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Your Daily BriefOctober 25th, 2022 |
Good morning, and happy Tuesday! Did you know that a nonprofit in Belgium has fitted rats with special backpacks to help first responders search for survivors among rubble in disaster zones? Apparently, the critters can do much more than just steal your pizza and disappear into subway tunnels…and so, the name Rat Pack has taken on a whole new meaning! Anyway, here’s what we have for you:
In Today’s Brief
- Palestine: Zara boycott
- Clarence Thomas: Blocks Graham testimony
- Leslie Jordan: Actor dead at 67
- Apple: Raising subscription prices
- Henry Cavill: Reprising Superman role
- Top Tips: Rishi Sunak primed for prime minister, test scores fall across the United States, Gold’s Gym owner confirmed dead in plane crash
Rishi Sunak to become the next prime minister of the UK
Former finance minister Rishi Sunak will become the next prime minister of the United Kingdom after winning the race to lead the country’s Conservative Party yesterday.
Sunak’s only rival, Penny Mordaunt, conceded and withdrew after failing to reach the nomination threshold of 100 Conservative lawmakers needed to stay in the race. His victory comes less than one week after Liz Truss resigned from the position after 44 days in office, marking the shortest prime minister tenure in the nation’s history. Truss–who succeeded Boris Johnson after he stepped down amid ethics allegations–faced criticism for a plan she brought forth that included £45B in tax cuts funded by borrowing, which caused a downturn in financial markets and the British pound to lose value.
A former hedge fund manager, the 42-year-old Sunak will be the first British prime minister of color, the first Hindu to hold the position, and the youngest in 200 years.
Test scores show historic declines for kids in the United States
Test scores published yesterday show the largest math declines ever recorded for fourth and eighth-graders in the United States between 2019 and 2022.
Results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress–which assesses math and reading at the fourth and eighth-grade levels and is known as the “nation’s report card”–showed that math proficiency scores at the eighth-grade level dropped by 7% compared with 2019, with nearly 4 in 10 eighth-graders failing to grasp basic math concepts. Reading proficiency for both age groups, meanwhile, fell by 2% to levels not seen since 1992.
The test was administered between January and March of this year to about 450,000 students in 10,000 schools in the U.S. It was the first time the test had been given since 2019, and some see it as the first comprehensive, nationwide account of student performance since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gold’s Gym owner confirmed dead in plane crash near Costa Rica
Gold’s Gym owner Rainer Schaller and his family were among the six people who died in a plane crash off the coast of Costa Rica, his company confirmed yesterday.
Costa Rican officials confirmed they found the bodies of one adult and one child at a site about 17 miles off the coast from the Limon airport, as well as luggage and chunks of the private plane that had disappeared on Friday. Schaller’s company, RSG, said in a statement that it “can confirm that Rainer Schaller, his family, and two other people were on board the aircraft at the time of the crash,” adding that it “cannot comment further” as the situation is still being investigated.
In 2020, German-born Schaller’s company RSG–a conglomerate of 21 fitness, lifestyle, and fashion brands operating in 48 countries with over 40,000 employees–won an auction to acquire Gold’s Gym International Inc. out of bankruptcy for $100M.
Around the Globe
- Four individuals were arrested for throwing cake at a wax statue of King Charles III in a climate-related stunt at Madame Tussauds wax museum in London; the two individuals who staged the protest did so to demand that “the government halts all new oil and gas licenses and consents,” according to a statement from Just Stop Oil
- Palestinians are calling for a boycott of Zara and burning the company’s clothes after the franchise holder for the company’s Israeli stores, Joey Schwebel, hosted Itamar Ben-Gvir of Israel’s political party Otzma Yehudit at his home for a campaign event in the lead-up to Israel’s elections
- At least 50 individuals from Myanmar’s Kachin ethnic group were killed and 100 others injured when an aircraft dropped three bombs on a concert organized by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kansi village, according to KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu
On the Homefront
- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas temporarily blocked a judge’s order requiring Senator Lindsey Graham to testify before a grand jury in Georgia investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and his allies attempted to overturn 2020 election results in the state
- Two individuals lost their lives in an active shooter incident at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis, MO yesterday morning; police stopped the suspect who died after an exchange of gunfire, per the St. Louis Police Department, which also said that several victims were hospitalized with injuries including gunshot wounds and shrapnel
- Former Minneapolis police officer J. Alexander Kueng–who was charged in connection with the 2020 murder of George Floyd–pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting manslaughter, according to a court spokesperson; the plea was announced as a joint state trial for Kueng and former fellow officer Tou Thao was scheduled to begin with jury selection
Glitz & Games
- Actor Leslie Jordan–known for his roles in Will & Grace, American Horror Story, The Help, Hearts Afire, and others–passed away at age 67 yesterday; reports confirm that Jordan died after suffering a medical emergency while on the road and crashing his car into the side of a building
- Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has dropped Kanye West as a client following his recent remarks about Jewish people; West signed with the agency in 2016 to represent him for touring only and has not toured since
- Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon ended its first season with 9.3M viewers across all platforms; the series has averaged 29M viewers per episode since its premiere on August 21st, according to HBO–higher than all but the final two seasons of Game of Thrones
Business & Markets
- Major indexes in the stock market moved higher for the second consecutive trading session, with the Dow closing up 418 points (Dow +1.34%, Nasdaq +0.86%, S&P 500 +1.20%)
- Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) has increased the prices for its Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple One subscriptions in the United States for the first time since launching each service; read more about the price hikes and which subscription plans they will apply to here
- Plant-based food company Beyond Meat has launched Beyond Steak in grocery stores as a “highly-anticipated expansion” of its “beef” platform, according to a company press release; shares of the company (NASDAQ: BYND) are down more than 80% this year - see Beyond Meat’s press release here
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Tip & Tricks
- Sneak Peek: Break out your best suits and pant skirts, because HBO Max just dropped the official teaser for season four of Succession that’s set for release in Spring 2023 (reply to this email and tell us if you’re Team Kendall or Team Logan–no judgment here)
- Bump This: French alt-pop rockers Phoenix are back with all the vibes in the new track “Winter Solstice” - listen on Apple Music and Spotify
- Nerd Out: Check out this image NASA captured of greenish phytoplankton swirling in the water around the Swedish island of Gotland that, from above the Earth, resembles Vincent Van Gogh’s painting Starry Night
- Go Deep: Read up on how 63% of Americans as of September are just getting by–including almost half of those earning over $100K per year–due to the pace that inflation is increasing, according to a new survey report from LendingClub
- Say What: “I wanted to make it official that I am back as Superman, and the image you see on this post and what you saw in Black Adam are just a very small taste of things to come,” actor Henry Cavill said in an Instagram post following the release of Black Adam, in which he has a cameo as the aforementioned character in a mid-credits scene (sorry if you don’t like spoilers, but hey–that’s the news!)
- Hot Goss: Rob McElhenney celebrated co-chairman Ryan Reynolds’ birthday by buying a blimp with the face of Reynolds’ character Deadpool on it; before releasing it into the air, McElhenney called the blimp “a hideous but surprisingly inexpensive way for the world to finally see Ryan Reynolds as he's meant to be seen”
- Life Hack: Keeping your brain young is a key to longevity and overall heath - take a look at these four tips to promote a younger brain as you age
Looking Back…
On October 25th: Henry V’s English army defeats the French at the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years’ War (1415); the first domestic microwave ovens go on sale (1955); the Rolling Stones make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show (1964); Spanish artist Pablo Picasso is born (1881).
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