Hard Numbers: Gaza death toll undercount, China’s deflating economic news, Cuba’s growing exodus, Amazing eyeball news
November 09, 2023
A Palestinian woman reacts after the death of her sister
REUTERS/Suhaib Salem
10,000: Horrific as the carnage in Gaza has been over the past month, some Biden administration officials think the true death toll is “likely far higher” than the official 10,000 cited by the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. Interesting ... we’re old enough to remember when the president cast doubt on the veracity of the Gaza figures, prompting local authorities to release a list of the dead.
0.2: Consumer prices in China fell 0.2% on an annual basis in October, meaning the world’s second-largest economy is now officially experiencing deflation, where sluggish demand for goods and services causes prices to fall. The news accentuates ongoing concerns about China’s mediocre post-pandemic economic recovery. Why are falling prices a bad thing? See our explainer here.
10,700: Roughly 10,700 Cubans were detained at the US southern border in September, nearly twice the figure in August, as a deepening economic crisis in the Caribbean island nation drives more people to take the risk of undocumented migration to the United States. Many of those arriving via Mexico have completed a 1,500-mile journey on foot.
2: A US man who lost most of his face and his left eye in a high-voltage power line accident has two eyes again as a result of the world’s first transplant of an entire human eyeball. It’s too soon to tell whether the new eye works properly, but the breakthrough has millions of sports fans around the world wondering if referees and umpires have heard of this treatment.