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National

In a tweet Friday night, President Trump announced the nomination of Kelly Knight Craft, the current ambassador to Canada, for ambassador to the U.N.

Details:  The Kentucky native has public and private sector experience. She and her husband are among the biggest Republican donors in the state, according to Fortune.

Go deeper: McConnell recommends Kelly Craft to Trump for UN ambassador

Trump nominates Kelly Craft as ambassador to the U.N.

Kelly Knight Craft. Photo: Tom Williams/ Getty Images

Politics

United Nations (UN)

Oscars surprises

Oscar ratings have been on the decline, there's no host and producers have taken grief for the show's runtime.

U.S. News

Oscars

Media

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Axios AI+

A group of Microsoft workers is once again calling on the company to pull out of a U.S. military contract, saying they never signed up to build tools for war-making.

The bottom line: Microsoft has previously said it intends to continue doing work with the U.S. government, including the armed forces.

Details: The letter is signed simply "Microsoft workers." A representative of the group behind it says more than 50 employees are behind the effort, but all are choosing to remain anonymous at this point.

In particular, this letter focuses on use of the HoloLens mixed reality headset.

Letter writers: "We are a global coalition of Microsoft workers, and we refuse to create technology for warfare and oppression. We are alarmed that Microsoft is working to provide weapons technology to the U.S. Military, helping one country's government "increase lethality" using tools we built. We did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used."

Microsoft: "We’re committed to providing our technology to the U.S. Department of Defense, which includes the U.S. Army under this contract," a representative said in a statement. "As we’ve also said, we’ll remain engaged as an active corporate citizen in addressing the important ethical and public policy issues relating to AI and the military.” 

Dear Satya Nadella and Brad Smith,

We are a global coalition of Microsoft workers, and we refuse to create technology for warfare and oppression. We are alarmed that Microsoft is working to provide weapons technology to the U.S. Military, helping one country's government "increase lethality" using tools we built. We did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used.

In November, Microsoft was awarded the $479 million Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) contract with the United States Department of the Army. The contract's stated objective is to "rapidly develop, test, and manufacture a single platform that Soldiers can use to Fight, Rehearse, and Train that provides increased lethality, mobility, and situational awareness necessary to achieve overmatch against our current and future adversaries.". Microsoft intends to apply its HoloLens augmented reality technology to this purpose. While the company has previously licensed tech to the U.S. Military, it has never crossed the line into weapons development. With this contract, it does. The application of HoloLens within the IVAS system is designed to help people kill. It will be deployed on the battlefield, and works by turning warfare into a simulated "video game," further distancing soldiers from the grim stakes of war and the reality of bloodshed.

Intent to harm is not an acceptable use of our technology.

We demand that Microsoft:

    1) Cancel the IVAS contract;
    2) Cease developing any and all weapons technologies, and draft a public-facing acceptable use policy clarifying this commitment;
    3) Appoint an independent, external ethics review board with the power to enforce and publicly validate compliance with its acceptable use policy.

Although a review process exists for ethics in AI, AETHER, it is opaque to Microsoft workers, and clearly not robust enough to prevent weapons development, as the IVAS contract demonstrates. Without such a policy, Microsoft fails to inform its engineers on the intent of the software they are building. Such a policy would also enable workers and the public to hold Microsoft accountable.

Brad Smith’s suggestion that employees concerned about working on unethical projects "would be allowed to move to other work within the company" ignores the problem that workers are not properly informed of the use of their work. There are many engineers who contributed to HoloLens before this contract even existed, believing it would be used to help architects and engineers build buildings and cars, to help teach people how to perform surgery or play the piano, to push the boundaries of gaming, and to connect with the Mars Rover (RIP). These engineers have now lost their ability to make decisions about what they work on, instead finding themselves implicated as war profiteers.

Microsoft's guidelines on accessibility and security go above and beyond because we care about our customers. We ask for the same approach to a policy on ethics and acceptable use of our technology. Making our products accessible to all audiences has required us to be proactive and unwavering about inclusion. If we don't make the same commitment to be ethical, we won't be. We must design against abuse and the potential to cause violence and harm.

Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and organization on the planet to do more. But implicit in that statement, we believe it is also Microsoft's mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to do good. We also need to be mindful of who we're empowering and what we're empowering them to do. Extending this core mission to encompass warfare and disempower Microsoft employees, is disingenuous, as "every person" also means empowering us. As employees and shareholders we do not want to become war profiteers. To that end, we believe that Microsoft must stop in its activities to empower the U.S. Army's ability to cause harm and violence.

