What went wrong with Silicon Valley Bank?

The US protects Silicon Valley Bank depositors; Cyclone Freddy kills dozens in Malawi and Mozambique.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

The latest on the Silicon Valley Bank collapse

 Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

• The federal government on Sunday took action to make sure depositors will have access to their funds following the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. [Vox / Emily Stewart, Peter Kafka, and Sara Morrison]
• SVB became the largest bank to fail since 2008, after spooked customers rushed to withdraw cash it didn’t have. Signature Bank, which catered to cryptocurrency investors, was shuttered Sunday. [CNN / Hanna Ziady]
• Both banks failed because they were too reliant on the tech industry and struggled to raise operating funds amid higher interest rates. [BBC / Natalie Sherman]
• While the failures raised panic in the tech world, a widespread financial meltdown appears unlikely. [Associated Press / Ken Sweet]
• To prevent further crises, Democrats are calling for tightening restrictions —  weakened during the Trump administration — on small and medium-sized banks. [NBC News / Sahil Kapur]

Cyclone Freddy batters southern Africa

• At least 70 people in Malawi and Mozambique have died after powerful Tropical Cyclone Freddy made its second pass over southern Africa since February. [CBS News]
• The storm brought heavy winds to Mozambique Saturday before inundating Malawi with torrential rain that caused flash floods, landslides, and fallen trees. [Reuters / Frank Phiri and Manuel Mucari]
• The storm, which may become the longest of its kind, wiped out communications and damaged infrastructure, hampering recovery efforts. [AP News / Vitus-Gregory Gondwe and Wanjohi Kabukuru]
• While it takes time for scientists to link individual weather events to climate change, warmer ocean temperatures caused by human actions do transfer more heat to the atmosphere, generating more powerful storms. [Al Jazeera]

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Arkansas has loosened child labor protections for people under 16 despite evidence of nationwide child labor exploitation. [Vox / Ellen Ioanes]

• Former President Donald Trump won’t testify before a New York grand jury investigating hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels in 2016. [CNN / Kara Scannell and Abby Baggini]
• Everything Everywhere All at Once — an action film with a modest budget — won Best Picture at the 2023 Academy Awards. [Vox / Alissa Wilkinson]
• President Joe Biden on Sunday approved an $8 billion drilling project in Alaska while adding future protections in the Arctic Ocean. [Guardian / Oliver Milman, Nina Lakhani, and Maanvi Singh]

“There’s always a risk of contagion because banking is fundamentally a game of trust and confidence. When they erode, the system becomes less stable.”

[Aaron Klein, a senior economics fellow at the think tank Brookings Institution, on future bank collapse risks / Vox]

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