by tyler | Apr 1, 2024 | CNN, world
Much divides us, but one thing that knows no cultural bounds is the human desire to pull some silly, goofy little tricks.
April Fools’ Day has a shockingly global history, for a holiday devoted fully to mild deception. For some cultures, it’s not even relegated to one day in April, cracking the calendar wide open for multi-seasonal chaos.
Of course, whether such prankery even crosses your path has more to do with the company you keep than the places you live, but it’s fun to see what other countries are up to when they’re feeling a little Fools-ish. What you do with this information is beyond our control. Take it as inspiration, or as a simple warning that you are never truly safe from April Fools’ thrall.
While the origins of April Fools’ Day aren’t unanimously known, historians are pretty certain Ancient Romans, Western Europeans and people from the British Isles had a lot to do with it. In France, a longstanding tradition is to stick paper fish on other people’s backs, kind of like an elevated “kick me” sign. This harmless bit of mischief is accompanied by the phrase “Poisson d’Avril” which means, of course, “April Fish.” As one French site noted, it’s not exactly the latest trend or anything, but if people are charitable, maybe they’ll give you a half-hearted laugh for your efforts.
Interestingly enough, fish are also considered a lucky symbol in many areas of the world, and are important in a lot of New Year’s traditions. If you really want to go down an April Fools’ rabbit hole, one apocryphal origin theory suggests that when France switched from the Julian calendar to the current Gregorian calendar in the 1500s, people thought it would be funny to jokingly celebrate the old “New Year’s” and make fun of people who forgot the change. That old New Year’s Day was … April 1.
Much of Latin America celebrates “El Dia de los Inocentes,” or “Day of the Innocents,” a late December Catholic feast with extremely un-silly origins that somehow became a day of jokes and pranks. So for those cultures, the day to watch out for is December 28. In Brazil, however, April 1 is still the prank day of choice, and they cut straight to the chase by calling it “Dia das Mentiras,” or “Day of Lies.”
In Ibi, Alicante, Spain, they mark “El Dia de los Inocentes” (a.k.a. April Fools’ Day in December) by having a town-wide food fight, complete with military strategy and historical lore. The “Els Enfarinats” tradition is reportedly more than 200 years old and involves a mock military-style “takeover” of the town, where the new rulers get to make up strange laws that others have to abide by. If they don’t, they get “fined”and the money goes to charity. A little flour throwing, a little dancing, and the day of Risk-inspired LARPing is complete.
Iran could boast the oldest April Fools’ traditions with its observance of Sizdah Bedar, which also has a prank-playing element. It’s celebrated on the thirteenth day of the Persian New Year (are you sensing a pattern here?), on April 1 or 2. Sizdah Bedar, which is said to have been celebrated as far back as the 5th century BC, is translated as “getting rid of 13,” so it has an appropriately superstitious air. It’s also considered a spring festival, which ties in to some other April Fool’s predecessors, like the ancient Roman celebration of Hilaria.
In Scotland, it’s just … a lot
Oh, is one April Fools’ Day not enough? Historically, in Scotland, they stretch the torture/festivities out over two days. First, there’s Hunt the Gowk Day, which actually isn’t as ominous as it sounds. “Gowk” is term for a type of bird, but is also slang for “fool,” and on this day, pranking Scots send unsuspecting gowks (the people, not the birds) on fool’s errands just to waste their time. If you don’t get gowked, there’s always an opportunity for humiliation the next day, which is “Tailie Day.” Tailie Day is for largely harmless derrière-related pranks, like pinning a tail on someone or sticking a sign on their back.
In Poland, they always have the last word
Prima Aprilis, or April 1, goes about the same in Poland as it does in any other pro-April-Fools’ place. However, research did turn up a fantastic parting phrase for prankers: Prima Aprilis, uważaj, bo się pomylisz! (April Fools’ Day, be careful — you can be wrong!)
Truly, advice to take throughout the year.
by tyler | Mar 26, 2024 | CNN, cnn10
March 20, 2024
Today on CNN 10, we head to Russia where President Vladimir Putin easily won that country’s presidential election without any credible opposition. Then, we discuss a recent rise in measles cases and how to best protect yourself. And before you go, we get a possible glimpse of our digital future as we learn about a British startup that creates what they call AI-integrated “Digital Humans”, including a virtual DJ who performs around the world. All that and more on this episode of CNN 10.