Microsoft Workers

Microsoft workers again upset about US military work

A letter calls on the company to pull out of a military contract.

Technology

Microsoft

Big Tech

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Police announced Thursday that human traffickers lured women to 10 Orlando-area massage parlors, where they were intimidated into prostitution, TCPalm reports. The 6-month investigation culminated in charges against dozens of individuals who solicited the parlors, including New England Patriots' owner Robert Kraft.

Details: The spas were closed down on Tuesday as Vero Beach Police began making arrests. Indian River County agencies issued warrants for 173 people on charges that include human trafficking, racketeering and soliciting prostitution. Thus far, nearly 50 of the 165 accused of paying for sex acts have been arrested.

Six "major players" have been charged in organizing the prostitution ring, according to TCPalm. Two remain at large.

Detectives witnessed an Orlando couple bring multiple women with suitcases into and out of their spas in Sebastian, Winter Park and Orlando, Florida, "for the purpose of sexual servitude," according to an arrest warrant. Police said the victims, many of which came from China on temporary work visas, lived in the spas and weren't permitted to leave freely.

Details emerge on Florida sex ring that ensnared Robert Kraft

Indian River County agencies have issued arrest warrants for 173 people.

Robert Kraft. Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Crime

For a handful of hours next week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be the top-ranked government official on U.S. soil.

Driving the news: In a rare event on Monday, both President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will be overseas at the same time — Pence in Colombia, and Trump en route to his summit in Vietnam with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to three administration sources.

Why it matters: Two of these sources told Axios that there is internal concern that sloppy scheduling would allow this rare event to happen, though it's not unprecedented.

"It's rare and unusual, and usually they [the White House] try to avoid it," presidential historian Michael Beschloss told Axios.

According to an administration official, Pence and Trump were both out of the country for a short period of time on Dec. 1, 2018, when Trump was in Argentina for the G20 summit and Pence was in Mexico for the inauguration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

They also were both overseas on Nov. 11, 2018, when Trump was returning from France and Pence was headed to Asia for meetings and regional summits. 

And in March 2013, former President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were both out of the country for roughly a 20-minute window while Obama was traveling to Israel and Biden was returning from Italy.

Worth noting: While it's bad practice for both the president and VP to be overseas at the same time, it's also true that Colombia is roughly a five-hour flight back to the U.S., so if needed for a domestic crisis, Pence could be back on U.S. soil quite quickly. 

And Trump remains president wherever he goes; the only reason line succession of government would be invoked is if he or the VP were incapacitated — for example in the event of medical surgery. Both leaders travel with secure communications and nuclear codes. 

Pelosi will be in New York Monday morning and D.C. in the afternoon, according to a spokesperson. And while it's a rare quirk that she'll be the top-ranked official on U.S. soil, in no way will her normal duties change.

The White House did not respond to Axios' request for comment.

Scoop: Trump, Pence overseas travel to overlap, concerning some officials

For a handful of hours on Monday, Nancy Pelosi will be the top-ranked government official on U.S. soil.

Inside the White House

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Donald Trump

Latin America and Latinos

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

House Democrats on Friday introduced a resolution to block President Trump's national emergency declaration to fund his border wall.

Why it matters: Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the resolution will be brought to a vote on Tuesday. If the bill passes the House, the Senate would then be forced to take it up within 18 days — putting Republicans on the record on whether they support Trump's use of executive power. This could set up the first veto of Trump's presidency.

House will vote on Trump’s national emergency

It could force Senate Republicans to go on the record on whether they support Trump's declaration.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Trump border wall

Ray Ozzie, the man who created Lotus Notes and helped usher Microsoft into the cloud era has a new goal: helping devices in the home get smarter by hooking them up directly to the cellular airwaves. In an exclusive interview, Ozzie said his startup has started trials with AT&T on a module that securely connects all sorts of products, from appliances and alarms to vending machines and construction equipment.

Bottom line: There's no doubt that many more devices are going to be connected wirelessly in coming years and that not all device makers will want to handle connectivity themselves. Ozzie's startup is likely to be just one of many companies willing to take on that task.

The premise behind Ozzie's new company, Blues Wireless, is that everyone from appliance makers to logistics companies will want their products to have a secure wireless connection without the hassles or risks of doing it themselves. 

