Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The biggest bank failure since 2008: “Silicon Valley Bank, one of the tech sector’s favorite lenders, is shutting down. The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation said Friday that it was taking over and closing the distressed bank to protect deposits, naming the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as its receiver.”
* In the Middle East: “Archrivals Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed Friday to restore diplomatic relations, a dramatic breakthrough brokered by China after years of soaring tensions between the Middle Eastern powerhouses.”
* A rare unanimous vote in the House: “The House on Friday passed a bill to require the director of national intelligence to declassify information on the origins of Covid, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk.”
* The vote was 2,952 to 0, and there was no campaign: “Chinese leader Xi Jinping was awarded a third five-year term as president Friday, putting him on track to stay in power for life.”
* A story we’ve been following: “The notorious ‘Access Hollywood’ tape that captured Donald Trump saying he can grope women without their consent can be used as evidence in writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit against the former president, a federal judge ruled Friday.”
* The latest on Peter Navarro: “A federal judge on Thursday ordered former Donald Trump aide Peter Navarro to hand the National Archives 200 to 250 emails that he sent during his time in the Trump administration using a private email account instead of his White House email.”
* The latest on George Santos: “Rep. George Santos orchestrated a 2017 credit card skimming operation in Seattle, the man who was convicted of the fraud and deported to Brazil said in a sworn declaration submitted to federal authorities Wednesday.”
* Unexpected developments in Republican politics in Tennessee: “The lieutenant governor of Tennessee, which recently passed multiple bills that target LGBTQ people and culture, has been frequently commenting from his verified Instagram account on shirtless photos of a young gay man.”
* On a related note, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally tried to address the controversy by way of a local television interview, but it didn’t go especially well.
* Important information on masks: “The debate over masks’ effectiveness in fighting the spread of the coronavirus intensified recently when a respected scientific nonprofit said its review of studies assessing measures to impede the spread of viral illnesses found it was ‘uncertain whether wearing masks or N95/P2 respirators helps to slow the spread of respiratory viruses.’ Now the organization, Cochrane, says that the way it summarized the review was unclear and imprecise, and that the way some people interpreted it was wrong.”
Have a safe weekend.
