US Strikes Iranian Targets Across Middle East
'Snowplow' parents aiding adult children; TSwift dropping new album; Apple launches VR headset
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Good morning,
The 66th Grammy Awards honored the year’s best music last night.
🎶 The music industry’s biggest night brought big wins for Miley Cyrus, who won her first award, and Taylor Swift, who made history by winning Album of the Year for the fourth time.
Some highlights: Swift announced a brand new album (out April 19) during the ceremony; Tracy Chapman performed ‘Fast Car’ with Luke Combs, Joni Mitchell performed live at the show for the first time; Jay-Z called out the academy for never awarding Beyonce ‘Album of the Year,’ despite his wife having the most Grammys of all time (32); and Celine Dion made a rare appearance amid her health issues to present an award.
Here’s a full list of the winners.
Have a good one!
Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren
📌 US CONDUCTS RETALIATORY STRIKES, MORE TO COME
Aircraft returning to base following strike on Houthis in Yemen. Via: AP.
The US launched a major counteroffensive against targets across the Middle East this weekend, hitting terror groups Iran backs in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. On Sunday, the US struck across six provinces of Yemen held by the Houthi rebels. Days earlier, the US launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Iran warned the US against additional strikes but didn’t threaten actual retaliation for this wave of military force. It follows the killing of three American service members in Jordan from an Islamic Resistance drone attack last weekend.
“ATTACKS MUST STOP”
The US, in coordination with the UK and other allies, launched 36 airstrikes against Houthi terrorists in Yemen over the weekend. The Houthis have been targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea, massively impacting global trade.
It’s the second-largest retaliatory attack since the two countries started targeting the Houthis on Jan. 11, in an effort to disrupt and degrade the group's power.
Dozens of Houthi drone and missile attacks have impacted shipping since November.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned of more attacks if the Iran-back group does not “end their illegal attacks on international shipping and naval vessels.” But, the Houthis are vowing to retaliate.
START OF COUNTERATTACKS
The US also hit over 85 Iran-affiliated targets in Iraq and Syria on Friday, the start of a series of attacks, US officials say.
Targets included weapons storage, intelligence, and command centers “used by the Iran-backed militias to attack US and coalition forces.”
Notably, US strikes did not target senior Iranian military leaders or targets inside Iran, but have killed at least 40 people.
The US challenge: Finding a way to send a message to Iran and its allies to end the constant attacks, while avoiding a wider war.
💰 RECORD NUMBER OF PARENTS HELPING ADULT KIDS WITH FINANCES
The kids might be all grown up, but a new Pew study finds that about 60% of parents are still providing financial support for kids into their 20s and early 30s.
Supporting adult children long after they have become legal adults is so popular it now has a name: “snowplow parenting,” where parents clear every obstacle in their children’s path well into their 20s and beyond.
THE NUMBERS
3/5 of parents with adult children gave them financial help in the past year, according to the Pew Research study. And roughly half of under-30 adults live with their parents, a figure that has spiked dramatically over the years.
Of adult children ages 18 to 34:
28% received help from their parents with household expenses in the last year.
25% with a cellphone bill or streaming subscriptions.
17% with rent or a mortgage.
15% with medical expenses.
11% with education expenses.
WHY IT’S HAPPENING
While young adults are better educated and higher salaried than their parents’ generation, increased costs of education and housing as well as inflation are impacting financial security.
Student loans: The number of adults in their 30s with student loan debt has more than doubled since 1992, from 18% to 39% today. The median amount owed is $20,000, compared to under $7,000 in 1992.
Mortgages: The number of young adults with mortgages has been steady since 1992, but the amount of debt has increased by at least $60,000 for those under 35 years old.
Who it’s hurting: Parents. More than one-third of parents who provided financial help to adult children said that doing so hurt their own finances (and their retirements).
NOT ALL BAD
The Pew study found that 14% of parents are receiving help from their young adult children, either for a one-time expense or a recurring cost. 77% of parents say their relationship with their young adult children is “excellent” or “very good.” (FULL PEW REPORT)
🥽 APPLE’S VR BREAKTHROUGH: TV & COMPUTER COMBO
For $3,500 you too can own Apple’s new Vision Pro, a virtual-reality (VR) headset that also offers augmented-reality (AR) features. Think: less traditional VR gaming system and more new-world-office and cinematic experience.
