Tesla shares have tumbled 62% from their peak as investors gear up for a growth slowdown.
The stock drop has fueled an estimated $166 billion decline in Elon Musk's net worth.
The Tesla CEO is now worth about $174 billion, down from $340 billion in November 2021.
Tesla's mounting troubles have dealt a heavy blow to Elon Musk's net worth.
In November 2021, the Tesla CEO held the top spot on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and seemed untouchable with an estimated fortune of $340 billion. He was more than three times richer than Warren Buffett at that point.
However, Musk's net worth has plunged by about $166 billion since then to $174 billion at Wednesday's close. The key driver has been Tesla stock, which has tumbled from a split-adjusted peak of $415 in 2021 to $155 — a 62% decline.
The share-price slump has slashed Tesla's market capitalization from north of $1.2 trillion to below $490 billion. Musk's net worth has taken a big hit from the decline because his 13% stake in the automaker makes up a big chunk of his wealth.
Musk's start to this year has also been dismal relative to his peers in the 12-digit club. He topped the Bloomberg rich list with a $229 billion fortune in January, but his net worth has crashed by $55 billion, or 24%, since then.
Moreover, Musk is the only one of the world's 13 richest people whose net worth has declined this year. He's lost more money on paper than anyone on the list has gained, including Zuckerberg who's up almost $50 billion.
Tesla's stock has tumbled in recent months due to mounting concerns about the company. Musk told employees over the weekend that more than 10% of the company's global workforce would be laid off, signaling demand for EVs is faltering.
Musk's fortune isn't completely tied to Tesla. He also owns an estimated 42% stake in SpaceX, the space exploration company valued at $180 billion in December, and a roughly 79% stake in X after he acquired Twitter in 2022 and rebranded it last year.
Tuesday's protests in California and New York led to 28 terminations and nine arrests.
Justice Speaks
Nine Google employees were arrested after protesting the company's contract with Israel.
The company fired 28 employees in California and New York.
Another employee was fired last month for protesting the same contract in New York.
A small group of Alphabet employees' long-simmering protests against the Google parent company's work with Israel ended with more than two dozen terminations on Wednesday.
Google fired 28 employees who participated in office protests in New York and California on Tuesday, the company said on Wednesday.
The employees occupied Google offices in Sunnyvale, California, and New York City. They were protesting Project Nimbus, Google's $1.2 billion joint contract with Amazon that provides services to Israel's government.
"Physically impeding other employees' work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and we will investigate and take action," a Google spokesperson said. "These employees were put on administrative leave, and their access to our systems was cut."
Nine workers were arrested after they refused to leave the offices. Five of the arrests were in Sunnyvale and four were in New York. Police in both locations confirmed the figures to BI.
A representative for the New York Police Department said the four people in New York were charged with criminal trespassing. A representative for the Sunnyvale police department said the arrested individuals received citations for trespassing. Charges have not yet been filed, the district attorney's office in Santa Clara County said on Wednesday.
Chris Rackow, Google's head of security, wrote in an internal memo onWednesday that the protests were "extremely disruptive" and that they "made coworkers feel threatened."
The company had 182,502 employees as of December 31.
Protests against Project Nimbus
Small groups of Google employees have voiced dissent against Project Nimbus, a joint contract with Amazon that provides artificial intelligence and cloud computing services to Israel's government and military.
Last month, a Google employee protesting the contract was fired for disrupting a talk in New Yorkby the company's head of Israel.
More than 100 people, including Google workers, protested the project outside the company's New York office in 2022. The protest came after the resignation of a Google employee who had spoken out against Project Nimbus.
The tech group No Tech for Apartheid said it organized Tuesday's protest as part of its campaign asking Amazon and Google to scrap Project Nimbus. No Tech for Apartheid says the tech companies' contract enables the Israeli government to surveil and displace Palestinians. The contract— the details of which became public in 2021 —drew additional scrutiny after Hamas launched a series of terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, killing 1,200. Israel responded to the attacks with a months-long offensive that has killed over 30,000 Palestinians.
