The Catch-All: ICYMI January 27- February 2

Good morning, readers. Hope you had a good week. I've been trying to follow Israel-Palestine news but it's hard to sift through the live updates and the news regarding international collaboration with Israel. While I try to cover as much as I can in these round-ups, please follow other outlets like Middle East Eye, Mondoweiss or Al Jazeera. They will provide much more in-depth reporting throughout the week while I try to pull highlights.

I'm working on introducing paid options to support this newsletter soon, so keep an eye out for that. Once again, the round-ups and weekly analysis will remain free. This option will purely be to support my work as it stands now. Thank you.

News Round-up

Ontario

Leon's plans to build 4,000 residential units in North York, Codi Wilson, CP24 (Jan. 29)

More than 80% of inmates in Ontario jails last year were legally innocent, awaiting trial: data, Abby O'Brien, CTV News (Jan. 30)

Premier Ford deflects responsibility, defends move of ServiceOntario kiosks into Staples and Walmart, Richard Southern and Meredith Bond, CityNews (Jan. 31)

Mayor Chow to drop proposed Toronto property tax rate hike to 9.5%, Shawn Jeffords, CBC News (Jan. 31)

Raccoon blamed for outage that left thousands without power in Toronto, CBC News (Feb. 1)

Staples Canada lays off head office staff, company takes $1.75M of taxpayer money for ServiceOntario retrofit, Richard Southern, CityNews (Feb. 1)

Supreme Court rules in favour of Ford government in mandate letters battle, Isaac Callan and Colin D'Mello, Global News (Feb. 2)

Toronto to receive $162M federal top-up for sheltering asylum seekers, low-income renters, Ryan Patrick Jones, CBC News (Feb. 2)

Canada

Quebec mayors have added almost $100,000 to the CAQ's coffers since 2021, Patrice Bergeron/La Presse Candienne, Montreal Gazette (Jan. 29)

Trudeau Government Admits It Authorized New Military Exports To Israel After October 7, Alex Cosh, The Maple (Jan. 30)

Leaked 'wolf letter' leaves military sheepish, internal emails show, Brett Ruskin, CBC News (Jan. 30)

Federal government pledges more money to help with refugee housing crisis, CBC News (Jan. 31)

The cruelty and calm of Alberta’s attack on trans rights, Mel Woods, Xtra Magazine (Feb. 1)

Canadaland Staff Promised To Win Back My Trust. They’ve Failed, Davide Mastracci, The Maple (Feb. 2)

US

New York Times Puts “Daily” Episode on Ice Amid Internal Firestorm Over Hamas Sexual Violence Article, Daniel Boguslaw and Ryan Grim, The Intercept (Jan. 28)

Son charged with murder, abusing corpse after father beheaded in Levittown home: police, FOX 29, (Jan. 30)

(New York City) Subway emergency exit gates at some stations to test 15-second delay to help deter fare evasion, ABC 7 (Jan. 30)

Judge dismisses Disney suit against DeSantis over special tax district, Lori Rozsa, The Washington Post (Jan. 31)

Babies Killed In Gaza Are ‘Not Innocent Palestinian Civilians,’ House Republican Says, Matt Shuham, HuffPost (Feb. 1)

“Economic headwinds”? No, The Messenger’s flop is the result of one man’s blindness to his own bad ideas, Joshua Benton, Nieman Lab (Feb. 1)

US hits hard at militias in Iraq and Syria, retaliating for fatal drone attack, Tara Copp, Abdulrahman Zeyad and Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press (Feb. 2)

World

Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso withdraw from West Africa regional bloc ECOWAS as tensions deepen, Chinedu Asadu, Associated Press (Jan. 28)

‘Smoking gun proof’: fossil fuel industry knew of climate danger as early as 1954, documents show, Oliver Milman, The Guardian (Jan. 30)

Argentina's Milei seeks omnibus bill backing as opposition warns 'chainsaw' starting, Walter Bianchi, Reuters (Feb. 1)

Cuba puts brakes on unpopular planned public transportation rate hike, Dave Sherwood and Nelson Acosta, Reuters (Feb. 2)

Israel-Palestine

Gaza aid 'at risk' as countries pause UN agency funding after allegations staff were involved in Oct. 7 attack, Kevin Maimann, CBC News (Jan. 28)

Israeli forces kill three Palestinians in West Bank hospital raid, Al Jazeera (Jan. 30)

Attacks on Press Freedoms Have Chilling Effects Far beyond Gaza, Asmaa Malik and Sonya Fatah, The Walrus (Jan. 30)

‘We are dying slowly:’ Palestinians are eating grass and drinking polluted water as famine looms across Gaza, Sana Noor Haq and Rosa Rahimi, CNN (Feb. 1)

COVID

Covid killed 170,000 in nursing homes. Most residents still haven’t gotten the latest shot, Chelsea Cirruzzo and Daniel Payne, Politico (Jan. 26)

Three fourths of adults have hidden infectious illness to work, travel, or socialize, surveys suggest, Stephanie Soucheray, CIDRAP- University of Minnesota (Jan. 30)

Tech

Google Update Shows How Bard AI May Work With Your Messages App, Zak Doffman, Forbes (Jan, 28)

Microsoft Closes Loophole That Created AI Porn of Taylor Swift, Emanuel Maiberg, 404 Media (Jan. 29)

The New York Times is building a team to explore AI in the newsroom, Emilia David, The Verge (Jan. 30)

AI companies lose $190 billion in market cap after Alphabet and Microsoft report, Noel Randewich, Reuters (Jan. 30)

Joe Rogan renews deal with Spotify, Ariel Shapiro, The Verge (Feb. 2)

Meta’s $197 Billion Surge Is Biggest in Stock-Market History, Subrat Patnaik, Bloomberg (Feb. 2)

AV Club

Podcast: This Is It. The Deepfake Reckoning- The 404 Media Podcast

Video: How Did Argentina End Up Here?- First Thought

(Old) Music: Never Breathe What You Can't See- Jello Biafra with The Melvins