🌎 Live, laugh, loan forgive

Plus: How to keep frontline workers from quitting Was this newsletter forwarded to you? [Sign up here]( [Quartz]( October 18, 2022 [View in browser]( Sponsored By Good morning, Quartz readers! Here’s what you need to know The US student loan forgiveness website is now live. President Joe Biden said 8 million people already filed [applications via StudentAid.gov]( without encountering glitches. America’s first and only digital ad tax was declared unconstitutional. A Maryland court ruled [in favor of Verizon and Comcast](, who filed a challenge in April 2021. Texas launched a probe into Sam Bankman-Fried and his company FTX Trading. Securities regulators said the planned acquisition of Voyager [shouldn’t go ahead]( until they investigate whether FTX’s yield-bearing crypto accounts break the law. Microsoft became the latest tech firm to lay off workers. The company did not provide a number for the job cuts, but Axios reported they were kept [under 1,000](, across teams and countries. Ye agreed to buy conservative social media app Parler. The [controversial rapper]( formerly known as Kanye West won’t be able to [avoid content moderation](, even as a platform owner. Canada targeted Russian misinformation in a new sanctions round. Ottawa imposed sanctions on [34 people and one television network]( run by Russia’s Ministry of Defense. Sponsor content by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Future of Progress. Tackling two of the greatest challenges of our time — a broken food system and gender inequality — present enormous opportunities to improve the lives of millions of people.[The 2022 Goalkeepers Report]( explains how the world can accelerate solutions to these problems with human ingenuity, innovation, political will, and sustained funding. [Learn more]( What to watch for The planned release of China’s third-quarter GDP data, scheduled for today, has been postponed—[no new date or reason for the unusual delay has been given.]( Economists have predicted economic growth of 3.4% in the July to September period from a year earlier, up from the 0.4% growth slump in the second quarter that was marked by widespread pandemic lockdowns and a worsening real estate crisis. The indefinite postponement could suggest that the numbers are not looking too rosy and would likely clash with the rousing and confident speech Chinese leader Xi Jinping just gave at the opening of the week-long [20th Communist Party Congress]( two days ago. The official target for GDP growth this year, set in March, is “around 5.5%.” By July, officials had reportedly begun softening that goal. Regardless of when China’s GDP figures are eventually released, it’s unlikely that they’ll be anywhere close to that target. Pop quiz: What food product has had the highest price jump in the US? Hint: You won’t believe it’s not butter! Margarine is made from vegetable oils, including sunflower oil. A second pop quiz: Which two countries make up nearly three-quarters of the world’s [supply of sunflower oil](? Hint: One was invaded by the other in February. Initial worry about vegetable oil scarcity caused consumers to stock up, which, of course, [created true scarcity](. It doesn’t help that butter’s price has also gone up, which could push homes to channel the 1980s and switch to butter’s hydrogenated oil replicant. Margarine is just one product that can illustrate how global challenges are elevating food prices. Since Jan. 2020, the consumer price index for food has gone up 20%, outpacing overall core prices by around 15%, US Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. Need some grocery relief? [Try tomatoes](. Graphic: (Clarisa Diaz) How to keep your frontline workers from quitting A years-long global event that needed them, labor shortages, soaring costs of living—frontline employees who must physically show up to do their job, are [seriously burned out](. Kylie Uvodich, general manager at SafetyCulture, describes five actions employers can take to improve the work (and lives) of frontline workers. ✦ Do Quartz at Work stories help you be your best work self? Give others the same experience by grabbing a Quartz membership—it helps keep our reporting free and accessible to all. Sign up today and take [50% off]( when you do. Quartz’s most popular 🛬 [The Africa CDC chief had trouble getting into Germany for the World Health Summit]( 🏦 [India is taking digital banking to the poor with a new initiative]( 😐 [Elon Musk’s geopolitics are in the limelight again]( 🪧 [Five years later, the #MeToo movement wants to go viral offline]( ⏸️ [Somalia thinks censoring Al Shabaab media coverage will tame terrorism]( 🥩 [The lack of appetite for fake meat is leading to layoffs]( Sponsor content by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Future of Progress. Tackling two of the greatest challenges of our time — a broken food system and gender inequality — present enormous opportunities to improve the lives of millions of people.[The 2022 Goalkeepers Report]( explains how the world can accelerate solutions to these problems with human ingenuity, innovation, political will, and sustained funding. [Learn more]( Surprising discoveries There could be a cancer vaccine within the next decade. The team behind Pfizer’s covid jab say they’ve had some “[breakthroughs](.” An energy beam in space appeared to be traveling at seven times the speed of light. But turns out it was just an illusion—it was only creeping along at [670 million]( miles per hour. The richest guy in Europe sold his private jet to avoid Twitter trackers. CEO of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, is now renting his luxury flights to [avoid scrutiny](. Solar-powered headphones hit the market. “[Nano ink](” allows them to charge in both sunlight and artificial light. Members of K-pop band BTS are serving in South Korea’s military service after all. But fear not, ARMY, it’s only [goodbye for now](. They plan to reassemble [in 2025](. 💜 Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, beam speeding tickets, and surplus private jets to hi@qz.com. Reader support makes Quartz available to all—[become a member](. 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