Morning Announcements

Today's Headlines: Trump spent day two of Xi Jinping's state visit showing him the White House construction zone and reporting that Xi "likes granite" and is "an expert on stone," while mortgage rates hit 7% for the first time since early 2025 and the state dinner guest list included Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos, and Supreme Court Justices Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett — a who's who of people who will shape the AI era sitting down together while Zuckerberg publicly broke with Altman and Amodei on whether AI companies need to slow down. Netanyahu addressed the UN claiming that without Israel and America acting together, "we'd all be dead," and took time to call out NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani by name for accusing Israel of genocide, while Iran's foreign minister presented a new proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and start final deal negotiations. In other news, the Navy officially acknowledged that 8 sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln attempted to take their own lives during their 300-plus day deployment on a ship with broken plumbing, rotten food, and no port calls — while Trump previously said the deployment hadn't gone on long enough. A federal judge ordered ICE to fix "squalid" conditions at a New York detention facility and issued a permanent injunction, and a separate judge blocked Trump's press ban in the middle of the night — which the White House ignored anyway, continuing to bar CNN and MSNBC reporters and confiscating press hard passes. And finally, a 76-year-old man who was shot at Trump's Butler rally in 2024 died yesterday after more than two years of surgeries, making the casualties of that event two people, neither of whom is the president.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

NYT: Mortgage Rates Hit 7% as Iran War Fallout Crushes a Weak Housing Market

WaPo: Guests at state dinner honoring Chinese President Xi Jinping include Elon Musk, Sam Altman

NBC News: Mark Zuckerberg rejects calls for industrywide AI slowdown

CNN: Key speeches and moments from UNGA Day 3: Netanyahu lambasts Iran, defends Gaza war

CNN: We aren’t trying to kill Trump, Iran’s president insists to reporters at New York hotel

NYT: 8 Sailors in U.S.S. Lincoln Strike Group Attempted Suicide, Navy Says

Axios: ICE ordered to fix "squalid" conditions at NYC detention facility

AP News: 3 US news outlets return to White House after judge orders Trump to lift ban

Politico: Pennsylvania man dies two years after he was wounded in Butler shooting

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Today's Headlines: And we’re back to actual warring again. The US and Iran are shooting at each other again for the first time in a month — US strikes on Iranian rocket launchers, Iran hitting US bases in Jordan and the UAE — and when reporters asked Trump if he'd rule out nukes, he said yes and no in the same breath and called it a stupid question, which is on brand. Trump also personally called Apple to ask them to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America on Maps, and is apparently "confident" it'll happen soon, Apple however did not comment on the matter. In other disturbing news, the Pentagon has been secretly hiring conservative veteran influencers in civilian roles to defend Hegseth online and go after his critics, funded possibly by taxpayers — turns out those are the replacements for the press outlets Hegseth kicked out of the Pentagon — and ICE is dropping $2 million on robot dogs with 360-degree cameras and extendable arms, to go with the electric shock gloves, because why not. On the food and environment beat, a carcinogenic forever chemical just got approved for crops including apples, oranges, corn, and almonds, three groups immediately sued, 10,000 cases of tofu are being recalled from 29 states for possible ink contamination, and the Trump administration wants to hand over part of Yosemite National Park to a private equity firm that wants to build upscale cabins and commercial buildings — in exchange for equivalent land elsewhere, make it make sense. Meanwhile, protesters showed up at Peter Thiel's Argentina mansion, George Santos got Kalshi's first ever lifetime ban for betting on his own State of the Union attendance and responded by threatening them on Twitter, and John Galliano quietly dropped out of his 2027 Met Gala retrospective, which was probably the right call.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

The Guardian: Trump threatens further action as US and Iran exchange fire in new flare-up | US-Israel war on Iran

AP News: Trump has asked Apple to change Lake Ontario name to 'Lake America' on its maps, interior chief says

