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Dose Of News Useful Today
Wednesday, January 13th
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🐫 Guess What Day It Is…
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It’s Hump Day. And you know what that means…
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… another weekday, another newsletter. 🥳
See ya at the bottom. 🗞👇
🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s newsletter takes 5.26 minutes to read.
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Daily Sprinkle |
“Correction does much, but encouragement does more.”
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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🇮🇹 An Offer You Can’t Refuse…
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Today, Italian authorities begin the country’s biggest attempt at prosecuting a mafia group in nearly three decades.
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The trial, which features 355 defendants, 900+ prosecution witnesses, and 400 lawyers, focuses on the ‘Ndrangheta mafia group and its accomplices – among them politicians, civil servants, police, and white-collar businessmen.
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During a recent hearing, it reportedly took three hours to read all their names.
📜 A Brief History
The ‘Ndrangheta is an organized crime syndicate headquartered in Southern Italy, with origins dating back to the late 18th century.
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A 2014 study found the ‘Ndrangheta made ~$73B the previous year, roughly 3.5% of Italy’s GDP.
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They hold a close alliance with the Sicilian Mafia, whose legacy includes a brief pact with the U.S. Navy during WWII (the Mafia was involved in planning and executing the Allied invasion of Sicily).
The mafia trial beginning today is the largest since the infamous six-year-long Maxi Trial, which was held in a specially constructed bunker-style courtroom from 1986 to 1992. (Photo)
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The Maxi Trial was the largest in world history, boasting 475 defendants. Three hundred thirty-eight were convicted and sentenced to a total of 2,665 years – not including the life sentences handed to 19 bosses.
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Giovanni Falcone & Paolo Borsellino, the two main prosecutors, were later killed in two separate Mafia bombings... which both occurred less than six months after the trial concluded.
The current prosecution is headed by Italy’s most famous anti-mafia prosecutor, Nicola Gratteri, who has lived under police escort for over 30 years.
⚖️ Making a Difference
Today’s trial differs partly from the Maxi Trial because its scope is more limited, targeting one of the estimated hundreds of ‘Ndrangheta families with members across the world.
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Experts say Italy’s case is significant due to the inclusion of many lawyers, politicians, public administrators, and entrepreneurs who helped the ‘Ndrangheta operate.
The allegations include mafia association, murder and attempted murder, drug trafficking, extortion, loan sharking, disclosure of official secrets, abuse of office, possession of stolen goods, and money laundering.
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💉 Vaccine Update
Image via the CDC.
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The Trump administration issued new vaccine guidelines yesterday, expanding eligibility to everyone age 65 and older as well as to those with comorbid conditions (like diabetes).
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Separately, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said the federal government is changing the way it allocates vaccines, basing it on the size of each state’s elderly population and how quickly states can administer the shots.
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CDC Director Robert Redfield signed an order Tuesday requiring a negative COVID test for all arriving international air passengers (effective January 26).
🇨🇳 Meanwhile, in China…
Local authorities in several regions surrounding Beijing announced one-week lockdowns after a spike in cases.
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A Brazilian institute – which last week said the vaccine produced by Chinese company Sinovac had a 78% efficacy rate – yesterday clarified those rates only included volunteers suffering mild to severe COVID-19 cases.
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When all cases were considered, the vaccine’s efficacy rate fell to 50.4% (slightly above the WHO’s 50% threshold considered good enough for widespread use).
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🇮🇪 Irish Report Finds Children Deaths
A 3,000 page report published by Ireland’s government Tuesday found ~9,000 children died in the country’s church-run homes for unwed mothers – equivalent to 15% of all children who lived in the institutions investigated. The report covered a nearly 80-year-span ending in 1998.
More: The last of the homes, which received state funding and also acted as adoption agencies, closed in 1998.
Even More: The report did not include a single explanation for the high rates of mortality, but pointed to “significant failures of the state and society.”