Years in the making, the state-of-the-art technology that look like ski goggles might not be for widespread adoption, but there are some interesting use cases for the device Apple is betting big on.
STATE OF THE ART
What sets Apple’s headset apart from the competition is the VR’s high resolution, the AR’s features which allow users to watch movies or use everyday computer applications (texting, look at photos, cooking, editing spreadsheets, or streaming), and its integration with other Apple products.
How it works: Using a combination of your eyes and hands, it can feel like the Vision Pro is “reading your mind.”
Two small screens, one for each eye, allow users to see a crystal-clear world. Unlike other VR headsets, the Vision Pro doesn’t have hand controls. Simply looking at an application and pinching your fingers together will select an app.
On top of the headset is a knob that can change the level of “immersion” a person feels: less immersion = more of seeing your physical surroundings.
The feel: The Atlantic’s Ian Bogost says when using the headset he felt like a “robot-person” and that “if the Apple Vision Pro wants to reconcile life outside the computer and life within it, the challenge might be insurmountable.”
First generation: The Vision Pro has some bugs to work out (watch the above video from Washington Post writers who tried it out), the price-point is not for most people, and it’s still very bulky to wear, and battery life lasts 2.5 hours... but this is just the start for Apple’s exploration of this space.
PARTNERSHIPS FOR A NEW WORLD
Disney+ and Apple created an app specifically for the Vision Pro's launch. When watching “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” users can appear to be sitting in a X-34 Landspeeder craft on the planet of Tatooine. Users can also watch 42 Disney movies in 3D with the headset, including “Black Panther” and “Inside Out.”
Other companies might follow suit. But so far Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify don’t plan to launch new apps, meaning users need to use the web interfaces on the headset.
⏳ SPEED READ
🚨NATION
📌 Senate releases $118 billion bipartisan aid proposal for Israel, Ukraine, and border security (CNBC) Speaker of the House Johnson declares it dead hours later
📌 More than half a million people without power in California as intense atmospheric river brings threat of mudslides and flooding (CNN)
📌 Judge postpones start of former President Trump’s federal election interference trial (MO NEWS)
📌 Joe Biden dominates South Carolina Democratic primary with over 95% of votes (AXIOS)
🌎 AROUND THE WORLD
📌 Historic day in Northern Ireland as Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill becomes first nationalist leader (CNN)
📌 Hamas said to insist on deal that will end war, withdraw IDF troops from Gaza (TIMES OF ISRAEL)
📌 Chile forest fires kill at least 112 as president says death toll is likely to rise (NBC NEWS)
📌 Paris residents vote to triple parking fees for SUVs (REUTERS)
📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH
📌 Russian cosmonaut sets new record for the most time in space (AP)
📌 ExxonMobil and Chevron notch second biggest ever annual profits; Questions arise over their commitment to cut emissions (FINANCIAL TIMES)
📌 Fed chair Jerome Powell urges Americans to be patient with high interest rates (AXIOS)
📌 Ford unveils redesigned 2025 Explorer (FOX BUSINESS)
📌 Target pulls Black History Month book that misidentified 3 civil rights icons (NPR)
📌 Gold prices set to surge in 2024 (CNBC)
🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
📌 New York-New Jersey to host 2026 Men’s World Cup final (FOX NEWS)
📌 Grammys 2024 red carpet looks (BBC)
📌 Patrick Mahomes father arrested for suspected DUI (ESPN)
📌 Nikki Haley makes 'SNL' appearance (CNN)
📌 Michael Jordan sneakers net $8 million at auction (NBC)
📌 "SNL" names Shane Gillis as host, nearly 5 years after he was fired (AXIOS)
🗓 ON THIS DAY: FEBRUARY 5
1962: Ringo Starr played in a live show with The Beatles for the first time while drummer Pete Best was ill. In August, that same year, Starr officially joined the band.
1983: ‘Africa’ by Toto reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The band didn’t initially love the song and almost left it off the album.
1990: The revival of the ‘Supermarket Sweep’ game show premieres on Lifetime.
2003: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the U.N. Security Council that Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction… based on solid intelligence." Powell later said that intelligence was “wrong, and in some cases deliberately misleading.”