- A huge rally was held in London in protest of the bombardment of Gaza. A group of people described as "far-right activists, Islamophobes and football supporters carrying St George’s flags" attempted to disrupt the protest, but amazingly the police acted appropriately and arrested the rightwing extremists rather than the pro-Palestinian protesters. I guess the rightwingers pushed their luck a bit too much when they actually attacked cops. In Lebanon, Hezbollah is not prepared to escalate against Israel; probably a sensible move on their part, but from the Palestinians' point of view it just goes to show how everyone throws them under the bus when it comes to the crunch.
- Canada's downtowns have yet to fully recover from the pandemic. Efforts are being made in some cities to revive them, but it will require new thinking and a lot of work. The restaurant industry desperately needs something to be done, though.
- The question of whether heat pumps will work in places with cold winters (such as the Canadian prairies) has been looked at. The answer appears to be yes, but whether it's worthwhile from a climate point of view depends on how your electricity is generated. In Manitoba it's great, but in Alberta or Saskatchewan where much of the power comes from burning fossil fuels it might produce more emissions overall than a gas furnace.
- The rightwing effort to take control of school boards has received a setback in Pennsylvania, where a Democratic slate has taken over a board that had previously received attention for book banning and anti-LGBT* behaviour.
- Pope Francis has fired a bishop in Texas for his extremism.
- A cruise ship in Australia has suffered a double whammy as passengers come down with both COVID-19 and gastroenteritis. That's an industry that really deserves to die for numerous reasons; hopefully stuff like this will make it less attractive.
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