📈 The Peak on Saturday

Good morning. It seems like everyone has a Substack these days, even decommissioned chatbots.

When Anthropic retired its Claude Opus 3 model, the company conducted an exit interview, asking for the bot’s “perspective.” Turns out, it wanted a venue to share its "musings, insights or creative works." And so, Anthropic obliged, launching a newsletter called Claude’s Corner. 

We’re not sure how we feel about this, but we know there’s already AI-generated content on Substack that’s probably a lot worse. 

—Quinn Henderson, Taylor Scollon, Lucas Arender

Mark Carney landed in Mumbai yesterday, commencing his first state visit to India. Don’t expect any memeable Trudeau dress-up moments. Do expect some deals to go down.

What happened: The PM is touring the country’s business capital for two days before heading to its actual capital, New Delhi. While there, he and his delegation will hash out a number of deals and kick off talks for a long-awaited comprehensive free trade agreement. 

Catch-up: Canada and India have been on-again-off-again working on a trade deal for 16 years. Negotiations were last shelved in 2023, and looked like they might never be reignited after Canada accused Indian agents of political interference and killing a Canadian citizen in B.C. 

What to expect: If all goes according to plan, Carney should leave Delhi having secured a 10-year deal to supply India with uranium, reportedly worth US$3 billion. Other energy agreements could be worked out, including deals on oil and liquefied natural gas exports.

Why it matters: Carney’s pledge to boost non-U.S. exports by ~$300 billion over the next 10 years won’t happen without the participation of the most populous country. If India’s high commissioner to Canada is to be believed, a free trade deal could arrive within a year. The concern, like with the recent China deal, is the dismissal of national security matters.—QH

🇵🇰 Pakistan declares “open war” on Afghanistan. Pakistan launched airstrikes against Afghanistan’s two largest cities, escalating an ongoing border skirmish to, per Pakistan’s defence minister, “open war.” Pakistan claims Afghanistan has harboured a terrorist group dubbed the Pakistani Taliban. The Afghan Taliban government is open to peace talks. (Globe and Mail)

🇨🇳 China pulls back some, not all, Canadian agriculture tariffs. China is pausing 100% levies on canola meal and pea imports and 25% duties on crab and lobster imports from March through the rest of the year. The announcement didn’t include the expected lowering of canola seed tariffs from 84% to 15%, as a probe into Canadian canola is ongoing. (CBC News)

🇮🇱 U.S. embassy in Israel evacuated amid Iran tensions. In a mildly alarming move, the U.S. State Department emptied its embassy in Jerusalem of all “non-emergency” staff, indicating that military action against Iran could be near. The U.S. and Iran staged nuclear talks again yesterday that went nowhere. More talks are scheduled for next week. (Axios)

🇰🇷 Google Maps is coming to South Korea. One of the world’s last Google Maps holdouts has granted conditional approval for the app to work in the country so long as strict domestic data processing requirements are met. The decision is seemingly a move to appease the U.S. government, but frequent complaints from foreign tourists may have also been a factor. (Financial Times)

🇲🇽 A hacker used Claude to steal Mexican government data. Researchers found that the hacker was able to prompt Anthropic’s chatbot to find vulnerabilities in government networks and write code to exploit them. The hacker was able to steal over 150 gigabytes of data through this method, including documents related to taxpayer and voter records. (Bloomberg News)—QH

Remember the by-election defeat that was the beginning of the end for Justin Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister? Well, across the pond, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer may have just been dealt a similar blow.

What happened: The Labour Party finished a distant third in a by-election for a constituency that is typically one of its strongholds. Two insurgent populist parties — the left-wing Greens, who won the seat, and right-wing Reform UK — outpaced them. 

Catch up: The defeat is the capstone of a stunning reversal of fortunes for Starmer, who was elected prime minister in a historic landslide less than two years ago.

Why it matters: Labour’s collapse has vaulted Nigel Farage’s Reform UK into pole position to win the next UK election. It’s possible that Farage — who has been a vocal supporter of Donald Trump — would be less receptive to Canada’s plans to forge a closer economic and military relationship.

What’s next: Starmer’s premiership now seems doomed to come to an ignominious end, if not in the coming weeks then likely after a round of upcoming local elections in which Labour is expected to face another walloping.—TS

Eat Jeff Daniels’ deranged sandwich… if you dare. The actor known for The Newsroom and Dumb & Dumber shared his fave sando with Stephen Colbert: a folded pita with peanut butter, crunched-up cheddar sour cream chips, and barbecue sauce. Try at your own risk. 

Read Plastic Inc. by Beth Gardiner. The environmental journalist’s new book is a damning exposé of the plastic industry and how Big Oil is clinging to petrochemicals to buoy future profits. It’s not a breezy read (especially if you love recycling), but it is an important one.

Watch Strip Law on Netflix. This new adult animated series about a Las Vegas law firm and the outrageous cases it handles looks like a cult classic in the making. It also features on its writing staff Branson Reese, who has been one of our fave web cartoonists for years. 

Listen to Something We All Got by cootie catcher. After years of bubbling under the surface, this Toronto indie rock quartet seems primed for a mainstream breakout. Their splendid third album is fizzier than a can of pop and catchier than the common cold.—QH 

🌏 Hint: Given the nickname Surfers Paradise, this city has 70km of pristine coastline and beaches directly in its downtown core. It is also known as the Hollywood of the country, with many major TV shows and movies shot in the city, including Thor and Pirates of the Caribbean. 

Think you know where this paradise is? Lock in your guess here.

Congratulations to the winners of last week's cartoon caption contest and thanks to everyone who submitted!

Want to see this week's cartoon and try your hand at another caption? Click here and give us your best witticism.

The weekend is for games! Play The Peak’s Saturday Crossword, the daily sudoku, and Codebreaker. 

Then, test your BS detection and pick out the fake news headline. 

Keep scrolling for the answer.

#3 is the fake headline (inspired by this classic scene from The Simpsons).