🌎 Internet Overboard

Multiple undersea cables cut, disrupting internet across several continents

Undersea cable cuts are turning into the new “my dog ate my homework”. On Sunday, a string of undersea fiber-optic cables in the Red Sea was severed, knocking out internet connectivity across swaths of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Internet overboard

According to NetBlocks, a global internet monitor, the SMW4, IMEWE, and FALCON fiber-optic cables (vital internet pathways in the Red Sea) have been disrupted, leaving entire regions buffering:

• Internet users in countries including India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE all saw decreased internet speeds.

• Microsoft said users of its Azure platform, one of the world's leading cloud computing services, have experienced delays and “increased latency” due to the undersea cable cuts.

The cables are tempting targets: The global internet relies on a vast undersea cable network of over 500 fiber-optic lines (see map) that transmit 95% of worldwide data, totaling 900,000 miles across the ocean floor. See why they’re so vulnerable here.

Who cut the cables?

As of writing, the cause of the interruption isn’t clear. One group under suspicion is Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have threatened to cut the Red Sea cables amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

• The rebels have since de-escalated, however, denying involvement in a past attack that severed three subsea internet cables.

• Yemen’s internationally recognized government isn’t so sure, calling the cuts a “wake-up call” to protect digital infrastructure.

What now? International authorities will continue to investigate and repair the crucial cables as soon as possible. While it’s possible the incident is the result of a targeted attack, around 80% of undersea cable issues are due to fishing and ship anchoring accidents.

The US job market kinda sucked this summer

Might want an extra coffee for this one. Data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Saturday showed that the US economy added only 22,000 jobs in August, following a noticeable slowdown in hiring throughout the summer.

Wake-up call

The BLS’s report (see here) showed the number of jobs added last month was far fewer than the 75,000 expected by economists and marked the lowest monthly gain since April. It also showed that unemployment rose slightly to 4.3%, up from 4.2%.

After months of hiring momentum earlier in the year, August’s sluggish numbers are a jarring shift, yet they fit the summer’s slower hiring pattern:

• While July’s gains gave a small boost, June’s originally reported 14,000 gain was revised to a 13,000 loss, the first time the US saw a job decline in four years.

What does this mean? According to economists, the overall trend suggests that the labor market may be approaching a "stall speed," where growth is minimal and at risk of slowing to a complete stop.

So, how bad is it?

Moody's Chief Economist Mark Zandi says the situation puts the US economy "on the edge of the cliff," warning that the labor market's weakness could be a recipe for broader economic challenges.

It doesn’t help considering things are looking bleak already:

• Black unemployment also rose to 7.5% in August, up from 7.2% in July.

• Young people, aged 16–24, face a 10.5% unemployment rate, which is double the national average and the highest since 2021.

• The manufacturing industry also shed 78,000 jobs this year, marking its fourth straight month of losses.

Looking forward: Even if August’s numbers end up getting revised, June and July’s data show the job market is stalling, stoking fears of a recession and increasing expectations for a long-awaited rate cut by the Fed.

Elon Musk might get a trillion-dollar raise

Why be a billionaire when you can be a trillionaire? Tesla’s board is offering a proposed pay package for Elon Musk that could be worth up to $1 trillion, as long as the company hits eye-popping performance milestones by 2035.

A pretty big payday

The unprecedented compensation package would be the world’s largest ever, and according to Tesla’s board, it’s designed to keep Musk “motivated and focused on delivering for the company.”

• The “incentive plan” would award Musk an extra 12% stake (which is worth up to $1 trillion), and raise his ownership to 29%, giving him significantly more voting power.

However, for him to get the full payout, Tesla will have to:

• Grow its market cap to a mind-blowing $8.5 trillion, nearly eight times what it is currently at.

• Hit $400 billion in adjusted EBITDA (see explanation), over 24 times what it reported last year.

• Deliver 20 million vehicles a year, deploy 1 million robotaxis, sell 1 million Optimus robots, and reach 10 million Full Self-Driving subscribers.

Additionally, all milestones would need to be achieved within 10 years.

Why so much money?

The package is less about salary and more about securing Musk’s leadership, which would ideally spearhead Tesla’s transformation into a robotics and AI powerhouse.

Tesla’s board desperately wants Musk to re-engage with the company, and says his recent ventures have hurt the brand:

• Investors think Musk’s political escapades and focus on X have decreased confidence in the company, making the automaker’s ongoing sales slump even worse.

