Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.

Stockholm to ban petrol and diesel cars from city center from 2025

Summary: The government of Stockholm, Sweden has announced plans that would make them the first capital city to ban cars powered by gasoline and diesel fuels from its city center as part of a larger effort to reduce pollution and noise.

Context: Beginning in 2025, with a few exceptions and caveats, only electric vehicles will be allowed in the 20 blocks that make up Stockholm’s main downtown finance and shopping districts, and early that year the government will decide whether and when to expand the zone further; several cities around the world have announced similar efforts, in some cases banning just diesel vehicles, in some cases intending to ban all non-EV vehicles at some point in the future, and watered-down versions of the same—low-emission zones where non-EV or non-hybrid vehicles are charged a fee for driving—have proven successful and popular enough that it’s expected we’ll see more variations on this theme, globally, in the coming years.

—The Guardian

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World-first trial of gene therapy to cure form of deafness begins

Summary: Researchers in the UK are recruiting up to 18 children from the UK, Spain, and the US to participate in a clinical trial for a gene therapy treatment meant to cure auditory neuropathy—a condition that disrupts nerve impulses that bring auditory signals from the inner ear to the brain, causing hearing loss or deafness.

Context: Participants in the trial will be monitored for five years to keep tabs on possible side effects and to see if their hearing actually improves as intended, though initial results will be shared in February; the gene mutation that causes this condition is difficult to detect in newborns, and the treatment basically gives afflicted patients a copy of a faulty gene that theoretically should allow their bodies to ameliorate the impact of that mutation, helping them process sound without requiring a cochlear implant or other external support technology; this is just one of many gene-related issues researchers think they might be able to help with using some type of gene therapy.

—Financial Times

Israel forms unity government and bombs Gaza in the wake of Hamas attack

Summary: The Israeli government has announce the creation of a “war management cabinet,” which they’re calling a unity government, composed of the leaders of the country’s two leading political parties, for the purpose of making military decisions in the wake of a sneak-attack by Islamist militant group Hamas over the weekend.

Context: The numbers in this conflict are grim, with about 1,200 Israelis confirmed killed in the initial attack by Hamas, about 3,000 Israelis wounded, and around 150 people kidnapped and currently held hostage in Gaza; it’s believed that nearly as many people have been killed by Israel’s counterattacks, so far, alongside more than 5,300 injured, the majority of them non-combatants, which was also the case with Israel’s casualties and fatalities—it’s mostly civilians suffering from this conflict on both sides, so far; this has become an incredibly touchy political and ideological topic for folks around the world, as Israel has kept Palestinians in Gaza basically locked in an open-air prison for 16-years, blockading and severely limiting them, and that’s brought support to Palestine, if generally not Hamas, the unelected extremist group that technically governs Gaza, while the majority of the world has declared its support for Israel, which has suffered from what many consider to be an unprovoked attack on innocent civilians; there are concerns that other parties, like Hezbollah, might get involved, further complicating and expanding the conflict, and the Israeli government has called up 360,000 reservists, which is just a staggering number, for what’s expected to be a brutal and grinding occupation of Gaza while they hunt down members of Hamas.

—The New York Times

US diners are booking dinner reservations earlier than they used to according to new data by Resy, and additional data (from the Future fitness app) indicates folks are moving their workouts earlier in the day, as well, suggesting that an overhaul of the average American’s day may be influencing eating and workout behaviors—a post-pandemic prioritization of work-life balance that’s allowing people to get more sleep (note: I’m glad to see it’s not just me opting for the early-bird-special lifestyle).

—Axios

$28.9 billion

Sum of back-taxes the IRS is seeking from Microsoft, according to a filing the agency released Wednesday.

That’s for penalties and interest on profits the company made between 2004 and 2013, and the company is expected to appeal this demand as long as they possibly can, even going to court over it if they need to because, well, that’s a lot of money.

—Forbes

Trust Click

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