Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Google under attack

The US Justice Department and eight states sued Google, calling for the breakup of the search giant’s ad-technology business over alleged monopolization of the digital ads. Google is the dominant player in the $278.6 billion US digital-ad market, controlling most of the technology used to buy, sell and serve online advertising. The lawsuit is the Biden administration’s first major case challenging one of America’s tech behemoths in this fashion, and marks one of the few times the federal government has called for the breakup of a major company since it dismantled Bell telecom in the 1980s. Google contends the lawsuit is based on a “flawed argument.” Its stock fell 2%. —Margaret Sutherlin

It was a chaotic open Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange as dozens of the largest US companies seemed to lose billions of dollars in market value for no apparent reason. The NYSE said it’s investigating the cause. Here’s your markets wrap. 

Countries desperate to meet emissions goals and avoid price swings in the face of fossil fuel shortages are turning to an unlikely source: nuclear.  Many are now looking to keep old reactors running for as long as 80 years, double their 40-year lifespan. Indeed, by the end of the decade, two-thirds of the world’s currently operating nuclear reactors will be running on borrowed time.

The Golfech EDF nuclear plant in southwestern France Photographer: Charly Triballeau/AFP

How tough is the real estate market? A 260-acre undeveloped golf course in the ultra-exclusive Bel-Air district (where homeowners have included Elon Musk and Serena Williams) of Los Angeles was listed for auction at a discount of almost 70% from its 2013 asking price.

A Depression-era backstop Wall Street banks use for short-term funding is the latest corner of traditional finance to be ensnared by upheaval in the crypto industry. For decades, the Federal Home Loan Bank System has been a preferred option for lenders in need of cash. But recent revelations that some of the money went to crypto-friendly banks after the collapse of digital-asset exchange FTX has a lot of people worried.

The US and Germany are poised to announce they’ll provide main battle tanks to Ukraine, a significant escalation that nevertheless offers Kyiv a powerful new weapon to counter Russian aggression and reaffirms unity among NATO allies. Germany had indicated it was unwilling to provide such tanks unless others acted as well. Meanwhile, the US has confronted China’s government with evidence that state-owned companies are backing Russia’s war.

The US Army’s M1A2 Abrams main battle tank Photograph: Bloomberg

US public health chief Rochelle Walensky continued reconfiguring her agency to fight crises after criticism of its Covid-19 response. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created new offices on health equity and said it aims to shore up gaps in monitoring for potential threats.

Britain's National Health Service needs money, and there’s no spare cash to be found. It means officials are facing a brutal reality: either taxes are raised, free NHS services are cut, other government departments are effectively scrapped—or Britain’s health service breaks.

Ambulance workers in the UK participated in a historic series of protests against pay levels in Britain’s National Health Service. Photographer: Anthony Devlin/Bloomberg

Bloomberg continues to track the global coronavirus pandemic. Click here for daily updates.

• Secret documents have been found at Mike Pence’s house, too.
• Finland may try to join NATO without Sweden after all. 
• One market watcher predicts a 17% plunge in the S&P 500 this year.
• California is grappling with a spate of gun-fueled mass killings.
• Just one third of Americans can cover a $400 emergency expense.
• Oscar nominations are out—here are the big potential winners.
• Ticketmaster faced a grilling in Congress after its Taylor Swift debacle. 

In Japan, getting divorced is relatively simple, but issues of custody and visitation can last for years—and sometimes carry extreme consequences. Child welfare in failed Japanese marriages often turns on single-parent custody, where the other parent is largely excluded from a child’s life. It’s an outcome that makes divorce battles all the more fraught. Now some want to finally change a system that took shape in the aftermath of World War II. But critics warn proposed changes may make matters much worse.

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