Hard Numbers: Israel PM hopeful, Facebook board punts on Trump, Japan’s COVID squid, US population declining

May 05, 2021

Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid gestures as he delivers a speech following the announcement of exit polls in Israel's general election at his party headquarters in Tel Aviv.

REUTERS/Amir Cohen

28: Yair Lapid, leader of Israel's opposition Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party, has 28 days to form a new government. President Reuven Rivlin tapped Lapid after incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to cobble together a governing coalition by Tuesday's midnight deadline, further prolonging Israel's political stalemate.

6: Facebook has six months to decide whether to reinstate or permanently ban former US president Donald Trump on its platform, its oversight board has ruled (or punted, depending on your view). Facebook dropped Trump for his role in inciting the US Capitol insurrection on January 6.

25 million: A Japanese town has spent 25 million yen (almost $229,000) in COVID relief money to build a life-size statue of a giant squid. The mayor's office hopes the attraction will help boost tourism, but netizens complain it's a waste of funds needed to help local economies recover from the pandemic.

4: The number of births in the US dropped by 4 percent in 2020, double the average rate of decline in the past six years, according to new CDC data. This means that America's population is now below replacement levels, with more people dying than being born each day.

Canadian premiers urge bilateral free trade deal with US

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony for the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 29, 2020.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Donald Trump’s election win has Canadian premiers worried about the future of free trade. Trump has promised to levy across-the-board tariffs of between 10 and 20%, but it’s unclear whether Canada would be included.

Congolese ceasefire collapsing as peacekeepers’ mandate extended

Malawi soldiers part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) military mission for eastern Congo, wait for the ceremony to repatriate the two bodies of South African soldiers killed in the ongoing war between M23 rebels and the Congolese army in Goma, North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo February 20, 2024.

REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi

Fighters from the M23 rebel group in northeastern Congo have been targeting civilians in violation of a July ceasefire agreement, according to the Southern African Development Community, whose peacekeeping mandate was extended by a year on Wednesday.

Hard Numbers: Israel PM hopeful, Facebook board punts on Trump, Japan’s COVID squid, US population declining

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Hard Numbers: Israel PM hopeful, Facebook board punts on Trump, Japan’s COVID squid, US population declining

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More from GZERO Media

Donald Trump’s radical plan to crackdown on undocumented immigration has sparked widespread concerns across the US. Beyond the human rights implications, there are serious questions regarding the potential economic toll of Trump’s immigration proposals.

Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped former Michigan congressman and Netherlands ambassadorPete Hoekstra to be US ambassador to Canada.

Donald Trump’s election win has Canadian premiers worried about the future of free trade. Trump has promised to levy across-the-board tariffs of between 10 and 20%, but it’s unclear whether Canada would be included.

After years of struggles with their employer, Canada Post, posties in Canada have gone on strike as the holiday season settles in.

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

The Department of Justice is fighting to force Google to sell off its Chrome browser in an antitrust action against the company.

Fighters from the M23 rebel group in northeastern Congo have been targeting civilians in violation of a July ceasefire agreement, according to the Southern African Development Community, whose peacekeeping mandate was extended by a year on Wednesday.

Ukraine has begun using long-range missiles from the US and UK to hit targets inside Russia for the first time, after getting long-awaited permission from Washington and London.