theNewsWorthy: Tuesday, August 14th, 2018
ALL THE NEWS YOU NEED - IN ONE PLACE.
(in less than 10 minutes!)
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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...
TURKEY'S ECONOMIC CRISIS
Things are not looking good for Turkey’s economy right now, and the Turkish president says the US is at least partly to blame.
NPR reports he’s accusing the US of stabbing its ally in the back.
The Associated Press says there are several factors causing the economic crisis there, and the feud with the US is one of them. The US just put new sanctions on Turkey and President Trump has said he’ll double the tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum. President Trump doesn’t like that Turkey put an American pastor in jail and won’t send him back.
The currency there, the Turkish Lira, has dropped to a record low. Some investors are worried about the possible impact on markets around the world.
Read More: NPR, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press
FBI AGENT FIRED
An FBI agent will have to leave the FBI for sending text messages about the president. The Washington Post reports that he just officially got fired.
The messages criticize Trump, which wasn’t a great idea since that FBI agent was working on the continuing investigation into the Trump campaign.
Remember: an audit last year found FBI agent Peter Strzok sent the anti-Trump messages to another FBI official. President Trump has said it shows the people working on the Russia investigation have political bias, but others say the investigation is a lot bigger than one agent.
Read More: The Washington Post, TIME
TRUMP & MCCAIN
Military service members are set to get a pay raise – the biggest raise in nine years, at 2.6 percent.
President Trump signed a bill yesterday to finalize it, but there was something else about the signing ceremony that stood out: the president snubbed the well-known lawmaker the bill is named after, Senator John McCain, who is now battling brain cancer.
USA Today reports, President Trump never mentioned McCain’s name. They’re both Republicans, but the two have not gotten along for a while now.
Read More: Associated Press, USA Today
TUESDAY'S PRIMARIES
Voters in Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont and Wisconsin will be heading to the polls today to decide the nominees in several primary races.
There are some competitive ones, like the race for governor in Connecticut, and a few making history, like the first transgender woman running for governor in Vermont.
Learn more about the primaries in your state here or here.
Read More: New York Times (calendar & results), FOX News, CNN, Find Your State
ARETHA FRANKLIN ILL
Several media reports say the "Queen of Soul," Aretha Franklin, is gravely ill and in hospice care. CNN says she’s dealt with health issues in recent years but has stayed pretty private about it.
She’s now getting lots of love and support: Billboard reports Beyoncé and Jay-Z thanked her for “all the beautiful music" this week.
Aretha Franklin is 76.
Read More: Billboard, CNN, TMZ
"RISK SCORE"
There’s a new tool that could tell you if you’re at a higher risk thank the average person for some serious diseases. Think: heart disease, breast cancer, type two diabetes and more.
One expert told NBC News that in five years, you’ll know that risk number as well as you know your cholesterol levels.
Researchers at the Broad Institute and Harvard say they calculate your number by analyzing millions of small genetic variations in your DNA, which can add up to eventually cause harm. And it just takes a cheek swab to test.
The researchers are now apparently building a website where you can upload data from genetic testing companies, like 23andme or Ancestry.com in order to find out your risk number. Experts told the New York Times it’ll likely cost less than $100 all-in.
Why do it? Well, the hope, at least, is that it gives people who are at higher risk of developing certain diseases a chance to prevent it with things like exercise or meds.
Read More: NBC News, New York Times, Nature Genetics
"DIGITAL BIRTH CONTROL"
For the first time ever, the FDA has approved an app as a form of contraception. Yes, a smartphone app. The company refers to itself as “digital birth control.”
The app name is Natural Cycles. It uses body temperature to figure out when a woman is most fertile. There’s no injection or pill to take; the woman just takes her temperature, enters it into the app and sees a green or red light.
But there are plenty of critics. The app was first approved in Europe last year, and now Sweden is investigating the company’s marketing claims. The app has been blamed for dozens of pregnancies. VICE News reports the investigation’s results are expected to be released next month.
Read More: People, Business Insider, VICE News
GOOGLE TRACKING
Google keeps track of where you go, even when you’ve said not to. At least that’s what a new Associated Press report found. The AP even had researchers at Princeton check the findings.
When using Google Maps, for example, Google often asks to use your location info. It can even show you a timeline of where you’ve gone. You can also choose to pause that feature, which is called “Location History.” Google apparently says that will stop Google from remembering where you go, but the AP says it’s not true: time-stamped location data still gets stored.
Google's response? It’s perfectly clear about how the apps work, and it only uses locations when it’s helping better your experience. Plus, you can delete activity and location histories at any time, (although the AP says deleting it all is a tedious process).
You can go to myactivity.google.com to see what Google has stored about you.
Read More: Bloomberg, Associated Press, WIRED
CELL PHONE BAN IN SCHOOLS
Cell phones are banned in the classroom in France starting next month. It’s a nationwide ban on smartphones for students up to 15 years old.
The Wall Street Journal says the French Parliament passed the law last month. The country’s education minister says it’s because they’re too distracting during class. There are also worries that smartphones and apps are too addictive, especially for kids.
Read More: Wall Street Journal
BEST U.S. COLLEGES
What’s the best college for your money? MONEY Magazine has come out with the list...
MONEY looked at everything from graduation rates and the student-teacher ratio to tuition costs and alumni’s early career salaries; 26 data points in all.
The top spot out of 727 US colleges and universities goes to...
Princeton University.
University of California took the next three spots, with UC San Diego coming in second, then UC Irvine, then UCLA. Stanford came in fifth.
Read More: MONEY
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