"Customers ate trying to connect virtually everything that exists to the cloud," Ozzie told Axios. "It’s fairly a no-brainer as compared to a technology in search of a problem."

Current and forthcoming cellular networks will be able to compete favorably with Wi-Fi, Ozzie said, offering several benefits.

Unlike with Wi-Fi, devices can be set at the factory to connect wirelessly. Many Wi-Fi-equipped devices today never get connected because consumers either don't see enough benefit or get frustrated with the set-up process.

Everything is encrypted, with secure credentials stored on the device itself.

Using Notecard, devices can connect to cloud  providers like Amazon's AWS or Microsoft’s Azure without ever having to cross the public internet, offering additional security benefits.

Yes, but: The problem is more than a technical one, Ozzie acknowledges: Cellular connections cost money, and efforts to connect devices in the past left customers  to manage the data costs themselves.Blues Wireless hopes to take that hassle away by using a Kindle-like business model, selling the modules at enough of a profit to cover the cost of the device and the wireless data the devices will use. It isn't saying just how much it expects to charge.Also, Blues is still small, using mostly contractors and bankrolled by Ozzie.

History lesson: In the past, Ozzie's brainstorms have typically been directionally correct but ahead-of-their-time products looking to capitalize on shifts in the way people and computers interact. This time around, Ozzie says he's banking on making it easier for companies to get on board an inevitable hardware trend.

Exclusive: Ray Ozzie wants to wirelessly connect the world

His startup, Blues Wireless, has partnered with AT&T.

A photo collage of Ray Ozzie and a cellular tower

Wireless networks

Business

Generate

Axios Generate

CANBERRA, Australia — A decade ago, coal supplied 90% of this national capital region’s electricity. By next year, it will be 0%, and renewable energy will be 100%. 

Why it matters: It’s a rare example of a region traditionally dependent upon coal weaning itself off the fuel. The key lesson: big pivots in energy systems are possible with stable government leadership, instead of windshield-wiper policies that voters from Australia to America have been accustomed to in recent years.

“We’ve had the same parties in power, that same leadership over a 10-year period. We’ve been able to steadily roll out policies and provide industry certainty.”

Shane Rattenbury, climate change and sustainability minister, Australian Capital Territory

The big picture: Despite its big environmental footprint, coal has traditionally been the world’s cheapest form of electricity. As concerns about air pollution and climate change grow, renewable energy is increasingly competing with coal, buoyed by government policies like the kind this region implemented.

In many parts of the world, natural gas is emerging as the top form of power because it’s plentiful and burns cleaner than coal, but here in Australia that fuel is mostly exported.

Details: Australia’s economy is particularly dependent upon coal. This nation is the world’s largest coal exporter, and nearly 75% of its electricity is coal-fired. 

The country's capital region, known as the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), is barred by the nation's Constitution from implementing a price on carbon dioxide emissions. 

Instead, it pursued changes to electricity-market policies to favor wind and solar over coal, such as reverse auctions where companies compete to offer low-cost renewable electricity. 

Although electricity prices nationally have gone up, prices in this region haven't risen disproportionately, according to government data. 

The region stands in contrast to Australia’s federal policy, which has been mostly absent. Politicians have been fighting over the best approach, if any, to address climate change in a country both heavily dependent on fossil fuels and facing the wrath of extreme weather that's tied to a warming world.

Yes, but: The capital region faces limitations. 

The government’s electricity won’t be independently renewable energy. Most efforts to get 100% renewable energy aren’t due to the nature of electricity grids and variable wind and solar resources.

Instead, it has procured renewable energy — mostly wind farms — from within its region but also across Australia to equal its power demand. 

At a little more than 900 square miles, the region is relatively small, making it an easier lift to get enough renewable energy. 

How one Australian region kicked the coal habit

Australia shows how big pivots in energy systems are possible with stable government leadership.

Axios

Friday's top stories

Trump nominates Kelly Craft as ambassador to the U.N.

Oscars surprises

Microsoft workers again upset about US military work

Details emerge on Florida sex ring that ensnared Robert Kraft

Scoop: Trump, Pence overseas travel to overlap, concerning some officials

House will vote on Trump’s national emergency

Exclusive: Ray Ozzie wants to wirelessly connect the world

How one Australian region kicked the coal habit

The most overpaid CEOs

Anti-vaccination content haunts Big Tech

Trump team sees Mueller endgame

Companies pull ads from YouTube ... again

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