Request to China, MGM Settlement & Instagram “Threads”

All the news you need in less than 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 perusing the latest happenings...

Request to China, First Testimony:
President Trump publicly asked both Ukraine and China to investigate the Bidens, which means he once again asked a foreign government to investigate a political rival. Also, the first major witness in the impeachment inquiry testified yesterday.
Read more: NYT, WSJ, NBC News, Washington Post, ABC News, AP

North Korea Negotiations:
North Korea and the U.S. are set to restart negotiations this weekend. It comes after North Korea tested several missiles, including one just this week. President Trump says the tests don’t violate agreements. Stay tuned.
Read more: TIME, NPR Fox News, Fox News

MGM Settlement:
MGM Resorts will pay as much as $800 million to the victims and their families of the Las Vegas shooting. Tuesday marked two years since the mass shooting at a country music festival where 58 people died and hundreds were hurt. MGM fought the lawsuit at first, but the company says it now hopes this agreement helps the families move forward.
Read more: CNN, NPR, Reuters

Vaping Illness:
The number of vaping-related illnesses has now jumped past 1,000. Doctors still don’t know what exactly is causing the mysterious lung disease, but 18 people have now died. Federal and state health officials are investigating.
Read more: CNBC, Washington Post, NYT

Facebook Encryption:
Facebook is moving forward with a plan to encrypt messages across its platforms, but reports say U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr and officials from the U.K. and Australia are worried that the messages will become too secure and private -- making it harder to investigate possible crimes.
Read more: BuzzFeed News, Vox, Axios

Uber Copter Flights:
New Yorkers can now get around in Uber Copters. The helicopters take passengers from Manhattan to JFK airport. After testing, the service is now available to everyone. It costs about $200 per person. Uber is using this as a learning opportunity for its plans to launch an air taxi business in other cities in 2023.
Read more: CNET, Engadget, Reuters

Uber Works:
Uber is rolling out a new app to help people find jobs, called Uber Works. The service will match workers with companies looking to fill temp positions. Uber is testing it in Chicago and plans to expand.
Read more: WSJ, NBC News, TechCrunch

Instagram Threads:
A new app called Threads is now available. Instagram users can send photos and videos to close friends only, similar to Snapchat. There’s also an auto-status feature.
Read more: TechCrunch, CNBC, Engadget

Forbes 400 Richest:
The richest person in America is still Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, according to Forbes’ list of the 400 richest Americans. Coming in second is Microsoft founder Bill Gates. President Trump is number 275, with a net worth of $3 billion. America’s richest woman is Alice Walton, the daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton.
Read more: USA Today, Forbes