World Briefing: August 19, 2024
Doctors in India have held a national strike, escalating the protest against the rape and murder of a female colleague in the West Bengal city of Kolkata. More than a million were expected to join the strikes, as hospitals and clinics across the country turned away non-emergency patients. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) described last week's killing as a "crime of barbaric scale due to the lack of safe spaces for women" and asked for the country's support in its "struggle for justice". Protests against the attack and calling for the better protection of women have intensified in recent days after a mob vandalised the hospital where it happened. In a statement, the IMA said emergency and casualty services would continue to run. The strike ended at 06:00 local time on Sunday (00:30 GMT). The association's president, R. V. Asokan, told the BBC doctors have been suffering and protesting against violence for years, but that this incident was "qualitatively different". If such a crime can happen in a medical college in a major city, it shows "everywhere doctors are unsafe", he said. Doctors at some government hospitals announced earlier this week that they were indefinitely halting elective procedures. - BBC
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under fresh pressure to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadow missiles after Volodymyr Zelensky said British support was “slowing down”. The Ukrainian president complained that British aid to Kyiv had begun to wane as his forces continued their unprecedented incursion into Russian territory in the Kursk region. “Unfortunately, the situation has slowed down recently,” Mr Zelensky said, referring to UK military assistance. Sir Keir has upheld a Conservative ban on using UK-made Storm Shadows to strike targets deep inside Russia, amid concerns it could lead to escalation with nuclear-armed Moscow. “We will discuss how to fix this because long-range capabilities are vital for us. The whole world sees how effective Ukrainians are – how our entire nation defends its independence,” said Mr Zelensky. It came as four former Conservative defence secretaries called on No 10 to do more to support Ukraine, with some demanding Kyiv be allowed to use Storm Shadows in the Russian offensive. Mr Zelensky said that it was “crucial” for Britain, France and the US to “remove barriers that hinder us from weakening Russian positions”. Any use of long-range Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia by Ukraine would require the consent of both Britain and France, which jointly developed them, as well as the United States. The White House denied reports that the US was blocking a request by the UK for Ukraine to use the missiles - Daily Telegraph
Today is World Humanitarian Day. The World Health Organization says its marks “a grim milestone” – 1,940 confirmed attacks on health care facilities in Ukraine. This is the highest number WHO has ever recorded in any humanitarian emergency globally to date. In addition, new patterns in the progression of the attacks have been observed. For over 2.5 years now, 86% of all such attacks have impacted health facilities, with a significant proportion of such attacks involving heavy weapons. Moreover, WHO-verified attacks on health facilities have intensified significantly since December 2023 – occurring on a near-daily basis. Since February 2022, on average, 200 ambulances per year have been damaged or destroyed in shelling attacks. In its statement, WHO makes no mention of Russia as the source of the attacks in Ukraine
Elon Musk said he closed the Brazilian office of his social network X on Saturday because a Brazilian Supreme Court judge ordered the company to suspend certain accounts or face the arrest of its legal representative in Brazil. X said its service would remain available to users in Brazil. The company did not say how many people it employed in Brazil. The move is a sharp escalation in Mr. Musk’s monthslong feud with the Brazilian judge, Alexandre de Moraes, whom he has accused of silencing conservative voices online. Mr. Moraes has said he is cleaning up the internet by removing misinformation and attacks on Brazilian institutions. - NYT
Acute malnutrition is rapidly increasing in areas of Yemen controlled by the government, with the most critical cases along areas of the Red Sea coast, U.N. food security experts said. The war between the Saudi-backed government and Iran-aligned Houthi militia, stalemated for years, has caused the economic collapse of the already widely impoverished Arabian Peninsula country and one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. In a report, the U.N. said malnutrition had worsened from the combined effect of the spread of diseases such as cholera and measles, a shortage of nutritious food, a lack of drinking water, and broader economic decline. The number of children in Yemen under the age of five suffering acute malnutrition, or wasting, has risen by 34% compared with the previous year across government-controlled areas, a UN report said. - Reuters
On Sunday, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics reported that the economy grew at a much slower pace in the second quarter of the year, falling short of economists’ forecasts, as the months-long war with the Hamas terror group continues to take a heavy toll on exports and investments. The economy had been projected to expand 2.3% and the shrinkage can be attributed to the number of working men and women currently serving as Reservists, a 26% decrease in construction investments, and the closure of businesses in the North and South.
The share of job listings in the U.S. that advertise remote or hybrid work has declined from its 2022 peak — but is still far greater than pre-pandemic levels. Only 2.6% of job postings offered remote options in 2019. By May 2022, the number rose to more than 10%. And this past July, 7.6% of listings offered remote or hybrid options. Remote and hybrid work is settling into a new normal — more prevalent than five years ago, but not quite at the levels seen during the Great Resignation. But CEOs seem to be an exception. Incoming Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol won't have to relocate to Seattle headquarters from his current home in Newport Beach, Calif. Hillary Super, the new CEO of Victoria's Secret, won't be relocating to the company's headquarters in Ohio. Instead, she'll fly in from New York.Though there's no comprehensive data, there are many examples of CEOs who are "working from anywhere," says Raj Choudhury of Harvard Business School. “I think the CEO going remote is commendable," he says. The next step would be giving other employees similar flexibility. - Axios
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has repatriated 331 passengers who were stranded in Kazakhstan after an incident at Astana airport on Saturday. They were picked up by Austrian Airlines on Sunday. A SWISS plane had got stuck in a meadow during a manoeuvre at Astana airport on Saturday and had remained blocked on the ground. The passengers had to spend the night in hotels in Astana and took off on Sunday with an Austrian Airlines plane for Vienna, SWISS said. From Vienna, a SWISS plane took the passengers to Zurich. The SWISS Boeing 777 was flying from Tokyo to Zurich on Satuday and had to make a stopover in Astana due to a medical emergency. During a manoeuvre on the runway, the aircraft’s front wheel became stuck in a meadow. The plane was eventually towed back to the runway. There were no injuries. - Swiss Info
Royal Bank of Canada said it has proof that its former chief financial officer engaged in an intimate relationship with a colleague that she failed to disclose, citing exchanges between the two over text messages and emails. Canada’s biggest lender filed a statement of defense and counterclaim on Friday in the wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed earlier this month by Nadine Ahn, the executive it fired in April after 25 years at the bank. - Bloomberg
