| All your news in a single email. We scour 100+ sources so you don't have to. Culture, science, sports, politics, business, and more - all packaged in a 5-minute read below. |
| Need To Know. |
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| Alabama Abortion Fight. |
The Alabama Senate voted to ban abortions at nearly every stage of pregnancy late last night, sending what would be the nation's most-restrictive abortion law to Governor Kay Ivey's desk for signature. The new law would provide an exemption if the mother's health is at serious risk, but does not include an exemption for rape, and doctors who perform the procedure could face felony charges and up to 99 years in prison. The law follows recently passed measures in Ohio and Georgia that ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected - usually around 5 to 6 weeks into pregnancy - and is intended to be a direct challenge to Roe v Wade under a remade Supreme Court that now leans conservative. Should the law be signed by the Governor, the restrictions would kick in six months after its passage.
Separately, the US birth rate hit a 32-year low. |
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| Saudi Drone Attacks. |
| Drones attacked Saudi Arabian oil facilities, according to reports yesterday, just days after four oil tankers sailing through the Strait of Hormuz were damaged in a sabotage attempt. Houthi rebels, operating out of neighboring Yemen (see map), claimed responsibility for the attack. The Iran-backed rebels are on one side of a bloody, four-year civil war against the Yemeni government, which is backed by the Saudis. The drones are often outfitted with explosives and flown kamikaze-style into targets, giving rebel groups a simple and low-cost - but increasingly sophisticated - means of carrying out attacks at a distance. Saudi officials say they have shot down over 140 drones, and have seen upgraded versions capable of traveling over 900 miles at speeds of 150 miles per hour. The attacks raise the possibility that Houthi militants, although outnumbered by Saudi-backed forces, may strike major urban areas in Saudi Arabia without leaving their strongholds in Yemen. |
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| Facial Recognition Ban. |
San Francisco became the first major US city to ban the use of facial recognition technology by city agencies, following an 8-to-1 vote by the city's Board of Supervisors yesterday. The technology, which allows AI-based software to analyze faces of passersby caught on various surveillance systems and compare their similarities against known criminal databases, has been criticized as both racially biased and as potentially violating privacy rights. In particular, research has suggested the software is less accurate when assessing darker skin tones, effectively baking racial bias into the technology platform. City Supervisor Aaron Peskin said the ban was not "anti-technology", but an extension of California's recent sweeping data privacy laws. The new ban does not apply to private firms using the technology.
Here's a good read on the legal pros and cons of the technology. |
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| In The Know. |
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| Sports, Entertainment & Culture. |
| > New Orleans Pelicans win NBA Draft lottery, will get top pick in June 20 draft; Grizzlies, Knicks, and Lakers round out top 4 (More) | Former Duke forward Zion Williamson is poised to be #1 pick; see full draft projection (More) |
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| > MTV Movie & TV Awards nominations announced with Avengers: Endgame and Game of Thrones leading with 4 nominations apiece; see full list of nominees (More) |
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| > Tim Conway, Carol Burnett Show star and 6-time Emmy winner, dies at 85 (More) |
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| Science & Technology. |
| > Scientists pinpoint region of brain responsible for sensing walls and perceiving inside spaces; may have applications from diseases to AI vision systems (More) |
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| > Security researchers find new class of vulnerability in nearly all post-2011 Intel computer chips; major firms release fix that causes 3-9% decrease in performance (More) |
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| > Studies link senescent cells - or zombie cells, whose functions have largely halted but the cells haven’t died - to range of age-related diseases through the release of chemicals that harm nearby living cells (More) |
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| Business & Markets. |
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> US stocks markets up (S&P 500 +0.8%, Dow +0.8%, Nasdaq +1.1%) on easing US/China trade war fears; President Trump states “We have a good dialogue going” (More)
> National Labor Relations Board concludes Uber drivers are independent contractors and not employees (More) |
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> Disney will take over operational control of streaming giant Hulu from Comcast, Comcast has option to sell 33% stake to Disney in 5 years (More) | Google to expand advertising options to boost revenue from mobile users (More)
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| Politics & World Affairs. |
| > Montana Governor Steve Bullock becomes 23rd candidate to enter the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination; leads a state that President Trump won by 20 points in 2016 (More) |
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| > Donald Trump Jr. agrees to testify before Senate Intelligence Committee, to be scheduled sometime in June (More) |
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| > 4 dead, 2 missing after two sightseeing planes collide in midair in Alaska (More) |
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- Susan B. Anthony |
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