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SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket lifts off on its third launch from the company's Boca Chica launchpad on an uncrewed test flight, near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. March 14, 2024.
Hard Numbers: SpaceX has a rocky reentry, Norway to hit NATO target early, British MPs are OOO, Somalia debt is canceled, Berlin techno is protected
2: Norway announced that the country intends to meet its NATO defense spending target of 2% this year — two years ahead of schedule — citing a “serious” security situation. Sweden, the alliance’s newest member, says it will do the same. The two Nordic states can now rest assured that at least Donald Trump would protect them from a Russian invasion.
49: A new analysis found the workday for members of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s parliament is 49 minutes shorter than the 1997-2023 average, clocking in at only seven hours and nine minutes long. With all that extra time on their hands, Kate Middleton should be found in no time.
99: This week, 99% of Somalia’s debt was canceled by the Paris Club — a group of officials from major creditor countries including the United States, Japan, and Russia. Somalia’s information minister, Daud Aweis, called the move a “big milestone in the country’s journey to financial recovery.”
150: The number of UNESCO heritage sites in Germany rose to 150, with six entities being added this week. Notably, an Intangible Cultural Heritage designation was given to Berlin’s techno scene for its contribution to German culture. Oonts Oonts.Rock on the newest UNESCO site Anticosti Island
Hard Numbers: UNESCO rescues Canadian rock, Victoria taxes Airbnb for housing, US pays a price for Canada’s new pipeline, Ottawa runs risk with new tech tax
2.5 million: Faced with high rents, scarce affordable housing, and a lot of Airnbs, the city of Victoria is trying a new approach: the city council has voted to allocate $2.5 million worth of revenue raised from taxes on short-term rentals to build a new affordable housing building that will prioritize hospitality workers.
2: Canada’s long-delayed Trans Mountain oil pipeline extension is set to open early next year. By increasing the volume of oil shipped from Alberta oil fields to refiners and exporters on the Canadian Pacific coast, the line will divert crude that is currently sent south to U.S refineries. That will increase oil prices in the US by as much as $2 per barrel – bad news for the Biden Administration, which is hoping to keep gas prices as low as possible ahead of the 2024 election.
41: A group of 41 members of the US House of Representatives sent a frisky letter to Ottawa this week, warning the Canadian government not to impose a new tax on digital services. Nearly 140 other countries recently agreed to delay imposing their own digital services taxes as part of a broader international compromise, but Canada says it’s ready to move ahead on its own next year. The letter from the US, which is home to many of the world’s leading tech companies, blasts the measure as “aggressive and discriminatory” and says it will damage US-Canada relations.Storms help Australia contain Unesco heritage island fire that started two months ago
Fire had destroyed large swathes of Fraser Island's forests before heavy downpours arrived over the weekend
Unesco declares Indonesia's Toba Caldera as global geopark
JAKARTA (XINHUA) - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has declared the Toba Caldera natural lake in Indonesia's province of North Sumatra as a global geopark, Indonesia's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday (Jul7 8).
Penang proposes joint S'pore-Malaysia Unesco hawker culture bid
GEORGE TOWN • Penang's state government has proposed Singapore and Malaysia file a joint-nomination to list hawker culture under Unesco, but the idea did not go down well with critics on both sides of the Causeway.