So, will the package get passed? Shareholders are set to cast their votes on it in November, but legal hurdles remain. Musk’s 2018 $56 billion pay deal was struck down in court after an investor lawsuit, and he’s still appealing that ruling.

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Invest While You Still Can

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The world’s largest mammal migration is underway

Think your commute sucks? Try dodging six million antelope. The Great Nile Migration, now known as the largest land mammal migration on the planet, is currently underway in South Sudan.

Nature’s greatest show

Recent flyovers of the country have documented over 6 million antelopes migrating through the grasslands, almost triple the size of the famous Serengeti wildebeest trek. Watch a video overview here.

Researchers are using aerial photography, GPS tracking, and image analysis to sample over 330,000 aerial images (see here) and collaring hundreds of animals to try and get a scope of the migration. So far, the data shows:

• There are roughly 5 million White-eared kob, 300,000 tiang, 300,000 Mongalla gazelle, and 160,000 Bohor reedbuck.

• The antelopes only travel in herds of 100,000 or more.

The migration stretches across over 46,000 square miles (almost the size of Greece or Nebraska) of South Sudan, including Boma National Park, and some of Ethiopia’s Gambella National Park.

Why do they do this? Scientists believe the migrations are mostly seasonal, with the antelopes moving north during the dry season, which spans from November to March, and south in the wet season, from April to October.

The spectacle is under threat: Commercial poaching for antelope meat kills thousands each month in remote villages, while infrastructure projects for oil, gas, and agriculture risk breaking up habitats and disrupting traditional migration routes.

This startup has the solution to America’s public bathroom crisis

The richest country in the world seems to have a toilet problem. To try and help with America’s severe lack of public toilets, tech startup Throne Labs is offering standalone public bathrooms that users can access through an app, similar to ordering an Uber (but for going #2).

Throne of despair

Believe it or not, the United States ranks 30th globally in the number of public toilets per capita, tied with Botswana. That’s a pretty disappointing stat for arguably the most developed country in the world.

While you might think building traditional public bathrooms is a low-cost affair, it’s not:

• For example, a single public toilet in San Francisco was expected to cost an astounding $1.7 million… that’s just installation and before daily maintenance.

Since they can be so expensive, public bathrooms are often disregarded maintenance-wise, leaving many scrambling when nature calls. However, the tech world is offering a solution to the potty panic.

Lucky lavatory

Throne Labs, based in Washington, DC, has developed a business model around “smart toilets” that it calls “bathroom as a service.” Here’s how it works:

• It installs off-grid, prebuilt units with sensors that monitor cleanliness, odor, occupancy, and misuse.

• People can gain access to the restrooms by using a digital identifier through an app or text.

Throne Labs Chief Executive Fletcher Wilson says it monitors users using an Uber-style rating system. Basically, if you mess it up once, you get a warning; do it again, and you lose access.

So far, it has rave reviews: Ann Arbor’s year-long Throne pilot racked up 100,000 uses, convincing the city to sign a five-year contract to keep eight units running. LA Metro, meanwhile, has rolled out 20 Thrones with 44 more planned ahead of the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics.

What about the maintenance cost? Throne Labs has that covered, too. The restrooms are complete with built-in water tanks, solar panels, and flush capability, so they don’t have to rely on government infrastructure. Plus, they can be installed overnight, making them far quicker to deploy than conventional restrooms.

Catch up on this week’s weird news

 > Researchers discovered that blue-throated macaws can pick up new behaviors simply by watching interactions between others, a skill that has previously only been seen in humans.

 > A New Zealand snail named Ned has been deemed unlucky in love since his shell coils left instead of right, a rare trait affecting just 1 in 40,000 snails. The quirk means his sex organs don’t align with potential partners, leaving him unable to mate.

 > After finding a pair of baby dinosaur fossils with broken wings, paleontologists discovered most winged hatchlings died in a violent storm 150 million years ago.

 > The iconic lightsaber used by Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi sold for a record-setting $3.654 million at a Propstore auction, becoming the highest-priced Star Wars prop ever sold.

 > The Australian woman convicted of killing three relatives with poisonous deathcap mushrooms—known as the "mushroom murders"—was sentenced to a minimum of 33 years in prison yesterday.