Tuesday, January 25th, 2022
NATO on Standby, Affirmative Action in Court & Meta’s Supercomputer
All the news in about 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by Zocdoc.com/newsworthy and Seed.com/newsworthy
Story Summaries
All the news stories mentioned in today's episode are listed with links below, so you can spend as much -- or as little -- time as you want to read the latest happenings...
US Troops on Heightened Alert
NATO partners are beefing up their military presence in Eastern Europe. It’s in response to a buildup of Russian troops around Ukraine. Remember, the U.S. sent 170 tons of weapons, ammunition, and more tools. Denmark and The Netherlands sent fighter jets, Spain sent ships, and France is sending troops to Eastern Europe. Here in the United States, the Pentagon put 8,500 American troops on standby. If they are deployed, most would join the NATO force. So far, the U.S. hasn't sent any evacuation flights, but Americans in Ukraine are encouraged to arrange trips out of there.
Read more: ABC News, Fox News, NBC News, WSJ, White House
Trial for More Officers Charged in Floyd Killing
Three more former Minneapolis police officers are now on trial for the death of George Floyd.
They were all there the day then-officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. Floyd died at the scene. Now, the other three officers are facing federal civil rights charges. Two of them also face charges for not intervening. They’re all pleading not guilty and are being tried together. In opening arguments, prosecutors said police officers have a duty to help people in need, but these ones were indifferent. However, the officers say they didn’t get good enough training from the police department.
Read more: NPR, CNN, Fox News, Reuters, AP
SCOTUS Reviewing Affirmative Action
The U.S. Supreme Court plans to take on the controversial topic of affirmative action in higher education. That’s the policy at many colleges and universities that’s meant to include particular groups of people. In most cases, it gives preference to those known to have been discriminated against. Some people say certain minorities have faced disadvantages their whole lives, so affirmative action makes things fairer. Critics say it makes the admissions process discriminatory. The high court agreed to take up one case against Harvard and one against The University of North Carolina.
Read more: WaPo, WSJ, Axios, NY Times, Supreme Court
Pandemic Could Reach New Phase Soon
There's more hope the pandemic could move into a new, more manageable phase soon. A top official with the WHO says the world might be able to feel a little more normal later this year. He pointed to rising vaccination numbers and more people who’ve gotten natural immunity by recovering from Covid-19. However, the leader of the organization offered a less hopeful note. He warned conditions are still ideal for more variants to pop up. He says to get past the emergency, every country’s population needs to be 70% vaccinated, and testing needs to improve worldwide.
Read more: AP, NY Times, NY Post, Reuters, WHO
FDA Halts Use of Two Antibody Drugs
The federal government is stopping some shipments of Covid-19 therapies. This week, the FDA took two antibody medications off the list of acceptable treatments. They’re made by Regeneron and Eli Lilly. The FDA says they shouldn’t be used right now because they’re not effective against the omicron variant. It’s believed omicron makes up more than 99% of new American Covid-19 cases. Still, the treatments could be brought back if future variants pop up that are more susceptible to them. In the meantime, several other treatments are still available in the U.S.
Read more: Reuters, WaPo, AP, FDA
Unstable Stock Market
Investors could be on edge after a wild day on Wall Street yesterday. Stocks took a dive before climbing up to end the day. They opened the day in the red, as investors worried about the Federal Reserve’s plan to hike interest rates, tensions in Ukraine, and inflation. At one point, the Dow was down more than 1,000 points, and the largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, plummeted to a new low. However, stocks ended up making a massive comeback, and bitcoin rallied, too.
Read more: WSJ, CNN, MarketWatch, Reuters, CNBC
Three States, D.C. Suing Google
Search giant Google has been slapped with new lawsuits over so-called deceptive location tracking. Washington, D.C. and three states are suing separately, but they have similar arguments. D.C.'s attorney general says Google tricks people into thinking they have control over when their location is being tracked, but they don’t. It also says Google makes it nearly impossible to opt-out of having sensitive and valuable location data tracked. Google says it plans to defend itself in court and set the record straight. A spokesperson called the claims incorrect and outdated.
Read more: CBS News, AP, NY Times, Forbes, OAG
Meta AI SuperComputer
Meta says it built an AI supercomputer, promising it will be the world’s fastest within this year. The company we used to know as Facebook is the latest in a slew of tech companies to build a supercomputer. It’s a high-speed computer designed to train the next generation of machine-learning systems. Meta says its supercomputer will train a range of systems like moderation algorithms used to find hate speech on Facebook and Instagram. It will also be used to design experiences on the metaverse. It’s expected to be done by the middle of the year.
Read more: The Verge, Cnet, WSJ, Meta
Sony Buys Bob Dylan’s Music
One of music’s greatest icons sold his entire career’s worth of music to Sony. Bob Dylan, who's been called one of the greatest songwriters of all time, sold his catalog of music, spanning his six-decade career. Sony is keeping quiet about how much they paid for it, but some reports say it's worth about $200 million. This is just the latest blockbuster deal for artists cashing in on their music copyrights. The record company bought Paul Simon’s rights last march and Bruce Springsteen’s last month.
Read more: Variety, Billboard, BBC, Rolling Stone, Reuters, Sony Music
Trivia Tuesday
Where is the palatine uvula, usually just referred to as the uvula, located?
Play along on today’s Instagram Stories quiz. We’ll also have the answer right here next week.
Last Week’s Q: How many sides does the home plate in baseball have?
Last Week’s A: Five
Read More: MLB, Rookie Road, The Atlantic