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Elephants recover from trauma in social refuges
โThey feel all the vibration and energy that comes into their area, which is one of the reasons we're not open to the public, because I can't control people's energy. They're recovering from the trauma that they experienced living in captivity. And for them to open up and trust you while you are there with them, helping them work through it, it's indescribable.โ
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Far-right rebellion destabilized the House speakership
โThe dominant political story of the year has been the 270-day-long speakership of Representative Kevin McCarthy, whose slim majority in the House of Representatives has enabled a far-right rebellion to exert more weight over the lower chamber. The battle between the rebellious Freedom Caucus and McCarthy has been at the heart of an averted debt ceiling crisis and the annual budget debate.โ
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AI sparked historic Hollywood labor strikes
โThe rise of artificial intelligence and large language models dominated not only the economy but has also been at the root of a Hollywood double strike conducted by Writers Guild of America and a SAG APTRA strike. These were part of a larger phenomenon of labor strikes across the country, in which such large diverse groups, such as Teamsters and Auto Workers won new contracts.โ
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Regional bank failures triggered a global crisis
โ2023 also saw the roots of a global banking crisis arise out of four American regional banks, the two largest being Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank. 2021's inflation surge moderated in 2023, while the Federal Reserve continued to raise its interest rates in the first half of the year.โ
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Mass shootings remained at record high levels
โMass shootings in 2023 have also continued in high numbers, with 528 occurring as of October 2 according to Gun Violence Archive. Additionally in 2023, as of November 8, the US experienced 25 weather and climate disasters which caused at least $1 billion in damage each.โ