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🍩 DONUT Holes:
🎲 Sheldon Adelson, the son of an immigrant taxi driver who later became a billionaire casino owner and notable GOP donor, died late Monday at 87.
☠️ A Kansas woman was executed yesterday for killing an expectant mother in Missouri, the first federal execution of a female inmate since 1953.
🏛️ The House voted 223 - 205 in favor of a resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove President Trump from office. Hours prior, Pence published a letter to House Speaker Pelosi saying he would not do so. An impeachment vote will be held in the House later today.
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🚁 Fly Away With Me
Shares of General Motors jumped yesterday to their highest levels since the company started publicly trading again in 2010 (+6.7% on the day | Market cap: $68.5B).
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The increase came after GM unveiled an electric van and announced a potential foray into Cadillac-branded electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOLs) – more commonly known as flying cars.
The EV600 electric van is expected to go on sale later this year.
More: Watch GM’s vertical take-off and landing concept video.
Somewhat Related: Fiat Chrysler announced an agreement with air mobility company Archer to help lower costs and accelerate the launch of an electric flying car.
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🇺🇬 Not So Social Media
The Ugandan government ordered internet service providers to block all social media platforms and messaging apps in the country ahead of its upcoming presidential election on Thursday.
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The ban is reportedly a direct response to Facebook removing a network of pro-government pages. The tech giant said fake and duplicitous accounts were used to impersonate users and re-share posts to make them appear more popular, per Reuters.
More: Uganda’s presidential election pits the 76-year-old incumbent Yoweri Musevini against 38-year-old rapper-turned-lawmaker Bobi Wine. Dig deeper.
Unrelated, but still important: YouTube suspended President Trump's account from uploading new content for a minimum of seven days.
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❌ DOJ Breaks the Pattern
Visa ended its plans to acquire Silicon Valley fintech startup Plaid in a deal worth $5.3B, both companies announced yesterday. The move was in response to the DOJ’s November antitrust lawsuit seeking to block the takeover on grounds it would limit competition in the payments industry.
More: Plaid’s API software allows startup companies to connect to users’ bank accounts, and is integrated with more than 11k banks.
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🍩 DONUT Holes:
🆒 Walmart is launching a test program where the company delivers groceries to a smart cooler placed outside customers’ homes.
💻 Zoom announced plans to sell $1.5B in shares at a valuation ten times higher than its 2019 IPO.
📺 Univision, America’s largest Spanish-language broadcaster, will launch a streaming service in the first quarter of this year featuring live and on-demand content.
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🦜 Tongue in Beak
A parrot’s beak is used to eat and climb – without it, the bird’s life is in danger. So when the staff at Renascer ACN, an animal rehabilitation center in Brazil, recently discovered a parrot with a badly damaged beak, they knew it was a biiiiig problem.
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Using a plastic resin, veterinarian Maria Ângela Panelli Marchió hand-made a fully functioning prosthetic beak for the wounded parrot, attaching it to the animal through surgery.
“Today [the parrot] has a normal life,” the founder of Renascer ACN told Bored Panda.
And if that wasn’t enough to make you smile…
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Aryana Chopra, a five-year-old from Vestal, NY, spent her winter break creating 200 New Year’s cards for the residents of a local nursing home – and emptied her piggy bank to buy a gift for the facility.
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While on an ice fishing trip last month, two friends saved a young fawn that was trapped on the frozen surface of Utah’s Panguitch Lake. Watch their heroic rescue.
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🐘 Grand Old Age
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What is the longest an elephant has ever lived (that we know of)?
A) 48 years
B) 102 years
C) 64 years
D) 86 years
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(keep scrolling for the answer) |
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Dose of Knowledge Answer |
D) 86 years
Lin Wang, an Asian elephant at the Taipei Zoo in Taiwan, died in 2003 at the age of 86, making him the Guinness World Record holder for oldest confirmed elephant. Another Asian elephant named Granny Dakshayani died in 2019 at an estimated age of 88 – though it has not been confirmed.
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