The Fitness Magazine: Your Presidential Daily Brief: Gambia's President Won't Quit

IMPORTANT

January 19, 2017

Demonstrators in Senegal hold placards reading "Gambia made its choice" to protest President Yahya Jammeh's refusal to leave office after losing December's election. Source: Getty

Gambian President Still Refuses to Step Down

The deadline has passed. Adama Barrow won December's presidential election and is scheduled to be inaugurated today, after fleeing to the Gambian embassy in Senegal. But President Yahya Jammeh, who's ruled since a 1994 coup, maintains that he isn't going anywhere. Leaders from Mauritania and Senegal attempted to persuade him to leave office and avert war, but their efforts appear to have failed. Gambians and tourists are scrambling to escape the country as forces from Senegal mass on the border, having promised to step in if Jammeh stayed past midnight.

Sources: BBC, The Guardian, Al Jazeera

Dozens Missing in Italian Hotel After Avalanche

After an avalanche blocked roads and reduced the four-star Hotel Rigopiano to rubble, rescuers - who reached the site on skis at 4 a.m. local time - say up to 30 people are unaccounted for. Local media initially reported "many deaths," but officials say only one body has been recovered. The disaster was apparently triggered by a series of earthquakes that struck Italy's tremor-prone central region yesterday, after days of snowy weather. Now emergency teams are starting to dig, hoping to rescue anyone still trapped beneath the nearly 17 feet of snow.

Sources: Reuters, BBC

Trump Completes Cabinet With Ag Chief; Nominees Show Distance

We have a full roster. Donald Trump tapped former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue for agriculture secretary, completing his Cabinet - the first since 1988 without a single Latino member. Meanwhile, nominees distanced themselves from some of Trump's positions in confirmation hearings: Gov. Nikki Haley, up for ambassador to the U.N., was tougher on Russia than her prospective boss, while would-be EPA chief Scott Pruitt said he doesn't think climate change is a "hoax." But potential health secretary Tom Price, questioned about Trump's promised Obamacare replacement, kept answers vague.

Sources: AJC, Washington Post, The Guardian, NYT, CNN

OPEC Rivals Rise as Cartel Slashes Production

It's a cutthroat market. Late last year, following a multi-year oil price slump, OPEC agreed to cut production by nearly 4 percent. Prices are higher now, but that's luring increased production from outside the 13-member cartel and the 11 other nations that agreed to join its production cuts. In a new report, the International Energy Agency estimates production from non-OPEC countries - mostly the U.S. - is up by 175,000 barrels per day, and new projects in Brazil and Canada will boost that even more in 2017.

Sources: WSJ (sub)

Briefly

Know This: The FBI is probing a wave of bomb threats made on Jewish community centers across America. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is set to begin an environmental study, which could take two years, on the effects of disputed sections of the Dakota Access Pipeline. And Beijing is urging President-elect Donald Trump to not allow a Taiwanese delegation to attend his inauguration tomorrow.

Look at This: Shepard Fairey, who designed the iconic "Hope" poster of President Obama, has created a new line of prints ahead of the inauguration, featuring Americans of different ethnic backgrounds captioned "We the People."

Talk to Us: We want your feedback on the Presidential Daily Brief - what you think we're doing right and what we should be doing differently. Send us an email at pdbrief@ozy.com.

OZY LAUNCHES SPECIAL INAUGURATION AND 'STATES OF THE NATION' INITIATIVES

Get ready for the new era. On Inauguration Day, OZY is dispatching reporters globally to visit communities and document people's hopes, fears and predictions about the next four years. On Sunday, Jan. 22, a year-long "States of the Nation" initiative launches as part of a 50-state journey across America, featuring the innovative rising stars, provocateurs and trends reshaping the U.S. The coverage is "an effort to capture the wide variety of reactions to this change in leadership and provide coverage of the actual effects of Trump policies," says Carlos Watson, OZY's editor-in-chief.

Sources: OZY

INTRIGUING

2016 Set Another World Temperature Record

It's not a mark to celebrate. Data released yesterday by NASA and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration showed 2016 was the hottest year since record-keeping began in 1879. It's the third consecutive record-breaker, continuing a 40-year rising trend, and data shows the Arctic is warming two to three times faster than the rest of the globe. While El Niño was a factor, researchers say it only accounts for a fraction of the increase. A cooling La Niña system this year may prevent another heat record, but won't reverse the disastrous trend.

Sources: Popular Science, Gizmodo

Europe's Millennials Defy Downturn With Alternative Careers

It's a matter of degrees. From the Italian engineer who launched a fast food business to the Greek insurance manager now guiding tourists, young Southern Europeans are battling sky-high youth unemployment rates with entrepreneurship and career flexibility. Italy's triple-dip recession undermined many traditional paths, but new doors are still opening in environmentally friendly construction and hospitality. Meanwhile, in Northern Europe, the EU's Youth Guarantee program is helping chip away at the number of jobless, while students are pivoting toward technical training and away from the liberal arts.

Sources: OZY

Study: Fake News Not Memorable Enough to Swing Elections

It's gone in the blink of an eye. A new study suggests that fake news couldn't have significantly affected the 2016 election because people barely remember most fabricated stories. A joint Stanford and NYU study of 1,028 Americans who'd followed the election on social media tested their familiarity with various fake and real stories from the past few months. The results - that most people remembered less than one percent of even the most virulent hoax headlines - could allay fears over the so-called pervasiveness of fake news.

Sources: The Verge

Band's Supreme Court Case Could Affect Sports Teams' Names

Who decides what's a slur? Controversies over the racially charged names of Washington's football team and Cleveland's baseball team could be resolved - legally, at least - via an unlikely ally. The Slants, an Oregon-based Asian-American dance-rock band, want to trademark their name. But that's proving complicated because it arises from a racial slur, which they argue they've reclaimed. If the band wins their Supreme Court case, it could benefit the Redskins, who are appealing the 2014 cancellation of their "disparaging" trademark.

Sources: Fusion, Billboard

Bagwell, Raines and Rodriguez Join MLB Hall of Fame

Three's good company. An Astros slugger, a speedy Expo and a 14-time All-Star catcher topped writers' ballots to be inducted into Cooperstown this year. Tim Raines, Montreal's superstar leadoff hitter, ranks fifth in history with 808 stolen bases. Jeff Bagwell twice notched 30-homer, 30-steal seasons for Houston. And Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez won 13 Gold Gloves in his 21-year career. While voters overlooked steroid speculation about Bagwell and Rodriguez, tarnished stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens fell short again and their future chances look murky.

Sources: ESPN, SI