Thursday, June 10th, 2021
Biden’s Overseas Goals, TSA Stretched & ‘Ring of Fire’ Eclipse
All the news you need in about 10 min:
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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 peruse the latest happenings...
U.S. Donating 500M Vaccine Doses
The U.S. is making a big move to address the global COVID-19 vaccine shortage. The Biden administration has reportedly made a deal to purchase 500 million Pfizer shots and will donate them to lower-income countries around the world. The first 200 million doses are supposed to go out this year, with the remainder going out during the first half of 2022. They will all go through the COVAX initiative put together by the World Health Organization.
Read More: Axios, Politico, WSJ, NY Times
Biden First Overseas Trip
President Biden landed in the UK yesterday. During his time there, he will be meeting mostly with NATO allies about climate change, taxes, the pandemic, trade, and more. The most-anticipated moment of the trip, however, will be his first in-person meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin set for next week. This meeting could be tense since the U.S. has accused Russia of interfering in elections, hacking government agencies and companies, and poisoning one of its citizens. Biden says he’ll make it clear the U.S. wants a “stable and predictable relationship” with Russia, but that the U.S. will respond to any “harmful activities.”
Read More: AP, NPR, ABC News, BBC
Russia Outlaws Opposition Group
Russia banned any political organizations linked to opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Navalny was President Putin’s rival whom Russia has been accused of poisoning, though the Russian government denies being behind it. This ban means activists who keep working for Navalny are risking prison time. While still in jail himself, a message posted to Navalny’s Instagram account read “we’re not going anywhere.”
Read More: NY Times, BBC, WaPo, Reuters
Report on Controversial DC Protest
Last summer, federal and military police clashed with peaceful protestors near the White House, clearing the area by using pepper balls, smoke canisters, and physical force. The Interior Department’s inspector general has been investigating the incident for the last several months and says officers needed protestors out of the way so new security fencing could be installed. He also said police weren’t able to warn all protestors before moving them, and there wasn’t a lot of coordination between the different departments. The inspector general recommends park police improve their warning systems and field communications in the future.
Read More: AP, NBC News, WSJ, Fox News, Politico, DOIOIG
Keystone XL Pipeline Canceled
The company behind the controversial $9 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline has announced it is officially ending the project. It would have brought oil from Canada down to refineries on the Texas gulf coast. Even though supporters said it would create thousands of good-paying jobs and lower gas prices, environmentalists and Native American tribes said it would damage their land, kill local wildlife, and slow down the transition to cleaner fuel sources. President Biden killed the permit for the pipeline in January, and though the developer tried to negotiate a deal, the Biden administration refused to budge.
Read More: WSJ, AP, NPR, Reuters, TC Energy
TSA Stretching its Resources
Airport security is being stretched thin. The head of the TSA says 131 of the largest airports in the U.S. are facing staffing shortages. They are now asking for office workers to volunteer at airport checkpoints and are promising $500 monthly bonuses to screeners at short-staffed airports. The TSA is hoping to bring on another 3,000 employees by the end of summer to solve the problem. The airports with the biggest TSA shortages are in Detroit, Denver, St. Louis, Boston, and Dulles airport outside Washington, DC.
Read More: WaPo, ABC News, The Hill, Bloomberg
TikTok Ban Overturned
President Biden decided to undo executive orders that former President Trump signed last year. They told apps TikTok and WeChat they had to sell to American companies or be banned from the U.S. Trump made these orders out of national security concerns since the apps are owned by Chinese companies, but the bans never took effect because of legal challenges. Now, Biden has revoked Trump’s orders and created his own. The new executive order tells the Commerce Department to launch a national security review of any apps with links to foreign adversaries. Depending on what those reviews find, the Biden administration could create new restrictions.
Read More: The Verge, NPR, AP, Axios, White House
JBS Paid $11 Million Ransom
The world’s largest meat processing company that was forced to shut down its plants due to a cyberattack paid $11 million in bitcoin to the hackers. JBS executives say they hated doing it, but that it was necessary so those that rely on their services weren’t badly impacted by the cyberattack. After JBS handed over the ransom, they were able to access their systems again. The FBI has so far not been able to recover the ransom and says companies shouldn’t pay these ransoms since doing so supports a growing criminal industry.
Read More: CNN, WSJ, Axios, JBS USA
El Salvador Makes Bitcoin Legal Tender
The president of El Salvador signed a new law yesterday that made El Salvador the first country in the world to fully embrace bitcoin as actual money. This means that companies will have to accept bitcoin as payment and people will be able to pay taxes with it. The president is hoping this could give people more financial freedom. The country has partnered with a mobile payments app called Strike to help build the system.
Read More: AP, CNBC, Reuters, WSJ, ARS Technica
Solar Eclipse Today
Early risers will see a solar eclipse this morning that will look like there is a “ring of fire” in the sky. People in Greenland, northern Russia, and Canada will be able to see it the best. A lot of Americans will also get to see a partial eclipse, meaning the moon will cover part of the sun, so keep an eye out if you live in the southeast, northeast, midwest, or northern Alaska. The eclipse is expected to look the best around 6:40 a.m. ET. There will be live streams and replays of the eclipse for those who can’t see it where they live.
Read More: NASA, CNN, Space.com, WSJ
Watch Live: PBS, Time & Date, NASA
CMT Music Awards
The biggest stars in country music gathered last night for the CMT Music Awards. In this awards show, fans vote for all of the winners, and the most coveted award of the night is the Video of the Year award. This year, that prize went to Carrie Underwood and John Legend for their ballad “Hallelujah.” This was Legend’s first CMT award and Underwood’s 23rd, making her the artist with the most CMT awards in history. Kane Brown and Kelsea Ballerini hosted the event.
Read More: AP, Fox News, Billboard, CMT
Thing to Know Thursday: Brood X Cicadas
The Brood X Cicadas’ mating season is about halfway over. Last month, trillions of these insects emerged from underground after laying dormant for over 17 years to reproduce. Once the females lay eggs the adult Cicadas will die off. This will likely occur by the end of this month. Once hatched, their offspring will burrow back underground and start the process all over again. Washington, D.C. is one of the areas dealing with cicadas. Yesterday, they swarmed a plane that was supposed to fly White House reporters to the UK. The cicadas delayed the flight for about seven hours before the crew decided to change planes.
Read More: AP, NY Times, CNET, Indy Star