Click here to access the printable version of today’s CNN 10 transcript
CNN 10 serves a growing audience interested in compact on-demand news broadcasts ideal for explanation seekers on the go or in the classroom. The show’s priority is to identify stories of international significance and then clearly describe why they’re making news, who is affected, and how the events fit into a complex, international society.
Thank you for using CNN 10
by tyler | Mar 26, 2024 | CNN, us
Here’s a look at the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball and Women’s Basketball Tournaments. The single-elimination tournament is nicknamed “March Madness” or “The Big Dance.”
2024 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Finals
April 8, 2024 – Men’s Finals – The national championship game is scheduled to be played in Glendale, Arizona.
April 7, 2024 – Women’s Finals – The national title game is scheduled to take place in Cleveland.
2023 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Finals
April 3, 2023 – Men’s Finals – The University of Connecticut Huskies win its fifth men’s basketball national title with a 76-59 victory over the San Diego State University Aztecs in Houston.
April 2, 2023 – Women’s Finals – The Louisiana State University Tigers defeat the University of Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 in Dallas, to win the program’s first NCAA women’s basketball national championship.
68 teams are invited to compete.
– 32 teams receive automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments.
– 36 teams receive an at-large bid from the NCAA Selection Committee.
The 12-member selection committee, comprised of athletic directors and conference commissioners, is responsible for selecting the 36 at-large teams, seeding (or ranking) all 68 teams and placing them in one of four regions within the bracket. The committee’s field of 68 is revealed on the Sunday before the four first-round games, appropriately dubbed “Selection Sunday.”
The selection committee primarily uses the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings, which is comprised of Team Value Index (TVI), or wins against quality opponents, and an adjusted net efficiency across all games. The NET replaces the Ratings Percentage Index.
68 teams are invited to compete.
– 32 teams receive automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments.
– 36 teams receive an at-large bid from the NCAA Selection Committee.
Similar to the men’s selection process, a 12-member selection committee primarily uses NET rankings to choose the 36 at-large teams, seed (or rank) all 68 teams and place them in one of four regions within the bracket.
The committee’s field of 68 is revealed on the Sunday before the four first-round games.
The “First Four” are the four opening round games in the Men’s tournament. Two games match number 16 seeds against each other, and the other two games feature the last four at-large teams selected into the tournament. The winners advance to the next round, the round of 64.
For both the men’s and women’s tournaments, each of the four regions consists of 16 teams that are seeded No. 1 to No. 16. In the first round, teams are paired according to seed. The No. 1 seed faces No. 16, No. 2 faces No. 15, No. 3 faces No. 14, and so forth. The winning teams advance to the second round.
The 16 teams that advance beyond their first and second-round games are referred to as the “Sweet Sixteen.” The remaining eight teams are called the “Elite Eight,” and the last four teams are the “Final Four.”
An underdog or lower-seeded team that advances throughout the tournament is often referred to as a “Cinderella” team.
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins have the most NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament titles with 11.
The University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies have the most NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament titles with 11.
1939 – The first men’s tournament is held, and eight teams compete. Oregon defeats Ohio State 46-33.
1954 – The tournament final is broadcast live nationwide for the first time.
1982 – The first women’s tournament is held, and 32 teams compete. Louisiana Tech beats Cheyney State 76-62.
1991 – CBS begins broadcasting all games live.
1999 – CBS obtains an 11-year contract through 2013 worth $6 billion to broadcast the tournament.
2005 – College Sports Television begins a two-year agreement with CBS Sportsline.com and the NCAA for exclusive video streaming rights on CSTV.com for out-of-market game coverage. CSTV pays CBS $3 million for the rights and expects to be profitable in the first year.
April 22, 2010 – In addition to expanding the men’s tournament basketball field to 68 teams from 65, the NCAA announces a 14-year, $10.8 billion television rights deal with CBS and Turner Sports. The deal, which goes into effect in 2011, marks the first time that each game will be televised nationally.
April 12, 2016 – The NCAA announces an 8-year extension of its TV deal with Turner Broadcasting and CBS Sports. The extension to the current deal – for a combined total rights fee of $8.8 billion – will keep the big game at Turner and CBS until 2032.
