Cuba is struggling to turn the lights back on four days after power shut down across the island, a crisis stemming from the country’s antique infrastructure and dire economic situation. To make matters worse, Hurricane Oscar made landfall on Cuba yesterday evening, compounding the misery with heavy rains. As of Sunday night, millions remained without power.

What happened? Midday on Friday, Cuba’s largest power plant shut down, crashing the national power grid and causing schools and all nonessential public services to close. Rolling blackouts had hit Cuba in recent years, but they typically lasted a few hours. This islandwide grid failure is “unprecedented in modern times” outside of hurricane-inflicted disasters, according to the Associated Press. Authorities trying to restore power over the weekend were hit with four different setbacks each time they made progress.

A blackout years in the making

Cuba’s grid collapse sits at the intersection of multiple crises, including underinvestment in energy infrastructure, a decline in crucial fuel imports, US sanctions, and its worst economic downturn in decades.

The power plant problem: To supply its electricity grid, Cuba depends on eight dilapidated power plants that are nearly a half-century old and have received no maintenance in as much as 15 years, University of Texas energy expert Jorge Piñon told the New York Times. Cuba has also leased seven Turkish-owned vessels—literally floating power plants—that can supply 20% of Cuba’s electricity needs, per the NYT. But all these plants are kept running by crude oil, and Cuba is increasingly lacking the stuff:

• Cuba has a deficit of 80,000 barrels of fuel a day.
• That shortfall used to be made up by shipments from Venezuela, and lesser contributions from Mexico and Russia. But Venezuela has significantly slowed down its oil shipments to Cuba.

Cuban authorities primarily pin the island’s economic woes on a long-standing US trade embargo that was tightened during the Trump administration. The Covid-19 pandemic also battered its key tourism industry.

Big picture: Many Cubans have had enough. More than 1 million people, 10% of Cuba’s population, left the country between 2022 and 2023, Cuba’s national statistics office found.—NF

Elon Musk is handing out $1 million checks to swing-state voters. On Saturday, the world’s richest person and founder of America PAC in support of former President Trump said he’s offering a $1 million daily prize through Election Day to a registered swing-state voter who signs a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments. This highly unusual strategy has split election law experts on whether it constitutes an unlawful incentive to unregistered voters. Elsewhere, Musk’s canvassing efforts may be encountering difficulties. The Guardian reported that ~25% of doors being knocked on by America PAC in swing states Arizona and Nevada were flagged under “unusual survey logs,” which means thousands of potential voters may not have been reached as reported.

Boeing workers to vote on a new contract. The five-week strike that has cost Boeing more than $1 billion and halted production of most of its planes could end this week. The company and its machinists union agreed to a new contract proposal that includes a 35% pay increase over four years—a bump from the 25% offer that was overwhelmingly rejected last month—as well as bigger 401(k) contributions and a higher signing bonus. The 30,000 members of the union will vote on the proposal on Wednesday, with leadership saying in a statement that the deal is “worthy of your consideration.”

US investigating leak of classified documents on social media. Top-secret documents showing Israel’s plans to attack Iran were posted on the messaging app Telegram on Friday, prompting the US to investigate how that classified information got out. The reports, prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, were posted on Telegram and on X by the pro-Iran site Middle East Spectator, which said it received them from an anonymous source. The investigation aims to find whether the documents were intentionally leaked by someone internal to the US intelligence community or if they were hacked, per the AP. House Speaker Mike Johnson called the intelligence breach “very concerning.”

A US-based biotech startup is promising prospective parents smarter children through the controversial and expensive practice of genetically screening embryos, according to a report from The Guardian.

In a business model borrowed from the plot of Gattaca, Heliospect Genomics is said to be charging up to $50,000 to test 100 embryos for genetic markers linked to higher intelligence and claiming it can increase a child’s IQ by at least six points. Five couples had already used Heliospect’s genomic prediction algorithm to select embryos by late 2023, the founders reportedly said. The company assured The Guardian it is following all laws and regulations in the US, where this service is legal.

You won’t believe this, but…wealthy people looking to create offspring who can crush Jeopardy! is raising ethical concerns. Katie Hasson, associate director of California’s Center for Genetics and Society, told The Guardian that this type of science “normalizes this idea of ‘superior’ and ‘inferior’ genetics.”

There are no guarantees this can even work: Researchers in Japan recently published a paper that concluded screening for desirable genetic traits in embryos is unreliable, one reason being that traits like IQ aren’t determined by a single genetic mutation. Shinichi Namba, a research associate at the University of Tokyo, said people availing themselves of these services should understand the potential for high variability in results.—DL

In a special report on the booming US economy, The Economist revealed some eye-opening statistics that show how, since the 1990s, America has Katie Ledecky-ed the field when it comes to economic performance.

• In 1990, the US accounted for 40% of the GDP of the G7 group of wealthy countries. Today, it makes up roughly half.
• US economic output per person is 40% higher than in Western Europe and Canada, and 60% higher than in Japan.
• Average wages in Mississippi, the poorest state in the US, are higher than the average in Germany, Canada, and Britain.

What is the American economy’s secret sauce? According to The Economist, factors include its large consumer market, tech innovation, the world’s most sophisticated financial markets, and a deep labor pool coming from its first-rate universities.—NF

With 14 days until Election Day, Harris and Trump hit the swing states: Early voting is underway in more than half of US states, and VP Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will spend this week making a push for the White House in pivotal swing states. Harris is enlisting the Democratic A-list, campaigning with former President Barack Obama in Georgia on Thursday and Michelle Obama in Michigan on Saturday. Trump will open the week by focusing his attention on North Carolina, with rallies scheduled in Concord and Greensboro today and tomorrow. Here’s what life is like in the several states that will decide the election.

Basketball begins, baseball reaches its finale: The World Series that MLB dreamed about has come true: Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers will face Juan Soto and the Yankees in a star-powered, major-market showdown starting Friday. And while we must say goodbye to the Mets’ beloved Grimace, we say hello to a new NBA season on Tuesday. The defending champion Boston Celtics will host the New York Knicks while the Minnesota Timberwolves visit the Los Angeles Lakers in what will be the father-son debut of LeBron and Bronny James.

Everything else…

• Earnings reports on the way include Tesla, Boeing (the same day as the union vote), General Motors, Verizon, AT&T, IBM, Coca-Cola, American Airlines, and Southwest Airlines.
• A trial in Colorado determining the fate of the $25 billion supermarket mega-merger between Kroger and Albertsons will conclude on Thursday.
• Luke Combs, Keith Urban, and more artists will hold a concert in Charlotte on Saturday to support Hurricane Helene relief efforts.