U.S. & Iran

The Iranian government on Sunday released a statement saying the country’s nuclear program will no longer abide by any operational restrictions imposed by the JCPA nuclear deal Iran signed with six other nations in 2015. In May 2018, the U.S. announced it would withdraw from the JCPA and reinstate sanctions on Iran, and in July 2019, Iran announced it had breached the limit set on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium.

U.S. & Iraq

In an emergency session on Sunday, Iraq’s parliament voted to expel thousands of U.S. troops currently stationed in the country. The vote is nonbinding, meaning the measure needs the approval of the other branches of the Iraqi government before it becomes official (on Friday, U.S. defense officials deployed approximately 3,000 troops to the Middle East).

Terrorist Attack in Kenya

The U.S. Africa Command is blaming al Shabaab - al Qaeda’s outpost in Africa - for an attack on a military base in Kenya on Sunday that killed one U.S. service member and two Defense Department contractors. Two fixed-wing aircraft and two helicopters were destroyed by the al Qaeda-linked group, while Kenyan defense forces said that five militants were killed in the attack.

Cold Hard Cash

Disney’s Frozen 2 became the highest-grossing animated film of all time on Sunday, surpassing the previous record of $1.27 billion set by the first installment, Frozen. The sequel is Disney’s sixth movie of 2019 to reach $1 billion, with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - currently at $919 million - projected to become the seventh sometime this week.

Taking Stock

After reaching record highs on Thursday, the S&P 500 and Dow indexes went down 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent respectively on Friday following news of the death of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Oil prices also hit an eight-month high of nearly $70 per barrel.

Shock the World

On Friday, Tesla issued a release saying the company delivered a record 112,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2019, bringing the annual total up to 367,500 deliveries (and fulfilling CEO Elon Musk’s goal of 360,000). In response to the news, Tesla’s stock closed at an all-time high, giving the company a nearly $80 billion market capitalization - more than double rival Ford Motor Co.’s stock value.

Free Ride

Uber driver Latonya Young is a single mother who worked two jobs each day just to make ends meet, all while pursuing a college degree. Due to her financial situation, an outstanding $700 bill meant that Latonya was unable to continue with classes towards her degree - a fact she told her seemingly ordinary passenger one night on the way to a local sports game.

The next day, she received a call from Georgia State University notifying her that she was eligible to re-enroll in classes since her Uber passenger from the night before, Kevin Esch, had paid off the remaining balance on her account. “I was literally blown away,” Latonya told KGET. Esch was in attendance as Latonya accepted her associate’s degree onstage a few weeks ago, reminding us that one act of kindness can change the course of someone’s life.

Dog Meet Dog

Two Seattle dog owners made an unlikely discovery when they bumped into each other while on a walk with their respective canine companions. Their two golden retrievers met for what seemed to be the first time, but shared such an obvious bond that their owners got to talking, and discovered that the two dogs were in fact siblings from the same litter, complete with matching tattoos! 

The four-legged siblings were miraculously reunited after traveling all the way from Russia to the U.S. as young pups. The pair of pooches exchanged playful snuggles, and their owners exchanged contact information to set up future play-dates for the two. A passerby noticed the canine commotion, and recorded a heartwarming video of the dogs meeting each other for the first time in years - their love can’t be denied!