“Official death warrant” - Tech experts reacting to news that the developers of MP3 files are saying goodbye to the format. Welcome to the 2000s, Mr. Baaaanks.

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The Story

President Trump reportedly spilled some classified beans to Russian officials.

What happened?

Last week, Trump had a meeting in the White House with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister. According to US officials, during their chat, Trump brought up highly classified info about an ISIS plot related to the use of laptops on planes. This meeting came the day after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey - who was leading the bureau’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign has any ties with Russia.

Why is this a big deal?

Because the info was allegedly provided to the US by a secret source. Details about the source are considered so sensitive that they’re not even shared widely within the US gov or with US allies. Trump also reportedly revealed the name of the city where the threat was detected. Meaning Russia could potentially figure out the secret intelligence partner the US has been working with.

What does the Trump administration say?

That this allegation is not true. And that while Trump did talk about counterterrorism efforts with the Russians, everything discussed was public information.

theSkimm

If this report is true, it could make the intelligence community and US allies think twice about sharing sensitive information…with the president of the United States.

REPEAT AFTER ME...

What people are talking about...

Syria. Yesterday, the US State Department accused the Syrian government of using a crematorium near the capital city of Damascus to burn the bodies of thousands of prisoners. This has allegedly been going on for years. The State Dept. has satellite images to back up these claims. For more than six years, Syrian President Assad has been at war with rebel groups. Russia and Iran are on his side, while the US has been arming moderate rebels against him. Assad’s been accused of multiple human rights abuses, like bombing hospitals. Then last month, his forces killed dozens of civilians in a chemical attack that led President Trump to launch an airstrike. Now, this. The US gov says Syrian prisoners are often beaten, tortured, electrocuted, and raped. And that Syrian forces execute about 50 prisoners a day before using the crematorium to cover up their tracks. The US gov also said that Russia has “either aided or passively looked away” while things like this went down.

What to say when your date starts talking future plans on day one…

Declined. Yesterday, the Supremes said the same to hearing a case over North Carolina’s voter ID law. The law, passed in 2013, required voters to show certain types of photo ID at the polls. Supporters (cough, the GOP, cough) said this was needed to prevent voter fraud. Critics (cough, Dems, cough) said that this would make it harder for minorities to vote, since they’re less likely to have the required photo IDs. Last year, a federal appeals court said ‘agreed’ and struck down the law. And yesterday, the Supreme Court kept that ruling in place by deciding not giving it time in court. Who did get its time in court? Uber. Yesterday, the company hit a bump in the road towards making self-driving cars. Uber’s been working on this project for months. So has Alphabet (aka Google), under a business called Waymo. Last year, an engineer at Waymo left to lead Uber’s self-driving car division. And allegedly took thousands of confidential files with him. Waymo sued for stealing trade secrets - and asked the court to block Uber’s self-driving car program. Yesterday, a federal judge said Uber’s program can go ahead. But it needs to give back all the stolen info and that engineer has to stop working on technology connected to the program. Road block.

What to say to your friend who lives in The Hills...

Heard about Brad Grey? Earlier this week, the former Paramount Pictures CEO died of cancer at age 59. This came as a shock to the entertainment industry, since his illness wasn’t made public. Grey was the guy responsible for making “Mission: Impossible,” Tony Soprano, and the “Transformers” household names. He started off working for Harvey Weinstein before going on to work as a talent manager and TV producer. He then co-founded a film production company with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, which put out Oscar-winner “The Departed.” But earlier this year, after more than a decade as CEO at Paramount, Grey was pushed out because the company hadn’t been putting out many box office hits in recent years.

What to say when you hear Bethenny is a Shark now...

And for many reasons, Ben and Lauren are out.

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