Welcome to Thursday, January 9th, deepfakes and reals...

Trump has announced new sanctions on Iran, but backed away from further military action.

President Donald Trump addressed the nation Wednesday morning, saying that U.S. forces are "prepared for anything" but "Iran appears to be standing down."

Trump made the remarks a day after Iran fired missiles at two Iraqi bases housing American troops in retaliation for the U.S. assassinating its top military commander, Qasem Soleimani.

In response to the attacks, Trump announced he will hit Tehran with new sanctions: "The United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime."

Trump also referenced the Iran nuclear deal. On Sunday, Tehran announced it was partially withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, a nuclear deal with China France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and, formerly, the United States.

In his remarks, the president criticized the JCPOA as "very defective" and urged the other allies to "break away" from the agreement.

"We must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place."

How do you feel about Trump's response to the Iran missile strike?

On the Radar

House to Vote to Curtail Trump’s War Powers Against Iran

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced Wednesday that the House will vote today on a War Powers Resolution to curb potential military action by President Trump toward Iran.

“Last week, the Trump Administration conducted a provocative and disproportionate military airstrike targeting high-level Iranian military officials. The Administration took this action without consulting Congress," Pelosi said in a statement, adding:

“The Administration must work with the Congress to advance an immediate, effective de-escalatory strategy that prevents further violence. America and the world cannot afford war.”

Should Congress limit Trump’s actions in Iran?

Under the Radar

Facebook to Ban ‘Deepfakes’

Facebook has announced it will remove deepfakes from its platform.

Deepfakes are videos, images, and audio that use artificial intelligence (AI) to create false evidence of people saying or doing things that they actually didn’t do.

"There are people who engage in media manipulation in order to mislead," wrote Monika Bickert, vice president of global policy management at Facebook, in a blog.

The concern over deepfakes is three-fold:

1) Manipulated videos can easily spread online before they are labeled as fake; 2) A fake video of a world leader or politician making an incendiary remark could set off a trade war—or even a conventional one; 3) Deepfake manipulations could become so ubiquitous that people are unwilling to trust video or audio evidence.

Take our quiz and see how good you are at ID'ing deepfakes.

Should Facebook ban deepfakes?