Dangerous storm, a deadly prank, shoe anxiety: Catch up on the day’s stories

By Daniel Wine, CNN

👋 Welcome to 5 Things PM! Teens are turning to AI for help with nearly everything — but diet advice should be taken with a grain of salt.

Here’s what else you might have missed during your busy day.

5 things

1️⃣ Wild weather

A massive storm is causing widespread disruptions for millions of people across the US as it spawns severe thunderstorms, tornado warnings and drops feet of snow under blizzard conditions. Catch up on the latest.

2️⃣ A harsh climate

Countries in Africa have some of the world’s strictest anti-LGBTQ laws. Consensual same-sex relations can lead to life imprisonment — or even the death penalty in certain circumstances. Some people blame the US.

3️⃣ Prank turns deadly

When someone needed help or advice, they often turned to Georgia high school teacher Jason Hughes. Now the tight-knit community is showing mercy for students who were involved in his death.

4️⃣ ‘I cried every single day’

In Florida, a judge can order pregnant patients to undergo medical procedures they don’t want — including C‑sections. That gives courts an unusual amount of control over how some women give birth.

5️⃣ Size matters

Angst over… footwear has reached the Oval Office, where Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been spotted in ill-fitting dress shoes.

Watch this

👹 Meet ‘Blucifer’: A 32-foot-tall sculpture with piercing red eyes has haunted travelers for years at one of the world’s busiest airports. The story behind it is chilling.

Top headlines

• Trump criticizes allies who rebuffed his calls to help secure Strait of Hormuz
• Cuba’s power grid collapses after weeks of US oil blockade
• White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has early stage breast cancer

Check this out

👠 Rocking the red carpet: From Timothée Chalamet in all white to Teyana Taylor in tiered feathers, fashion ruled the Oscars. See the most striking looks.

For CNN subscribers

• Epstein’s island: Inside the Caribbean fiefdom where he wooed the wealthy and abused girls
• A big part of Trump’s immigration crackdown is unfolding behind closed doors
• They eloped to the Maldives, then war broke out and they couldn’t get home

Quiz time

🏆 Chile’s Smiljan Radić recently won the world’s top prize for architecture. What is it called?
A. Palme d’Or
B. Booker Prize
C. Pritzker Prize
D. Pulitzer Prize
⬇️ Scroll down for the answer.

Thanks for reading

✅ Most popular in Friday’s newsletter: Using magnesium supplements for sleep is all the rage. What to know

🧠 Quiz answer: C. Radić won the Pritzker Prize for his often-experimental designs, including a doughnut-shaped pavilion in London and a restaurant held up by boulders in Santiago.

👋 We’ll see you tomorrow.

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Today’s edition of 5 Things PM was edited and produced by CNN’s Kimberly Richardson and Jordan D. Brown.