Good morning Her Campus! With a break-neck news cycle, there is no possible way for you to stay on top of every story that comes across your feeds—we’re all only human, after all.
But, life comes at you fast. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in for this quick and dirty guide to stories you might’ve been sleeping on (like, literally. It’s early.)
The Trump Administration Has Lifted Its Ban on Refugees From 11 Countries
On Monday, the Trump administration announced its plans to lift a ban on admitting refugees from 11 predominantly Muslim countries including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, BuzzFeed News reports. Despite the lift on the (extremely) controversial plan, the White House did say that additional screening and vetting measures would be taken for “high risk” immigrants and refugees coming from these countries moving forward. Officials say new security procedures would likely take effect by June of this year.
Trump ban on refugees from ‘high-risk’ countries partially lifted https://t.co/09b00afky6
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 30, 2018
This Fitbit App Accidentally Revealed Top-Secret Military Information
Um, yikes. A Fitbit app called Strava, which allows users to time and map their workouts for their friends to see, has come under fire after security analysts found it was accidentally revealing the locations of multiple U.S. military bases in sensitive areas such as Syria and Afghanistan, and mapping the habits of American forces there, the New York Times reports. In November, the app added a “global heat map” which shows worldwide the workouts of every single user on the app — which is all fine and good, except for the fact that experts say squiggles and lines on the map can easily be tracked to show the locations of American military bases, where few locals would own fitness devices and therefore wouldn’t be tracked on the app. While the news is pretty terrifying, the company has released a statement saying that privacy settings can be used to turn off this feature moving forward.
Service members using a popular fitness app to upload their workouts may be unwittingly revealing the locations of military bases https://t.co/lrtfOD09OM
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 29, 2018
Starbucks Now Has Millennial Pink Lattes — but There’s a Catch
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Starbucks has officially taken the one thing missing from our millennial pink lives and made it our favorite color: Lattes. Called the Pink Medley Tea Latte, the drink uses a blend of pink teas to achieve its Instagrammable color. Except, sorry guys, because it turns out that the company has only made the drink available in Japan — and I’m bummed to say the least. Starbucks, if you can hear me, Americans like pink lattes too, just FYI. I guess we’ll just have to settle for the OG pink drink for now.
What to look out for…
Trump’s first State of the Union speech is tonight at 9 p.m. EST. And while anyone’s guess as to what we could possibly expect is as good as mine, it’s clearly off to a great start, what with the typos on the official tickets to the speech and all.
Republicans may have to recall all State of the Union tickets because they say “Uniom” not “Union,” per two Dem aides. pic.twitter.com/FosSnznIHp
— Laura Barrón-López (@lbarronlopez) January 29, 2018