World Briefing: September 1, 2024
Today, Sunday, WHO and partners will begin a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza, aimed to reach more than 640 000 children under ten years of age. The campaign comes after the first polio case was reported in Gaza in a quarter of a century — a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in the leg. The world health body says the presence of a paralysis case indicates there could be hundreds more who have been infected but aren’t showing symptoms. The campaign will involve two doses of vaccine, given in two rounds, four weeks apart. More than 1.2 million doses of vaccine have been delivered to Gaza, and 400 000 more doses will arrive soon. WHO says it has trained more than 2180 health workers and community outreach workers to provide vaccination and inform communities about the campaign. The aim is to reach at least 90% vaccination coverage during each round of the campaign to stop the current outbreak and prevent the international spread of polio. The campaign will be delivered in a phased approach over three days in each round, starting with Central Gaza followed by South Gaza, and then North Gaza.
Separately, WHO estimates 10,000 critical patients need immediate medivac from Gaza. Only 85 patients have been evacuated since May 6 through the border crossings that Israel controls, the world health agency says. It adds up to nothing less than a humanitarian disaster. There’s currently over one-million cases of acute respiratory infections in the strip, on top of many other preventable illnesses says Gaza WHO chief Rik Peeperkorn
Israel’s military said it has recovered the bodies of six hostages killed by Hamas militants in Gaza – including an Israeli-American captive – dealing fresh heartbreak to relatives who fear time is running out for loved ones seized by the militants more than 10 months ago. Among the bodies found was that of California native Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose ordeal after he was taken at gunpoint at the Nova music festival on October 7 led to him becoming one of the faces of the devastating international hostage crisis that has challenged the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and triggered widespread destruction in Gaza. Israeli soldiers found the six bodies in tunnels under the enclave, according to the military. The hostages were killed “a short while before we reached them,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a briefing. - CNN
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that the six murdered would still be alive if the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reached a deal with Hamas for their release. “If it weren’t for the saboteurs, the excuses, and the spin, the hostages who [whose bodies were found] would probably be alive.” They continued, “Netanyahu abandoned the hostages. It is now a fact. Starting tomorrow, the country will tremble. We call on the public to prepare. The country will grind to a halt. The abandonment is over.” Following the recovery of six murdered Israeli hostages overnight, 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF.
A Hong Kong court has found two former chief editors of the now-defunct independent news outlet Stand News guilty of sedition in a landmark case that has taken place amid a security crackdown in the China-ruled city. District Court judge Kwok Wai-kin announced the verdict on Thursday, declaring former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam guilty of conspiring to publish seditious publications. He said 11 of 17 articles that the prosecution presented as evidence were seditious under the colonial-era sedition law. The judge did not immediately hand down a sentence, but the pair could face as long as two years in prison and a fine of 5,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $640), Al Jazeera reported. Stand was a free, non-profit online newspaper started in 2014. Stand had been one of the city’s last media outlets that openly criticized the government as it waged a crackdown on dissent following massive pro-democracy protests in 2019. It was shut down just months after the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, whose jailed founder Jimmy Lai is fighting collusion charges under a sweeping national security law enacted in 2020, the AP reported.
Since his Democratic convention speech last week, U.S. President Joe Biden has spoken with at least five world leaders, CNN reported. He spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the continued threats from Iran and the need for a ceasefire deal on August 21. Last Friday, still in California, Biden spoke with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani and, separately, with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to “discuss diplomatic efforts to bring the ceasefire and hostage release deal to a conclusion,” the White House said. Those calls occurred as crucial hostage and ceasefire talks took place in Cairo. Also on Friday, the president spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of Ukraine’s Independence Day, while rolling out an announcement about new aid for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. He also spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to discuss his Indian counterpart’s recent trip to Ukraine. And finally, Biden announced another set of judicial nominees during his vacation — putting him in a position to have named more judges on the bench than his predecessor, CNN reported
This week IBM announced plans to cut more than 1,000 jobs at two of its mainland Chinese R&D labs. Local employees expressed dismay in a terse conference call with top management. The call had been scheduled to go for half an hour but ended after only three minutes, according to an internal meeting transcript seen by SCMP. During the meeting, US-based executives told staff that IBM had decided to shift some Chinese operations overseas, citing market dynamics and fierce competition in the infrastructure business on the mainland. They did not take questions.The layoffs sent shockwaves through China’s IT community, but were not surprising given the geopolitical environment. US companies have been losing their appeal in China in recent years, as Beijing intensifies its self-reliance campaign and strives to reduce dependence on foreign technologies. - SCMP
Europe is set for an unusually warm start to September, following a summer of heat waves and drought in the southeast of the continent. Temperatures on the mainland are forecast to be 5C to 8C above the 30-year average at the beginning of the month, according to Atmospheric G2. Southern Germany, the Balkans, Ukraine and the Baltics will be particularly warm, said Matthew Dross, a meteorologist at forecaster Maxar Technologies Inc. Global warming is extending summer heat into September and even October in Europe. That’s increasing the threat from extreme weather events, such as floods, violent storms and wildfires, but milder conditions could also delay the start of the heating season in a repeat of 2023. - Bloomberg
This Labor Day weekend in the U.S. is expected to be the busiest ever for the holiday at airports — with 17 million passengers planning to fly through Wednesday, the Transportation Security Administration said. On Friday, there were over 8,000 delays and 450 cancellations affecting flights within, into or out of the U.S. By Saturday afternoon, there had already been 1,800 delays and 180 cancellations, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware. - NPR
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