February 20, 2018 – The NCAA Infraction Appeal Committee announces they will uphold penalties against the Louisville Cardinals Men’s Basketball team for their serious violations of NCAA rules. The Committee panel found that they “acted unethically….by arranging striptease dances and sex acts for prospects, student-athletes and others, and did not cooperate with the investigation.” The penalties vacate every win from 2011 to 2015, including the 2013 national championship and the 2012 Final Four appearance.
August 22, 2018 – The NCAA announces a new ranking tool, the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool). It replaces RPI, or the ranking performance index, as the method which will be used to choose which teams will be selected to participate in the tournament.
March 12, 2020 – NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors cancel the men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournament, and other winter and spring NCAA championships, due to concern over the Covid-19 pandemic. The Division I championships have been played every year since the men’s inception in 1939 and women’s in 1982.
January 4, 2021 – The NCAA announces that the entire 2021 NCAA men’s basketball tournament will be played in the state of Indiana, with the majority of the 67 scheduled games to be played in Indianapolis.
February 5, 2021 – The NCAA announces that the entire 2021 NCAA women’s basketball tournament will be played in Texas, with the majority of the 63 scheduled games to be played in San Antonio.
September 29, 2021 – After a “comprehensive external review of gender equity issues,” the NCAA announces that beginning in 2022, the “March Madness” branding that has historically been used for the Division I men’s basketball tournament will also be used for the women’s basketball tournament.
November 17, 2021 – The expansion of the women’s tournament bracket is approved. Sixty-eight teams will participate in the 2022 championship, up from 64.
by tyler | Mar 26, 2024 | CNN, us
Here’s a look at the life of Mike Pence, the 48th vice president of the United States.
Birth date: June 7, 1959
Birth place: Columbus, Indiana
Birth name: Michael Richard Pence
Father: Edward Pence, gas station owner
Mother: Nancy Pence-Fritsch
Marriage: Karen Pence (1985-present)
Children: Michael, Charlotte and Audrey
Education: Hanover College (Indiana), B.A., 1981; Indiana University School of Law, J.D., 1986
Religion: Evangelical Christian
After two early unsuccessful runs for Congress, Pence wrote an essay, “Confessions of a Negative Campaigner.” In the 1991 piece, he pledged not to use insulting language or air ads disparaging opponents.
During the 2010 Value Voter Summit, Pence took the stage and said, “I’m a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.”
Pence was a Democrat as a teen. He has said that he voted for Jimmy Carter, not Ronald Reagan, in the 1980 election.
Pence’s Irish grandfather immigrated through Ellis Island in 1923.
1991-1993 – President of the conservative think tank, Indiana Policy Review Foundation.
1992-1999 – Hosts a talk radio show, “The Mike Pence Show.” The show is syndicated on 18 stations in Indiana.
2000 – Is elected to the US House of Representatives for the 2nd District of Indiana.
2002 – Is elected to the US House of Representatives for the 6th District of Indiana. The district was renumbered in 2002. He is reelected in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010.
2009-2011 – Is the Republican Conference chair.
2012 – Is elected governor of Indiana. His campaign includes a grassroots trek across the state called the “Big Red Truck Tour.”
January 2015 – Announces, then scraps plans to launch a state-run news outlet called “Just IN.”
January 27, 2015 – Gains federal approval for a state plan for Medicaid expansion, “Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0.”
March 26, 2015 – Pence signs the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), banning local governments from intervening when businesses turn away customers for religious reasons. The law sparks concern about discrimination, particularly within the LGBTQ community. After the law is passed, a wave of boycotts and petitions roil the state, with companies like Apple and organizations like the NCAA criticizing the bill and threatening to reconsider future business opportunities in Indiana.
April 2, 2015 – Pence signs a new version of the RFRA that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
July 15, 2016 – GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump tweets that he has chosen Pence to be his running mate. The formal announcement takes place July 16.
November 8, 2016 – Is elected vice president of the United States.
January 20, 2017 – Sworn in as vice president of the United States.
January 27, 2017 – Pence speaks at the March for Life, an anti-abortion rally in Washington. He is the first sitting vice president to make a speech at the annual event.
February 7, 2017 – Casts a tie-breaking vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as the next education secretary. This is the first time a vice president has needed to cast the deciding vote on a cabinet nomination.
