Your Wednesday Evening Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/18/briefing/ukraine-helicopter-crash-microsoft-layoffs.html

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Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Wednesday.

1. A helicopter crash in Ukraine killed at least 14, including a cabinet official.

The helicopter crash, which damaged a kindergarten and a residential tower in a suburb of Kyiv, killed multiple pivotal figures in Ukraine’s wartime leadership, as well as a child.

Denys Monastyrsky, the minister of internal affairs, became the highest-ranking Ukrainian official to die since Russia’s invasion began. There were no initial signs that the helicopter had been shot down, but a Ukrainian official said that an investigation was underway.

In an address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called for a minute of silence to honor those killed in the crash. He said that it was another example of the unnecessary deaths that have marked the conflict.

In other news from the war, the Biden administration is softening its position on helping Ukraine target Russian-controlled Crimea, U.S. officials said.

2. Microsoft plans to lay off 10,000 workers, becoming the latest tech giant to cut costs.

The layoffs, which amount to just under 5 percent of the company’s work force, are Microsoft’s largest in about eight years. The company’s outlook had dimmed amid a stretch of economic uncertainty.

Like other tech companies, Microsoft expanded rapidly during the pandemic, hiring more than 75,000 people since 2019. But despite the recent slowdown, the company still posted $50 billion in sales that produced $17.6 billion in profit in its latest quarter.

In other economic news, the Treasury Department is set to begin employing “extraordinary measures” to ensure that the federal government has enough money to pay its bills after the U.S. hits its debt ceiling, which it is expected to do tomorrow. Here’s what that means.

3. At the state level, Democrats are embracing a power that has long eluded them: full control.

This year, Democrats will control the governorship and both legislative chambers in 17 states, their most since 2009, offering a plausible path for decades’ worth of liberal policy goals to become law.

In Michigan, for example, Democrats in the Legislature announced plans within hours of being sworn in to codify L.G.B.T.Q. rights, repeal an abortion ban and get rid of a so-called right-to-work law loathed by labor unions.

In other politics news, Representative George Santos’s hires and public appearances suggest his stance will be further right than the one he adopted in his campaign.

In New York, a State Senate panel rejected Gov. Kathy Hochul’s nominee to become New York’s top judge, escalating an intraparty clash.

4. Israel’s Supreme Court blocked the appointment of a close ally of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ten of the 11 judges on the country’s top court ruled that Aryeh Deri, the leader of an ultra-Orthodox party who was convicted of tax fraud, was not fit to serve as a senior minister in Netanyahu’s new right-wing coalition.

Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, now has to decide whether he will defy the ruling and head a government that opposition leaders said would be “illegal.” The prime minister’s attempts to assert more control over legal matters has already prompted street protests in cities across Israel, with many Israelis fearing that the judicial changes could undermine the country’s democratic institutions.

5. California sued three major drug companies over the price of insulin.

The state accused Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, which control 90 percent of the global insulin supply, of illegally inflating the price of insulin and spawning a financial and public health crisis. It also sued three pharmacy benefit managers that manage 80 percent of the U.S. insulin market.

Well-insured patients owe nothing or a co-pay of $20 to $35 a month for insulin. Those without insurance can be charged hundreds of dollars a month. A recent study found that one in seven U.S. insulin users spent more than 40 percent of their disposable income on their treatment.

In other health news, a movement has emerged to fight a growing maternal mortality health crisis among Black women.

6. Weather scientists are beginning to question the language they use.

Bomb cyclone? Atmospheric river? Polar vortex? If you don’t know what to anticipate when forecasters say to expect those weather patterns, you’re in good company.

The use of colorful terms, many meteorologists say, has been good for climate-change awareness, but they may leave the public numb to or unsure of the actual risk as extreme weather events become more common.

“We need significantly clearer language, not hyped words,” one researcher said.

In other weather news, despite a rapid succession of punishing storms and significant flooding, California is still in drought. New research also shows that a major flood in Southern California would disproportionately impact Black residents.

7. Sister André, the world’s oldest known person, died at 118.

The French nun, who had lived through two world wars and the 1918 influenza pandemic, died in her sleep yesterday in France.

Born Lucile Randon in 1904, Sister André grew up in a Protestant family and worked as a governess in Paris before converting to Catholicism and being baptized at the age of 26. She was later assigned to a hospital in Vichy, where she cared for orphans and others for three decades.

Sister André, a gourmand who enjoyed a daily diet of wine and chocolate, made headlines for being the world’s oldest known survivor of Covid. “She kept telling me, ‘I’m not afraid of Covid because I’m not afraid of dying,’” a spokesman for her nursing home said at the time.

8. Top-seeded Rafael Nadal loses in the second round of the Australian Open.

The 36-year-old Nadal lost today in straight sets to Mackenzie McDonald, a 27-year-old American who has never cracked the top 40 in the world rankings. An injury that appeared to be to Nadal’s midsection left him hobbling for much of the match, extending the Spaniard’s stretch of recent struggles.

The men’s side is now without two notable players after the hometown star Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the competition with a knee injury. On the women’s side, Coco Gauff defeated Emma Raducanu in a match of high-profile youngsters.

In other news from the sports world, Bomani Jones has managed to pull off the difficult feat of mixing sports, comedy and politics. Now, for the second season of his HBO show, he’s going unscripted.

9. The U.S. continues to supply tens of thousands of chickens for cockfighting each year.

The practice, which consists of strapping metal spurs to the legs of two chickens and confining them to a pit to fight each other to death, has long been illegal in the country. But the laws have hardly slowed down breeders, who have found reliable customers abroad.

Cockfighters in the Philippines, Mexico, Peru, Vietnam and elsewhere regularly purchase their chickens from American farms for tournaments. The U.S. is “the breeding ground for cockfighting for the world,” Wayne Pacelle, the president of Animal Wellness Action, said.

In other animal news, crocodile mummies, estimated to be more than 2,500 years old, were found in a tomb on the west bank of the Nile River.

10. And finally, consider a morning exercise routine.

While research has cast doubt on the idea that there is an ideal time to work out, many exercise scientists recommend a morning routine, which is less likely to interfere with your day-to-day schedule.

For people who find mustering the energy to get out of bed in the morning hard, experts recommend taking it slow. Try sleeping earlier and gradually moving up your morning alarm until you feel well rested and ready to get moving.

Have a healthy night.

Elizabeth Bristow and Brent Lewis compiled photos for this briefing.

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