Andrew MullenDeputy Editor, Political Economy 25 June 2022
Dear Global Impact Readers,
Space, they say, is the final frontier. But how far does that frontier go and what’s out there?
China, has in recent years, accelerated all things space as part of its busy science programme we recapped a few weeks ago, from landing a rover on Mars to nearing completion of its Tiangong space station.
This weekend marks the end of Pride month, as cities across the country host events to celebrate the L.G.B.T.Q. community.
It is also a fraught moment in public health: A global outbreak of monkeypox is causing concern, with many of the cases clustered around men who have sex with men.
Experts are now trying to strike a delicate balance, warning people who may be at higher risk, without stigmatizing a community that has often been scapegoated for health scares in the past.
The Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion.
Roe since 1973 had permitted abortions during the first two trimesters of pregnancy in the United States.
Almost half the states are expected to outlaw or severely restrict abortion as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision on a Mississippi case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion. The court’s other five conservatives, including Chief Justice John Roberts, joined in the judgment, which was opposed by the three liberal justices.
Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, ending decades of federal abortion rights
The Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion in the U.S. in 1973.
The court’s controversial but expected ruling gives individual states the power to set their own abortion laws without concern of running afoul of Roe, which had permitted abortions during the first two trimesters of pregnancy.
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has published the2022 ICSID Rules and Regulationsfor resolving international investment disputes, which come into effect on July 1, 2022.
The updated rules for arbitration, mediation, conciliation, and fact-finding are the outcome of over 5 years of collaboration with State officials, legal counsel, adjudicators, businesses representatives, and civil society. They incorporate innovations designed to make ICSID cases more efficient for parties, to broaden access to ICSID’s facilities and services, and to ensure greater public transparency in the conduct and outcome of proceedings.
This is the first amendment to the ICSID rules since 2006, and the most extensive modernization of ICSID procedures in the Centre’s history.
Innovations introduced in the 2022 Rules and Regulations include:
Tom DannenbaumAssociate Professor of International Law, Tufts University
Alex De WaalResearch Professor and Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation at The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Daniel MaxwellHenry J. Leir Professor in Food Security, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University
Disclosure statement
Alex de Waal is affiliated with the World Peace Foundation.
Daniel Maxwell receives funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). He is a member of the Famine Review Committee for IPC analysis.
Tom Dannenbaum does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Partners
Tufts University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation US.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence.
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A hideous contradiction is playing out in war-torn Ukraine. Thousands of Ukrainians are starving in cities besieged by Russian forces. Meanwhile, the country’s grain stores are bursting with food, and the government is begging for international assistance to export Ukrainian grain to world markets.
Cooking, cleaning, laundry, childcare—domestic labor is essential labor in any society. In Vietnam, a rapidly growing middle class has produced skyrocketing demand for paid domestic workers—both live-in and hourly—particularly in large metropolises like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and domestic workers have become an important part of the gig economy.
Vấn đề điện hạt nhân tiếp tục được đề cập tại kỳ họp Quốc hội vừa qua. Theo Ủy ban Kinh tế, với lộ trình giảm phát thải tiến tới đạt mức phát thải ròng bằng 0 vào năm 2050, đây là lĩnh vực cần được nghiên cứu, xem xét trong quá trình phát triển giai đoạn tiếp theo.
Quốc hội nước ta đã phê duyệt chủ trương xây dựng nhà máy điện hạt nhân Ninh Thuận năm 2009 và Thủ tướng đã phê duyệt quy hoạch 8 địa điểm xây dựng các nhà máy. Năm 2016 vì các lý do khách quan, Quốc hội ban hành nghị quyết dừng thực hiện dự án này. 8 địa điểm đã được quy hoạch trong quyết định của Thủ tướng, trong đó có 2 địa điểm ưu tiên tại Ninh Thuận (Phước Dinh và Vĩnh Hải) được sử dụng cho nhà máy điện hạt nhân đầu tiên, đến nay về nguyên tắc đang được bảo lưu, chờ quyết định mới của Thủ tướng.
Tại nghị trường vừa qua, một đại biểu đề nghị xóa bỏ quy hoạch các địa điểm này, số khác muốn duy trì để sử dụng khi tái khởi động dự án điện hạt nhân Ninh Thuận trong tương lai. Bộ trưởng Bộ Công Thương thì khẳng định việc dừng thực hiện chủ trương đầu tư dự án điện hạt nhân Ninh Thuận không có nghĩa là “hủy bỏ”. Như vậy đây là vấn đề còn bỏ ngỏ, chờ quyết định cuối cùng của cấp có thẩm quyền.
