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[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. Jan 17, 2023 Today Chinaâs population is declining for the first time since 1961 â sparking fears of an economic crisis. An Arizona community is reeling after the city of Scottsdale cut off its water supply. A U.K. police officer pleaded guilty to 49 sexual abuse charges, putting the forceâs âdeeply rotten misogynistic cultureâ under the spotlight. And a cancer diagnosis led police to Italyâs most wanted man. All this and more in todayâs PDB.
IMPORTANT Tipping Point Chinaâs Population Falls for First Time in 60 Years Official figures show Chinaâs population shrank by 850,000 people in 2022 â the first such decline since 1961. The tipping point comes a decade earlier than the government and the United Nations predicted. Yi Fuxian, an expert on Chinese population, said the âreal demographic crisis is beyond imagination and that all of Chinaâs past economic, social, defense and foreign policies were based on faulty demographic data.â Since abandoning its one-child policy in 2016, Chinaâs been trying to encourage bigger families â with scant success. Yi predicted severe economic consequences: âChina has become older before it has become rich,â he said. (Sources: [AP](, [Reuters]() Arizona Apocalypse, Now What Happens When the Taps Run Dry? On Jan. 1, the city of Scottsdale turned off the water supply to the unincorporated community of Rio Verde Foothills. Now residents are forced to buy water hauled in by trucks â or to rely on wells that are increasingly running dry amid a generational drought. Some in Rio Verde Foothills want to form their own water district, while others favor enlisting a private utility company. âWhat Scottsdale has done is inhumane. Dangerous. Theyâve left us without fire protection. Theyâve left us without water for families,â said Christy Jackman, one of a group of residents who have taken Scottsdale to court. (Source: [WaPo]() âDeeply Rotten Misogynistic Cultureâ UK Policeman Pleads Guilty to 49 Sex Abuse Charges Spanning 20 Years David Carrick, an elite Metropolitan Police firearms officer, admitted to raping and assaulting 12 women. His crimes were brought to police attention nine times from 2000 to 2021, though he remained on the force when his victims didnât cooperate with investigations because, as a police spokesperson explained, âhe told them they would not be believed.â He was finally arrested in October 2021. âThat Carrick could have not only become a police officer, but remain a serving officer for so long whilst he perpetrated these horrific crimes against women, is terrifying,â said campaigner Harriet Wistrich, who blamed the Metropolitan Policeâs âdeeply rotten misogynistic culture.â (Sources: [BBC](, [The Guardian]() The Great Leveler Cancer Diagnosis Helps Italian Police Nab Mafia Fugitive Italyâs most wanted man, Matteo Messina Denaro, was arrested at a private clinic in Sicily Monday. Police received a tip that the âlast godfatherâ was receiving treatment for a tumor under a false name â but the most recent photos of him were 30 years old, so investigators could only guess what he looked like. They eventually homed in on Messina Denaro by poring over the national health system to weed out suspects of similar age and condition. âHealth is one of those things that, sooner or later, forces those who want to hide to expose themselves,â said police Gen. Pasquale Angelosanto. (Sources: [Reuters](, [The Guardian]() Briefly Here are some things you should know about today:Â Liberated. In one of its most significant victories yet, Somaliaâs government said it liberated the towns of Harardhere and Galcad from al-Shabab rebels. Some experts say al-Shabab is on its last legs â but others urge caution. (Source: [Al Jazeera]() Banned. The Australian Open banned Russian and Belarusian flags after Ukraineâs ambassador complained about a courtside Russian flag during Kamilla Rakhimovaâs first-round match against Ukraineâs Kateryna Baindl. (Source: [The Statesman]() Reaffirmed. A high-level U.S. delegation met with top Ukrainian officials in Kyiv Monday to âreaffirm the United Statesâ strong and steadfast commitment to Ukraine and its defense against Russiaâs unprovoked aggression.â (Source: [CNN]()
INTRIGUING Blacklisted Why Black American Realtors Earn 3 Times Less Than White Peers Dallas real estate agent Chastin Miles was thrilled to hold an open house for a 6000-square-foot mansion with all the bells and whistles. His bubble burst when would-be buyers, an older white couple, took one look at him and walked out the door. âThey werenât expecting me to be in that house on this street in this ZIP code.â Heâs since taken to having white colleagues work as greeters at the door. Data shows white agents earn three times more than their Black counterparts, and African Americans â who account for 6% of agents but 14% of the population â regularly encounter racism on the job. (Source: [NYT]() Arrivederci Gina Lollobrigida, Italian Film Icon of the â50s and â60s, Dies at 95 Humphrey Bogart said she made âMarilyn Monroe look like Shirley Temple,â and Life magazine called her âthe most fetching argument ever advanced for liberal immigration policies.â While there were question marks over her âlack of intensity, lack of presence,â there was no doubting Lollobrigidaâs fame as the original Italian film diva, a precursor to Sophia Loren. Highlights of a career on both sides of the Atlantic included Pane, Amore e Fantasia (1953), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956) and Solomon and Sheba (1959). As film roles dried up from the â70s onward she focused on art and photography, publishing several books. (Sources: [WaPo](, [The Guardian]() Awkward Since the War Began, Russians and Ukrainians Have Flocked to Bali When William Wiebe co-founded Parq Ubud â a coworking space and apartment complex in Bali, Indonesia â he thought it would appeal to Chinese and Australian tourists. But then Russia invaded Ukraine. âWithin days of the war, we were inundated,â said Wiebe, who also described a second wave of arrivals after Moscowâs draft mobilization. Now around 90% of Parqâs residents are Russians and Ukrainians. Alex Man, who moved his family from Kharkiv, said his kids recently got into an argument with Russian classmates about which side was right. But friendships have also formed between Russians and Ukrainians who are united in their opposition to the war. (Source: [NYT]() Mammoth Undertaking Joe Rogan Listeners Are Scouring the East River for Mammoth Bones On Dec. 30, John Reeves â an Alaskan gold miner with a penchant for fossils â appeared on hit podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. He claimed a stash of bones deemed unworthy of the American Museum of Natural History had been dumped in New York Cityâs East River, around 65th Street, in the early 20th century. The museum quickly poured cold (polluted) water on the idea â but that hasnât deterred treasure hunters from looking for them bones. Commercial diver Don Gann assembled a team of four: âI think the chances are just as good as the lottery. And people buy those tickets every day.â (Source: [AP]() Tunnel Vision Running 200 Miles in the Dark in a Disused Train Tunnel â for Fun The Tunnel Ultra is deliberately spartan â runners arenât permitted to wear headphones or to run next to one another â and in three years only 13 people have completed it. âI don't want there to be no finishers,â explained organizer Mark Cockbain. âBut I do want them to go through hell to get there.â Every year around 40 ultramarathoners take on the challenge â among them Guy Bettinson, who holds the course record of 43 hours, 9 minutes. âMost of my medals I chuck in the bin. If itâs one Iâm bothered about I keep it in a drawer. Iâve kept the Tunnel one.â (Source: [BBC]()
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