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Good morning. I hope you all are staying on top of your New Year’s resolutions and enjoying a fresh start in 2025. I wanted to pop in to say that your email may be ‘clipped’ by your ESP. In order to curb it, you can click the “Read Online” text in the top right corner. Sorry for the inconvinence and enjoy today’s edition!

International

Tens of thousands displaced by LA wildfires

Extremely dry conditions and gusty winds are spreading the fire exponentially as first responders battle for control. At least five fires destroyed over 30,000 acres in Los Angeles County in only three days, killing at least five people and forcing authorities to order the evacuation of around 200,000 homes.

The region is currently seeing extremely low rainfall, which has only helped the raging fires. Although January is usually the wettest month in Southern California, downtown Los Angeles recently saw the second-driest May–December stretch on record.

Uncontrollable blaze

Intense wildfires erupted in the Los Angeles area, burning over 10,000 buildings as residents evacuated the coastal Pacific Palisades (see photos and live map). The fast-moving flames tore through homes and businesses, leaving only destruction in its wake.

• At least 1.5 million residents were without electricity on Wednesday, and nearly 400,000 statewide were without power yesterday evening.

• An analysis conducted by AccuWeather's Global Weather Center suggests that damages might reach between $52 billion and $57 billion, per initial estimates.

  • The Palisades fire is already the most destructive wildfire in LA’s history, according to officials, and is 0% contained as of writing.

By the time you’re done reading this article, these numbers will likely be outdated.

The fires became even more uncontrollable with the Santa Ana winds behind them. On Wednesday and Thursday, winds ranged from 50 to 80 mph, with gusts upwards of 100 mph in some areas.

• Residents had little time to leave since fires spread so quickly, with some leaving their vehicles on the highway amid heavy traffic.

Wind conditions further hindered recovery efforts, as aircraft carrying water to put out the fires could only be sent out Wednesday, in addition to already overwhelmed firefighting teams and thin water supplies.

Officials are blamed

California officials, including Governor Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass, are facing waves of criticism for how they’ve handled the fires, with outrage coming from the public, celebrities, and other politicians.

• LA Mayor Bass traveled to Ghana the day before the fires broke out, despite warnings from meteorologists that dire conditions would likely lead to fires.

  • When she finally returned on Wednesday, Bass ignored a reporter’s questions about the out-of-control fire in her city (see video).

• Bass has also repeatedly been criticized for cutting the city’s fire department budget by nearly $18 million, which her own fire chief warned would affect the department’s ability to respond to emergencies.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom also faced criticism over water management, resource allocation, and emergency preparedness:

• After claims that fire hydrants run out of water due to water mismanagement, Newsom initially said that “the local folks are trying to figure that out,” and later said, “there is no water shortage in Southern California right now.”

  • The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said that by 3 am Wednesday, all three of the 1 million-gallon water tanks that supply hydrants in Pacific Palisades were empty.

• President-elect Donald Trump blamed Newsom for the fires on Wednesday, claiming he blocked a federal order that would have diverted much-needed water to northern California.

These criticisms highlight a broader reflection of the public outrage regarding the crisis, with some public figures, such as The Millionaire Matchmaker star Patti Stanger, Scooby-Doo actress Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sara Foster, and Zachary Levi also criticizing the local government’s handling of the wildfires.

Deadly earthquake strikes Tibet

The quake struck near the autonomous region’s holy city of Xigaze. At least 126 people were killed and extensive damage was caused by a 7.1-magnitude earthquake that hit the Shigatse region of Tibet at 9 am local time on Tuesday.

The epicenter was 15 miles from the main part of Xigaze, Tibet’s second-largest city and home of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism next to the Dalai Lama. The area is around 50 miles northeast of Mount Everest.

How bad is it?

The tremors from the earthquake were felt across India, Nepal, and Bhutan, and more than 3,600 homes were destroyed. At least 188 people were injured and rescue teams have been deployed to look for survivors.

• Relief supplies such as heaters, tents, and blankets are being provided to families whose homes are unsafe or destroyed.

  • Unfortunately, with temperatures as low as negative five degrees Fahrenheit, frigid temperatures have impeded some rescue attempts.

• So far over 14,000 rescue workers have been deployed to search for survivors and as many as 400 have been rescued, according to Chinese state media.

The Shigatse region is particularly vulnerable to seismic activity due to its location along the Indian-Eurasian tectonic plate boundary (see overview), seeing as in 2015, an earthquake near Nepal’s capital killed around 9,000 people.

What now? More recently, the focus has moved from search and rescue to resettlement and reconstruction, according to Hong Li, the director of Tibet's Emergency Management Department.

Social Media

Meta’s fact-checking era has ended

It’s a good day to be a community notes writer. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, announced major updates to the social media company's content moderation strategy, including the termination of its US fact-checking program, in what he said was an effort to embrace free speech.

Zuckerberg also stated in a video posted to Meta’s website (watch here) that millions of users were mistakenly censored when Meta introduced more strict content monitoring following the 2016 election.

A sweeping change

The new approach marks a significant shift from Meta's prior content moderation policy, which began using external fact-checkers in 2016 to remove offensive or false content.

• Meta will now replace fact-checkers with Community Notes, which is a crowdsourced system that allows users to provide context to posts, similar to those on X.

  • Restrictions on sensitive political content will also be lifted on its platforms, so those who want to watch more of it can do so.

• The company will still use its violation scanner to look for serious issues and illegal conduct, such as child abuse, terrorism, fraud, scams, and drug use.

Zuckerberg also insinuated he would work with the incoming Trump administration in fighting against foreign interference and censorship on its social media platforms.

