Wednesday, July 13th, 2022
Role of Extremists, Controversial Mideast Trip & ‘Succession’ Breaks Record
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 reading about the latest happenings…
7th Jan 6th Hearing Recap
At its 7th hearing, the January 6th committee tried to show that former President Trump encouraged far-right extremists to violence so he could hold onto power. One focus was a heated argument. Witnesses say Trump’s White House lawyers rejected the idea there was any voter fraud, despite what Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was saying. After that meeting, Trump tweeted, “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” Committee members say that tweet sparked far-right groups to start planning for an attack. The next hearing is expected to happen next week.
Read More: AP, NY Times, WSJ, Reuters, Newsweek, NY Post
New Uvalde Footage Released
There are new calls for explanation and accountability in Uvalde, Texas. This week, video footage was released showing one of the deadliest school shootings in American history. It backed up what reports have said already, that heavily-armed police officers waited more than an hour in a hallway before stopping the shooter. 19 children and two teachers were killed that day. There is some debate about whether the footage should have been released. Some officials say the victims' families shouldn’t have to be retraumatized by video. Others say they want more videos released for more clarity.
Read More: Texas DPS, Austin American-Statesman, WaPo, Fox News, AP, Axios WARNING: some articles include video that is difficult to watch
US Kills ISIS Leader in Syria
The U.S. military says it has taken down a powerful ISIS leader. He was considered to be one of the top five Islamic State leaders in Iraq and Syria. This week, he was killed in a drone strike. Operation officials say his death will make it harder for the terror group to plan and carry out attacks throughout the world. American officials say no civilians were hurt in the attack. President Biden says the strike showed that the U.S. doesn’t need to send thousands of troops to war to remove threats.
Read More: CENTCOM, WaPo, NBC News, NY Post, Politico
Biden Begins Mideast Trip
Today marked the start of President Biden’s first trip to the Middle East since he took office. He’s starting in Israel. There, he will push for more security partnerships between Israel and Arab countries, partly so they can stand up to Iran. Next, the president is going to the West Bank to visit Palestinian leaders. Finally, Biden will go to Saudi Arabia. He’s faced scrutiny over that part of the trip since the Saudi leadership has been accused of human rights abuses. However, the country also has vast reserves of oil, and Biden wants Saudi Arabia to pump more of it to help alleviate high gas prices.
Read More: AP, Politico, WSJ, BBC
Biden Meets Mexican President
The Biden administration has been trying to shore up a working relationship between the U.S. and our closest neighbor to the south. The White House hosted a meeting between President Biden and Mexico’s President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Items on the agenda included slowing the influx of migrants, inflation, and the dangerous opioid fentanyl making its way from Mexico to the U.S. illegally. The White House says Mexico agreed to invest $1.5 billion in border infrastructure. Reports say that will improve processing and security, including technology that can detect contraband.
Read More: White House, NPR, Fox News, NY Times, WaPo, USA Today
Heathrow Latest to Limit Passengers
One of Europe’s biggest international airports has asked airlines to stop selling tickets for summer departures. London’s Heathrow Airport is capping the number of passengers flying from the hub to 100,000 a day. It blames surging travel demand coupled with staffing shortages. Heathrow’s CEO says the combination has led to unacceptable service like long lines, late bags, and last-minute cancellations. The goal of the capacity cap is to limit those problems. The passenger cap is scheduled to last through mid-September.
Read More: Heathrow, WSJ, Reuters, MarketWatch, Axios
Spotify Acquires Heardle
The Wordle-inspired guessing game Heardle is now part of Spotify. The music streaming service acquired it this week. In the game, users can guess a song based on the opening notes. Players get six chances a day to figure out the song, getting a few extra seconds with each incorrect guess. Spotify says millions of people already play Heardle. With this new deal, players can listen to the full song on Spotify after the game ends. Spotify says it will integrate the game into its platform more in the future. It will still be free.
Read More: Spotify, CNBC, TechCrunch, Deadline, Variety
Emmy Nominations
Streaming services dominated nominations for the Emmy awards. The HBO series ‘Succession’ landed the most nominations of any show this year with 25. Its 14 acting nods broke a record for the most any series has gotten from any year. Those nominations helped HBO outpace Netflix. However, Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ also broke a record. It earned the most-ever nods for a foreign language show with 14. The Emmys are set for September 12th live on NBC and Peacock.
Read More: Emmys, CNN, WaPo, Deadline, CBS News, Variety
More Images from James Webb Telescope
NASA unveiled more images from the powerful James Webb Space Telescope. Scientists say the images they’re seeing are even more amazing than they imagined. They show interacting galaxies hundreds of millions of light-years away from Earth, a stellar nursery where massive young suns are born, a giant planet’s atmosphere, and more. This has a lot of people excited for the future since it starts to show what the $10 billion telescope is capable of. As one program scientist put it, “We’re making discoveries, and we haven’t even started trying yet.”
Read More: NASA, CBS News, NY Times, WSJ, Axios
Full Supermoon
You may be able to see the biggest supermoon of the year this week. At the same time as this month’s full moon, the moon will be at the closest point to Earth in its orbit for 2022, making it a supermoon. NASA says supermoons usually appear 17% bigger and 30% brighter than when the moon is at its farthest point from Earth. Experts say if you look tonight, the best time is moonrise and moonset since it may look larger near the horizon.
Read More: Space.Com, NPR, AP, CNET
Work Wednesday: Teen Jobs Market
States are getting creative to fill gaps in the labor market. One recent approach includes relying on teenagers more than before. New Jersey’s governor signed a bill that lets 16- and 17-year-olds work up to 50 hours a week during the summer months. In Michigan, the governor signed a bill that lets 17-year-olds serve alcohol at bars and restaurants. All around the country, there are also businesses willing to pay teenagers more. Data from payroll platform Gusto says this year, average hourly wages for teen workers have gone up nearly four times faster than the increase among all workers.
Read More: Axios, NJ.Com, MLive, CNBC, NY Post, Fortune