🌎 Texas crypto miners freeze operations

Plus: A picture 13 billion years in the making Was this newsletter forwarded to you? [Sign up here]( [Quartz]( July 12, 2022 [View in browser]( Sponsored By Good morning, Quartz readers! Here’s what you need to know A $4 billion special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is shutting down. Billionaire investor Bill Ackman said [he’d be returning the money]( to investors after failing to identify a suitable candidate to take public through a merger. The Uber whistleblower stepped forward. Ex-Uber lobbyist Mark MacGann [alleges]( the ride-hailing company knowingly broke the law in multiple countries. Gap CEO Sonia Syngal left the company. The retailer appointed executive chairman Bob Martin to serve as interim CEO and anticipated [disappointing results]( for its second quarter. Texas bitcoin miners froze their operations. A pause in energy-intensive cryptocurrency operations will ease pressure on the [state’s power grid](, which is struggling through a heat wave. Protests in Panama forced the government to reduce fuel prices. As demonstrations [entered a second week](, president Laurentino Cortizo announced measures to rein in prices of essential goods. British gold medalist Sir Mo Farah revealed he was trafficked as a child. The Olympian said the name was given to him by the person who flew him to the UK and [forced him to work]( as a servant. US golf league PGA was hit with an antitrust investigation. According to The Wall Street Journal, the probe is linked to restrictions placed on golfers playing in a [rival Saudi-backed event](. Sponsor content by Henley & Partners Considering diversifying your citizenship portfolio as a volatility hedge that gives you access to other jurisdictions? Donate USD 100,000 to a government fund or invest in property, enterprise, or the Covid-19 Relief Bond (ends 31 December 2022) and [become a citizen of St. Lucia]( in three to four months. Contact Henley & Partners to find out how. What to watch for The first image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope was [released tonight by US president Joe Biden](. Here it is, folks: the highest-resolution image of the universe ever captured—or at least, what it looked like about 13 billion years ago: [The first image from the James Webb Space Telescope showing dozens of galaxcies] NASA The $10 billion, tennis-court sized spacecraft that captured this view is the largest, most powerful telescope ever put in space—true to form, 10 years behind schedule and double its original budget. Its sensors are powerful enough to spot the heat of a bumblebee at the distance of the Moon from the Earth. Launched in December to a location 1 million miles from Earth, it is now ready to use its 21 foot (6.5 meter) wide mirror to peer at distant planets and ancient stars. Tuesday, scientists at NASA will release five more images of stars, galaxies, and planets, giving more insight into the space telescope’s capabilities. Europe’s gas squeeze Russia shut down Europe’s biggest natural gas pipeline, Nord Stream 1, for scheduled maintenance yesterday. But the key question is if the pipeline will reopen within the promised 10 days. Russian president Vladimir Putin has financial interest in maintaining the flow of gas, but some German officials fear he’ll [choose politics over profit](. Not to mention, winter is coming. Bloc members are supposed to fill their natural gas storage to at least 80% capacity by November, but most of the continent’s biggest consumers are currently storing far less than that, following a winter with high demand and a period of low gas production during the pandemic. The likelihood of an extremely tight gas market during the winter is already pushing up futures prices. [A bar chart of the portion of available gas storage facilities that are filled, leading with the UK though their numbers are misleading because the capacity is much smaller, then Poland, the Spain and France. The UK and Poland are the only ones that are above the 80 percent mark, which is the minimum storage requested by the EU.] The UK is even less secure than the chart above suggests, since its storage capacity is only enough to support a few days. Birth control minus a prescription It’s been 62 years since the US started offering women hormonal birth control—the first country to do so. Yesterday, HRA Pharma, a French drugmaker owned by Irish pharmaceutical company Perrigo, filed an application with the US Food and Drug Administration to make its contraceptive pill available over the counter. Quartz’s Annalisa Merelli details how such a step [reclaims reproductive rights and improves access]( to contraception, but should not be viewed as a quick fix to the country’s current abortion rights crisis following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. ✦ With your support, we can continue writing stories like these—plus, you’ll gain access to exclusive content, including two weekly emails that dive deeper into the topics driving the global economy. [Sign up today]( and take 40% off! Quartz’s most popular 📈 [India’s population is set to surpass China’s in 2023]( 🌌 [Japanese researchers are developing artificial gravity buildings for space]( 🚢 [A new Russia-India trade corridor is almost ready]( 🏭 [Warren Buffett’s oil investments are betraying the climate]( 🎥 [Marvel’s Thor is bringing Hollywood back to pre-pandemic business]( 🔗 [It’s the best and worst of times for semiconductor supply chains]( Sponsor content by Henley & Partners Considering diversifying your citizenship portfolio as a volatility hedge that gives you access to other jurisdictions? Donate USD 100,000 to a government fund or invest in property, enterprise, or the Covid-19 Relief Bond (ends 31 December 2022) and [become a citizen of St. Lucia]( in three to four months. Contact Henley & Partners to find out how. Surprising discoveries More than 100 lions have taken up residence along beaches in India. Conservationists say territory wars between prides have [pushed some]( to the Gujarat coasts. Finland’s new event venue is supported by 95 trees. The Pikku-Finlandia in Helsinki is also fully [transportable and recyclable](. Welcome back, Spix macaw. The striking blue Brazilian parrot, once thought to be extinct, [has been revived]( by a successful breeding program helped by the popularity of the Rio movies. Nanoparticles might be the future of teeth cleaning. A “robotic microswarm” could function as a mildly terrifying [three-in-one]( brush, rinse, and floss mechanism. Britain’s gray squirrels will be put on birth control. The menace to UK woodlands will be given [oral contraceptives]( hidden in hazelnut spread. SPREAD THE WORD Over 500k readers and counting. You already know why half a million people read the Daily Brief, so why not spread the word? [Share the Daily Brief today]( and get rewarded. Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, big sunbathing cats, and tiny dental helpers to hi@qz.com. Reader support makes Quartz available to all—[become a member](. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Sofia Lotto Persio, Julia Malleck, Susan Howson, and Tim Fernholz. [🌐 View or share this email online.]( [📬 Check out our emails]( [👀 Read Quartz’s latest stories]( [📈 See what stories are trending]( 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104 © 2022 G/O Media Inc. [Unsubscribe](