Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Canada’s National Emergency, Accountants Drop Trump & Oscars Pick Hosts
All the news in about 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by Masterworks.Art/newsworthy and StitchFix.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...
Ukraine-Russia Talks Latest
U.S. intelligence officials think Russia could invade Ukraine as soon as tomorrow, but all sides in the Eastern European standoff say they're willing to negotiate. About 140,000 Russian troops are now surrounding the country. However, just yesterday, Russia’s foreign minister said he sees plenty of possibilities for diplomatic talks with the west. Leaders of countries like the U.S., France, and Germany have all tried to act as mediators and say they’re somewhat hopeful the tensions can end with talks. However, they’re still preparing for the worst.
Read more: CNN, The Hill, NY Times, WSJ
U.S. Moves Ukrainian Embassy
The U.S. closed its embassy in the Ukrainian capital. The few diplomats still there were moved to a city in far western Ukraine, near the NATO ally of Poland, for their safety. The U.S. says the regular embassy will reopen when tensions calm down. The U.S. defense secretary is traveling to Europe today to visit Belgium, Poland, and Lithuania for meetings with government leaders and military officials.
Read more: Politico, Axios, WaPo, State Dept.
Canada National Emergency
Canada’s leader is using his rare emergency powers to end protests in his country. It does a few things. For example, Canadian banks can now freeze any accounts suspected of funding the blockades. It also suspends insurance on any vehicles involved in the protests. Plus, it lets federal officers start backing up local police forces. The Canadian Parliament still has to approve the changes, but most federal lawmakers there already say they will. For weeks now, hundreds of protesters in semi-trucks have clogged the streets there, rallying against Covid-19 protocols.
Read more: Reuters, BBC, NY Times, Fox News, WSJ, CPAC
Trump’s Accounting Firm Cuts Ties
Former President Trump is losing the support of his longtime accounting firm in an ongoing legal battle. The firm is cutting ties with both Trump and his family business. The firm says it can no longer stand behind the financial statements it prepared for Trump or his company for a decade. Those statements are currently at the center of two fraud investigations. The Trump Organization responded to the developments, saying it was disappointed in the accounting firm’s decision, but it insisted all the work followed regular accounting standards. Former President Trump has said all these investigations are politically motivated.
Read more: WSJ, AP, Axios, NY Times, NY AG
Worst Western Drought in 1,200 Years
The so-called megadrought in the Southwestern U.S. has broken another record. The last 22 years now rank as the driest two decades since at least 800 A.D. That’s according to a new study published this week. In their research, scientists looked at droughts dating back 1,200 years. They found this one is even more severe than the megadrought in the 1500s. These days, nearly 95% of the Southwestern U.S. is in a drought. With that, wildfires have grown more intense, and water supplies have been dwindling in the Colorado River area.
Read more: AP, NY Times, CNBC, Axios, Nature
Texas Sues Meta
Texas is suing Facebook’s parent company, Meta, over facial recognition. The state’s attorney general is accusing the company of repeatedly breaking a state protection law by capturing and commercializing biometric data in people’s photos. Biometric data are identifying characteristics, like eye scans or facial patterns. The attorney general also said the company shared the data with 3rd party companies and didn’t delete the data soon enough. Meta fired back, saying the suit has no merit, and it’s promising to defend itself. Facebook already shut down its facial recognition system.
Read more: Texas Tribune, WSJ, The Verge, AP, Texas AG
TikTok New Safety Policies
The mega-popular video app TikTok says it's trying to make the app a safer place, especially for younger users. U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about specific content on the app, like anything that promotes eating disorders and dangerous hoaxes. So, TikTok says it’ll ask creators to make videos encouraging their followers to think things through when they view content and report if it's harmful. Plus, it’s developing a new “maturity” system with different kinds of content restricted for different age groups.
Read more: TechCrunch, CNN, Vanguard, TikTok
Instagram New Stories Response
Instagram is now letting users send private story likes. That means you can now like someone’s story without sending them a direct message. Instead, the new update shows a heart icon when you watch stories. If you tap it, the other person gets a regular notification, not a private message. The head of Instagram showed it off, saying it’s meant to be private, and it won’t show how many likes the story gets.
Read more: The Verge, AdWeek, 9to5Mac, Adam Mosseri
Report: Oscar Hosts Revealed
Three big Hollywood stars may be joining forces to host the Oscars this year. If they do, it’ll be a big change from the last three years when there was no host at all. Variety is citing sources who say Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes are in talks for the job, and there’s a chance they’ll host together. We’ll find out for sure this morning on Good Morning America. The show is banking on a big year because the Oscars are coming off its lowest-rated telecast in history. This year’s ceremony is slated for March 27th.
Read more: Variety, AP, THR, Deadline
Trevor Noah Headlining Correspondents Dinner
Trevor Noah, host of ‘The Daily Show’, will head up this year’s roasting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. It’s the association’s first dinner since 2019 since the pandemic put the tradition on pause. It brings together journalists and government officials, plus a whole slew of celebrities, and they’ll all poke fun at each other. That’s set for the end of April. You might see Noah before then, though. Besides ‘The Daily Show’ and his standup tour, he’s also hosting the Grammys on April 3rd.
Read more: WaPo, Deadline, AP, WHCA
Billionaire to Fund 3 More Space Flights
A billionaire CEO is on track to go further into space than any other human in half a century. Jared Isaacman is the billionaire who paid for and organized the first-ever all-civilian crew to fly Earth’s orbit, meaning no traditionally-trained astronauts were on board. Now, Isaacman bought three more flights to space with SpaceX. They include two missions that are set to fly super-high into the Earth’s orbit. Those could be building block missions leading to the first crewed flight on SpaceX’s massive new Starship rocket.
Read more: WaPo, The Verge, CNBC, Fox Business, CNN, SpaceX
Past interview with Jared Isaacman: The NewsWorthy (March 20, 2021)
Trivia Tuesday
Q. What grows from an acorn?
Play along on today’s Instagram Stories quiz. We’ll also have the answer right here next week.
Last Week’s Trivia
Q: Which NFL team has the most Super Bowl appearances?
A: The New England Patriots
Read more: Sports Illustrated, Statista, USA Today, TMZ, NFL