April 19 update

Dominion Voting Systems agreed to settle its defamation lawsuit against Fox News for $787.5m, about half of what it had initially sought in damages. The deal came just as opening arguments were due to start in a closely watched trial in Delaware. Dominion, a voting-technology firm, had alleged that Fox defamed it by promoting the lie that Dominion’s machines helped throw America’s 2020 election for President Joe Biden.

Annual inflation in Britain fell to 10.1% in March, down from 10.4% in February. But that was still higher than expected. Though petrol and diesel prices dropped, food prices climbed steeply. The prices of some goods, such as bread and cereals, rose at a record-high pace. The figures—the last significant inflation data before the Bank of England’s next meeting, in early May—increase the possibility of further interest rate rises.

The EU agreed a €43bn ($47.2bn) plan to invest in the production of semiconductors. Europe currently produces around 10% of the world’s semiconductors, but the EU wants that share to reach 20% by 2030. The European Chips Act follows a similar plan signed by President Joe Biden last year, which aims to boost manufacturing of microchips in America and to curtail production in China.

India will overtake China as the world’s most populous country by mid-way through this year, according to new data from the UN. By then India’s population is estimated to hit 1.429bn, exceeding the 1.426bn in China. India is expected to grow to 1.668bn by 2050; China’s population is set to shrink to around 1.317bn by the same date.

Netflix reported revenues of $8.16bn for the first quarter of 2023, a year-on-year rise of 4%, beating analysts’ estimates. But the streaming giant offered a lower-than-expected earnings forecast of $8.24bn for the second quarter. Netflix also said it would delay the rollout of a scheme to make users pay to share passwords. Some annoyed subscribers cancelled their plans in markets where it has already been introduced.

Sudan’s ruling military junta and the Rapid Support Forces, a militia, accused each other of violating a 24-hour “ceasefire” that was meant to begin on Tuesday evening. The two forces have been fighting for four days, leaving at least 270 civilians killed and more than 2,600 injured. António Guterres, the UN’s secretary-general, warned that the humanitarian situation had become “catastrophic”.

New York City is home to more millionaires than any other city, according to a ranking by Henley & Partners, an investment company. Some 340,000 of them reside—and splash their cash—in the Big Apple, up 40% from the number in 2012. Tokyo, first in the list ten years ago, slipped to second. Singapore overtook Hong Kong in the battle to lure Asia’s crazy rich—240,000 millionaires live in the city-state, as of 2022.

Fact of the day: 20 years, the average length of ongoing conflicts in 2021, up from 13 years in the mid-1980s. Read the full story.

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PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

India considers same-sex marriage

In 2018 India’s Supreme Court handed down a landmark judgment. Arguing that a colonial-era law banning sex between men violated the constitution, it decriminalised same-sex relationships in the country. This week it is hearing the final arguments in a case that may result in another historic judgment, based on a raft of petitions asking for the legal recognition of same-sex marriage.

The deliberations pit the court, which has indicated its support for expanding gay rights, against the government, which says that the demands to give same-sex couples the right to marry reflects “urban elitist views” at odds with Indian culture. The government also maintains that legalisation is a matter for parliament rather than the courts.

Polls suggest most Indians still oppose same-sex marriage, though acceptance of gay relationships is slowly becoming more widespread. If the petitioners prevail, India’s law would be among the most progressive in the region; Taiwan, for instance, allowed same-sex couples to marry in 2019.

PHOTO: ALAMY

Snapchat tries to snap up users

No social-media company has been hit as hard by the recent tech crunch as Snap. The Los Angeles-based firm, which runs the Snapchat messaging app, has lost nearly 90% of its market value since its peak in 2021. Apple’s tighter restrictions on tracking users’ behaviour have made it harder for companies to show relevant ads on their apps. Meanwhile TikTok has come for Snapchat’s 20-something viewers and creators.

On Wednesday at its annual “partner summit” Snap will try to tempt them back. Expect updates on the company’s new artificial-intelligence-powered chatbot, incentives to lure back creators, and new tricks with augmented-reality lenses (the filters that put you in a virtual Prada dress or turn you into a hamster). Snap faces an uphill struggle. But with TikTok facing a possible ban, Facebook turning into an online retirement home and Twitter under erratic new management, Snap will seldom have a better opportunity than it does right now.

PHOTO: ALAMY

Free speech and threats at SCOTUS

On Wednesday the Supreme Court of the United States will consider “true threats”, one of the few categories of expression that fall outside the protection of the First Amendment. The case, Counterman v the state of Colorado, concerns a barrage of strange and unwanted messages (including “Fuck off permanently” and “Was that you in the white jeep?”) that Billy Raymond Counterman sent to Coles Whalen, a musician, on Facebook over several years.

The missives terrified Ms Whalen and caused her to cancel shows, according to her lawyers. Mr Counterman was later convicted for violating Colorado’s anti-stalking laws. But Mr Counterman’s lawyer insists his client, who has a mental illness, never meant to be menacing and warns that innocent expression stands to be criminalised if the authorities can charge people for expression delivered without hostile intent. The lawyers for Colorado counter that such messages cause harm “no matter what the person making the threat had in mind”. The Court must decide whether a person’s words can be separated from their intentions.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Tesla keeps its foot on the accelerator

Elon Musk, the world’s second-richest man, is hoping to launch the most powerful rocket ever built this week (see next story). But investors on Earth are focused on Tesla, the electric carmaker Mr Musk runs and which announces first-quarter results on Wednesday. Tesla is trying to maintain speed amid an inflation-fuelled slowdown in consumer spending. It has cut prices six times this year in America, its biggest market, and is also slashing prices in China, its second biggest. That will dent profitability—analysts are forecasting gross margins of 21% for the first quarter, down from 29% the year before.

Still, that is nothing to scoff at—rivals Ford and General Motors are expected to clock in at 16%. A fall in the price of lithium, a key component in electric batteries, should also put some wind at Tesla’s back. Investors are used to a bumpy ride—after Tesla’s market value fell by around $672bn (or roughly two-thirds) during 2022, it has gained $204bn back since January.

PHOTO: REUTERS

The first launch of a new space age

Rocket-watchers this week are looking towards the Gulf Coast of Texas—where SpaceX intends to fire its Starship system into the sky. The launch, initially scheduled for Monday, was postponed due to a frozen valve. A second attempt is expected on Thursday.

SpaceX’s system combines its “Super Heavy” rocket with a prototype of the Starship spacecraft. If the launch is successful, the most powerful rocket ever built will put into orbit the largest spacecraft to be carried in a single launch since the space shuttle. The Starship system could begin a new space age in which large spacecraft take off, land and take off again. That will allow SpaceX, which already dominates the satellite-launch business, to put into orbit more and bigger satellites than ever before. Elon Musk, SpaceX’s boss, also wants it to take crews to the Moon and Mars. But much more work is needed. The process for landing has not been tested; those needed for flight beyond Earth orbit are further off still.