U.S. and world news for July 24

Israeli vote on courts: Members of Israel’s Parliament who are opposed to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s plan to end the independence of the country’s judicial system and increase his power walked out of the parliament’s session today in protest just before a vote was taken on the issue. Because no opposition members were there to vote, Netanyahu got what he wanted on a vote of 64 to 0, diminishing the power of Israel’s Supreme Court. There had been massive protests throughout Israel, with protesters saying Netanyahu was starting the country down the road to ending democracy as the country has known it since its founding.

Big box office: This past weekend is expected to go down in the film industry record books as the fourth best ever at the box office, with ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada topping $300 million. The movie “Barbie” pulled in $155 million while “Oppenheimer” did $80.5 million in ticket sales the U.S. and Canadian markets. In addition, “Barbie” brought in $182 million overseas while “Oppenheimer” did $93.7 million overseas.

Twitter gets an X: Elon Musk continues today to make changes to Twitter, while the site’s value hovers at around half of the $44 billion he paid to buy it. Musk has introduced a new logo for Twitter. It a large “X.” The “X” is replacing the blue bird that served as Twitter’s logo since its inception. In April, the name of the corporation that operates Twitter was changed from “Twitter Inc.” to “X Corp.”

Drone attack in Moscow: Russian officials today accused Ukraine of using two drones to attack buildings in Moscow. The Russians said that the buildings hit were not residential. Yesterday, one person was killed and about two dozen injured in a Russian missile attack on a historic Orthodox cathedral in the Ukrainian port city Odessa.

Mass shootings: The Gun Violence Archive, which keeps track of shootings in the U.S., says that there have been 400 mass shooting incidents in the U.S. so far this year. In 2019, it took 356 days for there to be 400 mass shootings. The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as an event in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.

Missing soldier: The U.N. Command, which oversees tours of the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea has begun talks with North Korea about the status of Travis King, the U.S. soldier who ran across the border into North Korea last week. A British Lt. General who serves with the U.N. Command confirmed that talks were underway but declined to give details.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.