theNewsWorthy: Friday, July 27th, 2018
ALL THE NEWS YOU NEED - IN ONE PLACE.
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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...
REMAINS RETURNED
President Trump is calling it a “great moment for so many families.” It seems North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is following through on at least one promise: to return remains of U.S. servicemen killed during the Korean War about 65 years ago.
The AP reports a U.S. military plane left South Korea and went to pick up the possible remains in the north, then brought them back. The remains are then expected to arrive in Hawaii.
CNN reports it may take months to get detailed DNA analysis. This is happening on the 65th anniversary of the end of the Korean War.
Read more: CNN, The Guardian, AP
DEADLINE TO REUNITE FAMILIES
The court-ordered deadline to reunite migrant families has come and gone.
Remember, a judge had ruled that by Thursday (yesterday), the Trump administration must reunite all families who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. Typically, the parents got detained and the kids sent to shelters or foster homes.
Well, the administration says it’s done: 1,400+ children were returned to parents deemed “eligible." But that’s not actually everyone. USA Todayreports there are hundreds of parents considered ineligible, so no reunion for them. They reportedly didn’t pass background checks or parent verification or, in some cases, were already deported.
Read more: NBC News, Reuters, USA Today, AP
TRUMP'S TWEETS
We all know President Trump tweets a lot, and now a new report says some of those tweets are under investigation.
The New York Times reports special counsel Robert Mueller is looking at the president’s tweets as part of the investigation into Russia’s election interference. Specifically, whether any of the president’s tweets were 'obstruction of justice.' In other words, whether the president was trying to hurt the investigation by tweeting criticism about some key witnesses. Think: Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former FBI Director James Comey.
Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, says not true. He says typical obstruction cases involve secrecy and bribery, not public tweets.
Read more: NYT, The Hill, FOX News
FACIAL RECOGNITION MISTAKE
Amazon’s facial recognition technology reportedly made a mistake. The ACLU says it ran a test, and the tech wrongly labeled more than two dozen members of Congress as people who were arrested for a crime.
The ACLU, or American Civil Liberties Union, says it’s proof that it’s not a tool law enforcement or others should be using, especially because it made more mistakes on people of color. Some lawmakers say they’re worried about it. CBS News says right now at least two police departments in the U.S. are using the tool, called Amazon Rekognition.
But Amazon is questioning the ACLU’s method to run the test and highlighted the positive ways the facial-recognition technology is used, like finding lost children.
Read more: CBS News, BuzzFeed News
FACEBOOK VALUE DROP
It’s the biggest one-day stock market drop of all time. The Verge reports Facebook lost $123 billion in value overnight.
TechCrunch put that into perspective: All of bitcoin is worth $140 billion, so it’s like almost all bitcoins vanished in 24 hours. Twitter is worth $33 billion, so it’s like four Twitters. Bloomberg adds that the CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, went from being the third-richest person to the sixth-richest overnight.
Why the massive drop? A less-than-stellar report card from Facebook. Growth is stalling. Europe’s new privacy laws, known as GDPR, and some of the data controversies are at least part of it.
The company has now created a new metric to measure its “family of apps” instead, since Facebook is betting on the future of Instagram.
Read more: The Verge, TechCrunch, Bloomberg
MARS EXTRA BRIGHT
We’ve been talking a lot about Mars lately, and starting now, you can get a good glimpse at the Red Planet by just looking up. NPR reports Mars will look brighter in the night sky than it has for 15 years. You’ll see a red glow next to the white stars.
The New York Times adds Mars will look its brightest now through the weekend. That’s because of something known as Mars opposition. It means Mars, Earth and the Sun all line up with Earth in the middle. It happens every two years or so.
Next Tuesday (July 31st), Mars will be at its closest point to Earth in its orbit, so it’ll be pretty bright then, too.
By the way, there’s also a two-hour lunar eclipse happening. The Moon will turn a “blood red” as Earth passes between the Sun and Moon, casting a shadow on the Moon. But sorry to disappoint: anyone in the U.S. and all of North America won’t get to see it this time. The other half of the world will.
Read more: NPR, NYT, Mashable
LINKEDIN VOICE
You can now get voice messages on LinkedIn messaging. The voicemails can be up to one minute long.
The new feature is starting to roll out and everyone should have it sometime in the next few weeks. LinkedIn is saying this option is more efficient, since people speak four times faster than they type. The company adds it’s easier to make more of a personal connection with your voice.
Read more: Fortune, LinkedIn
'SMART' CLOTHES
Tommy Hilfiger just came out with a new line of “smart” clothing. It knows when you wear it and then rewards you for it.
Business Insider reports it’s called Tommy Jeans Xplore. It’s basically a line of clothes and accessories that come with a smart chip and then connects via bluetooth to an app on your phone. You get points for wearing the clothes. The points can be exchanged for things like gift cards.
Not everyone is on board. Techcrunch called it “ridiculous.” Others have some privacy concerns. Tommy Hilfiger says the chips are encrypted and can be turned off.
Read more: Business Insider, The Guardian
NEW CHARLIE'S ANGELS
It seems the next generation of Charlie’s Angels have been decided.
Variety reports Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska will star in another Charlie’s Angels reboot, where they work for the mysterious Charlie. The movie is set to come out in September of next year.
Read more: Variety, AP
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