A Google representative told BI the company supports governments in countries it operates in with cloud computing services.
"We have been very clear that the Nimbus contract is for workloads running on our commercial cloud by Israeli government ministries, who agree to comply with our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy," a Google spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the work is not directed at highly sensitive or classified military projects relevant to weapons or intelligence services.
Protestors complied with arrests
Sunnyvale Police Department Captain Dzanh Le told BI there were between 80 to 90 protesters outside the building in Sunnyvale on Tuesday, with a few occupying a room in Google's complex. Bloomberg reported that some protesters congregated near the office of Google's cloud CEO.
Protestors outside Google's office in Sunnyvale, California.
Justice Speaks
Le said the police department received a call from Google around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday saying the protesters refused to leave. The protesters refused again when the police came and were then arrested on suspicion of criminal trespassing. Le said the protesters complied with the arrest.
One of the employees arrested in Google's New York City headquarters, 23-year-old Hasan Ibraheem, told BI the protest started around noon Tuesday when a group of employees sat in the office with a banner and started giving speeches and reciting chants.
Ibraheem said the group was asked to leave multiple times throughout the day but continued the chants and speeches every 15 to 20 minutes, until about 6 p.m. By 6:45 p.m., he said the remaining group was informed that they no longer had access to the building and couldn't work.
The police arrived around 9:30 p.m. and arrested the remaining four Googlers, Ibraheem said. The workers were released from the station at 2 a.m., he said.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
Are you a Googler? We want to hear from you. Email the reporter using a non-work device at aaltchek@insider.com
Bill Nelson, now administrator of NASA, speaks during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on April 21, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images
NASA chief Bill Nelson accused China on Wednesday of secretly working on military projects in space.
Nelson told lawmakers that NASA believes Beijing is masking these projects as civilian efforts.
Nelson often warns of dire consequences if China reaches the moon first. The US aims to do so by 2026.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration head Bill Nelson warned on Wednesday that China is passing off military endeavors in space as civilian projects, reiterating that the US is in a "race" with Beijing to reach the moon in the 21st century.
"China has made extraordinary strides, especially in the last 10 years, but they are very, very secretive," Nelson told members of the House Appropriations Committee at a 2024 budget hearing.
"We believe that a lot of their, so-called civilian space programs is a military program," Nelson continued. "And I think, in effect, we are in a race."
For years, he and other NASA officials have highlighted concerns that China may seek to bully out other countries in space — particularly on the moon — if it establishes dominance there.
"My concern would be if China got there first and suddenly said: 'Okay, this is our territory, you stay out,'" Nelson said.
The NASA chief alluded to the Spratly Islands, an archipelago in the South China Sea claimed by several nations. China has attempted to exert sovereignty over the islands, claiming all territory within a "nine-dash line" that spans most of the sea.
The US aims to land astronauts on the moon by September 2026 under its Artemis missions, pushing the deadline back from 2025 due to delays. Most of its allies with ambitions in space have signed an international agreement, the Artemis Accords, that outlines principles for space exploration, such as publicly sharing collected information.
China and Russia have not signed the accords, but are signatories to the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which bars installing weapons and military bases in space.
The combination of the Shenzhou-18 crewed spaceship and a Long March-2F carrier rocket is transferred to the launching area at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on April 17, 2024 in Alxa League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China.
But speaking to lawmakers on Wednesday, Nelson said that China might accelerate its plans to close the four-year gap between its moon landing and NASA's.
"Their latest date that they have said that they're going to land is 2030, but that keeps moving up," Nelson said. "And so I think it's incumbent on us to get there first and to utilize our research efforts for peaceful purposes."
"Their science is good, their engineering is good, and the proof's in the pudding, they now have a space station up there," Nelson added.
Meanwhile, China has repeatedly denied that it intends to establish any military presence in outer space. "Space war can not be won and must never be fought," its ambassador to the UN said in 2021.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.
JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon (left) and Chinese leader Xi Jinping (right).
Win McNamee via Getty Images; Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images
JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon is once again advocating for the US and China to make nice.
"It's the thread from Ukraine, oil and gas, food, migration, all our relationships," Dimon said.
He added that he thinks the US needs "great American leadership" to stabilize its relationship with China.
How the US handles its shaky relationship with China will affect the future of the world, says JPMorgan chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon.
"It's the thread from Ukraine, oil and gas, food, migration, all our relationships, the most important one being China," Dimon told Bloomberg's Emily Chang in an interview that aired Wednesday. "That is the most important for the future of the world."
"And obviously Ukraine is affecting it. In fact, it's very hard to see really positive outcomes with China until the Ukraine war is resolved," Dimon said, referencing the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
Dimon offered his assessment of China in a wide-ranging interview with Chang, where he talked about his career and the impact of AI on jobs.
In May, Dimon also advocated for more engagement between the US and China. Speaking at the JPMorgan Global China Summit in Shanghai, he said he found it heartening that US leaders were talking about derisking.
"You're not going to fix these things if you are just sitting across the Pacific yelling at each other. So I'm hoping we have real engagement," Dimon said, per Reuters.
"While Russia may pose the most immediate challenge, China is the bigger long-term threat," Burns wrote in a Foreign Affairs op-ed on January 30.
China is also set to become a focal point for US foreign policy, no matter who wins the presidential elections this year. Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have talked about how they would confront and handle China if elected in 2024.
"They've got a population that is more people in retirement than working. They're not importing anything," Biden said. "They're xenophobic. Nobody else coming in. They've got real problems."
But while Dimon did single out China as a significant risk to the world, he told Chang that he is optimistic that the US could manage them.
"It'll be okay, but we need really good American leadership to do that," Dimon said.
"And don't worry, they're not a 10 foot giant, they have a lot of issues. America's got a lot of strains. I like the fact the American government's talking to them constantly now," he added.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the amount of feed Acipenser produces each month. It is about 60 metric tons per month, not kilograms. Business Insider also misstated that Acipenser released male Sturgeon into Lake Mantasoa. This has been removed.
Donald Trump was not laughing during jury selection in his Manhattan hush money trial.
Pool/Getty Images
Five potential jurors were challenged on Tuesday for what the defense called 'anti-Trump' posts.
Trump listened as the posts were described, including an AI video titled "I Am Dumb As Fuck Trump."
None of the 5 made the jury, especially one who had posted "Lock him up" on Facebook in 2017.
One was a beheading meme. One was an AI clip titled "Dumb As Fuck Trump." Another was a 2016 get-out-the-vote video featuring Mark Ruffalo promising "to do a nude scene" in his next movie.
So far, five potential hush-money jurors have been shown the door at Donald Trump's hush-money trial after his lawyers complained about these and other "anti-Trump" social media posts.
Many of the posts were quite comical when described in open court. There was even humor in what was not described.
"I don't think that is necessary," New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan deadpanned when defense lawyer Todd Blanche offered to hit play on the "Dumb As Fuck Trump" video.
In fact, he was scolded by the judge for being audibly angry after he was forced to watch a prospective juror's video of New Yorkers dancing in the street when he lost the 2020 presidential election.
Seven jurors — four men and three women — have been chosen. Jury selection continues Thursday.
Here, in chronological order, is what happened in court Tuesday as the defense challenged the social media histories of 5 prospective jurors.
1. "To spread the honking cheer"
"So I hear what sounds like a cowbell," noted Merchan, the judge, as he listened to a video four years ago by a high school teacher and mother of two.
She was the first of the prospective jurors who were challenged by Trump's defense team on Tuesday over their "anti-Trump" social media.
Her Facebook video showed Manhattanites laughing, cheering, and dancing in the streets after Joe Biden's 2020 presidential victory.
