There’s No Place Like Home

Start your day smarter with the most important world news, plus intriguing and offbeat stories. www.ozy.com [OZY]( [OZY]() Your World. Bold & Bright [Presidential Daily Brief]( Start your day smarter with a dossier on the most important world news, rounded off with a shot of intriguing and offbeat stories. Like the president, you deserve no less. Dec 09, 2022 Today Brittney Griner is set to touch down today after a prison swap with Russia. Peru’s ousted president has asked allies in Mexico for asylum. The Keystone Pipeline was shut down after crude oil leaked into a Kansas county. And the mastermind of a would-be coup in Germany was revealed to be a prince. All this and more in today’s PDB. [OGA]( As the eldest of five growing up in a Caribbean family, Tyler Greene did not have access to video games and TV, so he innovated. Developing his own technologies from a young age helped Tyler cultivate the “curiosity, ambition and grit” needed to pursue his passion for using technology for energy management. Today, the Morehouse College junior is focusing his expertise on creating a more sustainable world. His genius idea? To address climate change by creating “computing algorithms" for energy management to aid global efforts toward meeting growing energy demands and optimizing energy production and consumption,” he explains. [WATCH MORE HERE]( IMPORTANT Safe and Sound Brittney Griner’s Coming Home After Russia-US Prison Swap “She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home,” President Joe Biden said from the White House, flanked by the WNBA star’s wife, Cherelle Griner. It’s a win for the U.S. but fell short of the hoped-for repatriation of Paul Whelan, another American jailed for four years in Russia, on espionage charges. In exchange, the U.S. released Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as “the Merchant of Death.” Representatives from both sides met in Abu Dhabi where Griner was greeted by U.S. officials. “We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan,” Biden said, vowing to continue negotiations. (Source: [AP](, [ESPN]() Runaway Prez Mexico Mulls Asylum for Peru’s Ousted Ex-President Pedro Castillo must be detained for a week on allegations of “rebellion and conspiracy,” a judge ruled Thursday, a day after he was impeached and replaced by Dina Boluarte. From a jail cell, Castillo has called on Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to grant asylum. “They intend to prosecute him for mere announcements of will or intention that do not constitute any criminal offense,” Castillo’s lawyer wrote Obrador. Mexico’s ambassador to Peru, Pablo Monroy, met with Castillo in detention. The former president was stopped by his bodyguards from going to the Mexican embassy before he was arrested Wednesday. (Sources: [Al Jazeera](, [BBC]() Slick Keystone Pipeline Closed After Record Crude Oil Spill Some 14,000 barrels of crude oil spilled from the pipeline near Mill Creek, Kansas, Wednesday night in one of the largest spills in the U.S. in a decade. It’s the third major spill from the Keystone pipeline since 2010. Residents in Washington County woke to the smell of gas Thursday morning. Environmentalists raised fears the leak will contaminate water for the community, but local officials batted down concerns. Still, with the length of the shutdown unknown, energy watchers worry Americans may see gas prices rise again if Canadian oil is unable to reach much of the country. (Sources: [Reuters](, [Kansas City Star]() ‘Dangerous Mix’ A Prince Masterminded Germany’s Far-Right Coup Plot Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss is a “mad man” according to his family. He would have become the new leader of Germany under a bizarre plot thwarted by security agencies on Wednesday. Reuss, a member of the “Citizens of the Reich” far-right anti-government movement, is alleged to have hosted organizing meetings at his Bad Lobenstein castle, which has since been raided along with his Frankfurt apartment. Federal police chief Holger Muench warned Germans against dismissing the group, as it involves “a dangerous mix of people with irrational convictions, some with a lot of money and others in possession of weapons.” (Source: [France24]() Briefly Here are some things you should know about today: Climate blame. An Australian climate activist will be jailed for 15 months after a Sydney court found her guilty of violating traffic laws in a protest that shut down a lane of traffic on Sydney’s Harbour Bridge for 28 minutes in April. (Source: [BBC]() You’re in! Croatia has joined Schengen, the passport-free travel area in Europe, after a vote in Brussels. Romania and Bulgaria were both knocked back. (Source: [Euronews]() Mystery revealed. After 65 years of mystery, Philadelphia has finally identified the “Boy in the Box,” a child whose remains were found in 1957. Who killed four-year-old Joseph Augustus Zarelli is still unknown. (Source: [CNN]() INTRIGUING Happy Birthday, Again! Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number in South Korea Koreans have both a biological and a “Korean age.” But lawmakers have passed a bill to switch the country to the international age-counting system. A South Korean child is traditionally one year old from birth, but that goes up a year on New Year’s Day. A baby born on Dec. 31 is two years old the next day. The change, which comes into effect next June, is widely supported, and 86% of respondents to a recent poll said they would use their birth date age. President Yoon Suk Yeol previously said the method creates “unnecessary social and economic costs.” (Source: [NPR]() Back to Court Twitter Has No Fury Like a Workplace of Women Scorned Female staff at the company had “targets on their back” amid mass layoffs, a suit filed against Twitter in a San Francisco federal court Wednesday claims. Around half of Twitter staffers lost their jobs after Elon Musk took over, but women have been disproportionately affected. Overall, 57% of women were let go compared to 47% of their male colleagues. In engineering roles, the gender gap was even starker: 48% of men were laid off while 63% of women were. Well-known labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, who has taken on other giants like Uber and Starbucks, will argue the case. (Source: [Forbes]() Watertight Ahead of a Busy Summer, Australia’s Beaches Go High-Tech GPS devices and smart cameras are coming to the iconic red-and-yellow surf rescue teams dotting Sydney’s famous beaches under a government initiative to avoid last year’s record-high drowning incidents. Rescue boards, flags and other equipment used by lifesavers to keep beaches safe will be fitted out, and help lifesavers by sending up-to-date data about ocean conditions and where people are on the shore. Local government officials hope the technology will help lifesavers “understand when people are coming and allocate their resources more effectively.” Last year, the state of New South Wales recorded 88 drowning deaths out of Australia’s total 141. (Source: [Nine]() Upcycling Life Becomes Art With Canadian Cow Placenta Sculpture Come to the Dawson Creek Cannabis Company for some edible treats and stay for the cow placenta The Treasure Box artwork. British Columbia artist and rancher Emilie Mattson was inspired to create her mixed-media glowing coffin during calving season on her property. Light coming through placentas reminded her of stained-glass windows, and inspiration struck. The Treasure Box sits proudly in the middle of the dispensary. “Some people are totally disgusted and walk away, horrified. Some are amazed,” Mattson said. While customers aren’t always fans, neighboring ranchers are. Friends brought placentas “over in buckets” to help, she said. (Source: [CBC]() Old News? ‘Death Is a Part of Life’ Says Qatar After Migrant Worker Casualty Qatar’s World Cup Chief Executive Nasser al-Khater chided media for discussing the death of a Filipino migrant worker this week. The man died after falling off a ramp at the Sealine Resort, the training site for the Saudi Arabia national team. “A worker died, our condolences to his family but it is strange that is something you want to focus on as your first question,” al-Khater told a press conference. Qatar and FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, have been heavily criticized for migrant worker conditions in the lead-up to the tournament. Officials said the death is under investigation by Qatari authorities. (Source: [The Guardian]() NOW STREAMING FROM OZY STUDIO Uniting and celebrating women in sneaker culture and creating a space for everyone who loves dope kicks and fly 'fits. Check out Sneaker Fiends, hosted by The Notorious KIA -- new episodes drop every Thursday. Would you like to hear the stories of brave women who have turned hardship into crusades of love? Join the former Mayor of San Juan, C. Yulin Cruz, as she brings you these compelling stories in OZY Studio's new podcast Sheroics! 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