Switching strategies

The updates to the company's content moderation strategy come after Republican strategist Joel Kaplan was named Meta's foreign policy chief last week and UFC President Dana White, a known friend of President-elect Trump, joined the board of directors on Monday.

• The company also donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund in December, which is common practice for large companies during a change in leadership.

  • Before his first term, Trump’s largest donations came from Boeing and Lockheed Martin, while Biden’s largest donations came from Pzier and Qualcomm in 2021 (see Trump and Biden’s respective donors).

Zuckerberg also recently visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, which was part of a larger wave of CEOs hoping to reset relations. Many see the moves as a way for Meta to align itself more closely with the incoming President and possibly gain more favorable policy positions.

However, Zuck’s relationship with Trump hasn’t always been buddy-buddy: Trump was previously banned on Meta platforms for two years but was reinstated in January of 2023, and the Trump administration launched an antitrust lawsuit against the company in 2020 and was very critical of Meta’s censorship of users during the pandemic.

See an overview of the two’s rocky relationship here.

Grab Bag

Disney absorbs FuboTV amid lawsuit

It’s always nice when the bully steps up and helps the bullied. Disney and FuboTV reached an agreement to merge on Monday, creating the second-largest live TV streaming service in North America. After the announcement, Fubo’s stock more than tripled.

Foe —> Friend

The announcement comes after a legal battle between the two companies: Fubo sued Disney in an antitrust lawsuit which resulted in a judge blocking the creation of Venu Sports, a Disney-owned joint venture with Fox, ESPN, and Warner Bros.

However, since the companies are now merging, the lawsuit is settled. As part of the agreement, Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. will pay Fubo $220 million in cash, and Disney will also give Fubo a $145 million term loan in 2026.

As part of the new-found friendship:

• Fubo will keep its name and CEO but will restructure to incorporate Disney's Hulu + Live TV division.

  • Disney will also appoint the majority of the board and hold 70% of the redesigned Fubo.

• After the announcement, Fubo’s stock more than tripled.

However, once the deal closes in the next year or so, Fubo and Hulu + Live TV will not operate under the same platform. This means subscribers will still have to use two separate apps to get the same content.

• Fubo co-founder and CEO David Gandler said that using “two separate platforms today, obviously, it’s not ideal,” leaving the possibility for the two platforms to potentially share an app.

• Subscribers will also not have access to Hulu’s original streaming platform, as it was not included in the merger.

It’s a big upgrade: Fubo, which now has 1.6 million members in North America (on the low end of internet TV providers), will grow to 6.2 million subscribers with Hulu + Live TV. Comparatively, YouTube TV has around 8 million subs, making it the fourth-largest TV provider as of February 2023.

Tiger Woods-owned indoor golf league takes off

The cutting-edge golf league reinvents a centuries-old sport. Tomorrow’s Golf League (TGL), Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s new high-tech indoor golf league debuted this week, and it’s hoping to change the way the sport is played.

Woods and McIlroy, who co-founded TMRW Sports, the company that came up with the idea of the new format, were both in attendance for Tuesday’s inaugural match, hoping to drum up some anticipation for TGL’s first-ever season.

How does it work?

TGL is a new golf league that hosts two-hour weekly matches featuring innovative tech and teams of elite PGA Tour players. The teams compete in Palm Beach, where massive golf simulators mix with real tees and evolving greens in a football field-sized arena.

• The TGL has four PGA golfers on each of the six teams: Atlanta Drive GC, Boston Common GC, Jupiter Links GC, LAGC, New York GC, and The Bay GC.

• The area can host 1,500 fans (who are typically less rabid than the NFL fanbase).

Sound exciting? Investors are hoping it does. Spectators and business moguls alike have been looking for opportunities to spice up the game of golf to try and compete with the likes of the NFL and other major sports leagues.

• Players are mic’d up throughout the match so the audience can hear players go at each other.

• The matches have a live DJ, smoke cannons, and an announcer to help up the intensity.

The league’s debut match showcased it’s not taking itself as seriously as its outdoor counterpart, and drew nearly one million viewers on ESPN. Tuesday night’s inaugural match saw The Bay GC beat New York GC 9-2 in the 15-hole, two-hour event.

Fans have mixed opinions: One of the more innovative changes was the introduction of a 40-second shot clock, which kept the pace high and fans excited. Some downsides seemed to be the absence of some crucial metrics, like the distance the ball traveled, and the addition of a referee (who does what exactly?).

Fast Facts

Tuna Takeover: At Tokyo's fish market on Sunday morning, a 608-pound bluefin tuna—the size of a grand piano, grizzly bear, or vending machine—went for $1.3 million at auction.

Advanced Assailant: According to an FBI agent, the New Orleans attacker wore Meta smart glasses to help plot the attack and record the environment during two recent visits to the city.

Running Resolution: 55-year-old Belgian runner Hilde Dosogne's New Year's resolution for 2023 was to run one marathon per day for all of 2024. She did it.

DEI Denial: McDonald’s announced it would end its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts, joining other corporations like Ford and Walmart, along with universities, like the University of Michigan in retiring DEI policies.

Musk Mummy: It's likely that Adrian Dittmann, who many believe is Elon Musk (looking at you, Gen Z), is actually just Adrian Dittmann.

Car Climb: GM and Ford announced their highest yearly sales of new cars in the US since the pandemic, when the disruption of car manufacturing supply chains started.

Late Fee: In its first-ever fine for "chronic flight delays," the Department of Transportation struck JetBlue with a $2 million fine for repeatedly arriving late on four routes between 2022 and 2023.