Friday, July 23rd, 2021
‘Pivotal Moment’ in Pandemic, Tokyo Opening Ceremony & Alexa’s Masculine Side
All the news you need in around 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by Rothys.com/newsworthy and BetterHelp.com/newsworthy
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...
U.S. Strikes Taliban
Even though American troops are leaving Afghanistan, the U.S. military is still launching airstrikes in the country. This week, it targeted the Taliban terrorist group. American military officials say they’ve launched about six or seven strikes in the last month, mostly using drones. Almost half of Afghanistan’s districts are now in Taliban control. The White House says it’s mostly up to Afghan security officials to keep them from taking more populated areas and to take back as many districts as possible. The U.S. military mission in Afghanistan will wrap up at the end of next month.
Read More: AP, CNN, CNBC, WaPo
New Cuba Sanctions
The U.S. is now punishing Cuban officials for harshly cracking down on protesters earlier this month. Thousands of people in Cuba have been protesting against their country’s communist government for more than a week now. Human rights groups say since those demonstrations started, hundreds of protesters have been detained or disappeared, and the Cuban government has cut off internet access, so it’s harder for protesters to organize. President Biden has condemned the Cuban government over these actions. Yesterday, his administration imposed economic sanctions on a high-ranking Cuban official and a special forces unit.
Read More: Axios, Politico, Reuters, Fox Business, White House
China Denies 2nd-Phase WHO Investigation
It’s going to be tough for the World Health Organization to get to the bottom of what started the pandemic. China rejected the WHO’s plan for a second investigation. China already let a WHO team in to study the origins of COVID-19 earlier this year. However, those investigators weren’t able to name a definite cause. The WHO wanted to audit labs and markets in Wuhan, China, where the first COVID-19 cases were identified, but Chinese officials say that proposal “did not respect common sense.” China says the WHO needs to instead start looking at other countries to figure out where COVID-19 came from.
Read More: NY Times, Reuters, WSJ, AP
CDC Director’s Delta Warning
The new delta variant of COVID-19 is one of the most infectious respiratory diseases scientists have ever seen. New data shows the strain is highly contagious because people infected with it carry up to 1,000 times more virus than those who get the original strain. The delta variant accounts for at least 83% of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. The CDC director is calling this a “pivotal moment” in the pandemic, and she’s asking millions of unvaccinated Americans to take action and get vaccinated. House Republican leaders and doctors also spoke to advocate for vaccines yesterday.
Read More: CNBC, NY Times, WaPo, Politico
Olympic Opening Ceremony
The 2020 Olympic Games formally kick off today. The opening ceremony is happening in Tokyo this morning. One highlight of the ceremony is when all the athletes walk in a parade of nations, and for the first time this year, there are two flag bearers from each country, not just one. Olympic organizers asked each country to pick one man and one woman. After the parade of nations, you can expect to see a big, patriotic show from Japan full of performances. One Japanese person will also light the Olympic cauldron. The opening ceremony is airing live on NBC at 7 a.m. EST and it’s playing again at 7:30 p.m. EST.
Read More: WaPo, Axios, WSJ, NBC Sports
Kaseya Gets Decryption Key
More than 1,000 businesses and public organizations around the world now have the key to unlock their computers. They’ve been locked out of their systems since the 4th of July weekend when a ransomware group out of Russia attacked a Florida software firm named Kaseya. Kaseya now says it received a universal key to unscramble all the data and it’s working to get its clients back online. Typically to get that key, a company pays a ransom to hackers. It’s not clear if Kaseya paid, or if the government was able to get the key in another way.
Read More: AP, The Verge, Axios, WaPo, Kaseya
Another Internet Outage
For the third time in less than two months, dozens of websites were knocked offline yesterday. A problem with an internet service provider impacted major airlines, banking and trading websites, delivery services, and retailers. The problem was traced back to cloud service provider Akamai Technologies. The company said a software update triggered a bug and the problem was fixed in about an hour.
Read More: Fox Business, CNN, CNBC, 9to5Mac, Akamai Technologies
Video Game Company Sued for ‘Frat Boy’ Culture
One of the most popular video game makers in America is being sued over its workplace culture. The company is called Activision Blizzard. The state of California sued Blizzard this week following a two-year investigation. Officials accuse the company of fostering what they call a “frat boy” culture where sexual harassment and physical assault is common. The lawsuit says Blizzard pays women less than men for similar work, fires or forces women to quit at higher rates than men, and does nothing to stop women from getting harassed or groped. Activision Blizzard is calling the lawsuit “distorted” and “inaccurate.”
Read More: NBC News, NPR, Axios, Superior Court of California, California DFEH
Alexa’s Masculine Voice Option
Amazon’s virtual assistant can now have a masculine-sounding voice. The traditional Alexa voice is still around, but as of this week, there’s also now a new, lower one to choose from. All you have to do is ask it to “change your voice,” or go into voice settings to choose “new” instead of “original.” The changes follow a critical study from the United Nations that found AI systems with automatic female-sounding voices and names may reinforce negative gender stereotypes. Users can also change Alexa’s name to Ziggy or just simply Amazon.
Read More: The Verge, The Ambient, Tom’s Guide
Walmart’s Free Health Screenings & Shots
Walmart is offering free health care screenings and vaccines tomorrow. At more than 4,700 Walmart pharmacies around the country, people can get shots for COVID-19, measles, chickenpox, HPV, tetanus, whooping cough, and more. Doctors there can also screen patients for high blood pressure, check cholesterol and glucose levels, measure body mass index, and offer vision screenings for free. It’s part of Walmart’s quarterly Wellness Day program.
Read More: Fox Business, Walmart, CDC
Feel Good Friday: Pro Bono Mechanic Receives Hundreds of Donations
A restaurant owner who is also a skilled mechanic is helping families in South Carolina. Last year, Eliot Middleton started asking his restaurant customers to donate their junk cars in exchange for a free meal. Then, he started fixing them up in his spare time and giving the repaired cars to people who need them. So far, Middleton has gifted more than 30 cars and he’s working on a lot more. Since his story made national headlines recently, Middleton has been offered about 800 cars from people all over the country. He’s now launching a non-profit organization so his project can keep growing.
Read More: CNN, WaPo, CBS News