April 17 — Starship Launch, Military Pacts, and US Manufacturing Surge

Every day, I ask ChatGPT to read the top 1000 trending news and post only the important ones. No junk news, ever: if nothing important happens, nothing gets posted.

Today we have 6 articles with a score over 6:

After removing duplicates and repeats, here is today’s top 4:

1. SpaceX set to launch its own massive rocket, Starship, for the first time, with potential to revolutionize space exploration — The Washington Post

   SpaceX is set to launch its Starship rocket, which is designed to be reusable and refuelled in orbit, for the first time on Monday. The rocket, which is almost 400 feet tall and has nearly twice the thrust of NASA's Space Launch System, has won over the US space agency, which awarded SpaceX a $2.9bn contract to use it as the vehicle that would land astronauts on the moon. If successful, Starship could dramatically enhance space capabilities and alter how astrophysics missions are built, according to an article in Physics Today.

2. China and Russia vow to deepen military cooperation — The Guardian

   China's defence minister, Li Shangfu, has pledged to deepen military cooperation with Russia during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Li, who is on his first overseas trip in his role, said China was willing to work with Russia to have close strategic communications between their militaries. Putin and Li hailed military cooperation between the two nations, which have declared a "no limits" partnership. The meeting came weeks after an official visit to Moscow by China's leader, Xi Jinping, during which Putin and Xi discussed Beijing's proposals to end the Ukraine conflict.

3. China targets western interests in response to US-led trade and technology restrictions — Financial Times [paywall]

   China is targeting western interests in the country, with officials slapping new sanctions on US weapons companies, launching an investigation into US chipmaker Micron, raiding US due diligence firm Mintz and apprehending local staff, detaining a senior executive from Japan’s Astellas Pharma group and hitting London-headquartered Deloitte with a record fine. President Xi Jinping’s administration is now considering curbing western access to materials and technologies critical to the global car industry, according to a commerce ministry review. The response to what Beijing has described as a US-led “technology blockade” reveals Xi’s strategy of narrowly targeting industries and companies with little risk of damage to China’s own interests.

4. US poised for manufacturing boom with $400bn in subsidies — Financial Times [paywall]

   US manufacturing is set for a boom as companies tap into Biden administration subsidies, according to Financial Times research. The Chips Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, passed last August, include more than $400bn in tax credits, grants and loans designed to foster a domestic semiconductor industry and clean-tech manufacturing base. The FT identified more than 75 large-scale manufacturing announcements in the US since the passage of these two industrial policies, with companies committing roughly $204bn in large-scale projects to boost US semiconductor and clean-tech production as of April 14, promising to create at least 82,000 jobs.

Thanks for reading us and see you tomorrow,
The News Minimalist