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In an open letter addressed to U.S. President Biden, his Vice President Harris, and First Lady Jill Biden, 45 physicians, surgeons, and nurses wrote: "With only marginal exceptions, everyone in Gaza is sick, injured, or both. This includes every national aid worker, every international volunteer, and probably every Israeli hostage: every man, woman, and child."

The healthcare workers called on the Biden administration to "withhold military, economic, and diplomatic support from the state of Israel and to participate in an international arms embargo of both Israel and all Palestinian armed groups until a permanent cease-fire is established, and until good-faith negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians lead to a permanent resolution of the conflict."

The letter continues: "In Gaza we watched malnourished new mothers feed their underweight newborns infant formula made with poisonous water. We can never forget that the world abandoned these innocent women and babies."

The 45 health care specialists write that "every single signatory to this letter treated children in Gaza who suffered violence that must have been deliberately directed at them", adding that "every one of us on a daily basis treated pre-teen children who were shot in the head and chest."

The 45 urge the U.S. to impose a on both Israel and Palestinian armed groups by withholding military support for Israel and supporting an international arms embargo on both Israel and all Palestinian armed groups.

"We believe our government is obligated to do this, both under American law and International Humanitarian Law, and that it is the right thing to do."

From BBC:

• A series of fires has hit French high-speed rail lines, hours before the Paris Olympics opening ceremony
• Rail company SNCF says it's a "massive attack aimed at paralysing the network"; France's transport minister condemns the "co-ordinated malicious acts"
• Some 800,000 customers will be affected with disruption expected all weekend, the rail firm says
• Eurostar tells customers to postpone trips if they can, as it faces ongoing disruption

See also:

• https://apnews.com/live/olympics-opening-ceremony-2024-updates
• https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/vandals-target-frances-high-speed-rail-network-olympics-get-underway-2024-07-26/
• https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-26/france-s-high-speed-rail-network-disrupted-by-arson/104148714

Several top Russian officials have plunged to their deaths from windows in recent years, including a top oil executive and a defense official.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/18418065

Today, 7-Eleven's new owners, SEJ Asset Management & Investment Company — owned by Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Ltd — feel the company's U.S. locations need a makeover.

The company said some U.S. locations will soon have a significant change in their look, feel and product offerings, along with a rebranding that includes a certain Japanese flair.

Some customers could see much more of an emphasis on fresh sandwiches, fried chicken, sushi, and desserts in the menu offerings, too, rather than things like hot dogs and slurpees

... sushi?

C'mon Japan, you think Americans are going to trust raw fish 7-11 sushi?

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/1168909

Budget-conscious buyers hunting for rock-bottom prices at Temu may be getting more than they bargained for, a recent U.K. news program has found.

In “The Truth About Temu: Dispatches,” Channel 4 reporter Ellie Flynn found dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals in items from a $4 “silver effect” necklace to a $14 children’s jacket.

Operated by PDD Holding under the auspices of WhaleCo, the Chinese-founded marketplace has gained a massive following over the past two years, with one-quarter of the British population downloading the app and some half a million users worldwide.

Temu’s explosive rise has everything to do with the impossibly cheap prices it offers on everything from swimsuits to electric scooters, which can cost 10-40 percent less than on Shein, even for identical goods. That and the gamification of commerce—think discount roulette wheels and countdown timers—that once led GlobalData Retail analyst Neil Saunders to describe it as “addictive as sugar.”

Lenacapavir , sold as Sunlenca by US pharmaceutical giant Gilead, currently costs $42,250 for the first year. The company is being urged to make it available at a thousand times less than that price worldwide.

UNAids said it could “herald a breakthrough for HIV prevention” if the drug was available “rapidly and affordably”.

Given by injection every six months, lenacapavir can prevent infection and suppress HIV in people who are already infected.

In a trial, the drug offered 100% protection to more than 5,000 women in South Africa and Uganda, according to results announced by Gilead last month.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/1095217

Dissent is not tolerated in Vladimir Putin's Russia.

