Smart news for busy people
Important | 1 | | Last night, Minnesota National Guard troops were called in as fires spread across Minneapolis, burning a police precinct building and other structures as thousands protested the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in police custody. None of the involved officers have been charged. Responding to the protests, President Donald Trump tweeted, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” — a post Twitter hid behind a warning, saying it violates policies against glorifying violence. Meanwhile, seven people were injured by gunfire at a Kentucky protest for Breonna Taylor, a Black EMT who was killed in March when police raided her apartment. | |
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| 2 | | Shares in Twitter fell 4.5 percent yesterday after President Trump signed an executive order aimed at curbing the legal protections social media platforms currently enjoy in the United States. He asked for a wide-ranging review of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act after Twitter attached fact checks to misleading tweets he sent to his 80 million followers. Trump has raged before about what he sees as anti-conservative bias on such platforms, and said yesterday that he’d shut Twitter down completely if he were allowed to. His account is still active. Read OZY’s Donald Dossier for the weekly scoop on Trump. | |
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| 3 | | China’s Ministry of Public Security promised to “guide” Hong Kong police as many protested China’s decision to move forward with a new national security law that abolishes much of the city’s autonomy. The U.S. threatened to revoke the city’s special status under American law and treat it as part of China, which could be bad news for the 1,300 U.S. firms with bases there, and Hong Kong warned the White House to stay out of its internal affairs. Meanwhile, analysts blamed a drop in global stocks on the tensions, as further response is expected today from the Trump administration. | |
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| 4 | | About 30 million Americans are now receiving unemployment benefits, of 40 million who applied since the start of the crisis. But an extra $600 weekly unemployment benefit is set to expire at the end of July, eviction moratoriums are ending and the government’s one-time $1,200 checks are largely spent. The lack of money for consumers to spend could further deepen the country’s economic crisis. Meanwhile, a Reuters investigation found that dozens of companies that paid zero U.S. taxes last year still got millions from taxpayer-funded American coronavirus relief programs. For all OZY’s COVID-19 coverage, click here. | |
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| 5 | | The Boston Marathon has officially been canceled for the first time in its 124-year history. A prominent YouTuber is under fire from fans after she documented her adoption of an autistic child — and then quietly placed him with another family. And the deepest ever sighting of an octopus has been recorded on the floor of the Indian Ocean. Try this: Feeling presidential after a week of briefings? Prove it with the PDB Quiz. Join Us! Music mogul Sophia Chang will be discussing her episode of Defining Moments With OZY on Instagram Live today at 3:30 p.m. Pacific. Watch it on Hulu’s Instagram account. |
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| Intriguing | 1 | | What a difference a month makes. A new law passed in China yesterday mandates that couples seeking a divorce must undergo a 30-day “cooling-off period” before the split can be processed. Public outrage was swift and mighty, with some complaining that there’s no such waiting period before a marriage. Indeed, the new rule is likely meant to tamp down divorce rates, which have been increasing steadily ever since marriage laws were liberalized 20 years ago. OZY considers whether divorced couples should give wedding guests a refund. | |
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| 2 | | Facebook doubled down on its anti-fact-checking policies this week, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg declaring on Fox News that he didn’t want to be the “arbiter of truth.” Now Australian satire sites The Shovel and The Chaser are seeing how serious he is, posting Facebook stories calling Zuckerberg a “child molester” and reporting his death. The social network’s guidelines don’t remove fake stories, instead using an algorithm to limit their newsfeed exposure — though that likely wouldn’t apply to these posts, since the rules make exceptions for satire and parody. Find out how France is fighting fake news. | |
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| 3 | | It’s tile as old as time. Since 1922, archaeologists have been digging around looking for a particular ancient Roman villa outside Verona in Northern Italy. Now they’ve actually found it, unearthing an incredibly well-preserved mosaic floor dating to A.D. 250-400. One of the archaeologists said the moment they discovered it was “like entering a time machine.” The current dig began in February and was suspended for months due to COVID-19, restarting just last week. The team will now focus on unearthing the rest of the villa and making it accessible to the public. | |
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| 4 | | For fans, this news wasn’t so good. Actor John Krasinski captured lockdown attention (and between 2 and 17 million viewers per episode) with his eight-part DIY YouTube news show Some Good News, which featured reunions of the casts of Hamilton and The Office. Then he sold the show to CBS — which, since the network was also laying off 50 staffers, caused some backlash to Krasinski’s feel-good vibe. He says doing the show all by himself just won’t be sustainable once filming can restart for his other commitments — but he claims he’ll stay as involved as possible. | |
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| 5 | | Does the house always win? Not if these pro bettors can help it. There’s a movement afoot in professional sports betting, an industry that’s exploded since a 2018 court decision let each state regulate gambling individually, to educate and care for fellow wagerers, OZY reports. These experienced bettors are launching podcasts and nonprofits to help newcomers keep it fun and healthy — and to combat what they see as reckless betting advice easily available on social media. Bonus: It gives everybody something to do while they wait for sports games to come back so they can bet on them. | |
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| caught up? now vault ahead ... | To get more fresh stories and bold ideas in your inbox, check out The Daily Dose. | | The New + the Next The crisis is giving state-owned carriers a rare edge over private airlines. | READ NOW |
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