Farmers Promise to ‘Escalate’ Protests Against Government Shutdown Orders

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Farmers in the Netherlands reduced nitrogen pollution by nearly 70% through a voluntary system. But the government says that is not enough and is demanding that they cut pollution by another 50% by 2030.

By the Dutch government’s own estimates, 11,200 farms out of the roughly 35,000 dedicated to dairy and livestock would have to close under its policies; 17,600 farmers would have to reduce livestock; and total livestock would need to be reduced by one-half to one-third. The Dutch government has demanded that animal farming stop entirely in many places. Of the over $25.7 billion the government has set aside to reduce pollution, just $1 billion is for technological innovation, with most of the rest for buying out farmers.

This effort has sparked a fierce backlash among Dutch farmers, who argue that the government seems more interested in reducing animal agriculture than in finding solutions that protect the food supply and their livelihoods.

“Why would you buy out farmers or reduce livestock when you have the possibility to invest in innovation?” asked Caroline van der Plas, the founder and sole Member of Parliament for the Farmer-Citizen Movement party, or BBB in Dutch. “The car industry innovated for the past 40 years. There aren’t fewer cars and the cars we have are cleaner. We even have electrical cars. That’s what I think is so crazy. Why don’t we treat the farmers just like the car industry? Give them time to develop solutions or innovate? We can produce food in a much more efficient and cleaner way if we do that. And it’s much cheaper also then by buying out farmers.”

Farmer protests in the Netherlands come at a time of heightened global food insecurity created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a major wheat exporter. (Read more from “Farmers Promise to ‘Escalate’ Protests Against Government Shutdown Orders” HERE)

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To Avoid Sanctions, Countries Are Ditching the US Dollar

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Russia, China and other countries have escalated efforts to ditch transactions made with U.S. dollars in 2022, helping them bypass Western sanctions and keep their economies afloat.

Since Western countries levied heavy sanctions on Russia in punishment for its invasion of Ukraine, India has increased its imports of Russian coal and natural gas, paying in Chinese yuan, United Arab Emirates dirham, Hong Kong dollar, and euro, Reuters reported Wednesday. Turkey and Iran have also forged agreements with Russia to base bilateral commerce on the Russian ruble, an effort to divest from dependence on the “toxic” U.S. dollar while easing the effect of sanctions on the Russian economy.

“The current round of turbulence is likely to increase … momentum in the creation of a rival reserve currency or currencies to help supplant the oversized role of the dollar,” Anthony Kim, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation specializing in international economic issues, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The dollar comprised 60% of countries’ foreign exchange reserves, used to trade with one another, in 2021, and dominates international transactions, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve Board. U.S. sanctions cut off countries from accessing dollars for international trade. (Read more from “To Avoid Sanctions, Countries Are Ditching the US Dollar” HERE)

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Not Again: China Detects First Human Cases of Another Novel Virus

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Scientists from China and Singapore recently announced the detection of a novel animal-derived virus known as Langya henipavirus (LayV) in at least 35 humans across China’s eastern provinces of Henan and Shandong, China’s state-run Global Times reported on Tuesday, noting that the zoonotic virus is often found in shrews.

The scientists first announced their discovery in a letter to the editor published by the New England Journal of Medicine on August 4.

The document read, in part:

During sentinel surveillance of febrile patients with a recent history of animal exposure in eastern China, a phylogenetically distinct henipavirus, named Langya henipavirus (LayV), was identified in a throat swab sample from one patient […].

Subsequent investigation identified 35 patients with acute LayV infection in the Shandong and Henan provinces of China, among whom 26 were infected with LayV only (no other pathogens were present).

These 26 patients presented with fever (100% of the patients), fatigue (54%), cough (50%), anorexia (50%), myalgia [muscle pain] (46%), nausea (38%), headache (35%), and vomiting (35%), accompanied by abnormalities of thrombocytopenia [low blood platelet count] (35%), leukopenia [low white blood cell count] (54%), and impaired liver (35%) and kidney (8%) function.