For years Kremlin critics have faced a host of laws which could be used against them, and since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that toolbox of measures has swelled in size.

The laws target basic rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of assembly - even though they are enshrined in Russia's constitution.

The repressive nature of the punishments, often disproportionate to the offence, harks back to the methods of the old Soviet Union.

According to Natalia Prilutskaya of Amnesty International, the Kremlin uses laws to “legitimise repression”, partly by exploiting the vague wording of some Russian laws.

"This vagueness allows law enforcement structures to qualify basically any activity as a forbidden activity, or at least it makes it easier," Ms Prilutskaya says.

• Ilya Yashin is one of the most high-profile critics of the war to be convicted under this law. The former head of a Moscow disctrict council was given eight and half years in jail for a live stream on YouTube in which he urged an investigation into the murder of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.

• In April 2023, prominent opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in jail on charges of treason and spreading "false information" about the Russian army.

• Russian-language tutor Raisa Boldova, 61, was handed a suspended one-year community service sentence for posting critical comments about attacks on civilians in Ukraine, including the bombing of the Mariupol maternity hospital.

• One man was fined for wearing blue-and-yellow shoes - seen as a violation of laws regulating political demonstrations.

• And a journalist from Vologda Region, Antonida Smolina, was visited by police after someone complained about photographs she had posted online showing her posing in a yellow coat against a blue sky.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/1095536

Download the report (pdf)

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Concerns about China’s government gaining insight into the operations of foreign governments, segments of the economy, or citizens have been sufficient to cause the US House of Representatives to pass legislation requiring the sale of a social media platform or face a ban from US app stores. And a few experts have warned the European Commission of the risks entailed by Chinese state-owned companies owning infrastructure in the 27 member states. But oversight mechanisms the EU has put in place to guard against outside influence have not been enough to keep China's Cosco and CMG out of major European ports.

When Jacob Gunter, an economic analyst at the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies (Merics) heard about the 67 per cent controlling stake Cosco had managed to amass in Piraeus by late 2021, it set alarm bells ringing. “It seems bizarre to me that Cosco has managed to take complete control of a strategically located European port,” Gunter said. “Being dependent on a foreign power is always risky – we learned that after the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” when Moscow threatened to cut off its outsize share of the European energy supply in response to sanctions.

Shanghai-based Cosco owns 496 container ships and has 17,000 employees worldwide (including subsidiaries), which makes the state-owned company the fourth largest shipping company after Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A (Switzerland), A.P. Møller-Maersk A/S (Denmark) and CMA CGM (France).

Together with the Vienna Institute for International Economics, Merics was commissioned by the European Parliament to analyse Cosco and CMG’s acquisition strategies for critical infrastructure in Europe. Gunter found that state-owned companies’ interest in the Union is not limited to Greece. The 2023 report he co-authored determined that Cosco and CMG together have invested more than 9 billion euros just in the maritime infrastructure of member states, including the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, and Greece.

The number of executions in Saudi Arabia has risen sharply in the first half of this year. As of July 15, the state executed 98 men and two women for charges related to murder, terrorism and drugs. This marks a 42% increase compared to the same period in 2023, according to a recent report

by the Berlin-based European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR).

"Some executions are not even for recognized common crimes, but for such political offenses as 'endangering national unity' or 'undermining societal security,'" Kenneth Roth, the former director of Human Rights Watch and current professor at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs, said.

The crackdown on civil rights' activists is in contrast to Saudi Arabia's so-called Vision 2030, an ambitious project to drive societal and economic overhaul in the country.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had introduced the set of reforms in 2017 in a bid to diversify the country's dependence on oil sales by investing in green technologies, boosting foreign investment, and opening the country to non-religious tourism. Part of this strategy included hosting global sports events, such as the upcoming Olympic Esports Games or the football World Cup in 2034. Critics say that Saudi investments in major sports events are an attempt to "sportswash" — or whitewash through the use of sports — the kingdom's human rights records by boosting its international popularity.

