Plus China's shrinking population & a judge tells Trump shut up or leave the courtroom

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Good morning,

Happy Thursday (or Friday Eve)!

A big thanks to all of you who sent feedback on our new format. This community is amazing, and we don’t take it for granted. ❤️

We’re always looking to best cover the news of the day and will be adjusting our newsletter format depending on the headlines. Translation, if there’s one big story that needs a deep-dive, this will still be your place. 🙂

And our inbox is always open if you still want to share your thoughts about the new look or anything else.

Have a good one!

Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren

🩺 CANCER DEATHS DECREASING, BUT OVERALL CASES RISING

We’ll start with the bad news first: More Americans are being diagnosed with cancer — rates for 6 of the 10 most common forms of cancer are increasing. What’s especially alarming is that it’s being found at an earlier age.

THE DATA
The American Cancer Society report shows that the number of new cancer cases for all types of cancers had ticked up to more than two million in 2023, a trend that’s supposed to continue in 2024.

Cancer patients are also getting younger: Diagnoses in people 50-64 increased from 25% in 1995 to 30% in 2019-2020.
- The American Cancer Society found increases in the incidences of many cancers, including breast, prostate, uterus, oral, liver, kidney colon and rectum in middle-aged adults. Melanoma incidence also increased.
Among men and women of all ages, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death. Prostate cancer is second for men, and breast cancer is second for women. Colorectal cancer is third, overall, for both sexes.
- And colorectal cancer cases is one type the experts are increasingly concerned about: While the overall rate of colorectal cancer had continued to decline, there is a major increase in people under age 55.

NEW RECOMMENDATIONS
The recommended age for someone with average cancer risk factors is to start getting screened for colon cancer sooner: at 45 years old instead of 50, and at 40 years old for mammogram screening.

Researchers don’t have a clear answer for why the colon cancer rates are rising.
- Some hypothesize that increasing obesity rates, and diets that include more processed food could play a role. But doctors are also seeing triathletes and very healthy people with colon cancer, leading to speculation environmental factors are also having an impact.

NOT ALL BAD NEWS
On the plus side, the cancer mortality rate is falling, with four million deaths prevented since 1991, according to the American Cancer Society’s annual report. The death rate is declining for the most common cancers, a trend seen for the last few decades.

We can thank less smoking, earlier detection and better treatments, the report’s author said.
- Lung cancer is the biggest driver of the drop, with deaths dropping over the decades, but it remains the biggest cancer killer.
Uterine cancer was the only diagnosis that saw death rates increase for all age groups over the past 40 years.

🇨🇳 CHINA POPULATION DROP ↘️

China’s population shrank again in 2023, further intensifying concerns about the future of the world’s second largest economy (US is #1).

OHH, BABY, BABY
It’s the second year in a row that deaths have outpaced births. China’s population dropped by about 2 million to 1.409 billion people. And the Chinese Communist Party is increasingly worried.

The fertility rate is currently less than half of the population replacement rate. Meaning, each new generation will be half the size of the previous one.
Flashback: 2022 was the first time China saw its population shrink since 1961 (think the Great Famine). India overtook China as the world’s most populous country last spring.

The major issue: How will a smaller population impact their economy?

A shrinking population means a smaller workforce, and less ability to support a growing, aging population.
Local authorities have offered cash bonuses for couples to have babies, but the efforts have largely failed.
China lifted it’s “one child policy” in 2015, but the damage is done demographically and psychologically. For several generations, many families preferred to have a boy, choosing to abort baby girls or put them up for adoption.

AGING POPULATION
The death rate rose by 6.6% in 2023 to 11.1 million — that’s the highest level since 1974. About 20% of China’s population is currently 60+ and that percentage is only expected to rise in the coming years. This will put a burden on many workers to care for retired parents alone.

⚖️ JUDGE THREATENS TO KICK TRUMP OUT OF COURT

Trump watching E. Jean Carroll testify. Via: Reuters.

Former President Donald Trump has been taking a break from the campaign trail this week to spend time in a New York City courtroom. Thats where he is choosing to attend the civil defamation trial brought by writer E. Jean Carroll against him. On Wednesday, he was warned by the judge to keep quiet or get kicked out.

THE CASE
Back in 2019, Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a NY department store the mid-1990s. A previous jury found that he sexually abused and defamed her. He was ordered to pay $5 million, which he’s appealing.

In this second case, Carroll is seeking $10 million in additional damages for additional defamatory statements Trump made about her since 2019.
She testified, “To have the President of the United States, one of the most powerful persons on earth, call me a liar for three days and say it 26 times, I counted them, it ended the world I had been living in and I lived in a new world.”
- She said she received hundreds of messages a day from his supporters calling her, “a liar, you hurt victims, you are ugly.”

SHHH
On Wednesday, Carroll’s lawyer told Judge Lewis Kaplan that the jury could hear Trump making snide comments to his lawyer during Carroll’s testimony, including: “This really is a con job.”

Kaplan said Trump had the right to be there, but it could be taken away due to his disruptions.
- He added, “Mr. Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial. I understand you are very eager for me to do that.”
- Trump replied: “I would love that. I would love that.”

Trump then took to social media to call Kaplan a "seething and hostile" judge with "a major case of Trump Derangement Syndrome."

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 Maine court puts decision barring Trump from the state's primary ballot on hold until Supreme Court rules (NPR)

📌 Supreme Court justices consider weakening federal agency power (NBC NEWS)

📌 Haley says US has ‘never been a racist country’ (CNN)

📌 New Biden proposal could make overdraft fees drop to as low as $3 (AP)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 Chinese lab mapped deadly coronavirus two weeks before Beijing told the world, documents show. (WSJ)

📌 Germans protest nationwide after far-right meeting on deportation plan (REUTERS)

📌 Pakistan warns Iran of 'consequences' after deadly bombing that killed children (FOX NEWS)

📌 US re-designates Houthis a terrorist group (AXIOS)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Health insurance premiums are eating into workers' wages (AXIOS)

📌 Sheryl Sandberg says she’s leaving Meta’s board (CNBC)

📌 Secretary of State Blinken’s Boeing 737 plane leaving Davos had a critical failure, leading him to switch planes (CNN)

📌 Burt's Bees, Hidden Valley Ranch launch lip balm inspired by buffalo chicken wings (USA TODAY)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 King Charles to go into hospital next week for benign prostate treatment (CNN)

📌 Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic dies of heart attack (ABC NEWS)

📌 Beverly Johnson says she got hooked on drugs after living on a diet of cocaine and two eggs a week (PEOPLE)

📌 Pharrell Williams’ sophomore collection at Louis Vuitton showcases Americana and Native American themes (AP)

🗓 ON THIS DAY: JANUARY 18

1919: Allied nations meet at Versailles to settle World War I. Germany is not invited, and eventually forced to pay reparations and cede significant territory. World War II would start just over 20 years later.
1943: The US bans the sale of sliced bread, a labor and equipment cost saving measure, due to World War II. The move faced a lot of protest and was rescinded weeks later.
1975: "The Jeffersons," an American sitcom spin off of "All in the Family," premiered on CBS. It would run for 11 seasons.
2010: Justin Bieber released “Baby.”