The Fitness Magazine: Your Presidential Daily Brief: Trump's Beef With Australia

IMPORTANT

February 2, 2017

President Donald Trump spoke with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull Saturday, telling him it was "the worst call by far" of his talks with world leaders that day. Source: Getty

Trump Battles Australian PM Over Refugees, Challenges Iran

Relations are heading south. Details emerged yesterday of a Saturday call between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, which devolved into a confrontation over an Obama-era agreement to accept refugees from Australia's much-criticized offshore detention islands. Trump tweeted that he was reconsidering the "dumb deal." Meanwhile, on a call with Mexico's president, Trump reportedly threatened to send U.S. troops across the border. And National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said Iran was being put "on notice" for a ballistic missile test, though it's unclear what that entails.

Sources: Washington Post, The Guardian, ABC, AP

Romania Erupts in Protest Over Corruption Decriminalization

There's unrest in Bucharest. As many as 300,000 Romanians have taken to the streets, clashing with police across the nation in the biggest protests since the fall of communism. Demonstrators chanting "Thieves!" and "Rats!" opposed yesterday's decree from the country's new left-wing government, which decriminalized several corruption offenses so that an abuse of power can only be punished with jail time if it involves a sum of more than $48,000. While Romania's government says the new rules are constitutional, the European Commission has expressed "deep concern" about the move.

Sources: BBC, Al Jazeera, The Guardian

DeVos Support Uncertain After Tillerson Confirmation

It's elementary math. Betsy DeVos, President Trump's would-be secretary of education, needs a simple Senate majority for confirmation. But Republicans have a razor-thin edge in the Senate, and two GOP lawmakers have defected, signaling they can't support DeVos and tying the upcoming vote 50-50. Ties are decided by the vice president. Republicans, who confirmed former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state yesterday, hope to push the vote on DeVos, fearing that once Sen. Jeff Sessions is confirmed as attorney general, his missing Senate vote could derail her confirmation altogether.

Sources: NYT, WSJ (sub), BBC

Facebook Loses $500M Court Case, But Revenue Surges

You win some, you lose some. Though a court ordered the social network to pay $500 million over misappropriated technology - a jury found Facebook-owned Oculus had unlawfully used another firm's code for its virtual reality headset - it saw revenue jump 51 percent in the fourth quarter. That's mostly due to mobile advertising, though the company's expected to stop increasing the number of ads users see on their phones, worried about turning people off. It'll look to Instagram and video for more ad dollars instead.

Sources: FT (sub), BBC

Briefly

Know This: The U.S. says civilians were "likely" killed in a Yemen raid that also left an American soldier dead, but questions remain about the possible death of the 8-year-old American daughter of late al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi. Britain's Parliament has greenlighted Brexit and will now debate the process in detail. And a speech at UC Berkeley by conservative Breitbart writer and provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos has been canceled after violent protests.

Read This: The Trump administration is reportedly gearing up to revamp the government program devoted to stopping violent extremism to only focus on Islamic extremism and cease targeting other groups, such as white supremacists.

Talk to Us: We want your feedback on the Presidential Daily Brief - what you think we're doing right and what we should be doing differently. Send us an email at pdbrief@ozy.com.

High School, Disrupted

Where High Schools Are Demolishing the Classroom

School's in session - and these classrooms don't look anything like your ol' alma mater. Meet the designers, architects and educators who are bravely demolishing the stodgy, four-walled schoolhouse of yesteryear. They're letting high school students learn inside caves in China, aboard boats on the Mississippi River, within museums in Michigan, and - most importantly - out in the world, where the lessons can't be found in dusty textbooks.

Sources: OZY

INTRIGUING

The Conservatives Redefining Pro-Life to Support Refugees

"Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner." Perhaps having studied Deuteronomy, a growing number of Christian Republicans - including conservative pastors - are vocally protesting on behalf of refugees affected by the Trump administration's immigration ban. While the Christian right's old guard lined up behind Donald Trump during the campaign, many younger evangelicals were put off by rhetoric and policies they saw as un-Christian. Now they're calling representatives and posting on social media to push the pro-life movement beyond just the issue of abortion.

Sources: OZY

Supercomputer Poker Master Is a Game-Changer

You won't see another poker face like this. A new artificial intelligence system has established an extraordinary first - soundly beating some of the world's best poker players. Libratus, a supercomputer built by Carnegie Mellon scientists, isn't just a mathematical genius. It also mimicked human intuition in games against four of the highest-ranked poker players in the world - and beat all of them. With more machines learning to out-bluff humans, Libratus' success has complex implications for online gambling, and ups the ante for other decision-making computer systems.

Sources: Wired, Slate

Dangerous Chemicals Found in Fast Food Containers

It's a super-sized problem. Fast food packaging has to resist the grease of fried chicken, burgers and french fries, but according to a new study, there's a price: Synthetic chemicals can leach into the food you're eating, as well as into groundwater, heightening the risks of cancer and other diseases. One third of paper packages tested positive for fluorinated chemicals, including PFOA, which manufacturers had agreed to phase out in 2011. Countries like Denmark have found non-toxic alternatives and scientists are urging the FDA to do the same.

Sources: Popular Science, The Verge

Beyonce Announces She's Pregnant With Twins

She's baby-bumpalicious. In what's now the most-liked Instagram post of all time, the singer and her husband, Jay Z, announced they're expecting twins. Already the mother of 5-year-old Blue Ivy, Beyoncé posed beneath a green veil, cradling her pregnant belly for the stunning reveal. Her most recent performance - and paparazzi sightings - came in November, leaving Queen B devotees completely in the dark about the bundles of joy. She's scheduled to headline Coachella in April, but it's unclear if she will be up for her usual high-energy show.

Sources: E! Online, Huffington Post, CNET

Rule Changes Could Transform How Kids Play Football

Safety first. Health concerns about amateur and professional football have led youth leagues to reconsider safety in ways that could radically reshape the game. USA Football, the regulating body for youth and high school football, is considering drastic rule changes for developing players, including making the field smaller, reducing teams to seven on the field, requiring players to rotate positions, and taking measures to decrease contact. The proposals, which are still in development and are not mandatory, will launch as a pilot program in select youth leagues this fall.

Sources: NPR