President Donald Trump speaks during an NBC News Town Hall, at Perez Art Museum Miami, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, in Miami. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Friday, October 16, 2020:
SPLIT-SCREEN ELECTION
President Trump and Joe Biden mostly stayed on the opposing political tracks they’ve been running on for the last few months at two dueling town hall appearances on NBC and ABC. The president again refused to denounce QAnon, questioned the effectiveness of masks and the legitimacy of the election, but did appear to commit to a peaceful transfer of power for the first time, part of a contentious rapid-fire back-and-forth with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie. Biden was pressed by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on what he would have done differently in the pandemic and his position on packing the Supreme Court. (Biden said he’d give an answer on that question before the election.) AP
SOCIAL MEDIA POLITICAL CONTENT
Twitter has reversed course on a controversial policy that banned users from posting links to hacked materials, admitting it was overly broad and could do harm to journalists and whistleblowers. Joe Biden’s national press secretary told Cheddar that Twitter’s decision to block the sharing of a disputed New York Post article about the candidate and his son was evidence that the allegations in and of themselves are false: WATCH
COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
COVID cases in the U.S. are fast approaching a third peak, led by states like Alaska, Minnesota and Wisconsin that have officials worried about a lack of ICU beds in rural areas. Deaths are, for now, staying relatively flat, at around 800 a day. Dr. Fauci is warning that the country must get its baseline caseload down significantly before the winter. Canada will keep its border with the U.S. closed until America gets cases under control. USA TODAY
MEXICAN GENERAL ARRESTED
Mexico’s former defense minister was arrested at LAX last night by federal agents working on behalf of the DEA. Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda is the highest-ranking Mexican official to be detained on U.S. soil on drug and corruption charges. Mexico’s military generals have generally been considered untouchable -- at least in Mexico -- as the army is one of the few institutions in the country that has broad public support. NPR
YOUTUBE QANON CRACKDOWN
Google is the latest tech giant to crack down QAnon, banning any content related to the conspiracy movement that threatens real-world violence from YouTube. Journalists who cover QAnon say that YouTube has played the biggest role of any platform in moving the group from the fringes into the mainstream, as YouTube videos are often cross-posted to Facebook, where they spread like wildfire. CBS NEWS
IPHONE PREORDERS
Preorders for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro open today, with the devices shipping next week. The cheapest phone in this release is $800, but the big carriers are offering different trade-in promotions: SEE THEM
PLAYOFF BASEBALL
The Braves answered the Dodgers historic win in Game 3 of the NLCS with their own offensive clinic in Game 4, winning 10-2 and putting L.A. on the brink again. Game 5 is tonight, preceded by Game 6 of the ALCS, where the Rays will look to close out the Astros. CBS SPORTS
SPOTTED...
...Timothée Chalamet, on the cover of the new issue of GQ. The heartthrob debunks the conspiracy theories about those infamous paparazzi photos of he and ex-girlfriend Lily-Rose Depp in deep make-out mode being staged: READ THE COVER STORY
TONY NOMS
The Tony nominations have been announced, even though we still don’t know when -- or how -- the award show will take place. Jagged Little Pill, based on the Alanis Morissette album, notched 15 nominations to lead the Best Musical race. Slave Play scored 12 nominations, the most ever for a play. The nominations come amid the biggest crisis in the history of theater, with nearly all productions shut down indefinitely. BROADWAY WORLD
LEFTOVERS: CLOSE CALL
An old Soviet satellite and a piece of a decommissioned Chinese rocket came within feet of each other overnight, averting a major collision that astronomers had worried could have set off a wave of space debris into low-Earth orbit. The issue of space junk is real: NASA has been ringing alarm bells for years, saying the amount of stuff in orbit -- from human waste to rocket stages -- is already creating hazards for spacecraft launches, operational satellites and the ISS. BBC
Listen to the N2K Podcast! Looking for more context and analysis on the big stories of the day? Check out our podcast! Hosts Jill and Carlo break down the headlines, every weekday morning Listen on Apple or Spotify, or watch on YouTube, and send us your feedback!
Amazon is betting that ammonia could be the fuel of the future, participating in a Series A round for the Brooklyn-based company Amogy in December. Amogy aims to de-carbonize transportation with a clean energy system that uses ammonia as a renewable fuel. Amogy is partnering with Amazon on its first commercial product - an ammonia-powered cargo-shipping vessel. Amogy CEO Seonghoon Woo joins Cheddar Climate to discuss.
One of the world's largest transport companies is kicking off Black History Month with a new initiative aimed at the next generation of business leaders. Today, FedEx announced the launch of its Student Ambassador Program. Participants selected from eight historically black colleges and universities will receive career guidance from FedEx executives. The program is part of FedEx's ongoing commitment to HBCUs and will also help the company expand its pipeline for diverse talent. Cheddar News welcomes senior vice president at FedEx, Jenny Robertson, and Jerryl Briggs, President of Mississippi Valley State University, to discuss.
"Sing 2" has overthrown "Spider-Man: No Way Home" as the number one film at the UK box office. The animated sequel brought in $8.1 million, in just its two first weekends. However, "No Way Home" is still on track to beat "Avatar" as the number one grossing movie of all time.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has been a driving force for youth mentorship since 1904. The nonprofit organization is launching its annual Big Draft campaign this month in partnership with the NFL, and Artis Stevens, the first Black CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, joined Cheddar to discuss the push for adding more "Bigs" as mentors on his one-year anniversary leading the non-profit organization. "While the NFL is recruiting and drafting more players, they're also helping us to draft more mentors and, particularly, men all the way from across February to all the way to April of this year," Stevens explained.
The Supreme Court will reconsider race-based affirmative action in college admissions. The court will examine admissions policies at Harvard University and The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, which count the race of applicants as a factor in admissions. The court has upheld affirmative action policies in the past, saying it helps to create more diverse student bodies. However, the conservative Supreme Court could be skeptical and even possibly hostile to such policies. Nick Anderson, Higher Education Writer, Washington Post joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
The value of most cryptocurrencies have plummeted in recent months since reaching all-time highs in November, wiping out more than $1 trillion in value globally. The steep crash has some talking about the possibility of a crypto winter, a term referring to a prolonged bearish period where asset prices persistently fall over many months. This all comes as the Fed is expected to raise interest rates, and the Biden administration is working on an executive order to regulate Bitcoin and other assets. Josh Goodbody, COO of Qredo, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the crypto crash, and how the industry might recover from it.
Recent data reveals that streaming giants are struggling to retain subscribers in the months following a major release.
According to data from Antenna, subscriber trends show that users will subscribe to a given streaming service just to watch a particular show, and then cancel those subscriptions shortly after. This comes as the streaming space continues to heat up as new entrants crowd the space. Jon Christian, Founding Partner + Digital Supply Chain Leader at OnPrem joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
The EU relaxed its Covid travel restrictions for vaccinated individuals among the union's 27 member states, doing away with testing or quarantine requirements for travelers. This comes soon after the World Health Organization said the omicron variant could help make the pandemic more manageable. The new rules take effect February 1st. Bryce Conway, Founder, 10xTravel joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
If you're in China you may have noticed that the 1999 film "Fight Club" which features Brad Pitt has somehow got itself a new ending. In the new ending on the streaming service Tencent, the narrator is killed and the explosions are replaced with a black screen saying "the police arrested criminals".It's unclear as to exactly why the changes were made. However, it is the latest example of China playing by its own rules when it comes to entertainment and attempting to control everything its citizens watch. Media Reporter at Axios, Sarah Fisher, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
