theNewsWorthy: Monday, February 25th, 2019
ALL THE NEWS YOU NEED - IN ONE PLACE.
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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 perusing the latest happenings...
Second Summit Preps: President Trump is heading to Vietnam today in preparation for a second summit with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un later this week. The first meeting took place last June – the first time a sitting U.S. president and North Korean leader met face-to-face.
Read more: AP, The Washington Post, Reuters, FOX News, USA Today
Trump on Tariffs: Trade talks between the world's two largest economies are apparently making progress. President Trump had threatened to increase tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports at the end of the week, but now, the deadline has been pushed back. No new deadline was set yet.
Read more: WSJ, CNBC, ABC News
All-Male Draft Unconstitutional: A federal judge ruled the all-male military draft is unconstitutional. Now that women are allowed to serve in combat roles, the judge says the draft should not discriminate either. Though the U.S. military has been all-volunteer since 1973, men are supposed to register with the Selective Service System when they turn 18 in case the draft is used in the future. The ruling judge didn’t order the government to make changes to draft registration, but the commission studying the issue will likely make a recommendation to Congress next year.
Read more: The Hill, USA Today, FOX News
Patriots Owner Charged: The billionaire owner of this year’s Super Bowl champions is about to be arrested. Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, was charged with two counts of soliciting sex. Police say they have video of Kraft paying for sex at a shopping center massage parlor. He was caught during a statewide, six-month investigation into sex trafficking in Florida. Kraft’s reps say he never did anything illegal.
Read more: AP, NYT
R, Kelly in Jail: R&B singer R. Kelly has been indicted on ten counts of criminal sexual abuse against four victims, at least three of whom say they were underage during the abuse. R. Kelly has been behind bars since Friday when he turned himself in. His total bail was set at $1 million, which means he’ll need to come up with ten percent of that ($100,000) to be released until his court date.
Read more: NBC News, CNN, FOX News, AP
Winter Storm: Strong winds and snow hit parts of the Midwest and Northeast again. More strong wind and power outages can be expected today. White-out conditions caused a pileup in Wisconsin and closed several interstates. Minneapolis declared a snow emergency. Hundreds of flights have been canceled across the country. The South also saw severe weather, with flooding and tornadoes over the weekend.
Read more: The Weather Channel, NBC News, AccuWeather, CBS News
Space Tourism: Virgin Galactic has launched another rocket-powered plane to space. This time, two pilots and a test passenger were onboard. The test passenger is the company’s Chief Astronaut Instructor, and she will be in charge of training future space tourists to understand what to expect. Hundreds of people are eager to put a down payment on the $250,000 ticket for a 90-minute flight, which allows passengers to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see Earth from the edge of space.
Read more: The Verge, Reuters, Engadget
Academy Awards: Here are the highlights from the 91st Academy Awards: Best Picture went to Green Book, a period drama about race relations in the 60s. Best Actress was awarded to Olivia Colman from The Favourite. Rami Malek won Best Actor for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, and Queen opened the ceremony alongside singer Adam Lambert. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper also performed “Shallow,” which won Best Song. Ruth E. Carter and Hannah Beachler made history as the first African Americans to win for Costume Design and Production Design.
Read more: The Verge, Reuters, Engadget
Smollett Latest: Fox announced actor Jussie Smollett will not appear on the last two episodes of this season of Empire. But co-star Terrence Howard is showing his support for Smollett, who is facing a felony charge for allegedly filing a false police report. Prosecutors say Smollett staged last month’s attack. He still says he’s innocent, and is due back in court on March 14.
Read more: USA Today, Deadline
More Foldable Phones: Huawei is the latest to reveal a foldable phone. The Mate X can open three different ways and is thinner, folds flatter and has a bigger screen than Samsung’s newly-revealed Galaxy Fold. At $2,600 Huawei’s 5G-ready phone is even more expensive than Samsung’s $1,900 Fold.
Read more: TechRadar, CNET, The Verge
Verizon’s Mystery Box: Verizon is launching a new mystery subscription box program called Tech Pack. Like some other subscription boxes, users take a short quiz to get started. Verizon will then send a few devices to try. Subscribers will have two weeks to try the gadgets and decide whether to return them or keep them. The trial phase is reportedly sold out.
Read more: The Verge, Mashable