Trump had to sit at the defense table and watch as the video was played in court, cowbells and all.
The prospective juror, identified only as "B-133," had clearly "attended an "anti-Trump rally," defense lawyer Susan Necheles protested.
"This is not a rally," countered prosecutor Joshua Steinglass.
"It seemed like a celebratory moment in New York City," the high school teacher stammered when she was called into court to explain the video.
"I mean, I think that was it, I think," she added.
Watching New Yorkers cheer in the streets over his defeat appears to have angered Trump.
"So, Mr. Blanche," the judge told Trump's lawyer, after the prospective juror left the courtroom.
"While the juror was at the podium, maybe 12 feet from your client, your client was audibly uttering something — I don't know exactly what he was uttering," the judge warned.
"I won't tolerate that. I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. I want to make that crystal clear."
2. "Get him out and lock him up"
Then there were the social media posts of the juror they called "B-38," a middle-aged man from Midtown who works as a creative director for Lands' End.
"Good news," he'd posted on Facebook in 2017, soon after Trump took office. "Trump lost his court battle and his unlawful travel ban."
In another post from around that time, he'd posted, "Get him out and lock him up" and "Watch out for stupid tweets by DJT."
"We cannot have a juror like that on the jury, your honor," Blanche told the judge, reasonably enough.
Called before the judge, the prospective juror admitted, "I had strong feelings at the time."
"This is a person who has expressed, at least at one time, it was several years ago, the desire that Donald Trump be locked up," the judge later explained of his decision to boot B-38 from the jury pool.
"Everyone knows that if Mr. Trump is found guilty in this case, he faces a potential jail sentence, which would be 'lock up.'"
3. "And to get Mark Ruffalo naked"
Eight years ago, celebrities, including Robert Downey Jr., Neil Patrick Harris, and Ruffalo, banded together for a video titled "The Avengers unite against Donald Trump… and to get Mark Ruffalo naked."
Ruffalo very reluctantly promises in the clip to "do a nude scene" in his next movie if people get out and vote.
"They should just vote 'cuz it matters, you know? Don't you think?" the star protests in the clip.
When it was released in 2016, the clip was shared on the Facebook account of the husband of prospective juror B-330.
Not the prospective juror's Facebook, mind you. It was shared on the Facebook account of the prospective juror's husband.
The husband also posted a meme in 2016 showing Trump and then-President Barack Obama side by side. It was captioned, "I don't think this is what they meant by 'orange is the new black.'"
And finally, the husband had posted, again in 2016, "just a meme of a character holding President Trump's head in their hands," Blanche complained. The head, he said, was severed.
"I guess it is a character from the Simpsons," the judge offered, querulously.
"Yes, your honor," Blanche answered.
"What is the name of this character?" the judge asked.
"I do not know," Blanche answered.
"I do not know either," the judge said.
Steinglass, the prosecutor, complained that the posts were from 2016, had not been posted by the prospective juror herself, a young woman who works for the city's Economic Development Corporation.
They were clearly "political humor," he added.
The judge was not impressed.
"Honestly," he told the defense, "if this is the worst thing that you were able to find about this juror — that her husband posted this humor, albeit not very good humor, from eight years ago — then it gives me confidence that this juror can be fair and impartial."
4. "I Am Dumb As Fuck Trump"
Just last month — but well before he could have imagined being a juror in the hush money case — a middle-aged employee at the Shakespeare & Co. bookstore added some pro-Biden posts to his Facebook account.
They included some Biden-Harris campaign promotions, a news story, headlined, "Trump indicted in documents case," and what Blanche complainingly described as "a one minute and 30-second video, titled "I Am Dumb Fuck Trump."
"This is a parody video," Blanche huffed of the AI-generated clip, "that mocks President Trump the whole time."
When the lawyer offered, "We can play it for your honor," the judge declined.
"I honestly don't remember" the bookseller said, when Blanche asked if he'd watched the video. "I thought it would be funny. I don't recall watching it."
