Friday, June 7, 2024

News roundup, 7 June 2024

- The IDF used an American made bomb on a UN-run school in Nuseirat, Gaza. The school was being used as shelter by families whose homes had already been destroyed, and at least 32 people were killed, 7 of them children. Of course the IDF claims that they were targeting militants. For their part, the Americans say that the bomb was designed to be a precision weapon (thus hopefully minimizing collateral damage) but that the Israelis weren't using it in a precision manner. And the prospects for improvement are not good, since neither Netanyahu nor Hamas' leaders can settle for anything less than total victory, which in practice means no ceasefire for the foreseeable future.

- UK Labour Party leader Keir Starmer says that he will call for a Palestinian state if he becomes prime minister.

- A Tesla shareholder is accusing Elon Musk of massive insider trading by selling $7.5 billion worth of stock shortly before some poor numbers were made public.

- The Bank of Canada has lowered its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.75%, following a decline in inflation to 2.7%. Tom Brodbeck remarks that Poilievre's comments a couple of years ago calling the bank "financially illiterate" look pretty foolish now. Unfortunately, to Poilievre's followers they don't look foolish; they think the bank won't have succeeded unless they bring prices down to where they were before. If they were more financially literate they'd know that drops in prices are called deflation, and that it does far more economic damage than they'd like. Poilievre himself presumably knows better, but he's happy to lead the sheeple along with whatever they'll follow, so long as it wins him votes.

- A cyclist was fatally injured in a hit and run on a busy stretch of Wellington Crescent this morning. Both the cyclist and the driver were eastbound at the time. That section of Wellington is not subject to the summer bike route restrictions like the part west of Academy is, and is used as a major thoroughfare by a lot of drivers.

- Just to make sure we all know which side of the culture wars they stand on, the Colorado wing of the Republican Party has sent out a tweet calling for the burning of all Pride flags.

- The Hospitals of Regina Foundation has raised some eyebrows when they booked American comedian Rob Schneider for a fundraiser. The fact that he's an antivaxxer should have been reason enough to think twice; people who attended the event also report that he included misogynistic and transphobic jokes as part of his routine. They did cut his performance short after they realized their mistake.

- The Yuntai Mountain Waterfall, billed as China's largest, was discovered by a hiker to have been fed by a pipe. The operator of the park where the waterfall was found said that they made a "small enhancement" so that it would give tourists their value for money during the dry season when the natural flow rate would make for a less striking image.

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