The Catch-All: ICYMI July 27-August 2

Hello all. Sorry that The Catch-all was late this week, I had a jam-packed Friday and Saturday. I'll still cover news up until Friday as to not mess up next week though. In fact, I wish I had followed news a bit more as it's kind of sparse this week. But such is the nature of life.

As a reminder, please share The Catch with your friends, family or mutuals if you think they would benefit! I hope to expand what we're doing here by the end of the year, so look forward to that! This week we're going to take a retrospective on a year of the Meta news ban and what that means for the industry. That'll be our analysis piece this week.

News Round-up

Ontario

Company halts construction of $2.7B battery project in eastern Ontario, Jocelyn Shepel, CBC News (Jul. 26)

Ontario housing starts tumble, developers warn situation will ‘get worse before it gets better’, Isaac Callan and Colin D'Mello, Global News (Jul. 29)

St. James Town tenants affected by flooding won't get rent break, Naama Weingarten, Muriel Draaisma, CBC News (Jul. 30)

'Incredibly disappointing': Ontario halts wastewater testing for COVID, other viruses, Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press via CTV News (Jul. 31)

Ford rules out boundary changes, while some worry ‘your vote is going to count for less’, Isaac Callan and Colin D'Mello, Global News (Aug. 2)

Canada

Alberta's Choice, Jeremy Appel, The Orchard (Jul. 27)

$95 Million In New Canadian Military Goods Could Flow To Israel By 2025, Emma Paling, The Maple (Aug. 1)

US

Dems Go All-In on Blasting Trump and MAGA as ‘Sick Freaks Who Everyone Hates’, Asawin Suebsaeng and Andrew Perez, Rolling Stone (Jul. 27)

UN urges ‘immediate’ action for victims allegedly tortured by Chicago police, Alma Campos, The Guardian (Jul. 31)

World

Young man with severe intellectual disabilities to spend two years in Queensland prison without facing trial, Ben Smee, The Guardian (Jul. 28)

Alzheimer’s blood test shows 90% accuracy, outperforming other exams, Andrew Jeong, The Washington Post (Jul. 29)

Israel-Palestine

The IDF Just Destroyed a Key Rafah Water Facility Rachel Corrie Spent Her Last Month of Life Defending, Younis Tirawi, Drop Site News (Jul. 28)

Israel says it bombed Hezbollah sites deep inside Lebanon, Al Jazeera (Jul. 28)

Israeli soldiers suspected of raping Palestinian prisoner arrested, sparking far-right riot, Middle East Eye (Jul. 29)

Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, Al Jazeera (Jul. 31)

UN report says Palestinians detained by Israeli authorities since Oct. 7 faced torture, mistreatment, Jamey Keaten, Associated Press (Jul. 31)

Dear Ismail al-Ghoul: The world has forgotten us. We won’t forget you, Maram Humaid, Al Jazeera (Aug. 1)

COVID

Stricter Covid mask rules could’ve saved hundreds of thousands of lives, new study finds, Josh Marcus, Independent (Jul. 26)

Covid surges in US as unequal access plagues vaccination and treatment rates, Melody Schreiber, The Guardian (Jul. 27)

Why Covid Keeps Winning, Gregg Gonsalves and Walker Bragman, The Nation (Jul. 29)

COVID-19 Is Widespread In ‘Common Backyard Wildlife’ In US, Forbes (Jul. 29)

Nasal COVID-19 vaccine halts transmission, Tamara Schneider, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (Jul. 31)

The Risks of Killing a COVID Early Warning System, Andrew Nikiforuk, The Tyee (Aug. 1)

Tech

Instagram starts letting people create AI versions of themselves, Alex Heath, The Verge (Jul. 29)

Meta to pay $1.4 billion to settle Texas facial recognition data lawsuit, Mike Scarcella and Jody Godoy, Reuters (Jul. 31)

AI Music Generator Suno Admits It Was Trained on ‘Essentially All Music Files on the Internet’, Jason Koebler, 404 Media (Aug. 1)

Rabbit Says Breach 'Not Caused by a Breach,' Is Fault of Malicious Employee, 'Hacktivists,' Journalists, Jason Koebler, 404 Media (Aug. 1)

Elliott says Nvidia is in a ‘bubble’ and AI is ‘overhyped’, Laurence Fletcher and Costas Mourselas, Financial Times (Aug. 2)

AV Corner

Podcast: Why Canada Needs Natives Needy: Part 1 + 2 - Media Indigena
Music: If It Sucks, Turn It Up - Dune Rats
Video: Everything Wrong with AI - Gabi Belle