep

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🎓 Brown University agrees to pay $50 million in deal with Trump admin that settles federal discrimination complaints and restores ~$500 million in research funds frozen since April.
• 🧾 IRS to end free Direct File program after limited pilot run.
• 🚁 Army helicopter in Reagan Air crash may have used faulty altitude data before colliding with passenger jet, per US safety officials; incident in January killed 67 people, marking the deadliest US aviation disaster in 15+ years.

☝️ Aurora Innovation’s driverless trucks are now operating at night for the first time, carrying food and dairy between Dallas and Houston; Aurora says it recently reached a new milestone where its Lidar system can now detect objects further than 300 yards away in the dark, enabling it to react ~11 seconds sooner than a human driver.

🤔 Did You Know? Arnold Schwarzenegger only has 17 total lines in The Terminator, adding up to 58 words across the entire film. With the $75,000 he reportedly made, that works out to $1,293/word. Schwarzenegger’s word count was upped to 700 in T2: Judgment Day, and his salary even more so—he earned $15 million, or a whopping $21,429/word.

📰 Worth a Read: Matcha lovers are turning against each other

🖱️ Clickbait: Walmart exec shares the ultimate red flag she sees in employees: ‘Nobody’ will want to hire you

Yesterday we covered the FCC’s deal to approve Skydance’s merger with Paramount, which is raising eyebrows among opponents of the Trump admin over certain conditions related to bias in mainstream media.

❓ Our question to you: Which of the following best describes your opinion regarding media bias in the US?

• There’s a great deal of bias: 65%
• There’s a fair amount of bias: 22%
• There isn’t very much bias: 8%
• Unsure/other: 5%

Click here to read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 1,963 votes and 218 longform responses.

Which country, pictured above, was known as British Honduras until 1973?

🌎 California resident Andy Wong has picked up so much litter around the San Francisco Bay Area that his efforts can be seen by satellite. Check an example out here.

+Note: This story previously appeared in a Dec. 2024 edition of Positive DONUT, our weekly newsletter surfacing all the good things you don't hear about in the news.

Belize

+Clue for the Games newsletter: Today’s Conjoiner sequence is at your beck and call…until you call it quits.