PARIS (AP) — Salt Lake City will be an Olympics host again after the IOC formally awarded the 2034 Winter Games to the United States bid on Wednesday, after a power move by Olympic officials who want to shut down a U.S. federal investigation of suspected doping by Chinese swimmers.

The capital city of Utah was the only candidate after the International Olympic Committee gave Salt Lake City exclusive negotiating rights last year in the process that was fast-tracked for 2034.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said in his state-of-the-nation address that the Philippines would press efforts to strengthen its defensive capability by forging security alliances with friendly countries to counter threats to its territorial interests in the South China Sea, adding that his country would only settle disputes through diplomacy.

He made the remarks on the territorial conflicts before legislators, top officials and diplomats at the House of Representatives after the worst confrontation between Chinese and Filipino forces in the disputed waters last month.

Marcos’ decision to ban the Chinese-run online gambling outfits — estimated to number more than 400 across the Philippines and employing tens of thousands of Chinese and Southeast Asian nationals— came amid an ongoing government crackdown backed by Beijing.

That led to the shutdown of several sprawling complexes with dozens of buildings, where authorities suspect thousands of Chinese, Vietnamese and other nationals mostly from Southeast Asia have been illegally recruited and forced to work in dismal conditions.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/1044810

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In other parts of the world, getting elected to lead one’s local press group is a cause of celebration — a sign that a journalist has become a pillar of the professional community, esteemed and trusted by their colleagues. But for Selina Cheng, it was a cause for concern. The day after she was chosen by members of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) to be their next chairperson, she told the China Media Project she was surprised not to have been immediately fired by her employer, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). When senior editors learned about her plan to stand on the eve of the election, her supervisor at the WSJ’s international desk in London told her to withdraw and quit the HKJA’s executive committee, where she had already served for three years.

The hostility Cheng faced from her workplace, however, only steeled her resolve to give back to the community. “Reporters in Hong Kong know their editors or employers don’t always have their backs,” she said. “That’s why the JA is so important. We want other journalists to know we’re here for them.”

The relief, however, would not last long. Less than a month later, Cheng was fired by the Journal, with World Coverage Chief Gordon Fairclough appearing at the Hong Kong bureau to deliver her termination notice in person. The weeks in between, she realized, were merely to square things with legal and prepare the paperwork — and the HKJA’s first battle to defend press freedom under her leadership would be her own.

For Hong Kong’s embattled journalists, defending the free press has become a fight on two fronts: against both an increasingly authoritarian government and their own employers, based in the West and nominally committed to liberal principles.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/1007323

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The Kremlin’s policy of sending hundreds of thousands of Russian men, including many prisoners, to war in Ukraine with little to no training or equipment has had predictable effects back on the home front: numerous soldiers have committed violent crimes upon returning home, and the country reportedly has a critical shortage of psychologists trained to treat PTSD.

The Russian authorities have been reluctant to criticize these veterans, with Putin calling for them to become the country’s “new elite.” But according to inside sources, the Putin’s team is well aware of the risks the returnees pose and fears Russian society isn’t prepared to accept them.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/1045378

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Analysts say China faces pressure to act on decade-old economic policy promises that it repeated at its leadership meeting last week.

With imbalances in China’s economy deepening, threats of lingering deflation, plus weak demand at home and increased hostility towards its export dominance abroad, national leaders chose policy continuity rather than any structural shifts at the twice a decade political event known as a plenum.

[...]

Analysts say China faces pressure to act on decade-old economic policy promises that it repeated at its leadership meeting last week.

With imbalances in China’s economy deepening, threats of lingering deflation, plus weak demand at home and increased hostility towards its export dominance abroad, national leaders chose policy continuity rather than any structural shifts at the twice a decade political event known as a plenum.

[...]

Huge inequalities, credibility deficit

China’s pledges to boost domestic demand, reform a Mao-era internal ‘hukou’ passport system blamed for huge rural-urban inequalities, strengthen rural land rights or improve social security also date back to at least 2013.

In reiterating a policy agenda with a mixed track record, Beijing faces a credibility deficit it did not have a decade ago and will need to act with more urgency if it wants to lift business and consumer sentiment from near-record lows, economists say.

