It’s International Women’s Day! Singer Angelique Kidjo helps us celebrate by telling us how female solidarity will change the face of Africa. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. (You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.)
1. White House
President Trump will sign an order today to finalize his promised steel and aluminum tariffs — or maybe not. There’s confusion at the White House (shocker, we know). There was supposed to be a signing ceremony this afternoon, but a White House aide said it was canceled because the policy hadn’t been finalized yet. There’s also word that whenever this thing gets done, it’ll have an exemption for Mexico and Canada, probably to be used as a carrot in NAFTA talks.
Meanwhile, the storm known as Stormy Daniels continues to batter the White House. The adult film star’s attorney says Trump’s personal lawyer had a restraining order issued against her and is still pressuring her to keep quiet about her alleged affair with the President, which he denies.
2. Russia investigation
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators are aware of two occasions on which President Trump asked witnesses about conversations they had with investigators, The New York Times reported, citing three people familiar with the encounters. Trump reportedly asked his former chief of staff, Reince Priebus, if special counsel investigators had been “nice” during his interview. Trump also reportedly told an aide that White House counsel Donald McGahn should put out a statement denying a previous Times report in which the paper said McGahn told investigators that Trump asked him to fire Mueller.
3. Florida school shooting
Florida lawmakers passed a bill authorizing new restrictions on gun sales and letting some teachers and staff carry guns in schools. It now goes to GOP Gov. Rick Scott. For some shooting survivors who wanted an assault weapons ban, the measure didn’t go far enough; for some Republican lawmakers who opposed stricter measures on gun ownership, it went too far. Others fear the measure could have deadly unintended consequences for students of color.
The bill passed on the same day that Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz was indicted on 34 counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people. And for the first time since the shooting, students at the school had their first full day of classes. Among those there to support them was NBA star Dwyane Wade.
4. UK and Russia
Ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his adult daughter were poisoned by a nerve agent, police in the UK say, and they’re pointing the finger at Russia. UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has threatened to retaliate over the incident, which also calls into question the UK’s ability to protect its residents. This all could sink relations between the West and Russia even lower. Skripal and his daughter remain critically ill in a hospital.
5. Aung San Suu Kyi
Once upon a time, Aung San Suu Kyi was one of the most respected people on the planet. Those days are over. Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar, has been lambasted for her perceived lack of action in the crisis involving the Rohingya. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum just stripped her of a 2012 human rights award — named for the late Holocaust survivor and activist Elie Wiesel. More than 688,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar since August after repeated attacks by the country’s military, which claims it’s fighting terrorists.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
People are talking about these. Read up. Join in.
Alexa, please stop creeping me out
Amazon’s voice assistant is laughing randomly and freaking everybody out. We keep telling you these robots aren’t playing around.
Flipping and fresh
McDonald’s is flipping its famous arches to celebrate International Women’s Day. It’s also going to start using fresh beef. What a concept!
Rest in print
Here’s another nail in print media’s coffin. Legendary UK music magazine NME is ending its print edition after six decades. It’ll still live online, though.
Space secrets
Bright and dark bands of gas. Winds whipping at massive speeds in opposite directions. Those are just some mysteries NASA’s Juno spacecraft has picked up about Jupiter.
TODAY’S NUMBERS
66%
The proportion of millennials who haven’t saved anything for retirement
$1.1 billion
The NCAA’s revenue in 2017. It was the first time the collegiate athletic group broke 10 figures.
AND FINALLY
Smile and wave
Somebody put a GoPro camera on a conveyor belt at a sushi restaurant in Tokyo. Turns out nobody can resist the urge to ham it up. (Click to view.)