Good morning! šš¾ I’m Jane, Daily Briefing author. It’s May 1, which can only mean one thing: The Justin Timberlake meme is back.
Quick look at Thursday’s news:
Ukraine and US sign minerals and reconstruction deal
Ukraine and the U.S. signed a long-awaited economic partnership deal that will give Washington preferential access to new Ukrainian natural resources in return for investing in Ukraine’s reconstruction.
The two countries signed the accord following months of sometimes fraught negotiations.
- The agreement was due to be signed in February but collapsed in the wake of a heated exchange between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over how to end the Ukraine-Russia war.
- The exact parameters of the accord were not immediately made public. However, a draft of the agreement seen by Reuters gave the U.S. favored access to new Ukrainian natural resources deals.
- An estimated 5% of the world’s “critical raw materials” are in Ukraine, including reserves of graphite, which is used to make batteries for electric vehicles. It also has supplies of titanium, lithium and elements such as beryllium and uranium, used for nuclear weapons and reactors.
Deadly storms hit US, thousands without power
At least four people in Pennsylvania were killed in storm-related electrocutions and nearly 154,124 customers were still without power May 1, according to USA TODAY’s power outage tracker, two days after a storm system brought severe weather to a large stretch of the country from Texas to the Northeast. At least two people are dead in Oklahoma after being caught in floodwaters as thunderstorms brought destructive winds and heavy rains across parts of that state and Texas, authorities said. Thunderstorms continuing through Friday could bring high winds, hail, flash flooding and tornadoes in the Northeast, Accuweather reported. Read more
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As Trump marks 100 days, Harris criticizes economy and warns of a ‘constitutional crisis’
Former Vice President Kamala Harris on April 30 criticized President Trumpās approach to the economy and warned of a constitutional crisis in her sharpest rebuke of the president since leaving the White House in January. “Instead of an administration working to advance America’s highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals,” Harris said at an event in San Francisco. Harris, whose remarks came just one day after Trump marked his 100th day in office, said she predicted that Trumpās tariffs are “clearly inviting a recession.” Read more
Chronic illness can be hard on marriage. Studies show it’s worse when the wife is sick.
Jennifer Whitlock married her husband, Ronnie Whitlock, in Texas in 2021, weeks after he was diagnosed with stage 4 blood cancer. For the next year, she balanced working full time with taking care of her husband, who died in March 2022. āI loved him,ā Whitlock said. āAnd I knew that if the shoe were on the other foot, he would do the same for me.ā But thatās not always the case. The vow “in sickness and in health” sometimes isnāt as strong as some couples might think ā particularly if the woman is the one who gets sick, according to a study. Read more
Today’s talkers
NFL fines Atlanta Falcons, DC Jeff Ulbrich for Shedeur Sanders phone number leak
The NFL has announced a $250,000 fine for the Atlanta Falcons and a $100,000 fine for defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich for allowing Shedeur Sanders’ phone number to leak during the 2025 NFL Draft. The league announced the disciplinary action “for failing to prevent the disclosure of confidential information distributed to the club in advance of the NFL Draft,” it said in a statement. In an Instagram post Sunday, Ulbrich’s son Jax admitted that he took Sanders’ number off of his father’s iPad and used it to prank call the former Colorado quarterback during Round 1 of this year’s draft. Read more
Photo of the day:Ā ‘Six Triple Eight’ awarded the Congressional Gold Medal
The all-Black female WWII unit, the “Six Triple Eight,” was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award that Congress can bestow upon a civilian. The 6888th unit was awarded the medal this week for the work they did during World War II to “increase the moraleā of service people stationed in Europe by helping deliver millions of pieces of backlogged mail.
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