10 things you need to know today: March 13, 2023

1. 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' takes 7 Oscars

Everything Everywhere All at Once won seven Oscars Sunday night, including Best Picture. Michelle Yeoh won Best Actress for her role in the eccentric science-fiction movie about a fractured family's interdimensional adventure, becoming the first Asian woman to win the award. "For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight this is a beacon of hope and possibility," Yeoh said. Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan took the Academy Awards for their supporting roles in the film. Quan is the first Vietnam-born actor to win an Oscar. Everything Everywhere also won for best director, best editing, and best original screenplay. Netflix's German war epic All Quiet on the Western Front won four Oscars, including best international feature film.

Variety The Guardian

2. Yellen: U.S. will backstop Silicon Valley Bank deposits

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday her department would back deposits of the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank, but she said the federal government would not bail out the company. "We're not going to do that again," Yellen said on CBS's Face the Nation. "But we are concerned about depositors, and we're focused on trying to meet their needs." The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said Friday it was taking over the bank, giving regulators control of nearly $175 billion in customer deposits at SVB, which was known for providing capital for tech startups. Regulators announced Sunday that New York-based Signature Bank had failed and was also being taken over by regulators. With $110 billion in assets, Signature is the third-largest U.S. bank ever to fail.

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The Associated Press The New York Times

3. 2 suspected smuggling boats capsize off San Diego, killing at least 8

Two suspected smuggling boats overturned off San Diego's Black's Beach in one of the deadliest ocean accidents in the California city's history, local authorities said Sunday. A Spanish-speaking woman called 911 late Saturday night and said there were two boats near the beach, both with about eight people on board. She said one had capsized and the other, which she had been on, made it to shore. But when lifeguards reached the area they found both boats overturned. They found at least eight dead. Some bodies had washed up on shore. There was no immediate evidence of survivors. The Coast Guard and San Diego Fire-Rescue sent helicopters to the area to search for more victims.

The San Diego Union-Tribune

4. Ukraine gets civilians out of Kupiansk under Russian shelling

Ukrainian forces intensified calls for civilians to leave Kupiansk in the northeastern Kharkiv region Sunday as it faced shelling by Russian forces driven out months ago. Ukraine reclaimed many occupied areas in the region in a September counteroffensive. Since then, Russian bombing and shelling have made it impossible for civilians to resume normal life in many liberated towns. The Institute for the Study of War, a research group in Washington, says the shelling also prevents Kyiv from moving troops from the once-occupied areas to other battlefields, for fear of losing control of these areas again, according to The New York Times. Ukraine said it continued to inflict heavy losses on Russian fighters in besieged Bakhmut.

The New York Times The Washington Post

5. Court filing: India opposes recognizing same-sex marriages

India's government said in a filing to the country's Supreme Court on Sunday that it opposed recognizing same-sex marriages. The court is reviewing challenges to the policy of only recognizing heterosexual marriages. The Ministry of Law said in its filing that the "Indian family unit concept of a husband, a wife, and children" is "deeply embedded in religious and societal norms." LGBTQ couples are challenging the policy. One of the litigants, businessman Uday Raj Anan, told Reuters that the group had "received wide support from people from all walks of life and it does not seem to me that most Indians feel injured by the thought of some loving families getting legal rights."

Reuters

6. BBC in turmoil after soccer host suspended for criticizing immigration crackdown

The BBC on Monday said top soccer host Gary Lineker could return to the air after his suspension in an impartiality dispute. Dozens of BBC sports staffers refused to work Sunday in a show of support for Lineker, who came under fire for criticizing the government's plan to stop migrants trying to reach the United Kingdom in small boats. Lineker tweeted last week that the government was imposing "an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s." Conservative politicians and commentators demanded that Linker be punished for violating the BBC's impartiality rules. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made it a priority to reduce English Channel migrant crossings.

The Associated Press

7. Saudi oil giant Aramco posts record profit

Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco on Sunday reported the biggest profits ever for an energy company. The company said that its annual net profit was $161.1 billion last year, up 46 percent from 2021. The increase came thanks to a big jump in oil prices after Russia invaded Ukraine, disrupting energy markets. In February, international rivals BP, Shell, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron also reported a surge in profits, some climbing into record territory. After supply concerns stoked by the war in Ukraine eased, prices fell due to weak demand from top oil importer China. Aramco said it would continue to focus on expanding production, saying that "the risks of underinvestment in our industry are real" because "oil and gas will remain essential for the foreseeable future."

CNN The Guardian

8. Northern California braces for another atmospheric-river storm

Northern California on Sunday braced for its latest atmospheric-river storm, which is expected to drench many areas with heavy rain. Low-lying areas could get up to three inches of rain, while higher elevations could get up to eight inches, raising the risk of flooding and mudslides. "It'll be very similar in strength to the atmospheric river event we saw over the weekend," said Patrick Ayd, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Officials along California's Central Coast and Central Valley were struggling to address massive flooding after a levee failure on the Pajaro River in Monterey County swamped the area around the farming town of Pajaro, forcing several thousand people to leave their homes.

SFGate Los Angeles Times

9. Cyclone Freddy hammers Mozambique in second landfall

Cyclone Freddy made a rare second landfall in Mozambique over the weekend, hitting the southern African nation for the second time in a month. Mozambique has been drenched with a year's worth of rain in four weeks. Freddy formed northwest of Australia 34 days before its second landfall, making it the longest-lasting storm on record. Freddy hit the country with high winds. At least one person died when the storm knocked down his house. Authorities cut power as a precaution as the storm stalled offshore before landfall. "I can see some houses with roofs torn apart, broken windows and the streets flooded. It's really scary," charity worker Vania Massingue told Reuters.

BBC News Reuters

10. 'Scream VI' has franchise's biggest opening weekend

Scream VI made $44.5 million in domestic ticket sales in the biggest debut ever for the popular horror franchise, which started in 1996. The previous best for the series was Scream 3, which brought in $34 million in its first weekend, followed by the fifth installment with $30 million in January 2022. The franchise's future was left in doubt when Scream 4 opened with a disappointing $18 million, but last year's installment, mixing original cast members and new stars, including Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, revived it, grossing $137 million worldwide.

Variety