February 18, 2017 – Pence delivers a speech at the Munich Security Conference, declaring that the United States will hold Russia accountable for acts of aggression even as the Trump administration makes an effort to cultivate stronger ties with Moscow. The vice president also says that the United States “strongly supports NATO and will be unwavering in our commitment to our transatlantic alliance.” Pence adds a caveat, saying that NATO member nations should boost their defense spending.
March 2, 2017 – The Indianapolis Star reports that while governor of Indiana, Pence used a private email account to conduct some state business and that it was hacked. Indiana’s Code of Ethics does not address officials’ use of personal emails. Pence also had a state-provided email address. Pence says, “there’s no comparison” between his situation and that of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
August 9, 2018 – In a speech to US military and civilian personnel, Pence calls for the establishment of a Space Force by 2020. Pence also announces immediate steps the Department of Defense would take to reform how the military approaches space.
January 16, 2019 – At the Global Chiefs of Mission conference, Pence declares that “the caliphate has crumbled, and ISIS has been defeated.” Hours before, the US-led coalition confirmed that American troops had been killed in an explosion in Manbij, an attack that ISIS claimed responsibility for.
May 30, 2019 – During talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Canada, Pence says he is “very proud to be part of a pro-life administration” and that he is troubled by what he calls “the Democratic party in our country, and leaders around the country, supporting late-term abortion, even infanticide.”
February 26, 2020 – Trump places Pence in charge of the US government response to the novel coronavirus, amid growing criticism of the White House’s handling of the outbreak.
April 28, 2020 – Pence visits the Mayo Clinic without a face mask, ignoring the facility’s current policy requiring protective masks be worn at all times. Later, Pence says he should have worn a mask during his visit.
November 7, 2020 – Days after the presidential election on November 3, CNN projects Trump and Pence have lost to former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris.
April 7, 2021 – Pence announces the launch of a new political advocacy group, “Advancing American Freedom.” The group’s stated goal is to “promote the pro-freedom policies of the last four years that created unprecedented prosperity at home and restored respect for America abroad, to defend those policies from liberal attacks and media distortions, and to prevent the radical Left from enacting its policy agenda that would threaten America’s freedoms,” according to a statement from the group. On the same day, publisher Simon & Schuster announces it will publish Pence’s autobiography.
April 14, 2021 – Pence undergoes surgery to have a pacemaker implanted to help combat a slow heart rate.
November 14, 2022 – During a interview with ABC’s David Muir, Pence says he thinks “America will have better choices in the future” than Trump as president in 2024, and admits he’s considering running himself.
November 15, 2022 – Pence’s new memoir, “So Help Me God,” is published. The book includes Pence’s recollections of his experience during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
April 27, 2023 – Pence testifies to a federal grand jury investigating the aftermath of the 2020 election and the actions of Trump and others, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The testimony marks the first time in modern history a vice president has been compelled to testify about the president he served beside.
June 6, 2023 – Pence announces that he’s running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in a launch video. On October 28, he suspends his campaign for president.
March 15, 2024 – Says he “cannot in good conscience” endorse presumptive GOP nominee Trump, a stunning repudiation of his former running mate and the president he served with.
by tyler | Mar 26, 2024 | CNN, world
Here’s a look at the life of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Birth date: October 7, 1952
Birth place: Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia
Birth name: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
Father: Vladimir Putin, factory foreman
Mother: Maria Putina
Marriage: Lyudmila (Shkrebneva) Putina (July 28, 1983-2014, divorced)
Children: Yekaterina and Maria
Education: Leningrad State University, law, 1975
Religion: Orthodox Christian
Enjoys working out and has a black belt in judo.
Grew up in a communal apartment shared by three families.
Served in the KGB as an intelligence officer before becoming involved in politics.
1975 – Joins the Committee for State Security (KGB). Is on the staff of the First Chief Directorate for Foreign Intelligence for the KGB, and is assigned to shadow foreign visitors.
1984 – Is selected to attend the Red Banner Institute of Intelligence, where he learns German and English.
1985 – Is assigned to counterintelligence duties in Dresden, East Germany. Reportedly monitors loyalty of Soviet diplomats.
1990 – Becomes assistant rector (dean) for international affairs at Leningrad State University. Reportedly monitors loyalty of students and shadows foreigners.
1991 – Turns towards politics as he becomes an adviser to one of his law school mentors, Anatoly Sobchak, who is running for mayor of Leningrad. After Sobchak wins the election, Putin is tapped to work in city hall as chairman of the committee for international relations. He resigns from the KGB.
