theNewsWorthy: Monday, July 9th, 2018

July 9, 2018 Erica Mandy

ALL THE NEWS YOU NEED - IN ONE PLACE.

(in less than 10 minutes!)

Want more? I got you.

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...

SCOTUS JUSTICE NOMINEE TBA

Today is the day we could learn President Trump’s pick for the next U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Reuters reports he’ll announce the nominee tonight at 9 PM Eastern Time.

Remember: the president will nominate someone to take Justice Anthony Kennedy’s seat because Kennedy is retiring soon. Kennedy was always known as the swing vote among the nine judges, so it’s a big deal.

TIME reports the president has narrowed his finalists down to three federal appeals judges, but he hasn’t formally said those are his final picks, so it could change.

Stay tuned for the update tomorrow morning...

Read more: CNBC, TIME, FOX News

TRUMP'S EUROPE TRIP

This is also the week President Trump is heading to Europe. He’ll make four stops in seven days, starting tomorrow.

First up? Brussels for the NATO summit (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). He’ll go there Tuesday to meet with the 28 allies that are part of NATO.

He’ll then go to London, Glasgow, Scotland, and Helsinki. I’ll keep you updated with who he’s meeting with and why along the way...

Read more: USA Today, Axios, The Guardian

NORTH KOREA MEETINGS

Things may be tense again with North Korea - maybe?

The New York Times says officials there just accused the U.S. of pushing a “gangster-like demand for denuclearization.”

The comment came after U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, had two days of talks with officials there, although Pompeo called the meetings “productive.” Fox News reports Pompeo didn’t seem too concerned about the “gangster” comment.

Remember: there are ongoing talks between the U.S. and North Korea after the historic meeting between the two leaders. Some are questioning whether anything of substance will come from it. Others say it just takes time.

Read more: NYT, FOX News

JAPAN FLOODS

Nearly two million people have had to leave their homes in Western Japanbecause of heavy rains and flooding. The AP reports at least 100 people were reported dead or presumed dead.

Rescuers are now working hard to find and save people using boats and helicopters. There’s also a massive cleanup effort underway now.

Read more: AP, Reuters

THAI CAVE RESCUE (& ELON MUSK HELPS)

Four saved lives and nine to go. That’s the latest (as of early this morning) about the rescue mission in Thailand where a youth soccer team and their coach have been trapped in a cave for two weeks.

First, the really good news: At least four of the people trapped have now been rescued and reported safe at the hospital. The boys are 11-16 years old, and their coach is 25. NBC News quoted one of the divers who said the first rescue operation went “surprisingly well.”

After that, a new operation to reach the other nine people was set to start Monday morning. Of course, it could take hours, and there are still a lot of challenges trying to bring inexperienced divers up through murky water and narrow passages. More rain in the area could also put all rescue efforts on hold.

One more thing of note: Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla, Space-X & Boring Co) says he sent what he described as a kid-sized “submarine” of sorts to Thailand. If they need it, divers could have one of the kids get inside the pod, seal it, and carry the pod to safety.

You can see a video of them testing the pod in a pool before sending it off to Thailand. TBD if it gets used.

This whole story is still developing...

Read more: AP, NBC News, The Guardian, CNN (video), Mashable

WORLD CUP UPDATE

The World Cup is down to just four teams: Belgium, Croatia, England and France. The host country, Russia, lost to Croatia over the weekend.

Now the four teams left are only two wins away from the World Cup title. The semifinals start tomorrow.

Read more: CBS Sports

NETFLIX REVIEWS

Say goodbye to Netflix reviews. TechCrunch reports they’re officially going away by the end of this summer. Netflix is apparently notifying anyone who has left a review lately that the feature will be gone by mid-August.

Instead of a public five-star review system, Netflix will try to make things more personalized by using a and system that will privately tell Netflix your preferences.

Read more: TechCrunch

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE WINNER

Another Disney superhero movie took the lead at the box office over the weekend. This time, it was Ant-Man and the Wasp. It’s the second Ant-Manmovie, and Variety reports it actually did better on its opening weekend than the first one. The movie stars Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly and brought in $76 million in North America.

Read more: Variety, Bloomberg

JUSTIN BIEBER ENGAGED

Singer superstar Justin Bieber and model Hailey Baldwin are engaged.

TMZ has the picture from a fan who caught the ring on camera. They were apparently in the Bahamas together when Bieber popped the question.

Read more: TMZ, CNN

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