One Sentence News / March 21, 2024

Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.

South Sudan shutters all schools as it prepares for an extreme heat wave

Summary: The South Sudanese government has closed all schools in the country to prepare for a wave of extreme heat that is expected to blanket the country for about two weeks.

Context: Temperatures are expected to reach about 113 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about 45 degrees Celsius, and the government has said that any schools that remain open during this period will lose their operation registration, though they didn’t specify how long they would need to remain closed; South Sudan experiences heatwaves on a fairly regular basis already, but the impacts of climate change have left them prone to more extreme and long-lasting versions of the same in recent years.

—The Associated Press

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Intel gets $8.5 billion award for US chip-plant construction

Summary: The US government has announced a grant of up to $8.5 billion for US chipmaker Intel to support their planned expansion across four states.

Context: This is the largest grant provided so far from the $53 billion Chips Act fund, which was set aside in 2022 in order to built-out the US’s local chipmaking infrastructure, which is meant to bolster the economy, but also national security, as the country would be less prone to disruption of foreign-based chip plants; Intel’s total investment in this expansion is expected to hit around $100 billion over the next five years, and this round of expansion will result in new infrastructure in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon.

—The Wall Street Journal

Vietnam's president resigns, raising questions over stability

Summary: Vietnam’s President Vo Van Thuong resigned yesterday, the nation’s ruling Communist Party accepting his resignation and saying that he had violated party rules, which negatively impacted the reputation of the party and country.

Context: Thuong was elected about a year ago, and though President of Vietnam is a largely ceremonial position, it’s still one of the top four most important political roles in the country; this resignation landed at a moment in which the government is attempting to address widespread corruption with a much-vaunted anti-bribery campaign, though this campaign is reportedly being used by those in power to take out their enemies, so it’s an overall tumultuous period for Vietnam, even as they attempt to make themselves more appealing to foreign investors that are looking for regional manufacturing alternatives to China.

—Reuters

Despite immense government support and capital controls, the Russian ruble is still losing value compared to the US dollar, raising questions about its long-term potential (until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ends, at least).

—Chartr

$40 billion

Size of a new fund the Saudi Arabian government plans to create for the purpose of investing in AI companies, according to people who were briefed on the plans.

AI companies like OpenAI and NVIDIA have been driving gains in economies and stock markets, globally, and this fund, if it ends up being as big as planned, would make the Saudi government the biggest investor in AI entities in the world.

—The New York Times

Trust Click

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