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Congrats to the Clemson Tigers, who handed Nick Saban his worst loss ever at Alabama as they won their third college football national title last night. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
Government shutdown
President Trump takes his battle to build a border wall into overdrive tonight. He’ll address the nation in prime time in his first Oval Office speech, and he’s expected to describe the situation on the southern border with Mexico as a national security crisis. (There are already 31 active national emergencies, with one dating back to the Carter administration.) Trump will follow that up with a trip to the border later this week. Political observers think the President is trying to break the logjam with Democrats over his $5 billion border wall funding request — and the government shutdown it’s created — by building a case to bypass Congress for the money and use Defense Department funds to build it instead. That’s guaranteed to spark a lengthy court battle.
Brexit
Brexit doesn’t happen for another two months, but it’s already sucking money out of the UK. A new report from accounting firm EY says banks and other financial companies have moved at least $1 trillion worth of assets out of the UK and into the EU because of Brexit. That’s about 10% of total assets in the country’s banking sector. Firms are moving money to protect against possible sudden regulation changes stemming from Brexit and to protect clients from market volatility. The UK Parliament is set to vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal next week.
Cyntoia Brown
Cyntoia Brown will soon be a free woman. Brown, who got a life sentence for killing a man who bought her for sex when she was 16, was granted clemency by GOP Gov. Bill Haslam of Tennessee. She’ll be released on parole in August after serving 15 years. Brown, 30, had a lot of high-profile people advocating for her release, including lawmakers and A-list celebs. A pastor who lobbied Haslam for Brown’s release — and who spoke of forgiveness and second chances — says he’ll “walk her out” of prison and “hold her hand.”
| Cuba sonic attacks Were those bizarre noises that US diplomats reported hearing in 2016 and 2017 in Cuba caused by insects? A pair of scientists who analyzed recordings of the “buzzing” and “grinding” sounds say they could be the echoing call of a cricket. The diplomats and their families experienced pain, dizziness, vertigo and ringing in the ears from the sounds. State Department officials feared they had fallen victim to an “acoustic attack” from sonic devices, something Cuban officials denied any involvement in. This cricket theory hasn’t been reviewed by other scientists, though, so some form of audio attack can’t be ruled out yet. |
| Kids and screen time We’ve all been told repeatedly that letting children stare at screens for hours on end is bad for them. But a group of British pediatricians says there’s really little evidence to back that up. The guidance from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in the UK says there’s not an “evidence base” for a direct link between screen time and problems like obesity, mental health issues, heart disease and educational problems. The group does recommend getting screens away from kids an hour before bedtime so they can sleep better. (That’s good advice for us adults as well.) The group’s view contrasts with guidance on screen time issued by most other health organizations. Source: CNN |