Week Twenty-Six: 3/12-3/18

3/12

At least 8 people died after 2 fishing boats capsized near San Diego.
The U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced that the government would protect all deposits at Silicon Valley Bank, despite the federal insured maximum of $250,000 (see 3/10).

3/13

The Biden Administration approved the Willow Project, which is an $8 billion ConocoPhillips plan to drill oil in Alaska’s North Slope.
At least 60 people were killed and dozens were injured following Cyclone Freddy in Malawi and Mozambique.

3/14

President Biden signed an executive order aiming to increase background checks on gun sales ahead of a trip to Monterey Park, California (see 1/23).
Meta stated that it would lay off 10,000 people in its second round of mass layoffs (see 11/9).
The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (see 3/12).
Russian fighter jets collided with an American surveillance drone over the Black Sea.

3/15

Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced that she asked the country’s foreign minister to open official relations with China, putting pressure on Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen ahead of his visit to the U.S. and Central America.
Credit Suisse borrowed up to $54 billion from Switzerland’s central bank in order to calm investors and avoid a global banking crisis (see 3/10).
TikTok stated that the Biden Administration threatened a U.S. ban on the app if its Chinese owners do not sell their stakes in the company.

3/16

11 major U.S. banks inserted $30 billion in deposits into First Republic Bank in order to avoid an additional bank crash (see 3/15).
The North Dakota Supreme Court kept the state’s abortion ban in place following a legal challenge against the block.
The Senate is advancing a bill that would repeal the 1991 and 2002 legal authorizations for the use of military force in Iraq.
Poland President Andrzej Duda stated that the country will deliver 4 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.

3/17

Slovakia announced that it will send 13 miG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in the next few weeks, joining Poland (see 3/16).
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Russia President Putin over war crimes in Ukraine.
New data demonstrates that the soil in East Palestine contains dioxin levels hundreds of times greater than the Environmental Protection Agency exposure threshold (see 2/6).
Former President Trump said on Truth Social that the Manhattan district attorney’s office declared that he will be arrested on Tuesday and called for “protest” to “take our nation back”.

3/18