Tip News Daily Brief

Your Daily Brief

December 15th, 2022

Good morning, and happy Thursday! Did you know that Mercedes-Benz built a concept car for Avatar to celebrate the upcoming film’s release? Apparently, you can drive it from either seat, control it with touchless hand gestures…and it looks like something straight out of the fictional world Pandora. In other news, our four-year-old Prius was looking incredibly average this morning.

In Today’s Brief

Peru: State of emergency
Arizona: DOJ steps in over border wall
God of War: Coming to Amazon
Deadpool: Teams up with Spider-Man

...and more

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Top Tips

Fed issues smaller rate hike

The U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 50 basis points (or 0.50%) yesterday at its latest monetary policymaking meeting.

Yesterday’s rate hike–the Fed’s seventh this year–brings the federal funds rate to a target range of 4.25% to 4.50%, its highest level in 15 years. In a press release, the Fed wrote that it “seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. In support of these goals, the Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 4-1/4 to 4-1/2 percent.” The Fed added that it “anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate.”

Per the statement, all Committee members voted in favor of the 50-basis point increase. Yesterday’s increase broke a string of four consecutive increases of 75-basis points that the Fed began imposing in June for the first time since 1994.

World Cup finals

Argentina and France will face off in the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar this Sunday, December 18th.

France cemented its place in the finals after yesterday’s 2-0 defeat over Morocco, which was the first African team and the first Arab nation to ever reach the semifinal round of a World Cup. Argentina, meanwhile, beat Croatia 3-0 on Tuesday to advance to the tournament’s final round. Argentina has been to the World Cup final a total of five times, winning twice. The French men’s national team–the reigning champion from 2018’s World Cup–has appeared in the finals three times and, like Argentina, has won twice.

Despite yesterday’s loss, Morocco has one more World Cup game to play, facing Croatia on Saturday in the third-place match. One day later, the 35-year-old Lionel Messi, playing for Argentina, will seek the first World Cup title of his career.

Patriot missiles to Ukraine

The United States is reportedly planning to provide Ukraine with Patriot air defense missiles to assist the country in its ongoing conflict with Russia.

Ukraine has previously requested Patriot missiles, which have a reported range of up to 100 miles and are one of the most advanced air defense systems belonging to the United States. According to remarks from U.S. officials, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is likely to approve the request this week. The Kremlin responded by saying that the Patriot system would be a “legitimate target” for Russian strikes, and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned NATO against equipping Kyiv with Patriot missile batteries.

Yesterday, Ukrainian authorities claimed its country’s air defense system intercepted and destroyed 13 drones carrying explosives from hitting Kyiv and the surrounding region. While no casualties were reported, wreckage from some of the drones reportedly damaged five buildings.

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Around the Globe

Morocco’s national airline reportedly canceled all flights it had scheduled for yesterday to carry fans to Qatar's capital of Doha for the World Cup semifinal, citing “restrictions imposed by the Qatari authorities” (More)
The U.S. military formally launched a Space Force unit in South Korea yesterday; the launch marks the United States’ first such facility in a foreign territory (More)
Peru’s defense minister announced a nationwide state of emergency which will allow soldiers to assist police in maintaining public safety after a week of protests following the removal and detention of former President Pedro Castillo (More)

On the Homefront

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona over the construction of a wall made of shipping containers along the U.S.-Mexico border, accusing the state of trespassing on federal land (More)
Federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission charged seven social media influencers with using Twitter and Discord to execute alleged stock manipulations that netted them over $100M in illicit gains (More)
At least two individuals have lost their lives in tornadoes across the Southern states, while several states in the Midwest were placed under a winter storm watch by the National Weather Service until tomorrow (More)

Glitz & Games

Stephen “tWitch” Boss, known for being the DJ on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, a judge and contestant on So You Think You Can Dance, and for posting dance videos on social media with his wife Allison Holker Boss, passed away at age 40 (More)
Amazon announced that it has officially ordered a God of War television series for Prime Video, based on the video game franchise of the same name (More)
Grant Wahl’s wife confirmed that the soccer journalist died of an aneurysm in his heart while covering a World Cup match in Qatar this past weekend, per an autopsy conducted by the New York City Medical Examiner's Office (More)

Business & Markets

Stocks fell after the Fed announced its rate hike, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the losses (Dow -0.42%, Nasdaq -0.76%, S&P 500 -0.61%)
Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter CEO Elon Musk sold 22M worth of Tesla shares (NASDAQ: TSLA) with a market value of around $3.6B between Monday and Wednesday this week, according to an SEC filing from last night (More)
Twitter is shutting down Revue, the newsletter platform acquired by the company in January 2021 which helped writers monetize their Twitter following by integrating their newsletters directly into their Twitter timelines (More)

Tip & Tricks

Sneak Peek: Check out the first-look artwork from the upcoming graphic novel Deadpool: Badder Blood, which will see Marvel’s foul-mouthed anti-hero teaming up with the likes of Wolverine and Spider-Man
Bump This: David Foster and Katharine McPhee have put a big-band spin on the Christmas classic “Jingle Bell Rock” - listen on Apple Music and Spotify and let us know if you think it holds up to the original
Nerd Out: Learn about two companies, Plastonix and Elemental Recycling, which have done what others could not: they have both developed technologies that recycle all types of plastic (huge, huge, huge win!)
Go Deep: In case you want more details about the whole FTX debacle, read this in-depth report on how the exchange was found to be depositing money from its customers into secret accounts, leading to the collapse of both the company and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried
Say What: “I was kind of being groomed, in a way, to be this what you call a bombshell-type actor. I was playing the other woman and the object of desire and I suddenly found myself cornered in this place,” Scarlett Johansson said in a recent podcast interview regarding her career path in Hollywood
Hot Goss: The Twitter account @ElonJet, which uses data available to the public to track the whereabouts of Elon Musk’s private jet, has been permanently suspended from Twitter (yikes)
Life Hack: With so many triggers in our daily lives, fighting inflammation is something we can accomplish through the tiniest of choices - here are eight of the best anti-inflammatory drinks to keep you healthy and satisfy your taste buds at the same time

Looking Back…

On December 15th: The Bill of Rights–the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution–are adopted as a single unit (1791); Hunkpapa Lakota chief Sitting Bull is killed by Native American policemen during an attempted arrest (1890); Gone with the Wind starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable premieres (1939); American industrialist J. Paul Getty is born (1892).