Tip News Daily Brief

Your Daily Brief

January 19th, 2023

Good morning, and happy Thursday! Art is mysterious and can show up almost anywhere…including in the sand beneath our feet. Apparently, there is an artist in Dubai who earns his living by using the country’s beaches to create enormous images, from portraits of soccer players to an eerily-realistic eagle. What do you think Pablo Picasso or Vincent van Gogh would say if they saw this?

In Today’s Brief

New Zealand: Prime Minister Ardern resigns
Columbia University: First female president
Avatar: Sequel topples Spider-Man
Microsoft: Announces 10K job cuts

...and more

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Top Tips

Helicopter crash in Kyiv

A helicopter carrying Ukrainian officials crashed near a children’s nursery on the outskirts of Kyiv yesterday, killing more than a dozen people, including the country’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky.

The helicopter was reportedly flying to front-line positions in the eastern part of the country when it came down. Ukrainian officials confirmed at least 15 individuals deceased, including three children, with at least two dozen others injured. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Monastyrskyi’s first deputy, Yevheniy Yenin, and the ministry’s state secretary, Yuri Lubkovych, also lost their lives. No fighting had been reported in the area at the time of the crash, and as of last night, officials hadn’t confirmed what caused it.

As Interior Minister, Monastyrskyi was in charge of the country’s police and emergency services. He is the highest-ranking government official to die since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began nearly 11 months ago.

Arizona water supply lawsuit

Arizona residents in the community of Rio Verde Foothills have filed a lawsuit against the city of Scottsdale to restore water delivery services that were cut off due to drought conditions in the Colorado River.

Until recently, the unincorporated community of roughly 500 homes purchased its water from the city of Scottsdale. However, Scottsdale officials announced in late December that the city would stop selling water to Rio Verde Foothills residents in an effort to reduce water usage. In a statement, the city of Scottsdale said that it has “warned and advised that it is not responsible for Rio Verde for many years, especially given the requirements of the city’s mandated drought plan,” which requires Scottsdale to solely dedicate water supply to its residents.

Scottsdale halted water delivery to the community on January 1st, though maintains that “nothing in the city's action precludes residents in Rio Verde Foothills from purchasing water from other sources.”

World’s oldest person passes

French nun Lucile Randon, who was recognized as the world’s oldest living person, passed away yesterday at 118 years and 340 days old.

Randon died in her sleep at her nursing home in Toulon, France, according to a spokesperson from the home. Born in 1904 in southern France, Randon assumed the name Sister André when she became a nun in 1944. She was the world’s oldest living person according to the Gerontology Research Group’s World Supercentenarian Rankings List and was officially recognized by Guinness World Records in April 2022.

Randon became the world’s oldest living person following the passing of Japan’s Kane Tanaka, who lived to be 119 years and 107 days old. Tanaka was the oldest verified Japanese person and was the second-oldest verified person ever, following French woman Jeanne Calmen who died in 1997 at the age of 122 years and 164 days.

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Quick Tips

Around the Globe

Bishops in the Church of England are set to issue an apology to LGBTQI+ people for “rejection, exclusion and hostility” they have faced in churches; official rules for church marriage ceremonies will reportedly not change, though the bishops will "emphasize a clear and strong desire to continue to 'walk together' amid their differences," per a church announcement (More)
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she will step down as prime minister by February 7th of this year and called New Zealand’s next general elections for October 14th (More)
Israel’s Supreme Court disqualifies Aryeh Deri, the country’s current interior and health minister, from holding public office due to a tax-related conviction he received last year (More)

On the Homefront

Columbia University taps Nemat Shafik as the school’s 20th president, succeeding current president Lee C. Bollinger; Shafik is currently president of the London School of Economics and Political Science and will be the first woman to lead Columbia (More)
Authorities are searching for five Missouri inmates who escaped a Farmington correctional facility by reportedly gaining access to the prison’s rooftop through vents and pipes of the building’s plumbing system (More)
Search warrants in Idaho murders unsealed after a Washington judge orders the release of redacted versions of the documents; the warrants are for the Washington State University office and apartment of suspect Bryan Christopher Kohberger (More)

Glitz & Games

Original cast of ‘Power Rangers’ to reunite for a scripted Netflix special titled ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always’ (More)
Jury awards rapper Flo Rida $82M in damages from energy drink maker Celsius in a lawsuit that claimed the company violated the terms of endorsement deals entered into by both parties in the mid-2010s (More)
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ overtakes ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ as the sixth-highest-grossing release in box office history, earning a global haul of $1.928B (More)

Business & Markets

Major indexes in the stock market closed lower during yesterday’s trading, with the Dow falling 613 points (Dow -1.81%, Nasdaq -1.24%, S&P 500 -1.56%)
Microsoft is laying off 10K workers, a figure representing less than 5% of its total workforce; the layoffs should be completed by March, per an internal memo from CEO Satya Nadella (More)
Publication CoinDesk is exploring a potential sale and has engaged investment bank Lazard to help facilitate a full or partial sale of the business that would remove it from current owner, Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group (More)

Tips & Tricks

Feel Good: Read about the schoolchildren who raised resources for inclusive playground equipment so their classmates with disabilities could play at recess time (way to go, guys!)
Sneak Peek: Watch Billy Crudup and Hank Azaria sell one-way tickets to the Moon in an alternate universe with flying cars and robot dog-walkers in the new trailer for the upcoming Apple TV+ series Hello Tomorrow!
Bump This: You won’t be able to help but bob your head to the classic hip-hop vibes in De La Soul’s new single “The Magic Number” - listen on Apple Music and Spotify
Chow Down: Break out your chopsticks and try out this recipe for one-pan beef and broccoli that you bake in the oven using–you guessed it–just one pan
Say What: “I'm so glad that my lady's back making music again and whatnot, and getting back out there. The Super Bowl is huge, and her being the creative she is, she going to bring it, man. I'm excited,” rapper ASAP Rocky said in an interview with Apple Music regarding Rihanna’s upcoming Super Bowl Halftime Show performance
Hot Goss: SKIMS founder and reality television personality Kim Kardashian reportedly paid just under $200K at auction for an amethyst cross pendant worn by Princess Diana, per Sotheby’s
Life Hack: Breathing exercises can serve as a good substitute for meditation when you’re running low on time or having trouble staying still - here’s how five minutes of breathwork can lower stress and boost your mood

Tip-Offs

See pocket-sized fire extinguishers explode in slow motion.

Testing the durability of knives by cutting them into each other.

A years-long Wikipedia redesign that you probably won’t notice.

The oldest living people in the world ranked by chart.

See a dreamy morning rainbow captured in Fiordland, New Zealand.

…and a long-exposure photo of the Milky Way above Aspen, Colorado.

The mystery of dinosaur fossils recently unearthed in India.

How kids’ immune systems might get stronger by playing in the dirt.

Looking Back…

On January 19th: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower holds the first-ever televised presidential press conference (1955); Austrian-born actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr dies (2000); file-sharing website Megaupload is shut down by the U.S. government (2012); American writer Edgar Allan Poe is born (1809).

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