News Above the Noise—Week of January 14, 2024
1. Who Are the Houthis—and What’s at Stake in the Red Sea?
This week, the U.S. and its allies conducted air strikes against Houthi rebels, an Iran-backed group in Yemen who have been fighting Yemen’s government since 2004. The strikes were a response to the Houthis missile and drone attacks on international ships in the Red Sea—revenge for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. For more on who, exactly, the Houthis are and the crisis roiling this region, click here.
2. Understanding the Iowa Caucuses
Since the 1970s, Iowa has played an important role in shaping the presidential race. And this year, the major question heading into tomorrow’s caucus is whether any of the Republican presidential candidates can compete with frontrunning Donald Trump. Yet why do Iowa Republicans vote for their presidential nominee in such a different way than the rest of the country? And what do you most need to know about tomorrow’s vote? This excellent explainer has the answers to those questions and more.
3. Lloyd Austin Didn’t Want to Share His Prostate Cancer Struggle
According to a statement released by the Pentagon this week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin experienced complications from prostate cancer surgery—information he didn’t divulge to the President or to the public. There’s been a flurry of reactions to the Secretary’s reluctance to release information about his health, with many men’s health experts chiming in about how common it is for men to keep illness a secret—and also why more men must talk about their health, especially prostate cancer, which affects more than 1 in 8 U.S. men and 1 in 6 African American men during their lifetime. For more on this story, click here.
4. Could Innovative New Glasses Help the Hearing Impaired?
Imagine a device that attaches to your glass that pairs with transcription software to project real-time captions right before your eyes. This is what two Stanford graduates are aiming to do in their startup, called TranscribeGlass, which aims to bring affordable, assistive technology to the hearing impaired. For more on this innovative company and their tech, read this article.
Editor's Note: Every week, The Sunday Paper's team of journalists sifts through the news to make sense of what's happening in the world and provide hope for your week to come. We find what Rises Above the Noise and do our best to highlight what we think matters. If you’d like to read more in-depth, please note that while we do our best to feature articles that are not behind a paywall, some of the news pieces we recommend require their own subscriptions beyond our control.
