Tip News Daily Brief

Your Daily Brief

December 21st, 2022

Good morning, and happy Wednesday! Did you know that, while humans have been kissing underneath it for hundreds of years, mistletoe is technically a parasite? The different species of mistletoe absorb some of their energy through photosynthesis, and the rest is extracted from other plants. Don’t mention it if you find yourself underneath some, though. It’ll probably dampen the mood.

In Today’s Brief

Buenos Aires: Parade cut short
EPA: New clean air standards
Funny Girl: Breaks Broadway records
Porsche: Rolls out synthetic fuel

...and more

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Top Tips

Zelensky goes to Washington

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is reportedly planning to visit Capitol Hill today and may meet with President Joe Biden along with addressing Congress.

In a letter she sent to colleagues yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked “all Members to be physically present at our session Wednesday night” adding that they “please be present for a very special focus on Democracy.” According to sources familiar with the matter, the Ukrainian President is expected to thank Congressional lawmakers for the aid they have provided to Ukraine amid the ongoing conflict with Russia, as well as to state his case for why he believes additional aid is needed.

The trip is reportedly contingent on security and was not officially confirmed as of last night. If it does materialize, the visit would mark Zelensky’s first trip outside of Ukraine since Russia began what Moscow has called a “special military operation” on February 24th of this year.

Wells Fargo vs the CFPB

Wells Fargo has agreed to pay a settlement of $3.7B with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) over accusations of financial mismanagement.

The CFPB alleged in a statement that, between 2011-2022, Wells Fargo improperly assessed fees and interest charges on auto loans and mortgages, wrongly repossessed customers’ cars, charged consumers unlawful overdraft fees, and added incorrect charges to checking and savings accounts. As part of the settlement, Wells Fargo will pay over $2B in restitution to the over 16M affected customer accounts, along with a $1.7B fine to the agency’s Civil Penalty Fund, which provides relief to victims of financial violations.

Since 2016, regulators have sanctioned the bank for unlawful practices, such as opening false accounts in order to inflate sales. In a statement, Wells Fargo said its current leadership had made “significant progress” and that the actions needed to remedy many of the issues in the settlement “are already substantially complete.”

Taliban closes universities to women

The Taliban announced yesterday that women will be banned from all universities in Afghanistan effective immediately and until further notice.

The decision was reportedly announced after a government meeting and comes months after universities introduced gender-segregated classrooms and placed restrictions on the subjects that women could study. In a letter, the country’s spokesman for the Ministry of Higher Education, Ziaullah Hashmi, told private and public universities to implement the ban as soon as possible and to inform the ministry once it is in place.

The Taliban returned to power in 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. troops, which were in place in the country for 20 years. Since then, they have banned girls from middle school and high school, restricted employment for women, and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public. Last month, Afghan women were barred from public parks and gyms.

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Around the Globe

State Department spokesperson Ned Price confirmed that the Taliban released two U.S. nationals held captive in Afghanistan yesterday in what he called a “goodwill gesture” (More)
A German court convicted a 97-year-old woman named Irmgard Furchner of being an accessory to murder for her role as a typist and secretary to the SS commander of the Stutthof concentration camp during World War II (More)
The World Bank approved another round of funding for Ukraine to address relief, recovery, and health service needs amid the ongoing conflict with Russia (More)

On the Homefront

Two men are facing charges for allegedly conspiring with Russian nationals to infiltrate the taxi dispatch system at New York City’s JFK airport, per a filing from the Justice Department (More)
At least two individuals lost their lives when a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California’s Humboldt County and left homes and businesses without electricity (More)
The Environmental Protection Agency finalized new emissions standards to cut emissions that create smog and soot from heavy-duty trucks; per the agency, the new standards are the first update to clean air standards for heavy-duty trucks in more than two decades and are “more than 80% stronger” than current standards (More)

Glitz & Games

Mat Ishbia, president and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, is finalizing an acquisition of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury for $4B (More)
The musical Funny Girl starring Lea Michele broke the all-time box office record at Broadway’s August Wilson Theater, surpassing Mean Girls the Musical which set the record in 2018 (More)
Lionel Messi and several other players from the Argentinian men’s soccer team were evacuated by helicopter during yesterday’s parade in Buenos Aires after spectators attempted to jump on their bus; over 4M people were in attendance, per local reports (More)

Business & Markets

Major indexes closed higher to snap a four-day losing streak that followed last week’s rate hike announcement (Dow +0.28%, Nasdaq +0.01%, S&P 500 +0.10%)
Delta Air Lines is reportedly planning to make in-flight Wi-Fi free on a “significant portion” of its planes early next year before rolling out the service on more of its fleet (More)
Elon Musk said he will resign as CEO of Twitter but will remain the company's owner once a successor is appointed; the search for a new CEO has been ongoing and initiated before Musk posted a poll asking whether he should step down as head of the company, per familiar sources (More)

Tip & Tricks

Bump This: The perpetually-shirtless Godfather of Punk, Iggy Pop, is still going strong at age 75 with the new single “Strung Out Johnny” - listen on Apple Music and Spotify
Chow Down: Pack in all of the nice and none of the naughty with this recipe for vegan and gluten-free gingerbread cookies (hot take, but we think these taste better than regular gingerbread cookies and won’t make you feel as heavy as Santa)
Nerd Out: Read up on how Porsche announced that a pilot plant in Chile started production of synthetic fuel called “eFuel” and commemorated the rollout by filling–what else–a 911 with the first gallons of eFuel produced at the site
Go Deep: 2022 wasn’t just the year that FTX collapsed - take a look at this list of startups we lost this year (side note: thanks for reading and helping keep Tip News alive!)
Say What: “James Gunn and I connected, and Black Adam will not be in their first chapter of storytelling,” Dwayne Johnson said in a statement posted to Twitter revealing that a sequel to the film Black Adam won’t be moving forward at DC Studios under James Gunn and Peter Safran’s leadership
Hot Goss: Sonya Eddy, known for her longtime role in the daytime soap opera General Hospital, passed away at age 55
Life Hack: Whether you’re a true introvert or just feel drained after a long day of socializing, the next ten days or so of celebrations can be exhausting - check out these three self-care strategies to help you navigate this year’s holiday chaos

Looking Back…

On December 21st: Marie and Pierre Curie discover the radioactive chemical element radium (1898); General William Tecumseh Sherman captures Savannah, GA, in the American Civil War (1864); the music video for PSY’s “Gangnam Style” becomes the first YouTube video to garner 1B views (2012); American comedian and actor Ray Romano is born (1957).