| | | Fans show colors at Venezuela Aid Live concert Friday near the country's border in Colombia. Source: Getty |
| | IMPORTANT | | 01 | A flurry of news reports insist that Washington is poised for special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report on alleged collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russian election meddlers and subsequent obstruction of justice attempts. But so far, even much-anticipated prosecutorial documents on onetime campaign chief Paul Manafort — expected to yield new revelations — had not surfaced by their midnight court filing deadline.
Where could it lead? It’s a mystery. Mueller has guarded his findings, and his report to the Justice Department will be confidential, so William Barr, Trump’s new attorney general, can decide what’s released — even to Congress. | |
| | 02 | Venezuelan government forces fatally shot two protesters near the nation’s Brazilian border Friday, stoking tensions as President Nicolás Maduro blocks foreign aid shipments. Meanwhile, opposition leader Juan Guaidó — recognized as interim leader by the United States and other nations — vows to deliver that aid to shortage-wracked Venezuelans.
How serious are things getting? The shootings have incited the indigenous Pemón people, who led the border protest, to capture government National Guard officers in a further challenge, raising the specter of more violent confrontations, while South American leaders and even pop stars defy Maduro from across the frontier. | |
| | 03 | Friday’s the day. By then, U.S. and Chinese negotiators need to conclude an agreement to satisfy President Trump’s tariff fairness and technology transfer demands to avoid 25-percent levies on $200 billion in Chinese exports. Markets dipped yesterday with the president’s “who knows?” talks assessment, but rebounded later when he and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, meeting in the Oval Office, said a deal was likely. Meanwhile, Trump’s reportedly planning to host Chinese President Xi Jinping in late March.
Is the deadline flexible? Trump said Friday, “If we’re doing well, I could see extending that.” | |
| | 04 | In the space of a year, the number of migrants arriving in Bosnia-Herzegovina has increased some 22,000 as new asylum seekers enter Europe via Greece. Bihac — a current way station — is now seeing new ethnic and local tensions mounting amid winter conditions.
Is there a silver lining? While many neighboring countries won’t help, the situation has proved the country needs the EU, its biggest donor in humanitarian support, and most Bosnians support the country’s admission to the bloc regardless of ethnic divisions.
Read this OZY story about Bosnians running to combat obesity. | |
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| | | | INTRIGUING | | 01 | After a record ratings flop in 2018, efforts to reinvigorate Hollywood’s biggest-name ceremony started almost immediately, only to be thwarted by missteps. A lighthearted host choice in Kevin Hart proved a PR disaster, while one idea for shortening the show nearly forfeited Lady Gaga’s blockbuster vocal stylings.
Can the show go on? The ceremony is going hostless, which didn’t help in 1989, but Disney’s ABC, which is stuck with Oscar through 2028, is hoping the headlines will attract more viewers on Sunday — perhaps ones expecting an epic train wreck.
Read OZY’s Special Briefing on the Academy Awards’ renewal efforts. | |
| | 02 | With an increase in teen depression coinciding with the rise in digital technology, the idea that screen time is altering minds for the worse has become a widespread assumption. But scientific proof of this relationship is still inconclusive. For example, although studies show an association between social media and depressive symptoms, the results don’t prove causality and come with important caveats.
How do we get to the bottom of it? Scientists need to conduct extensive studies that involve passive information collection. And for that, they need companies like Apple and Google, which already keep such data, to cough it up. | |
| | 03 | This is going to hurt. There’s a booming BDSM scene behind the walls of Australia’s prisons. Severely injured inmates often report self-harm to avoid admitting to consensual rough sex. Researchers from the University of New South Wales also found that of inmates’ sexual encounters, only 2.5 percent were nonconsensual. Plus, Australian men enjoy a more active sex life behind bars, the study found, than their counterparts on the outside.
What’s the takeaway? Such research could alter long-standing grim assumptions of prison sexual violence — if the results can be replicated. | |
| | 04 | Volunteer divers recently verified reports that an endangered fish survives off of Tasmania. Similar data provided by citizen scientists are helping researchers from Oceania to Maine keep up with impacts of a rapidly changing climate. “There is only so much a lab researcher can do,” says one marine ecologist, especially with funding and political constraints. Divers for Florida’s Reef Environmental Education Foundation, for example, have done 235,000 surveys and documented northward shifts of tropical fish species.
Is the data shoddy? A Harvard study says it’s surprisingly reliable, and can save millions of dollars in labor costs. | |
| | 05 | “Well, it’s taken long enough.” So said Evelyn Magley upon hearing she was the first woman to own a professional men’s sports league in the U.S. Magley started The Basketball League in January across 10 American cities with her husband. Now it has 20 major sponsors and a growing roster of lower-tier players eager to show their skills over livestream broadcasts.
Are women finally getting passed the ball? From Indiana Pacers assistant general manager Kelly Krauskopf to NBA players’ union executive director Michele Roberts, a growing number are joining the game. | |
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