"Do you have a highly unfavorable overall impression of Donald Trump," Steinglass, the prosecutor, asked.
"I would have to say that politically, yes, I do," the prospective juror answered.
The judge let the defense boot the bookseller for cause.
5. "Boys request to return to cave"
The final prospective juror questioned on their social media posts was a retired grandmother from Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Back in 2018, the bespectacled grandmother of four and former transit employee had posted a meme about the soccer team that was rescued from a cave in Thailand.
"Trump invites Thai boys to White House," the meme read. "Boys request to return to cave."
"Republicans projected to pick up 70 seats in prison," read another meme, from the Borowitz Report, that the same woman also posted at around that time.
"This was from six years ago," the judge complained.
Called before the judge, the grandmother said that after 2018, she stopped posting "anything to do with politics."
"It got too vitriolic for people, people that I've known for years," she explained.
"So yeah, I may have posted this, but I learned a good lesson from it," she added, to laughter and smiles in the courtroom — but not from Trump.
A man walks past a mural depicting US President Joe Biden as a superhero defending Israel on a street in Tel Aviv after Iran's missile and drone attacks that began Saturday.
Leo Correa/AP Photo
The US-led operation was a decisive factor in helping Israel fend off Iran's unprecedented attack.
That's a boost for the regional air defense network the US wants.
It may compel Russia to provide more air defenses to Iran, which has supplied its Ukraine war.
The Biden administration's goal to establish a regional air defense network in the Middle East got a massive boost on Saturday night with the success of efforts by the US, Israel, Britain, France, and Jordan that intercepted nearly all of the Iranian drones and missiles targeting Israel.
"The most likely impact (of the operation) is that the Biden administration's Middle East Air Defense (MEAD) concept will convince skeptical Gulf partners — namely Saudi Arabia and the UAE — that an American concept for mutual defense in the region could benefit them as much as it did Israel," Nicholas Heras, senior director of strategy and innovation at the New Lines Institute, told Business Insider.
The US-led operation was a decisive factor in helping Israel fend off Iran's unprecedented April 13 drone and missile attack.
The enormous strike package launched by Iran on Saturday consisted of an estimated 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and over 120 ballistic missiles, the overwhelming majority of which were successfully interdicted; there are also reports that many missiles failed mid-flight from technical problems.
The United States shot down more of the incoming Iranian drones than Israel and played a central role in the "multinational air defense operation" consisting of British, French, and Jordanian air forces. Additionally, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates reportedly provided intelligence about Iran's attack plans.
The Biden administration has been pushing for the MEAD concept since its early days in office. In an early combat test of MEAD, Israeli fighter jets shot down two incoming Iranian drones outside its territory in the Middle East on Mar. 15, 2021, in cooperation with unnamed Arab partners.
An anti-missile system operates after Iran launched drones and missiles towards Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel on April 14, 2024.
REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The US oversaw a similar coordinated effort in the Iranian barrage that began April 13 on a vast scale, bringing together various states and their relevant surveillance and weapons systems.
"The individual weapons systems, while important, are less decisive for regional decision-making than the reassurance that the United States will be there to coordinate the use of the weapons systems," Heras said.
"Without the Americans managing the regional defense architecture, the weapons systems and reconnaissance equipment are far from a shield for Middle Eastern partners, including Israel."
While an estimated 99% of the Iranian munitions were shot down, and reports indicated others failed to launch or suffered technical failures, Tehran does not consider the operation a failure — far from it.
"Iran considers the operation a success beyond their expectations," Farzin Nadimi, a defense and security analyst and senior fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told BI.
"More than anything, the main objective of the strike was to create a new paradigm that Iran can and will strike directly on Israeli soil when necessary," Nadimi said. "They also wanted to establish technological parity with Israel and diminish its QME (qualitative military edge), and restore their credibility and deterrence vs Israel."
