These are the top maybe-not headlines from the past 36-hours presented by The Conversation Project from raw engagement data from our social media to the headlines posted over the past day.
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The 8 topics that our followers ranked as the most conversational are:
CORONAVIRUS: PANGOLIN MAY BE VIRUS HOST; WHO SAYS VIRUS NUMBERS DROP
A Chinese university says scientists identified the heavily trafficked pangolin as a possible intermediary host of the new coronavirus. The coronavirus from China is believed to have originated in bats and transferred to humans through some other animal, health officials say. The pangolin may be that key link, researchers at South China Agricultural University said Friday. The research team tested more than 1,000 samples from wild animals and found a 99% match between the genome sequences of viruses found in pangolins and those in human patients, the AFP reported, citing Chinese state media.
[SOURCE: usatoday.com]
MEGHAN MARKLE & PRINCE HARRY RETURNING TO ENGLAND FOR COMMONWEALTH DAY 2020
According to The Sunday Times, “The couple are to bring Archie back to Britain for a final round of royal duties after enjoying a big payday,” referring to their recent secret appearance in Miami at the JPMorgan-sponsored Alternative Investment Summit. Commonwealth Day takes place on March 9 in 2020, and the royals annually attend a service at Westminster Abbey to commemorate the occasion. Royal fans will be thrilled to find out that Meghan and Harry will be in attendance this year. Per The Sunday Times, “The queen has asked Harry and Meghan to join the rest of the royal family for the Commonwealth service at Westminster Abbey on March 9. The couple are expected to arrive in the UK with Archie, who will be 10 months old, for a final round of official engagements before returning to their new base in Canada.”
[SOURCE: msn.com]
PARASITE WINS OSCAR FOR BEST PICTURE, MAKING HISTORY
Parasite ended its award show sweep this season by taking home Best Picture, making it the first non-English speaking film to win the Academy’s most prestigious award. Bong Joon-ho’s movie about a lower-income family who infiltrates a wealthy household, only to learn a much darker secret, has led the awards season. The movie scored multiple awards for writer and director Bong during the evening including Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best International Feature Film. Although the cast wasn’t recognized individually, they were awarded the SAG award for Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast in a film. Parasite is also the first film from a South Korean director to win the Best Picture, and the first with a primarily Asian cast. Parasite beat out Joker, Ford v Ferrari, The Irishman, Marriage Story, Little Women, 1917, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and Jojo Rabbit in the process.
[SOURCE: theverge.com]
‘CLASSPASS IS SQUEEZING STUDIOS TO THE POINT OF DEATH’
At the very start of this year, the fitness startup ClassPass delivered the sort of update that would make any Silicon Valley founder salivate. According to its most recent fundraising round, the company was now valued at more than $1 billion, earning it the enviable honor of becoming the first “unicorn” of the decade. At some of the company’s thousands of partner studios, things felt decidedly less joyous. The previous October, Leila Burrows, the operating owner of a San Francisco-based yoga and pilates studio called The Pad, sent out an email to her students with distressing news. The Pad, Burrows explained in the email, could no longer afford to continue its “increasingly contentious relationship” with ClassPass. “Classpass continually tries to take more and more control over our business,” she wrote. “With their latest iteration, it is now crystal clear it is no longer financially viable for us to continue the partnership. So, we The Pad, have chosen to pull ourselves from Classpass.”
[SOURCE: vice.com]
MORE THAN 100 U.S. TROOPS DIAGNOSED WITH BRAIN INJURIES AFTER IRAN STRIKE LAST MONTH
The Pentagon and President Donald Trump had initially said no service members were injured or killed in the Iranian missile attack, which was retaliation for the January 2 US drone strike that killed a top Iranian general. Several Pentagon officials told CNN last month that the number of diagnosed cases is likely to continue to change. Approximately 200 people who were in the blast zone at the time of the attack have been screened for symptoms. During a news conference at the Pentagon late last month, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said the increasing number of reported cases stems in part from the fact that the injuries, for the most part, fall into the category of “mild TBI” which takes time for symptoms to manifest.
[SOURCE: cnn.com]
JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT AMONG 17 ARRESTED IN PROSTITUTION STING
USA Today reports that William Bynum Jr., president of Jackson State University in Mississippi, was among 17 people arrested over the weekend during a two-day prostitution sting that led to a total of eight felony charges. The 57-year-old was charged with procuring the services of a prostitute, false statement of identity and possession of marijuana. And if you thought there was a chance in hell that he’d be keeping his job, you are sorely mistaken. According to the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, Bynum did what any embattled employee would do in order to preserve their pristine work history: He resigned. As such, the board plans to convene in the near future to discuss interim leadership moving forward. Unfortunately, Bynum wasn’t the only Jackson State employee who was arrested, as professor Dr. Shonda McCarthy, who also serves as director of Jackson State Art Galleries, got knocked for nearly identical charges, including procuring services of a prostitute and possession of marijuana while operating a motor vehicle.
[SOURCE: theroot.com]
SNOOP DOGG CLARIFIES COMMENTS AGAINST GAYLE KING OVER CONTROVERSIAL KOBE BRYANT DISCUSSION
Snoop, a longtime friend of the deceased basketball star, accused King of trying to “tarnish” Bryant’s reputation. Saying in a now deleted, expletive-filled Instagram video, “Back off, b––, before we come get you.” In a new video, shared on Saturday, Snoop says he was not threatening King. He adds, “Now, with that being said, do I look like I would want any harm to come to a 70-year-old woman? I was raised way better than that. I don’t want to harm to come to her and I didn’t threaten her. All I did was said, ‘Check it out: you outta pocket for what you’re doing and we’re watching you. Have a little bit more respect for Vanessa, her babies, and Kobe Bryant’s legacy.’” CBS News president Susan Zirinsky is just one of many people who publicly condemned the rapper in the wake of his earlier comments. Others include: Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, Rose McGowan, and Amy Schumer.
[SOURCE: msn.com]
US CHARGES 4 CHINESE MILITARY HACKERS IN EQUIFAX BREACH
The hackers in the 2017 breach stole the personal information of roughly 145 million Americans, collecting names, addresses, Social Security and driver’s license numbers and other data stored in the company’s databases. The intrusion damaged the company’s reputation and underscored China’s increasingly aggressive and sophisticated intelligence-gathering methods. The case is the latest U.S. accusation against Chinese hackers suspected of breaching networks of American corporations, including steel manufacturers, a hotel chain and a health insurer. It comes as the Trump administration has warned against what it sees as the growing political and economic influence of China, and efforts by Beijing to collect data for financial and intelligence purposes and to steal research and innovation.
[SOURCE: usnews.com]
Eight Things To Talk About uses the raw engagement data from the social media engagement from The Conversation Project to generate the top-ranking headlines over the course of the past day.
A full weeks’ data (from Friday to Friday) is compiled, weighed, and sorted to produce the content for the Weekly Wrap-Up with J Cleveland Payne, published every Saturday as a podcast available at ThisIsTheConversation.com or wherever your favorite podcasts are found.
To ‘participate’ in the rankings of the headlines for this newsletter or the podcast, follow the Conversation Project on social media and engage with the posts to give them more ‘votes.’ The Conversation Project can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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