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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]( Sponsored by [Babbel]( 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. Feb 15, 2023 Today Michigan mourned the murder of three students while police investigated a possible motive. Ohio’s Governor demanded answers from Washington after it was revealed the train hauling toxic cargo that derailed in the state earlier this month was not required to notify state authorities it was passing through. Federal investigators arrested four people in the assassination of Haiti’s late President Jovenel Moise in 2021. And the death toll in Turkey and Syria pushed past 40,000. All this and more in today’s PDB. 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The gunman, identified as 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae, who fatally shot himself after killing three people, had no known links to the university, authorities said. Michiganders across the state held vigils for the three slain students: Brian Fraser, 20, Alexandria Verner, 20 and Arielle Anderson, 19. By Tuesday morning, someone had painted “How many more?” on The Rock, a campus landmark, in apparent reference to the high toll of mass shootings in the U.S. this year. (Sources: [WaPo](, [Detroit Free Press]() All Aboard Ohioans Gobsmacked By Legislation that Allowed Toxic Rail Event Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine wants Congress to reassess rail legislation that allowed a train to haul toxic cargo through his state. “Frankly, if this is true, and I’m told it’s true, this is absurd,” DeWine said. Under current regulations, because only some of the cars on the Norfolk Southern train that derailed earlier this month carried toxic cargo, the company was exempt from notifying Ohio authorities of its haul. “They’re taking care of the railroad, but they’re not taking care of business here,” East Palestine resident Tim Cumberlidge complained. Locals will meet with officials at a town hall Wednesday night. (Sources: [Yahoo](, [Columbus Dispatch]() Crashing Down Feds Arrest Florida-Based Four in Haiti Assassination Haiti’s late President Jovenel Moise was shot 12 times at his house outside Port-au-Prince in 2021, sparking renewed political instability in the country. Federal agents nabbed four more suspects — Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, a Colombian national living in Miami and American citizens Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla and Frederick Bergmann — in Florida. Eleven suspects have now been charged in what prosecutors allege was a wide-reaching plot hatched in South Florida aimed at toppling Moise’s administration and installing a leader in exchange for “lucrative contracts.” Several of the suspects were previously informants for U.S. federal agencies, including the FBI and DEA. (Sources: [NYT](, [Reuters]() Not Up to Code Earthquake Toll Exceeds 41,000 Dead as Erdoğan Faces More Outrage Survivors in Turkey and Syria are still being pulled from the rubble, over 200 hours since the quake struck. But, U.N. officials said, the search and rescue stage is winding down as hope dims for the missing. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is facing renewed scrutiny after video from the 2019 election campaign spread throughout the country. It shows him boasting he had granted amnesty for buildings not up to earthquake code. Pelin Pınar Giritlioğlu, from the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects, said up to 75,000 buildings in the earthquake-hit area benefited from the program. (Sources: [Reuters](, [Insider]() Briefly Here are some things you should know about today: Shaken. Tens of thousands of New Zealanders across both islands reported feeling a 6.1-magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Paraparaumu. It comes as much of the country struggles with post-cyclone cleanup. (Source: [NZ Herald]() Teamed up. The U.S. warned China it would support the Philippines in any confrontation. Increased incursions into Filipino waters, including the alleged use of military-grade lasers to temporarily obscure visibility, have heightened tensions. (Source: [AP]() Stinky streets. French trade union CGT has encouraged garbage collectors to join a strike next month over President Emmanuel Macron’s floated increase in retirement age, raising fears of streets strewn with garbage amid negotiations. (Source: [AFP]() INTRIGUING Hats Off Camilla to Forgo Controversial Diamond and ‘Recycle’ Crown The Koh-i-Noor diamond won’t be appearing in the coronation pomp for King Charles and wife Camilla in May. India has made several claims to the enormous 105-carat diamond, which was taken from India by the East India Company and gifted to Queen Victoria. India has previously asked for its return. Rather than spark a potential diplomatic row, Queen Consort Camilla will be crowned with Queen Mary’s crown. Buckingham Palace said the choice was made due to “​​interests of sustainability and efficiency.” Diamonds from the late Queen Elizabeth II’s collection — originating in South Africa — will be added to the crown. (Sources: [BBC](, [Indian Express]() Rated 18+ Ma’am, Do You Have ID to See This Porn? That’s the question would-be porn consumers in Louisiana will be faced with after age verification laws passed last month. Seven other states are hoping to follow the southern state’s lead, with the Free Speech Coalition tracking group expecting Arkansas, Mississippi and Virginia to be next. Age verification has been floated as the key to restricting access amid fears young Americans are accessing pornographic content that has no “literary, artistic, political, or scientific value to minors,” as Arkansas put it. Privacy advocates worry the requirement could be more trouble than it’s worth, with potential data breaches or blackmail of particular concern. (Source: [Ars Technica]() Alohomora J.K. Rowling to Tell All: ‘I Never Set Out to Hurt Anyone’ “However, I was not uncomfortable with getting off my pedestal,” the Harry Potter creator said in a podcast trailer. “The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling,” hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper, will be released later this month by conservative commentator Bari Weiss’s Free Press media company. Rowling “speaks with unprecedented candor and depth about the controversies surrounding her,” the trailer promises, including her views on gender that have seen her labeled a “TERF,” or trans-exclusionary radical feminist. “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased,” Rowling tweeted in 2020. (Source: [Variety]() Denied Sex Work Is Moving Online. Immigration Hasn’t Caught Up Hex is a British virtual reality sex worker. She doesn’t meet clients, but interacts with them via the platform VRChat. She was denied a tourist visa to visit the U.S. “My reaction to the notice was honestly ‘what the hell? How is this possible? What I’m doing is completely legal,” she said. Clement Lee, Associate Director of Immigration Legal Services at the Urban Justice Center’s Sex Workers Project, said sex workers often find visa applications or border entries denied. A criminal conviction can trigger the system but, Lee said, many sex workers with no convictions have reported similar rejections. (Source: [Vice]() Quadruple Header NBC Enters NBA Rights Fray Against Streaming Giants NBCUniversal is set to make a play for the National Basketball Association’s lucrative television rights, over 20 years after losing them to Disney and Turner Sports. NBC’s Sport arm is eyeing a package that would broadcast playoff games and allow some regular season games on streaming service Peacock. Apple and Amazon are also reportedly sniffing around streaming rights, with Amazon already controlling streaming of NBA games for Brazil audiences. Turner Sports and Disney parent company Warner Bros. Discovery control the rights until the end of the 2024-2025 season and the NBA could opt to extend the contract without entertaining bidders. (Source: [CNBC]() NOW STREAMING FROM OZY STUDIO COMMUNITY What else are you curious about? 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