(Read more from “Not Again: China Detects First Human Cases of Another Novel Virus” HERE)

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Israel, Palestinian Militants Declare Gaza Truce

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Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group declared a truce late on Sunday, raising hopes of an end to the most serious flare-up on the Gaza frontier in more than a year.

Israeli forces pounded Palestinian targets through the weekend, triggering rocket attacks against its cities, which largely tapered off by the time the truce came into effect at 11:30 p.m. local time.

It was announced in separate statements by Islamic Jihad and then Israel, who both thanked Egypt for mediating the ceasefire.

The three-day clashes echoed preludes to previous Gaza wars, though they were relatively contained as Hamas, the governing Islamist group in the Gaza Strip and a more powerful force than Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad, had so far stayed out. (Read more from “Israel, Palestinian Militants Declare Gaza Truce” HERE)

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China Will Refuse to Take Back Illegal Immigrants in Retaliation for Pelosi Visit

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China said Friday that it will stop accepting deportees from the U.S. as part of its retaliation for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit this week to Taiwan.

The move was among nine steps announced by China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, along with ending cooperation on transnational crime and drugs, and halting talks on climate change.

It also raises the stakes for the Biden administration, which under U.S. law can punish countries that refuse to cooperate on deportations by refusing to issue new visas to that country’s citizens.

That decision belongs to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday, but analysts urged the Biden administration to strike back. (Read more from “China Will Refuse to Take Back Illegal Immigrants in Retaliation for Pelosi Visit” HERE)

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China Retaliates Against United States Over Pelosi’s Visit to Taiwan

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China has suspended all planned discussions with the U.S. on key international issues as retaliation against the U.S. congressional delegation’s visit to Taiwan.

Beijing on Friday made the announcement that the Chinese Communist Party was canceling all discussions of climate change, drug networks and military action.

China attributed the decision to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s congressional delegation and their trip to the island of Taiwan.

“The cancellation also sent a clear signal to the U.S. that the Chinese side will never accept the U.S. blatantly damaging China-U.S. relations without bearing any consequences,” said U.S. studies scholar Lü Xiang from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to reporters Thursday about the recent congressional delegation to Taiwan, trying to smooth over the visit. (Read more from “China Retaliates Against United States Over Pelosi’s Visit to Taiwan” HERE)

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Amnesty International: Ukraine Armed Forces Hiding Weapons Systems in Heavily Populated Areas, Including in Schools and Hospitals

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By Amnesty International. Ukrainian forces have put civilians in harm’s way by establishing bases and operating weapons systems in populated residential areas, including in schools and hospitals, as they repelled the Russian invasion that began in February, Amnesty International said today.

Such tactics violate international humanitarian law and endanger civilians, as they turn civilian objects into military targets. The ensuing Russian strikes in populated areas have killed civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure.

“We have documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk and violating the laws of war when they operate in populated areas,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. . .

Between April and July, Amnesty International researchers spent several weeks investigating Russian strikes in the Kharkiv, Donbas and Mykolaiv regions. The organization inspected strike sites; interviewed survivors, witnesses and relatives of victims of attacks; and carried out remote-sensing and weapons analysis. Throughout these investigations, researchers found evidence of Ukrainian forces launching strikes from within populated residential areas as well as basing themselves in civilian buildings in 19 towns and villages in the regions. The organization’s Crisis Evidence Lab has analyzed satellite imagery to further corroborate some of these incidents.

Most residential areas where soldiers located themselves were kilometres away from front lines. Viable alternatives were available that would not endanger civilians – such as military bases or densely wooded areas nearby, or other structures further away from residential areas. In the cases it documented, Amnesty International is not aware that the Ukrainian military who located themselves in civilian structures in residential areas asked or assisted civilians to evacuate nearby buildings – a failure to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians. (Read more from “Amnesty International: Ukraine Armed Forces Hiding Weapons Systems in Heavily Populated Areas, Including in Schools and Hospitals” HERE)

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Zelensky Seeks Direct Talks With Xi Amid War With Russia

By Bloomberg. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Chinese leader Xi Jinping to hold direct talks, noting Beijing hasn’t replied to such requests since Russia invaded his country some five months ago.