Today: Tofu Recalled in 29 States for Contamination

Yahoo: The Center for Food Safety: Trump Administration Sued for Approving 'Forever Chemical' Pesticide Trifludimoxazin

NYT: Trump Administration Looks to Give a Swath of Yosemite Park to Developer

WaPo: Pentagon secretly installs military influencers in civilian roles

NBC News: ICE plans to buy robot ‘dogs’ for some immigration enforcement operations

France 24: Argentines march on Peter Thiel's mansion

WSJ: Ex-Congressman George Santos Receives Kalshi’s First-Ever Lifetime Ban

NYT: John Galliano Withdraws From Met Museum Show After Backlash

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

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Today's Headlines: This weekend was a mixed bag of news so let’s start with good news. Olivia Rodrigo raised $10 million at her Daisy Chain Fields festival for women's charities including Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights, then Melinda French Gates walked onstage and doubled it to $20 million. MapQuest made a surprise comeback to number two in the App Store as a result of Google Maps changing Lake Ontario to Lake America in compliance with US government sources. And back to regularly scheduled craziness, Trump threatened to report Kristen Welker to the FCC for covering his declining approval ratings, because that's how the First Amendment works. Trump is also skipping the 9/11 memorial because he wanted to give a speech and no one has given a speech there since 2012, making him the only living president not attending, and historic Japanese cherry trees gifted in 1912 were quietly bulldozed before official approval to make room for a DC golf course expansion. Sony and Warner Music sued Anthropic Friday night for what they called "one of the largest and most blatant ongoing thefts of intellectual property in history," alleging Claude was trained on tens of thousands of copyrighted musical compositions — legal experts say this is a landmark AI copyright case. A federal judge ruled that AI-generated child sexual abuse material is legal to possess privately as long as it doesn't depict a real person, and the FBI quietly dropped its hiring ban on people who have engaged in theft, prostitution, and animal cruelty because Kash Patel drove out enough qualified agents that standards had to go somewhere. IV saline bags were recalled for fiberglass contamination across 14 states, mangoes at select Walmarts were recalled for salmonella, and over 800 people were killed in catastrophic Nepal-Tibet floods with 90 Americans among the 2,500 still missing — the US sent $500,000 in aid, which is what a mid-size fundraiser raises in a weekend. And finally, Milo Yiannopoulos was deported back to the UK for an expired visa, which is the only functional thing ICE has done all year.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

Rolling Stone: Melinda French Gates Doubles Olivia Rodrigo's Daisy Chain Fields Donation to $20 Million

Axios: Google Maps switches to "Lake America" as Canada compares change to SNL skit

The Hill: Trump promises NBC’s Welker will be reported to FCC ‘for rebuke or punishment’

NYT: Trump Plans to Mark 9/11 at the Pentagon, Not Ground Zero

NBC News: Pete Hegseth is talking about a possible run for president in 2028, sources say

People: Dozens of Trees Quietly Toppled in D.C. Without Court Approval Ahead of Trump’s New Golf Course Makeover: Report

Forbes: Medical Saline Recalled Over Potential Fiberglass Contamination

FDA: Panorama Produce Recalls Mangoes Due to Possible Salmonella Contamination

BBC: Nepal floods latest: Officials 'intensifying' efforts to free hundreds believed trapped in hydropower tunnels

Business Standard: US pledges $500,000 aid, WHO extends support to Nepal amid flash floods | World News

Axios: Sony, Warner sue Anthropic, alleging "blatant theft" of intellectual property

WaPo: Federal judge warns law is being left behind by AI child sex abuse images

Axios: Sony, Warner sue Anthropic, alleging "blatant theft" of intellectual property

WaPo: Federal judge warns law is being left behind by AI child sex abuse images

CBS News: At the FBI, a history of hiring prostitutes or stealing from employer may no longer be a barrier to being hired

The Guardian: Far-right media provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos deported by ICE from US to UK | US immigration 

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

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