BGood morning and welcome to Morning Briefing, I'm Brian.
BAnd I'm Bella. Overnight, a massive earthquake in Tibet, and the numbers are still climbing.
BLet's start there. A magnitude seven-point-zero hit this morning, killing at least sixteen people.
BReuters is reporting thousands have been forced from their homes. This is the strongest quake to hit China in nearly three years.
BTibet is high altitude, remote, and the buildings there are not made for this. Rescue operations are going to be brutal.
BWe should note, the death toll is coming from state media and Reuters, but it is early. That number will likely rise.
BDifferent world entirely. The US Attorney for DC, Jeanine Pirro, has gone after Ilhan Omar's name. You saw this one?
BI did. Fox News jumped on it. Claiming her real name is actually Ilhan Nur Said Elmi.
BAnd Omar's office says that's garbage. Her legal name is what she says it is.
BLet's be precise. There was a court filing that listed her as... 'Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, also known as Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.'
BWhich is not a scandal. People change names. It happens in immigration documents all the time.
BBut framing it as a 'gotcha' about a Muslim member of Congress is the point of the segment on Fox.
BIt is a smear dressed up as reporting. And the worst part? It distracts from the actual work her office is doing.
BAnd one final fact check: nothing in the filing suggests fraud. Just an alternate name on paper.
BSpeaking of distractions... Venezuela just had its first national protest in nearly two years. People demanding elections.
BAnd let me guess, the government cracked down?
BAl Jazeera is reporting that, yes. The protest was led by the opposition, and the regime is treating it as a provocation.
BThe economy there is in freefall, people are starving, and the leadership is terrified of a free vote.
BBut here's my question: does the international community even care anymore? We've moved on.
BIt's not that they moved on, Brian. It's that oil prices are low and no one wants to rock the boat.
BWhich is exactly why the people there are on the streets alone. Okay, a little lighter now.
BLighter? A grenade exercise started a fire that killed four soldiers in Canada. That is not lighter.
BNo, no, I mean the other one. The kid in go-karts.
BOh, Kimi Antonelli. The Wall Street Journal has a feature on him this morning.
BFirst spotted as an eleven-year-old in go-karts. Nine years and ten million dollars later, he's on the verge of a title.
BListen to that math. Ten million dollars of development. That is what it costs to build a champion now.
BIt's a business, not a sport. But you have to admire the machine behind it.
BI admire the kid. He lost his F1 seat, fought back, and now he's suddenly the hot property again.
BAnd for the finance nerds, Axios says Meta just joined Big Tech's 'negative free cash flow club.'
BOh good, a club nobody wants to join.
BMeta is spending tens of billions on AI infrastructure. The bet is that it pays off in a few years.
BRight now, it means they're burning cash faster than they're making it. Investors hate that, but Zuck doesn't care.
BBecause he sees the next platform war is AI, and he is not going to be late to it.
BAnd one more thing before we go. The Wall Street Journal is also tracking a big story in Austria.
BExpelled four Russian diplomats this morning. Security grounds.
BNo details on what they allegedly did, but it is the latest in a long line of expulsions across Europe.
BVienna has been a hub for Russian intelligence since the Cold War. This is a significant move.
BWe'll keep an eye on that through the morning. That is your Morning Briefing for now.
BWe are back at the top of the hour with more on the quake and the market reaction.