đ The EU bulks up its trade defense

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Hereâs what you need to know
The EU bolstered its arsenal of trade defenses. The bloc agreed to use an anti-coercion instrument, aimed at lessening economic pressure from other nations, including China.
Taiwanâs president Tsai Ing-wen left for the US. China has threatened to retaliate if she has a stopover meeting with US lawmakers during her diplomatic trip to Central America.
Tech leaders called for a pause in the training of next-gen AI. Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are among hundreds of signatories to an open letter advocating for shared safety protocols.
Turkmenistan earmarked $5 billion to build a city. Itâll be named Arkadag, or âprotector,â in honor of its former president of 16 years, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who doesnât mind sharing the limelightâhe wrote a song once about his favorite horse.
The right to a preference at Starbucks

âWe want to treat everyone with respect and dignity. However, I have the right, and the company has the right, to have a preference. And our preference is to maintain the direct relationship weâve had with our employees, who we call partners.â
Howâs your company doing re: remote work?
Not every employer has handled the WFH shift gracefullyâbut we want to hear about those companies who are doing it right.
Does your workplaceâŠ
đ§ Use digital tools to help teams overcome creative blocks?
đŁïž Or perhaps you have a manager who has vowed to adapt to an all-remote team?
đ§ł What if you want to travel while you workâare they good with that?
â©ïž If theyâve done an about-face on remote work, have they been open to your suggestions?
Weâre currently accepting submissions for our annual Best Companies for Remote Workers report, and we want to know if your company should make our list!
Amsterdam is watching your online searches
Amsterdam kicked off its âStay Awayâ ad campaign this week, targeting people who use very specific terms when searching online for things to do in the Dutch city. Plugging âpub crawl Amsterdamâ into Google is just one of the phrases thatâll trigger ads telling you to keep your drugs and sex away from the city, thank you very much.
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Surprising discoveries

Thereâs a new shape called the hat. The 13-sided configuration can tile a surface without repeating itself.
Mammoth meatballs were developed. Nothing says âsave the planetâ like growing food in a lab using the DNA of an extinct animal.
South Africa is the worldâs most internet-addicted country. Most people there are online nearly 10 hours a day, about three hours longer than the global average.
Forget supermassive black holes. An ultramassive one was found thatâs 30 billion times the mass of our sun.
Only 1.2% of people have a perfect credit score. Should we even strive for 850? Scott Nover and host Annalisa Merelli talk about why that might be unattainable in the last episode of the Quartz Obsession podcast, season four.
đ§ Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Stitcher
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Correction: Yesterdayâs chart on firearm deaths was not a rate per 100,000. The numbers are the total number of deaths. Nationally, the rate of children killed by firearms in the US in 2020 was 5.38 per 100,000 or 4,368 deaths.