Friday, March 4th, 2022
Nuclear Plant Fire, Refugees Welcome & Unplugging Day
All the news you need in around 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by Rothys.com/newsworthy and kiwico.com (Listen for the discount code)
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 reading the latest happenings...
2nd Ukraine-Russia Peace Talks/Latest Fighting
The second round of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia ended with no deal to end the war. However, the two sides did agree on one thing: setting up humanitarian pathways for civilians to get out of Ukraine. That’s crucial since more than one million Ukrainians have become refugees in the last week. Russia is stepping up its attacks on major population centers, especially in the southern part of the country. Overnight in southeastern Ukraine, Russian forces started firing on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, and a fire reportedly broke out. It has since been extinguished.
Read more: AP, NY Times, Axios, WSJ, IAEA, UNHCR
US Immigration Relief for Ukrainians
Ukrainians are getting more help from other nations in Europe and here in North America. The American Homeland Security Department says Ukrainians already in the U.S. are going to get a temporary protected status. That means they won’t be deported for the next 18 months. The Migration Policy Institute says that will benefit about 30,000 Ukrainians who are now in the U.S. on temporary visas, or who don’t have legal status.
Read more: Axios, Politico, CBS News, DHS
EU, Canada Welcome Refugees
Canada says it's going to fast-track Ukrainian applications for both temporary and permanent residency status for Ukrainian refugees with full access to work and study programs. Canada also says there’s no limit to how many Ukrainians they’ll accept. For now, though, most Ukrainians are fleeing to nearby European countries. So, the European Union decided to let Ukrainian refugees live and work there for up to three years, and they won’t have to go through the usually lengthy asylum procedures. There’s been criticism, though, since other migrants who’ve fled conflict in recent years haven’t gotten the same treatment.
Read more: Politico, Reuters, CNN, WSJ, Canada’s Government, EU
More Russian Oligarch Sanctions
The White House is now targeting even more Russian oligarchs with sanctions. Those rich business leaders with close ties to Russia’s president will be cut off from the U.S. financial system. Their assets will be frozen in the U.S., so officials will be able to seize their luxury apartments, superyachts, private jets, and other property in the states. They and their families will also face visa restrictions. The Biden administration blames oligarchs for giving the Russian government the resources needed to invade Ukraine.
Read more: ABC News, AP, CBS News, NBC News, White House
Jury Finds Hankison Not Guilty
The only officer charged in the raid that killed Breonna Taylor two years ago was just cleared of all wrongdoing. To recap: three officers were executing a search warrant in Louisville, Kentucky, because they say they had evidence Taylor’s ex-boyfriend was selling drugs. When the police came to the house, her current boyfriend thought the police were intruders and opened fire. The officers fired back, killing Taylor. Detective Hankison ended up being charged with wanton endangerment because shots landed in Taylor’s neighbor’s apartment. This week, jurors found him not guilty.
Read more: NY Times, ABC News, Fox News, WaPo
Latest Opioid Settlement
The billionaire Sackler family that owns Purdue Pharma reached another big settlement in response to the opioid crisis. The Sacklers agreed to pay up to $6 billion to settle lawsuits that accuse them of helping fuel addictions since they got rich off the sales of oxycontin. This new deal shields the family from future civil lawsuits, and it ends their company’s bankruptcy case. It also sends billions of dollars to help communities address the opioid crisis. The judge over Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy case still has to approve the settlement for it to take effect.
Read more: Stat, WSJ, Reuters, NY Times, US Courts
Space Junk To Hit Moon
An out-of-control rocket piece is set to crash into the moon today. The debris has been floating around in space for the past decade, and experts now think it came from a Chinese rocket test, even though China denies that. The impact is expected to leave a big crater on the moon. However, it won't be visible from Earth or cause any impact here. NASA says the real problem is space junk that's in low-earth orbit. We’re talking about the potential impact of space junk on tomorrow’s Special Edition Saturday episode.
Read more: Space.Com, AP, CNN, NASA
Paralympic Games Begin
The Winter Paralympics kick off in Beijing today with its opening ceremony. Then, nearly 50 countries will compete for 78 gold medals. The games feature athletes with a range of disabilities competing across six different sports: alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, snowboarding, para-ice hockey, and wheelchair curling.
Read more: NBC Sports, The Guardian, NBC Pressbox, IPC
Russians, Belarusians Out of Paralympics
About 600 athletes are set to take part in the Winter Paralympics. However, because of the invasion of Ukraine, athletes from Russia and Belarus are banned. The IPC president apologized to the banned athletes, saying, “You are victims of your governments’ actions”. Russian news outlets say the country is already planning to file a lawsuit over the decision. The Paralympic Games run through next Sunday. You can watch the coverage on NBC and Peacock.
Read more: AP, CNN, Reuters, IPC
Netflix Pauses Russian Projects
Netflix is the latest big studio to pause all Russian projects in the pipeline, including a few original series. For example, the production for the Russian-language detective series “Zato” was halted. Then, there’s “Anna K”, based on Anna Karenina, which has already wrapped up but doesn’t have a release date yet. It's not clear what’s next for those shows, but Variety says Netflix is assessing the impact of the war before making any more decisions.
Read more: Variety, Reuters, Deadline, The Guardian
Russia Banned from Festivals & Award Shows
Disney, Warner Bros, Paramount, Sony, and Universal all delayed upcoming film releases in Russia. Plus, the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, and Toronto Film Festival all said they won’t allow Russian delegations, and the European Film Academy blocked any Russian films from its award show.
Read more: Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Cannes, EFA, TIFF
Twitter Expands Birdwatch
Twitter is expanding its crowd-sourced fact-checking program called Birdwatch in hopes of fighting misinformation. The social network launched Birdwatch last year as an experiment. It asks select Twitter users to point out misleading tweets and write notes to debunk the information. Those notes could then be added to the original tweet. Now, a test group of ordinary users in the U.S. can see those notes directly on tweets and can rate them as helpful or not. The social network says it wants both experts and non-experts to write Birdwatch notes.
Read more: Reuters, Cnet, AP, Poynter, Twitter
National Day of Unplugging
If you’ve been feeling burnt-out from always being plugged in, here’s your chance to take a break. Today is National Day of Unplugging, which is a national call to go device-free and take a 24-hour break from technology. It happens every year on the first weekend of March. It starts tonight and runs through the day tomorrow. The campaign has been going strong for a decade, inspiring schools, religious institutions, and businesses to try and inspire a healthy life-tech balance.
Read more: PR Newswire, Linkedin, NDU
Feel Good Friday: Nonprofit Builds Homes for Foster Families
A North Carolina nonprofit is trying to help siblings in foster care stay together. The organization Fostering Hopes is building free homes for foster families to try and keep big sibling groups together. The first home is almost finished. Now, the organization has to find a couple who can be full-time foster parents. Thankfully, that’s what Fostering Hopes does: It recruits potential foster parents for the state and gets them in the social services office to be licensed. Once the right couple comes along, the family can live in this house rent-free.
Read more: Fox News, WYFF, Fostering Hopes, H3 Collective