Unusually for a plenum, as they tend to be vague on implementation timelines, Beijing committed to meet its policy goals by 2029. But the concrete deadline failed to inspire investors.

[...]

China is betting on high-tech export products becoming a new driver of growth that compensates for the dwindling returns on infrastructure investment and the growing writedowns it faces after its giant real estate bubble popped in 2021.

That bet is unnerving Washington, Brussels and other capitals that argue Beijing is driving industrial overcapacity in various sectors that cheapen Chinese exports and threaten manufacturing jobs around the world.

It also concerns many economists who have argued the world’s second-largest economy needs to reduce its over-reliance on external markets and debt-fuelled investment and stimulate household consumption instead.

Transshipments through Hong Kong of Common High Priority Items (CHPL) — advanced components including microelectronics deemed by the U.S. and European Union as likely to be used for Russia's war in Ukraine — fell 28% between January and May, according to data by the U.S. Commerce Department.

For the same period, transshipments of those items through mainland China, excluding Hong Kong, fell 19%, the official said. Reuters is reporting the previously undisclosed numbers for the first time.

A separate customs dataset from C4ADS, a Washington-based global security non-profit, showed that over 200 Hong Kong-registered firms shipped nearly $2 billion worth of goods to Russian buyers between August and December 2023.

The data, outlined in an upcoming report by The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation (CFHK) and reviewed by Reuters, showed $750 million worth of CHPL items -- ranging from high-end chips by Nvidia and France's Vectrawave, to lower-end chips from Texas Instruments and Intel -- were shipped via Hong Kong between August and December 2023.

Some of these restricted goods were shipped to sanctioned Russian firms, CFHK said.

Cross posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/15110888

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Chinese leaders have been citing the billions of dollars committed to new construction projects and record two-way trade as evidence of their commitment to assist with the Africa’s modernisation and foster “win-win” cooperation.

But the data reveals a relationship that is still largely extractive and has so far failed to live up to some of Beijing’s rhetoric about the Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping’s strategy to build an infrastructure network connecting China to the world.

While new Chinese investment in Africa increased 114% last year, according to the Griffith Asia Institute at Australia’s Griffith University, it was heavily focused on minerals essential to the global energy transition and China’s plans to revive its own flagging economy, but has brought less advantage to Africa.

• Minerals and oil also dominated African-Chinese trade. As efforts falter to boost other imports from Africa, including agricultural products and manufactured goods, the continent’s trade deficit with China has ballooned.

• The result is a more one-sided relationship than China says it wants, one that is dominated by imports of Africa’s raw materials and that some analysts argue contains echoes of colonial-era Europe’s economic relations with the continent.

• Although two-way trade reached a record $282 billion last year, according to Chinese customs data, the value of Africa’s exports to China fell 7%, mainly due to a decline in oil prices, and Africa's trade deficit widened 46%.

• Many projects of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which grew rapidly in the two decades before the COVID-19 pandemic, proved unprofitable. As some governments struggled to repay loans, China cut lending. COVID-19 then pushed it to turn inward, and Chinese construction projects in Africa fell.

• China's hunt for critical minerals is a main driver of African infrastructure construction. In January, for example, Chinese companies pledged up to $7 billion in infrastructure investment under a revision of their copper and cobalt joint venture agreement with Democratic Republic of Congo.

• With one of Africa’s largest trade deficits to China, Kenya has been pushing to increase access to the world’s second-largest consumer market, recently gaining it for avocados and seafood. But cumbersome health and hygiene regulations mean Chinese consumers remain out of reach for many producers.

• Overall, Kenyan exports to China fell over 15% to $228 million, Chinese customs data showed, as a decline in titanium production led to a drop in shipments of the metal – a key export to China. But Chinese manufactured goods kept coming.

Unless African nations can add value to their exports through increased processing and manufacturing, says Francis Mangeni, an advisor at the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area, “we are just exporting raw minerals to fuel their economy.”