Good morning. The Justice Department plans to pay whistleblowers who tell prosecutors about corporate crime, adding a new incentive to attract more tipsters to aid the government.

The department will begin the effort as a pilot program aimed at cases where whistleblowers aren’t already eligible for payments from other government programs, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told a legal conference on Thursday in San Francisco.

• Rewarding tipsters: “Going back to the days of ‘Wanted’ posters across the Old West, law enforcement has long offered rewards to coax tipsters out of the woodwork,” Monaco said. “Now’s the time to expand our use of this tool in corporate misconduct cases and apply it to reward whistleblowing.”
   
• Rules TBD: The department will develop rules for the program over the next 90 days and plans to launch it later this year, according to Monaco’s remarks to the American Bar Association.
   
• Mega millions: The Securities and Exchange Commission operates a whistleblower program that awarded nearly $600 million during the government’s 2023 fiscal year. The SEC last year awarded a record $279 million to a single whistleblower.

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Apple stands to lose from Europe’s new tech law.

In the battle for smartphone dominance, Google could soon gain an advantage over Apple from an unlikely source: a new European law.

Starting this week, the world’s largest technology companies have to comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, a sweeping new law aimed at boosting competition from smaller companies in the realms of digital advertising, online search and app ecosystems. In the near term, one of its biggest impacts could be in the rivalry between Apple and Google.

• The U.S. Justice Department doesn’t intend to enter into repeated settlement agreements with companies that are habitual offenders, a top official said.
   
• An investigation by Chemours has found that the Teflon maker’s top executives shifted cash flows at year-end to hit targets that determined their annual stock and bonus awards, shedding new light on accounting problems that have spooked investors.
   
• Amid a barrage of legal attacks, even NCAA leaders have dropped a century-old stand against pay-for-play—now they’re just fighting over whether the athletes are employees. For college sports, it's a doomsday scenario.

China’s exports rise, foreshadowing a backlash.

China’s exports started the year on strong footing, offering a possible pathway for Beijing to hit its aggressive growth target this year while raising the likelihood of increased trade tensions.

China’s outbound shipments rose 7.1% in the January-February period when compared with a year earlier, accelerating from a 2.3% increase in December, according to data released Thursday by Beijing’s General Administration of Customs.

Power lines sparked largest wildfire in Texas history.

The largest wildfire in Texas history was ignited by power lines, according to state investigators.

Texas A&M Forest Service said Thursday its investigators found that power lines started the Smokehouse Creek Fire, which destroyed dozens of homes and delivered a devastating blow to ranches in the region as it burned more than 1 million acres in the Texas Panhandle. The fire, which erupted on Feb. 26, is currently 74% contained.

• Hamas said it was pausing its participation in talks aimed at securing a cease-fire in Gaza.
   
• Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers the central bank was “not far” from being able to cut interest rates. The European Central Bank held its key interest rate at a record high and signaled it won’t begin cutting rates before June.
   
• A congressional probe of Chinese-built cargo cranes deployed at ports throughout the U.S. has found communications equipment that doesn’t appear to support normal operations, fueling concerns that the foreign machines may pose a covert national-security risk.

• The SEC approved scaled-back climate disclosure rules, but requirements in Europe and California mean many companies may still have to report so-called Scope 3 emissions.
   
• Venture capitalists are financing drugmakers seeking to improve upon today’s blockbuster weight-loss medications or combat their side effects.
   
• Miami Beach is telling spring break travelers to party somewhere else this year.
   
• Customers of defunct wine marketplace Underground Cellar fought for months to recover their wine. They won, if they are willing to pay up.

• President Biden on Thursday sought to convince Americans that his policies have bolstered the economy and protected their freedoms in a State of the Union address designed to draw a contrast with Republicans and former President Donald Trump.
   
• Shares in Novo Nordisk hit a record after the company presented early data for a new obesity drug suggesting it could be more effective than the Danish pharmaceutical giant’s blockbuster Wegovy treatment.
   
• Sara Menker, who was born amid the famine in Ethiopia, captivated investors with her vision for a climate-data startup that would use artificial intelligence to help fix the world’s broken food system. The company is now in disarray.
   
• Colorado’s star DNA analyst altered evidence for decades, investigators allege, forcing thousands of cases to be re-examined.
   
• You’re brewing it wrong. Some coffee-making myths might be holding you back.

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