1997 – Putin is named deputy chief administrator of the Kremlin under President Boris Yeltsin.
1998 – Chief of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
1999 – Secretary of the Russian Security Council.
August 9, 1999 – Yeltsin appoints Putin as prime minister.
December 31, 1999 – Yeltsin steps down amid scandal and Putin becomes acting president. He grants Yeltsin immunity from prosecution.
March 26, 2000 – Is elected president of Russia.
May 7, 2000 – Putin is sworn in.
June 16, 2001 – Putin meets with US President George W. Bush and the men hold a joint press conference. Bush tells reporters that during the two-hour meeting, he was able to get a sense of Putin’s soul.
May 24, 2002 – Putin and Bush sign the Moscow Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions, which requires each country to reduce its stockpiles of strategic nuclear warheads over the course of ten years.
March 15, 2004 – Is reelected after campaigning as an independent.
May 7, 2004 – Putin is sworn in for his second term.
April 27, 2005 – Becomes the first Russian leader to visit Israel.
October 4-5, 2005 – Visits British Prime Minister Tony Blair and announces increased cooperation between Russia and Britain to fight terrorism.
September 5, 2006 – Meets South African President Thabo Mbeki during the first visit to sub-Sarahan Africa by a Russian leader.
December 19, 2007 – Named Time magazine’s Person of the Year.
March 2, 2008 – Dmitry Medvedev is elected president of Russia.
May 7, 2008 – Just two hours after his presidential swearing in, Medvedev names Putin as prime minister.
August 2008 – Russia engages in a military conflict with neighboring Georgia.
September 24, 2011 – Medvedev calls on the ruling United Russia party to endorse Putin for president in 2012. Putin in turn suggests that Medvedev should take over the role of prime minister if the party wins parliamentary elections in December.
March 4, 2012 – Putin wins a third term as president, with just under 65% of the vote. Critics question the results amid complaints of voter fraud.
May 7, 2012 – Putin is sworn in under tight security. Hundreds of protestors are detained by police.
December 14, 2012 – US President Barack Obama signs the Magnitsky Act, a law that imposes travel and financial restrictions on individuals in Russia suspected of human rights violations. The law is named for Sergey Magnitsky, a lawyer who died under mysterious circumstances in 2009 after finding evidence that Russian officials committed tax fraud.
December 28, 2012 – In response to the Magnitsky act, Putin signs into law a bill that effectively bans US citizens from adopting Russian children. The law also bans US-funded civic groups from operating in Russia.
June 6, 2013 – During an interview broadcast on state-run television, Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, announce that their marriage is over.
September 11, 2013 – Putin publishes an op-ed in the New York Times about the Syrian Civil War.
March 2014 – Putin sends troops into Crimea after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych flees amid violent protests.
August 6, 2014 – Putin signs a decree that bans food and agricultural imports from countries that have imposed sanctions against Russia.
September 28, 2015 – Putin attends the United Nations General Assembly in New York and later meets with Obama. The two leaders discuss Ukraine and Syria, according to senior US officials. It is their first in-person meeting since Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.
January 21, 2016 – A UK inquiry is released, laying out evidence that suggests Putin approved the operation to kill former FSB spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
July 25, 2016 – The FBI announces it has launched an investigation into the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer system. Although the statement doesn’t indicate that the agency has a particular suspect or suspects in mind, US officials tell CNN they think the cyberattack is linked to Russia. On September 1, during a Bloomberg News interview, Putin denies that the Russian government had any involvement in the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails.
December 30, 2016 – Putin says that Russia will not expel American diplomats in response to the Obama administration’s new sanctions and expulsion of 35 diplomats from the United States. He says he will instead try to rebuild relations with the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump.
January 6, 2017 – The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence releases a declassified report concluding that Putin ordered an “influence campaign” aimed at hurting Hillary Clinton and helping Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
January 17, 2017 – At a news conference, Putin says that a damning dossier about Trump is “false” and he dismisses allegations that his country’s security services have been monitoring the US president-elect.
July 7, 2017 – Meets Trump for the first time on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. During a two-hour meeting, the men reportedly discuss allegations of Russian meddling in the US election and the war in Syria, among other things. Hours later, they talk again informally during a dinner with other heads of state.