The analyst believes time will tell if Iran succeeded in restoring its deterrent threat, noting that another important objective for Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps paramilitary was to test its systems against Israeli and allied defenses.
"If we consider the strike as a mere message to Israel and a test of IRGC's offensive capabilities, therefore the statistics (aka how many drones and missiles were intercepted and shot down, or the extent of damage caused by those that made impacts or lack thereof) become of lesser importance, if any," Nadimi said.
A Russian Su-35 fighter jet takes off at Hemeimeem air base in Syria in September 2019.
AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko
How the decisive and unified response to its attack influences Iran's strategy remains to be seen. Iran has deepened its military ties with Russia since 2022. Tehran expects to receive Russian fighter jets and other advanced systems that could improve its air defenses and make any strike on Iran by Israel more difficult and dangerous.
"Russia will seek to offset the US success in backing Israel by looking to buttress Iran's defense with advanced Russian systems such as the Su-35," Heras said.
According to intelligence officials, Moscow is reportedly "advancing" agreements for supplying Tehran with Su-35 Flanker jets, an air superiority fighter that's one of the most advanced in Russia's arsenal. Iran confirmed it had finalized a deal for Su-35s and Mi-28 attack helicopters in November. There were also reports last year indicating Iran also seeks the advanced Russian S-400 air defense missile system.
"Faster delivery of Russian weapons such as Su-35 or S-400 can definitely be a Russian answer to any significant US involvement in what comes next," Nadimi said.
"We have to, however, take into account that it will take months, if not years, to train and rate combat-ready Iranian crews for those complex systems."
Japan's converted Izumo-class helicopter carrier, JS Kaga, now upgraded to be an aircraft carrier.
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
Japan says first modification work on its newly converted light aircraft carrier has been completed.
JS Kaga was helicopter carrier identified as a destroyer refitted with to carry F-35 jets.
The Kaga will now undergo sea trials, and its results will help with the upgrades on another ship.
Japan is showing off the first changes made to one of its helicopter-carrying destroyers to turn it into a light aircraft carrier capable of operating F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters.
JS Kaga's successful modification will pave the way for another of its helicopter carriers, JS Izumo, to also be converted into an aircraft carrier.
The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force announced the completion of the first special modification work on the Kaga earlier this month. In a post on X, it showed off the carrier, which now features a flight deck designed to operate and launch F-35 jets.
The first special modification work on the destroyer ”KAGA” was completed as planned on March 29. The JMSDF will continue to systematically carry out the necessary modifications to the “IZUMO” class destroyer in order to acquire the operational capability of the F-35B. pic.twitter.com/JTaLkjRWu5
— Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (@jmsdf_pao_eng) April 6, 2024
The JMSDF noted in the post that it was still upgrading another vessel, the Izumo lead-in-class helicopter carrier, to be able to launch and recover F-35s. Once both ships are able to operate the jets, Japan will have a capability it hasn't seen since World War II.
And it'll need it, too. As of October 2023, Japan is still planning to acquire more than 147 F-35s — 105 F-35As and 42 F-35Bs.
Japan began to dramatically overhaul its Self-Defense Force in October 2021, creating its first amphibious military unit since WWII and launching a new class of modern frigates. It also announced the conversion of the two Izumo-class helicopter carriers into light aircraft carriers.
The upgraded Japanese warship resembles a US Navy big-deck amphibious assault ship, which the sea service and the Marines have previously explored using as light so-called "lightning carriers" in reference to F-35.
Although Japanhas a long history with flattops and its navy was one of the first to use aircraft carriers effectively, the ongoing upgrades mark a milestone for it in the modern maritime era.
The project is also an opportunity in US-Japanese relations amid concerns about aggression from China, as Japan builds carriers that could eventually host American jets as well as its own, as it demonstrated back in October 2021 when two US Marine Corps F-35Bs landed on and took off from the deck of the Izumo.
