Your Tuesday Evening Briefing – The New York Times

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

The U.N. secretary general called for a four-day humanitarian pause in the war to mark Easter in the Eastern Orthodox Church. He acknowledged that previous cease-fire calls had failed.

3. The world economic forecast has worsened with the rapid one-two punch of war and the pandemic, experts said.

The International Monetary Fund downgraded its January forecast today, predicting that growth will slow to 3.6 percent this year. Other organizations and think tanks have also slashed growth forecasts, citing trade, energy and food disruptions and China’s renewed lockdowns. Amid the global economic uncertainty and rampant inflation, policymakers are convening this week in Washington for meetings of the I.M.F. and World Bank.

In other business news, Netflix reported that it lost 200,000 subscribers in quarterly results, sending the company’s stock down 20 percent.

4. The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, declared a national state of disaster after one of the deadliest natural events in the country’s history.

Following a week of rain, flooding and mudslides in the Durban area, the death toll stood at 448, with about 50 people missing. Almost 4,000 homes were destroyed and more than 8,300 were damaged. More than 40,000 people have been displaced.

Ramaphosa called the flooding a result of climate change and pledged to better protect citizens from such catastrophes. Though the rain has stopped, dozens of families in this large metropolitan area are still searching for loved ones. One community leader there said he felt as if the people of the area had been forgotten.

In other climate news, President Biden restored key parts of a bedrock environmental law that was dismantled by the Trump administration.

5. Violence destroyed the lives of a couple who moved to New York City to support their family, as the tally of anti-Asian attacks continued to grow.

The couple, GuiYing Ma and her husband, Zhanxin Gao, knew each other from childhood in Fushun, China. At 56 and speaking no English, they emigrated to New York to make money to send home to their grandchildren and to have an adventure together.

Gao found a job cleaning restaurant grease filters. Ma worked at home to support him. Late last fall, as she swept a sidewalk, a rock-wielding assailant struck her repeatedly in the head. She died three months later in the hospital, where Gao had visited constantly. Her attacker was arrested, and though hate crimes can be tough to prove, the Queens D.A. is reviewing the charges in the wake of her death.

6. Electronic verbal autopsying is a labor-intensive effort that helps developing countries tally death tolls, often for the first time.

Times global health reporter Stephanie Nolen reported on Sierra Leone, where surveyors go door to door in villages, gathering details of how people died and their symptoms. The data goes to a head office at Njala University. A physician there reviews and classifies each death by cause.

Currently, just a quarter of Sierra Leone deaths are nationally registered, none with causes assigned, and the government bases its programs and health care budget on what are essentially best guesses. The method may help throughout the developing world; worldwide, nearly half of annual deaths aren’t recorded.

In other global health news, Myanmar is now one of the most dangerous places in the world to do medical work. At least 30 doctors have been killed there since the 2021 coup.

7. Joseph Kahn will be the next executive editor of The New York Times.

A.G. Sulzberger, the paper’s publisher, made the announcement today. Kahn will replace Dean Baquet, who is expected to step down in June after eight years in the role.

Kahn, 57, is currently the paper’s No. 2-ranking editor. He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning China correspondent and once led The Times’s international desk. He helped guide the newsroom as it retooled for increased speed, and as it expanded internationally. Kahn said that earning public trust “in a time of polarization and partisanship” would be among his top priorities.

8. Jennifer Grey gets down and dirty — and heartfelt — in her new memoir.

Grey’s book, the forthcoming “Out of the Corner,” details her experiences growing up as Oscar-winner Joel Grey’s daughter, before playing the role of “Baby” in “Dirty Dancing.” Grey became America’s sweetheart, and “Nobody puts Baby in a corner” became a Gen X rallying cry.

But there wasn’t a fairy-tale ending. Just before the movie launched, she and her boyfriend at the time, the actor Matthew Broderick, were in a car crash that left two people dead and made her the target of press mockery. Her injuries would eventually require spinal surgery. Then came “schnozzageddon.” She had taken her mother’s advice to get a nose job. Overnight, she lost her identity and her career.

Grey, 62, says she’s on the threshold of a new phase, and hopes her memoir will inspire others. “Like Flintstone vitamins,” she says. “It feels like candy but you’re getting something.”

9. To tip or not to tip? The decision is harder than ever.

In the worst of the pandemic, Americans spent extra to applaud the risks shouldered by servers, cooks, cashiers and delivery workers. Tips of 15 percent for takeout or grocery delivery felt like a minimum. But with business closer to normal, customers are feeling “tipping fatigue.” It’s compounded by new technology like touch-screen payment and less typical tip requests, like from employees at bakeries or food trucks.

For many workers, tips remain a lifeline. The pandemic seemingly made customers more aware of that. Still, the Emily Post Institute considers tipping mandatory only at sit-down restaurants. Given a tip jar or touch-screen, Emily’s great-great-granddaughter Lizzie Post says, tipping should be discretionary.

10. And finally, Mickey Mouse and Cinderella are back on the hugs line.

Character hugs resumed at Disneyland this week after a two-year break, bringing tears, squeals of joy and long lines.

For many families, it’s a childhood rite of passage. But since the pandemic began, Mickey, Minnie, Aladdin and others have been kept distanced, even when Disneyland reopened last April. Some families canceled or postponed trips.

Revenues for the division of the company that includes theme parks dropped by nearly $10 billion last year compared to 2019. The company hopes character interactions will help reverse losses.

Have an affectionate night.

Hannah Yoon compiled photos for this briefing.

Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.

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