Rattling global markets… Oil prices have spiked and shipping costs have soared following dozens of Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, which facilitates 15% of all seaborne trade. Last week, the US, UK, and other allies issued a “final warning” to the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group — but it attacked again. FYI: the turmoil started after Hamas’ attacks on Israel. Shipping titans including Maersk have halted Red Sea shipping. To move between Europe and Asia, they’re taking a longer route around Africa (no Suez shortcut).
How the cookie crumbles… Google killed the cookie — the tech used to track web users and target ads — for 30M Chrome users last week, and plans to ax cookies for the other 99% of Chromies later this year. Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox already limit cookies, but Google has delayed its plans because of Chrome’s outsized share (65%) of web traffic. Cookie lovers, including the $600B/year online ad industry, aren’t psyched. But regulators argue that cookies are invasive and allow companies to build profiles (with sensitive info) on unaware scrollers.