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Good morning, it's Monday, Aug. 10. One of the world's most dangerous crime bosses is being extradited from the UAE. First time reading? Join over 4.7 million insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.
Also in today's Digest: Myspace teases a relaunch (Need To Know), songbird genome (Sci. & Tech.), how Russia's Amazon-like retailer has been faring amid war (Bus. & Mkts.), Fat Marmot Week (Etc.), and much more.
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Need To Know
Irish Mob Boss Extradited
Daniel Kinahan, suspected head of one of the world’s largest drug syndicates, was taken into custody by Irish officials after his extradition from the United Arab Emirates yesterday. The transfer brings Kinahan home to face charges of directing organized crime and follows his April arrest in Dubai.
Formed in the 1990s to traffic street drugs in Dublin, the Kinahan network became one of Europe’s primary importers of illicit drugs, controlling an estimated one-third of the continent's cocaine supply and amassing more than $1B in net worth. The group’s rise was reportedly due to Kinahan’s coordination of a “supercartel” (podcast w/transcript) linking Central and South American cartels with other regional crime networks, including the Italian Mafia. His lavish 2017 wedding in Dubai, to which he had fled a year prior, was infiltrated by undercover DEA agents, allowing them to begin mapping the worldwide network.
Kinahan gave a phone interview from an Emirati prison days before being returned—listen to a clip here.
Roman Shipwreck Revealed
A Roman-era shipwreck was discovered off the coast of Sicily, Italy’s culture minister announced Saturday. The ship measures about 20 feet wide and 70 feet long and was discovered alongside hundreds of well-preserved clay jars. Scroll for dive footage.
The discovery came after a tipoff from a local fisherman, who found what appeared to be a rock while freediving three miles off the coast of Mazara del Vallo. He dove down and discovered the ship before sharing the finding with local authorities. At a depth of about 150 feet, cultural heritage divers from Palermo police confirmed the discovery of the ancient ship and jars, identifying them as the long cylindrical jars typically used to carry wine, olive oil, or grain. Italian authorities will now safeguard and investigate the site to learn more about its history.
The Mediterranean seabed is believed to hold numerous still-undiscovered ancient wrecks. Explore the most fascinating treasures 1440 staff have discovered about ancient Rome.
🫶 Humankind: "Old ladies" freedive off Cape Cod to forge friendships—and remove over 6,000 pounds of waste. (w/video)
Myspace Nostalgia Pitch
Myspace’s owners revealed in a yet-to-be publicly available documentary that they seek to relaunch the social media site. Owners Tim and Chris Vanderhook have not announced a date for relaunch as of this writing.
In the early 2000s, the site, then stylized as MySpace, became the world’s most popular social media platform. The company boasted 115 million monthly visitors by 2008; however, it was soon surpassed by Facebook. Despite a series of rebrands and ownership transfers in the 2010s, including one involving singer Justin Timberlake, the company never regained its status as a meaningful social media competitor.
The owners’ plans come amid a broader cultural backlash against social media sites like Meta and TikTok, which have been criticized for addictive algorithms and correlations with poor mental health, including in children (see latest Meta penalty).
Listen to a podcast about social media addiction, including Germany’s investigation into Social Media Use Disorder.
In partnership with Incogni
Unknown Number Calling? It’s Not Random
The BBC caught scam call center workers on hidden cameras as they laughed at the people they were tricking. One worker bragged about making $250k from victims. The disturbing truth? Scammers don’t pick phone numbers at random. They buy your data from brokers.
Once your data is out there, it’s not just calls. It’s phishing, impersonation, and identity theft. That’s why we recommend Incogni: They delete your info from the web, monitor and follow up automatically, and continue to erase data as new risks appear. Try Incogni here and get 55% off your subscription with code 1440DAILY.
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In The Know
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Don Nelson, five-time NBA champion and Hall of Fame coach, dies at age 86 (More) | How he revolutionized the sport with "Nellie Ball" and won 1,335 regular-season games, the second most in league history (More)
> Dutch cyclist Demi Vollering wins her second Tour de France Femmes title, besting rival and runner-up Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney by 1 minute, 18 seconds over nine stages (More) | Watch the moment she crosses the finish line (More)
> Country music icon Violet Hensley, known as the “Whittlin’ Fiddler” for her ability to carve and play violins, dies at age 109 (More, w/video) | Centenarians (people who live past 100) comprise 0.03% of the US population; see stats, including where they live (More)
Science & Technology
> Amazon to build a 35-turbine, 7.6 GW natural gas power plant to service a Texas data center; would be the single largest CO2 emitter in the US by a factor of two (More) | Why data centers need so much power (More, w/video)
> Brain study reveals the prefrontal cortex, which controls decision-making and executive functions, can suppress "outside the box" thinking (More)
> First complete genome of a songbird mapped; analysis sheds light on the neuroscience of vocal learning (More) | Listen to the zebra finch's "laser beam" vocalizations (More, w/video)
How eclipses work: Tomorrow's 1440 Science & Technology newsletter explores eclipses, how they work, and much more. Sign up here to join 130,000+ science enthusiasts for free!
Business & Markets
> US stock markets rise Friday (S&P 500 +0.6%, Dow +0.3%, Nasdaq +1.3%) despite report the US shed 23,000 jobs in July; S&P 500 hits record high (More) | A quick history of stock markets and how they work (More, w/video)
> Wildberries, Russia's Amazon-like online retailer, has lost one-fifth of its warehouse space and about $3B in merchandise from Ukrainian drone strikes over the past three weeks (More)
> Social media platform X to end revenue-sharing program, will replace it with a program incentivizing original content and reporting; move combats aggregator and clickbait accounts (More)
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Politics & World Affairs
> Senate votes 50-49 to confirm acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to serve in the role in a nonacting capacity (More)
> Yemen's Houthi rebels claim responsibility for attack on Saudi oil refinery, say it is in response to Saudi drones; announcement comes after Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey sign defense pact (More)
> Israel says it will not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas fully disarms, defying President Donald Trump's 15-point peace proposal that stipulates disarmament would happen in stages, alongside an Israeli withdrawal (More)
In partnership with Incogni
Sick of Scam Calls? Scared of Identity Theft?
Becoming truly anonymous online is hard—but it’s not impossible. Experts say there are several steps you can take:
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Etcetera
Size up the contenders of the inaugural Fat Marmot Week.
Do you live near one of the US' top-ranked hospitals?
What's acceptable to wear at the office? Take a quiz.
NASA's power-saving hack to extend life of 49-year-old space probe.
Who recorded the first recipe for s'mores?
An expert counterfeiter explains how to make and spot fake bills. (w/video)
Meet the newest members of the Mascot Hall of Fame.
See winners of the Pure Street Photography Awards.
Watch 90,000 rubber ducks get dumped into the Chicago River. (w/video)
Clickbait: Itsy bitsy spiders are taking over the web.
Historybook: Louvre Museum opens in Paris, France (1793); Smithsonian Institution created (1846); First electric guitar patent awarded to Electro String Corporation (1937); "Wizard of Oz" movie premieres in Green Bay, Wisconsin (1939); Ruth Bader Ginsburg sworn in as Supreme Court justice (1993)
"When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out. Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade."
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
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