5 Things posted Feb 21, 2020 @ 08:10am by Josh Duncan

5 things you need to know this morning: Feb. 21, 2020

Start your day off right with five things you need to know this morning.

Five things you need to know

1. Animation shows what would happen without leap years

Without leap years, everything would change. It would take a little while, but December would slowly drift into summer. As you could imagine, it would skew us about 0.24 days off of our regular calendar each year and by 2425, the calendar would have drifted almost 100 days, which is the equivalent of a full season.

A simple animation by a planetary scientist reveals what would happen without leap years: December would eventually drift into summerhttps://t.co/8ico6Iyd0V pic.twitter.com/gqXErLcGE4

— Business Insider India🇮🇳 (@BiIndia) February 21, 2020

2. Trump takes aim at the Academy Awards

Speaking at a rally in Colorado Springs, President Donald Trump had a few things to say about the recent Academy Awards on Thursday. He said the annual awards show was bad this year and lambasted the pick of a South Korean film for Best Picture. He then called Brad Pitt a “little wiseguy” and said he was never a fan of the actor.

"How bad were the Academy Awards this year?" @realDonaldTrump says "we've got enough problems with South Korea" and lists off some of his favorite movies.

"Can we get Gone with the Wind back please? Sunset Boulevard ... "

He called Brad Pitt "a little wise guy." pic.twitter.com/PKZM3NzYUJ
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 21, 2020

3. Ethiopian runner smashes half marathon world record

Ababel Yeshaneh won the World Athletics Gold Label road race on Friday and broke the world record for a women’s half marathon in the process. The Ethiopian runner clocked in at 1:04:31, 18 seconds ahead of Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei, who also beat the previous world record by two seconds.

Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh smashes the half marathon world record* to win the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon clocking 1:04:31.💥@Brigidkosgei_ was second in 1:04:49, also inside the previous world record.

📰:https://t.co/PRdcAHn2ic pic.twitter.com/hrInWELeBf
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) February 21, 2020

4. Man arrested after stabbing inside a London mosque

A man in his 70s is in hospital but expected to survive after he was stabbed inside a London mosque on Thursday. One man was arrested on the suspicion of attempted murder, but London Metropolitan Police don’t believe the incident is terror-related, despite the location.

Man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a stabbing inside a London mosque

The BBC’s Richard Galpin says the victim, who was in his 70s, has been taken to hospital https://t.co/LtqSczFNjs pic.twitter.com/1ma6snnMLs
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) February 20, 2020

5. US and Taliban expected to sign peace agreement on Feb. 29

The United States has reached an agreement with the Taliban on a significant peace agreement. Although it won’t be signed until Feb. 29, the “reduction in violence” starts tonight with a partial truce, which marks the beginning of the end of decades of conflict. The agreement will almost certainly come with the release of many prisoners.

@SecPompeo announces next steps toward a U.S. agreement with the #Taliban. “The United States thanks the State of #Qatar and all other allies and partners for their support of peace in #Afghanistan.” pic.twitter.com/3IYM9lxwaF
— U.S. Embassy in Qatar (@USEmbassyQatar) February 21, 2020