World Briefing: August 23, 2024

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine during a visit to Poland on Thursday, pledging India's support and saying that no conflict can be solved on a battlefield. “We support dialogue and diplomatic effort" for the restoration of peace and stability "as soon as possible," Modi said following talks with Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Tusk said that India could play an important role in bringing an end to the war being waged on Ukraine by India's strategic partner, Russia, on the other side of Poland's eastern border. "I am very glad that the prime minister has confirmed his readiness to personally engage in bringing about a peaceful, just and speedy end to the war," Tusk said. He added that "history has taught our nations how important it is to respect rules, borders, territorial integrity, sovereignty of states and the rule of law." - VOA

Modi arrived in Kyiv early this morning by train from Kyiv for a one day visit. It marks the first by an Indian leader. One of Modi’s first official acts was to lay flowers at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Kyiv. He is traveling with his national security advisor and foreign minister. The head of the Presidential Administration, Andrij Yermak, told India Today that the visit is historic and that deep and meaningful discussions are expected. One India-based analyst said Modi’s visit to the region is to strengthen diplomatic and economic ties with Central Europe. Parotting official talking points, Indian journalists accompanying Modi said India is a peacemaker and that the war is “adversely impacting’ the Global South.

Despite the Indian PM having visited President Putin last month in Russia - prompting a mild tongue-lashing from Kyiv - President Zelensky received Modi’s trademark bear hug just before noon today during a historic visit to the capital. The Indian leader makes a habit of tightly hugging fellow leaders he likes; those he has fallen out with receive a handshake at best.

Before the war started in February 2022, Ukraine hosted about 18,000 medical students in addition to 5,000 expatriates. Indian medical students reportedly are still coming to Ukraine but their number has plummeted to under 5,000. Earlier this week, an Indian female national was prevented entering Ukraine by border guards; even though she held a valid Ukraine visa she was pulled off an Odesa-bound bus at the Palanka crossing.

The German government has come under increasing pressure at home to roll back its support for Ukraine and push harder for negotiations to try to end its war with Russia. Amid severe clashes over the budget and increasing evidence that Ukraine was behind the blowing up of natural gas pipelines between Russia and Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been trying to allay fears that Berlin will diminish its aid. Speaking on Wednesday in Moldova, he insisted that “Germany will not let up in its support for Ukraine” for “as long as necessary,” and would remain, he said, “Ukraine’s biggest national supporter in Europe.” But his three-party coalition government is increasingly unpopular and facing critical state elections in September, where parties on both the far left and far right, which have called for an end to military assistance to Kyiv, are expected to do well. The primary burden on the government, which can seem paralyzed in making major financial decisions, is the constitutional requirement to keep new budget debt to no more than 0.35 percent of GDP. - NYT

Many water facilities have been damaged or destroyed by Israel’s 10-month-long assault in Gaza, according to the UN and various other international bodies, compounding the civilian population’s suffering, risking the spread of disease and leading human rights experts to accuse Israel of using water supply as a weapon. Extreme summer heat in Gaza is making a desperate shortage of water even worse for Palestinians already stalked by famine and struggling with repeated displacement. - CNN

Thousands of civilians remain trapped by heavy fighting in Al Fasher, Sudan, where Al Saudi, the only remaining hospital, has suffered repeated attacks, and the hospital staff is running out of medical supplies. Despite numerous efforts, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it has not managed to bring humanitarian relief into the city to this day. It called on the parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and facilitate access for lifesaving humanitarian assistance.

Thailand has announced its first confirmed case of a new, potentially deadlier strain of Mpox - the first in Asia, and second outside of Africa. According to Thailand's Department of Disease Control, the infected 66-year-old European man arrived in Bangkok from an unnamed African country on 14 August. He began displaying symptoms the next day, and immediately went to hospital. At least 450 people have died from Mpox in an outbreak centred in the Democratic Republic of Congo which started last year. - BBC

The controversial internet influencer Andrew Tate has been placed under house arrest by a Romanian judge, as prosecutors investigate new and serious allegations, including sex with a minor and trafficking underage persons. They had been released from house arrest a year ago and told not to leave Romania, over previous human trafficking charges. - BBC

Nearly 60% of food products in the U.S. made for toddlers and babies did not meet nutrition standards set by the World Health Organization, according to a new study. Researchers tested 651 products in 2023, across eight food retailers in North Carolina, including Kroger, Walmart, Costco, Ahold Delhaize, Publix, Sam’s Club, Target and Aldi. Other samples were included from the websites of Safeway and H-E-B. Only about 30% of products complied with the agency’s protein recommendations, while 56% were compliant with sugar guidelines. About 93% of the products aligned with the fat recommendations, according to the study that was published in the Nutrients journal Wednesday. - VOA

Humans and animals will tussle over more than half of the land on Earth by 2070, according to a new study. As human populations grow over the next 50 years, people will push further into wildlife habitats. The increasing overlap will be driven by people settling in previously underdeveloped areas rather than climate change causing animals to have to move. By 2070, the overlap between humans and wildlife populations is expected to increase across 57 per cent of the land on Earth. Sharing these spaces could lead to more chances for disease transmission, the loss of biodiversity, more animals killed by humans and an increase in wildlife eating crops, the study says. The study found that areas which currently have and are projected to have high human-wildlife overlap are concentrated in regions where human population density is already high, including China and India. Another major area of concern is forests, particularly in Africa and South America where there are large increases in overlap predicted in the future. - Euronews

This Briefing is reprinted with the author's permission. Please find the original here.