South Asian Floods, Gas Tax Holiday, and a Real Big Fish

Your Daily Brief

June 21st, 2022

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Today’s Highlights

Millions stranded and displaced from floods in India and Bangladesh
President Biden is considering a gas tax holiday
Israel dissolves parliament and will head to new elections

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Millions stranded and displaced from floods in India and Bangladesh

In regions of India and Bangladesh, rains and monsoons lasting for days have caused flooding which has displaced millions and left dozens dead.

Over the last week, heavy rains brought about floods in the northeast region of Bangladesh, which were exacerbated by run-off from downpours across the mountains in neighboring India. Both countries deployed their militaries over the weekend to rescue individuals stranded by the flooding, which some Bangladesh government officials have described as the country's worst since 2004.

According to Indian officials, at least 116 people in the country have died from lightning strikes along with the flooding. At least 38 individuals have also been killed in neighboring Bangladesh, per the Foundation for Disaster Forum, a nonprofit working to provide food and shelter to people in the eastern Bangladesh city of Sylhet.

The flooding comes less than one month after parts of the two countries experienced rains that submerged towns and forced millions to seek shelter on higher ground. Recent monsoons have also caused landslides which make it difficult for emergency workers to reach affected individuals, and forecasters have warned that the flooding could worsen in the coming days.

President Biden is considering a gas tax holiday

President Biden said yesterday that he is considering a temporary halt in the federal gas tax to help bring down record gas prices ahead of the July 4th holiday.

White House officials said the administration is targeting the July 4th weekend because it marks a time when tens of millions of Americans are expected to embark on road trips. In theory, placing a temporary halt on the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon would reduce the prices that consumers pay for gas by roughly 15 cents per gallon, according to estimates from industry experts.

While President Biden told reporters he hoped to “have a decision based on the data” by week’s end, the House and Senate would still need to approve a holiday on the federal gas tax–which is a direct source of funding for the nation’s roads, per the infrastructure bill that Congress passed last November.

As of last night, the nationwide average for the price of gas was just under $5 per gallon, according to data from AAA.

Israel dissolves parliament and will head to new elections

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office said yesterday that his coalition of eight parties will dissolve and the country will head to a new election.

When he announced his plan to disband the government during a news conference, Bennett said he felt that he made the “right decision” under difficult circumstances, and added: “Together, we got Israel out of the pit. We accomplished many things in this year. First and foremost, we brought to center stage the values of fairness and trust. We shifted to a culture of ‘we,’ ‘together.’”

Bennett has struggled to keep the eight parties of his coalition together since he took office in June 2021, and the group lost its majority in Israel’s parliament earlier this year. After today’s announcement, the Likud party of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (currently on trial for corruption) is the likely candidate to emerge as Israel’s largest single party, according to opinion polls in the country.

As Israel heads to an election expected in October or November–its fifth in three years–Bennett’s main partner, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, will serve as the country’s interim Prime Minister.

Around the Globe

A Japanese court ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage in the country is constitutional
Eight people were killed and 38 others kidnapped when gunmen attacked two churches in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna, according to an official from the Christian Association of Nigeria
London’s Heathrow Airport asks airlines to cut 10% of flights from two terminals after experiencing technical issues and luggage pileups at baggage collection areas

On the Homefront

The first flight carrying baby formula from London arrived at Logan Airport in Boston yesterday; the White House says the U.S. will receive 212,000 pounds of Kendamil formula from overseas between June 20-24
Members of Congress along with other advocates push to expand the 13th Amendment to provide worker protections for incarcerated people forced into working for little pay
Heat waves currently affecting Midwestern states will migrate to the Southeast this week, per the National Weather Service

Glitz and Games

Singer Harry Styles and Alessandro Michele, creative director at Gucci, unveil a new collection called “HaHaHa”
The Phoenix Suns are hiring Morgan Cato as assistant general manager and vice president of basketball operations, who makes history as the first woman of color to hold an assistant GM position
The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Colorado Avalanche with a final score of 6-2 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals (Avalanche lead series 2-1)

Money Moves

The stock market reopens today after being closed in observance of Juneteenth; major index futures rose last night ahead of today’s trading
JetBlue raises the offer to buy Spirit Airlines to $33.50 per share in a bid to convince the carrier to accept its offer instead of rival Frontier Airlines’ proposal
President Biden said he doesn’t think a recession is inevitable after speaking with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers

Tip & Tricks

Bump This: Check out Beyoncé’s new single “Break My Soul” which she dropped at midnight last night on Apple Music and Spotify
Game On: Video game company Aspyr confirms that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 is unbeatable on Nintendo Switch due to a bug and asserts a patch is in the works (so…good luck)
Double Take: Scientists discover the world’s largest freshwater fish ever documented, a 660-pound giant stingray almost 13 feet long caught in Cambodia’s Mekong river
Cash Grab: A half-finished cruise ship could be sold for scrap since its parent company declared bankruptcy and is struggling to find a buyer
Say What: “You’re my hero. You quit a great acting career for this,” Ben Stiller said to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a trip to the country, adding, “What you’ve done and the way you’ve rallied the country and for the world, it’s really inspiring.”
Hot Goss: Rob Kardashian and former partner Blac Chyna settled and averted a trial over the allegation that Kardashian illegally posted private naked photos of Chyna to Instagram in July 2017
Life Hack: When warming food in the microwave, leaving an empty circle in the middle of the plate makes the food heat up much faster

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Looking Back…

On June 21st, 1997, the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) debuted with the playing of the league's first game, in which the New York Liberty defeated the Los Angeles Sparks.