July 30, 2017 – Putin announces that Russia is implementing a series of measures in response to a new sanctions bill approved by Trump. He says that 755 staffers at US diplomatic missions in Russia will be ousted from their jobs.
March 1, 2018 – During his annual address to Parliament, Putin boasts about the country’s nuclear capabilities, declaring that Russian missiles can elude air defense systems. In a video simulation, nuclear warheads are shown flying through space and raining down on a peninsula that resembles the state of Florida.
March 18, 2018 – Putin wins the election, with 76.7% of the vote, according to Russia’s Central Election Commission. His most prominent challenger, opposition leader Alexei Navalny was barred from running. International election monitors say that the votes were tallied in an orderly manner but they criticize the state-run media coverage of the presidential race, which heavily promoted Putin.
May 7, 2018 – Is sworn in as president for another six years.
July 16, 2018 – Putin and Trump meet in Helsinki and hold a joint news conference. Trump declines to endorse the US government’s assessment that Russia interfered in the election. “I have great confidence in my intelligence people but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump says.
November 28, 2018 – Authorities in the United Kingdom assess that Putin approved a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy. The attack in Salisbury, England sickened Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia. One other woman who came into contact with the poison died.
April 25, 2019 – North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un meets with Putin in Vladivostok. The summit includes one-on-one talks, but it does not include any signed agreements or joint statements.
May 14, 2019 – Putin meets with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who says that he hopes the United States and Russia can develop a more cooperative relationship. Pompeo says he wants the countries to work together “to make our two peoples more, and frankly the world, more successful too.”
July 3, 2019 – Putin signs a law suspending Russia’s participation in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
October 22, 2019 – Putin meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi and the men announce a wide-ranging agreement on Syria, announcing that Russian and Turkish troops will patrol the Turkish-Syrian border. Kurdish forces have about six days to retreat about 20 miles away from the border.
January 15, 2020 – Putin announces plans to push through reforms that would make his successor as president less powerful. Authority would be redistributed giving the Russian parliament and office of prime minister greater clout. The entire government resigns the same day.
March 23, 2021 – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells CNN Putin received a Covid-19 vaccination, though no video or images of the vaccination process were made available. The spokesman did not disclose which vaccine was used, but did say it was one of three Russian vaccines that have been approved: Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona or CoviVac.
April 5, 2021 – Putin signs constitutional amendments into law which would allow him to seek two more six-year terms when his presidency ends in 2024.
February 24, 2022 – Russian military forces enter Ukraine and begin a full scale assault across airfields, military headquarters, major cities and ports. Putin threatens “those who may be tempted to intervene” on Ukraine’s behalf.
September 21, 2022 – During a speech, Putin threatens to turn to nuclear weapons against Ukraine, “In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff.”
September 30, 2022 – In defiance of international law, Putin announces Russia will annex four Ukrainian regions as Russian territory: Luhansk and Donetsk – home to two Russian-backed breakaway republics where fighting has been ongoing since 2014 – as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, two areas in southern Ukraine that have been occupied by Russian forces since shortly after the invasion began.
March 17, 2023 – The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova for an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.
December 8, 2023 – Putin says he will seek a fifth presidential term in March 2024, in a move that could see him retain power until at least 2030. On March 18, 2024, the Central Election Commission reports Putin won 87.3% of the vote on a record turnout of 77.5%. Russia’s longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, Putin secures a third full decade of rule.
by tyler | Mar 26, 2024 | CNN, cnn10
March 21, 2024
Today on CNN 10, we cover a historic hike in interest rates announced by the Bank of Japan, ending an era of negative interest rate policy on the island nation. Next, we dig into the lengthy and complicated legal back and forth stemming from Texas’ border security squabble with the federal government. Then, meteorologist Elisa Raffa plucks farmers’ top tips for protecting your blossoming buds from harsh weather this spring. Finally, “there’s no place like home,” if you ask Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz.” Her iconic ruby slippers might agree – now that the FBI has recovered a pair, stolen from a museum in Grand Rapids. All that and more on this episode of CNN 10.
Click here to access the printable version of today’s CNN 10 transcript
CNN 10 serves a growing audience interested in compact on-demand news broadcasts ideal for explanation seekers on the go or in the classroom. The show’s priority is to identify stories of international significance and then clearly describe why they’re making news, who is affected, and how the events fit into a complex, international society.
Thank you for using CNN 10