In 2018, Japan said China was engaging in "unilateral, coercive attempts to alter the status quo based on its own assertions that are incompatible with existing international order." It's issued other complaints since.
The aircraft, designated AX-6, is the second F-35A assembled at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ F-35 Final Assembly & Check-Out (FACO) facility in Nagoya, Japan and is the first to be assigned to the JASDF’s 3rd Air Wing, 302nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, Misawa Air Base, Japan.
Courtesy of the F-35 Joint Program Office
China's growing military power has prompted worries from US military leaders and lawmakers, while the continued buildup of its navy, the largest in the world, has raised alarms about the US' faltering shipbuilding and what's needed for the future.
Earlier this month, China expressed concerns about Japan's partnerships and growing capabilities, particularly the potential that it could work with Australia, the UK, and the US on nuclear-powered submarines in the AUKUS security agreement.
"Given Japan's not-too-distant history of militarist aggression, Japan's military and security moves are closely watched by its Asian neighbors and the international community," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.
"Japan needs to seriously reflect on its history of aggression, stop its involvement in small military and security groupings, and truly embark on a path to peaceful development," she said.
Russian hackers caused a Texas town's water tank to overflow in a suspected hack earlier this year.
Cybersecurity experts say the likely culprit is Sandworm, a Russian hacking group.
The US earlier accused Sandworm of attacks on hospitals in Pennsylvania in 2017.
In January, Russian hackers caused a small Texas town's water tank to overflow in what was a rare but worrying attack on US infrastructure.
The Russian hacking group Sandworm is likely responsible for the attack on the water system in Muleshoe, Texas, the cyber-security firm Mandiant said on Wednesday.
Mandiant called the group a "dynamic and operationally mature threat actor that is actively engaged in the full spectrum of espionage, attack, and influence operations."
Security experts said they believe the group is likely connected to the Russian spy agency, GRU. While most state-backed "threat groups" specialize in specific areas, like collecting intelligence or network sabotage, Sandworm stands alone in trying to unify each capability into one full package, Mandiant reported.
Hackers posted a video to Telegram of themselves manipulating Muleshoe's water system, showing how they overpowered it and reset the controls, according to The Washington Post.
In the videos, the hackers refer to themselves as the Cyber Army of Russia Reborn. This marks the first attack on a public American infrastructure system by this group, according to the Post. US officials blamed a separate attack on water systems in Pennsylvania last November on Iran, according to CNN.
Ramon Sanchez, Muleshoe's city manager, told CNN that the city's water tank overflowed for about 30 to 35 minutes.
Authorities have previously blamed Sandworm, which has gone by different names over the years, for various attacks around the world, including on Ukraine's power grid and on the 2018 Olympic Games in South Korea.
The Justice Department also accused the men of creating a virus called NotPetya, which caused $10 billion in damage to computers worldwide, shutting down the power grid in Ukraine, and taking down the computer systems belonging to a chain of Western Pennsylvania hospitals.
Trump said last week a near-total, Civil War-era abortion ban in Arizona had gone too far.
But Republicans Wednesday shut down an attempt to repeal it.
The law makes providing or helping with an abortion punishable by up to five years in prison.
Arizona Republicans shut down an attempt by Democrats to repeal a contentious abortion ban from 1864 that was reinstated by the state's Supreme Court earlier this month.
Democrats attempted to introduce a bill Wednesday that would repeal the ban during a state House legislative session, NBC reported. But two votes moving to discuss the bill failed.
"I would ask everyone in this chamber to respect the fact that some of us believe that abortion is, in fact, the murder of children," Republican House Speaker Ben Toma said, according to NBC.
Trump, for his part, said last week that the ban had gone too far. "That'll be straightened out," he said. "And I'm sure that the governor and everybody else are going to bring it back into reason."
The law effectively bans abortion — including in cases of rape and incest — except if a pregnant person's life is in danger. It makes providing or helping someone get an abortion a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Prior to the ban, abortions in Arizona were allowed through 15 weeks of pregnancy.