We’re also covering: 

• Gen Z has an addiction to buying cheap clothes that are terrible for the environment.
• Towns outside of New York City, Boston, or DC where houses are relatively affordable.
• Say goodbye to the US car market as we know it: Cheap Chinese EVs are coming.

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Debt ceiling, Tesla, & Navy

• President Biden met with congressional leaders again over the debt ceiling. Kevin McCarthy said it’s possible to get a deal “by the end of the week.” Read more.
• Elon Musk teased two new Tesla products. Musk said the vehicles would be “head and shoulders above anything else” in the auto industry. More here.
• No one knew a US aircraft carrier water tank had jet fuel in it until the crew hooked it up to the drinking water system, per a Navy report.

Putin’s bunker

The 190,000-square-foot, billion-dollar complex, perched above the Black Sea, has every luxury that an autocrat could possibly desire. As revealed by Alexei Navalny’s investigation, the palace has its own church, wine cellar, casino, hookah lounge, ice rink, and more.

But as Mattathias Schwartz and Anastasiia Carrier report for Insider, the palace’s builders appear to have neglected one crucial detail: They failed to hide plans showing two elaborate tunnels running beneath the palace complex.

The plans — emblematic of Putin’s obsession with survival — were first posted publicly to the Russian internet. They show tunnels encased in thick concrete, supplied with enough fresh water, ventilation, and extensive cables to support VIP occupants for days or weeks at a time.

Today, Insider is publishing annotated versions of the diagrams with English-language translations.

Gen Z, EVs, & affordable homes

• Affordable Chinese EVs are coming to the US. Chinese carmakers have mastered the quality and affordability of electric vehicles. Their entrance is likely going to change the US car market as we know it.
• Gen Z’s addiction to fast fashion is destroying the planet. The generation has been at the forefront of the climate movement, so why can’t they stop buying fast fashion? Experts said social media was just one factor behind young people’s obsession with cheap brands. Read more.
• Priced out of New York City, Boston, or Washington, DC? We’ve got a look at 69 suburban towns — just outside those big cities — where homes are less than half the price, including Emerson, New Jersey, and Lawrence, Massachusetts. Check out our list.
• An IBM employee has been on sick leave for 15 years. Ian Clifford sued the company for not giving him a raise — or vacation pay — during the time he had been out. The IT worker has leukemia and claimed the lack of money fell under disability discrimination. More on that.
• Streaming services are getting costly if you don’t want ads. Ever since Netflix made the jump to create a subscription tier with advertising, other streaming services have followed suit. It’s made the ad-free experience pretty pricey. Read on.
• Googlers make fun of their company’s AI demonstration. Google employees love their memes. And the annual I/O developer conference was ripe with content that employees could memeify.
• A travel influencer was “mom-shamed” when people thought she left her son in economy class. Karen Akpan posted on social media about upgrading to business class with her husband, while leaving their son in economy. Then the onslaught began.

NASA’s sound graveyard

Drone reporting

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