The last time the pair spoke was one year ago, Zelenskiy told the South China Morning Post in an interview published Thursday. Since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, he said the Ukrainian side had “asked officially for a conversation” with Xi but hadn’t received a response. Such a dialog, he added, “would be helpful.”

The leader of the world’s second largest economy has refused to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine and declared a “no limits” friendship with Putin weeks before the invasion, making any call with Zelenskiy potentially awkward. Xi and Putin spoke within days of the war’s beginning, and the Russian leader called Xi on the latter’s birthday in June.

Dialog between Ukraine and China has been limited to lower level diplomatic exchanges, such as those between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Ukrainian counterpart. (Read more from “Zelensky Seeks Direct Talks With Xi Amid War With Russia” HERE)

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Pelosi’s Taiwan Visit Shows Politicians Can No Longer Ignore Americans’ Concerns About China

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By Breitbart. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) visit to Taiwan, completed in defiance of belligerent threats from the hideous regime in Beijing, drew genuine bipartisan support from U.S. lawmakers and voters alike.

Even in a time of deep political divisions, with a potentially earthshaking midterm election coming up, Americans are united in their concerns about the new Evil Empire and its malignant influence upon the freedom, health, and security of the Western world.

A considerable number of sitting Republican legislators and former Trump administration officials expressed public support for Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. The GOP caucus was far more vocally supportive of Pelosi than the perpetually befuddled Biden administration, even though President Joe Biden ostensibly campaigned on standing up to Communist China.

“What is the Pentagon thinking when it publicly warns against Speaker Pelosi going to Taiwan? If we are so intimidated by the Chinese Communists we can’t even protect an American Speaker of the House, why should Beijing believe we can help Taiwan survive? Timidity is dangerous,” Pelosi’s predecessor Newt Gingrich, the last Speaker of the House to visit Taiwan, said in a characteristic Republican comment. (Read more from “Pelosi’s Taiwan Visit Shows Politicians Can No Longer Ignore Americans’ Concerns About China” HERE)

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US-China Ties on a Precipice After Pelosi Visit to Taiwan

By Associated Press. U.S.-China relations are teetering on a precipice after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

Pelosi received a rapturous welcome in Taipei and was applauded with strong bipartisan support in Washington, despite the Biden administration’s misgivings. But her trip has enraged Beijing and Chinese nationalists and will complicate already strained ties even after her departure.

Already, China is preparing new shows of force in the Taiwan Strait to make clear that its claims are non-negotiable on the island it regards as a renegade province. And, as the U.S. presses ahead with demonstrations of support for Taiwan, arms sales and diplomatic lobbying, the escalating tensions have raised the risks of military confrontation, intentional or not. (Read more from “US-China Ties on a Precipice After Pelosi Visit to Taiwan” HERE)

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Chinese Live-Fire Drills Begin Around Taiwan After Pelosi’s Visit

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US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is no longer in Taiwan, but on Thursday China made good on its promise that the island will pay a price for hosting the highest-ranking US official to visit in 25 years.

The Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command said it conducted long-range, live-fire training in the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Earlier in the day, Chinese state media said that exercises to simulate an air and sea “blockade” around Taiwan had started Wednesday, but offered little solid evidence to back up the claim.

The military posturing was a deliberate show of force after Pelosi left the island on Wednesday evening, bound for South Korea. (Read more from “Chinese Live-Fire Drills Begin Around Taiwan After Pelosi’s Visit” HERE)

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Senate Approves NATO Membership for Sweden and Finland

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The Senate voted to ratify requests from Finland and Sweden to join NATO in an effort to combat Russian aggression following the invasion of Ukraine.

The measure, needing 67 votes in the 100-member Senate, passed 95-1, with one voting present. The proposal drew broad bipartisan support and the backing of both party leaders.

“Our NATO alliance is the bedrock that has guaranteed democracy in the Western world since the end of World War II,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “This strengthens NATO even further and is particularly needed in light of recent Russian aggression.”

Some Republicans who voted no argued that the United States would be called on to defend the two new vulnerable NATO members at a time when it should scale back its presence in Europe to prepare for escalating tension with China. (Read more from “Senate Approves NATO Membership for Sweden and Finland” HERE)

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