Our daily voyage around the world

🇧🇩 Bangladesh garment workers are protesting for higher wages. In Bangladesh, the second largest garment-producing country after China, clothing factory workers receive a minimum wage of $75/month. Thousands of local garment workers, who are seeking a ~3x increase in minimum pay, joined public protests this week following a proposal from their employers that would boost wages by 25%. Bangladesh’s garment industry accounts for 85% of its $55 billion in annual exports, supplying major Western brands like Adidas, Gap, H&M, and Levi Strauss.

💥 Israel-Hamas war update: Israel's military yesterday said its forces have surrounded Gaza City as part of a push to cut the Gaza Strip in two and isolate the northern half. The Hamas-run health agency updated the Palestinian death toll to more than 9,000 since the war began on October 7, with human rights groups reporting more than half of the Gaza Strip’s ~2.3 million residents have been displaced from their homes. On the US side, President Biden said 74 Americans and family members made it out of Gaza yesterday, and called for a humanitarian pause in the war.

🇬🇧 Legendary British band The Beatles released their final song with help from AI (listen here). The new song, “Now and Then,” was originally written and recorded by John Lennon in the 1970s, but was later worked on in 1995 by Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. However, it remained unfinished due to a lack of verses and poor audio quality. That changed in 2022, when McCartney and Starr used the same AI-enhanced technical restoration methods that director Peter Jackson utilized in his 2021 Beatles documentary series. A short film telling the story behind “Now And Then” was also released alongside the song.