Trong những ngày liên tục có các lãnh đạo, nhân viên ngành y bị bắt, tôi nhận được nhiều lời động viên, an ủi và cả câu hỏi rằng, chỗ chúng tôi “có xao động gì không”.
Tôi không xao động, không bối rối vì những sự việc ấy xảy ra dễ hiểu. Nhiều nguyên nhân dẫn đến hành vi phạm pháp trong ngành đã được nói đến từ lâu. Có thể kể đến: Mức đãi ngộ thấp dẫn tới tham nhũng vặt để “tự cứu lấy mình”; Bổ nhiệm lãnh đạo không đủ rõ ràng, thậm chí không căn cứ vào chuyên môn, mở đường cho “yếu tố” đồng tiền xuất hiện; Những kẽ hở của pháp luật như mời chào người ta phạm luật, không khác gì cái bẫy.
Giá thuốc là một cái bẫy, một nguyên nhân dẫn đến tham nhũng trong ngành y, điều mà những người lăn lộn trong ngành sẽ thấy rõ.
By Tran Đinh Hoanh Tran Đinh Hoanh is an international litigator and writer in Washington DC.
[TĐH: I’ve tried to make this piece ultra-short, simple, and easy
to remember, with sufficient citations for those who’d like to dig
deeper into UNCLOS]
During China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on June 13, he responded to a Bloomberg question concerning the legal status of the Taiwan Strait. Asked about Chinese military officials’ contention that the Taiwan Strait does not constitute “international waters,” he said that Taiwan is “an inalienable part of China’s territory. …According to UNCLOS and Chinese laws, the waters of the Taiwan Strait, extending from both shores toward the middle of the Strait, are divided into several zones including internal waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, and the Exclusive Economic Zone. China has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait.”
He went on to say that calling the strait international waters is “a false claim” by “certain countries” searching for a pretext for “threatening China’s sovereignty and security.”
The Quadrilateral grouping of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States (the Quad) has come a long way from its origins, establishing itself as a crucial pillar of the Indo-Pacific regional architecture and significantly shifting in tone and focus from its early iterations. Since its revival in 2017, the Quad has been elevated to a leader-level dialogue, it has begun issuing joint statements, and it has developed a new working-group structure to facilitate cooperation. It has also significantly broadened and deepened its agenda to include vaccines, climate change, critical and emerging technologies, infrastructure, cyber, and space.
These recent changes to the Quad raise several questions about its future trajectory. What are the drivers of engagement, the domestic support, and the bureaucratic capacity in the four countries to continue investing in the Quad? How well does the Quad’s new working-group structure function, and will the working groups be able to deliver tangible results? How has the Quad’s agenda evolved, and will it return to its initial focus on security challenges? Are the Quad countries open to cooperation with additional countries and, if so, what form will this take?
This paper analyzes these questions drawing on recent publications, official statements, and interviews with key experts and policymakers in the four countries. In doing so, it offers five key takeaways into the Quad as an evolving part of the Indo-Pacific architecture, as well as a vehicle for achieving the goals of its four member countries.
Since its revival in 2017, the Quad has been elevated to a leader-level dialogue, it has begun issuing joint statements, and it has developed a new working-group structure to facilitate cooperation
First, in terms of institutionalization and internal goals, there is little interest among the member countries in further institutionalizing the Quad by establishing a secretariat or adopting a charter. All four consider the flexible nature of the grouping to be an asset. At the same time, the Quad partners have increased their alignment on strategic issues and aim to continue doing so in the near future by solidifying ties within the grouping.
Skin-lightening products have exploded in their availability on major social media platforms where there are few rules about how they are promoted or sold. With some products containing potentially toxic ingredients, consumers could be at risk.
Written by:Jacqui Palumbo, CNN Editors: Meera Senthilingam, Eliza Anyangwe; Illustrations: Kathy Kim; Data journalist: Carlotta Dotta; Researchers: Elizabeth Yee, Jacqui Palumbo
Updated 20th June 2022
Editor’s note: This story is part of ‘White lies‘, a series by CNN’s As Equals investigating skin whitening practices worldwide to expose the underlying drivers of colorism, the industry that profits from it and the cost to individuals and communities. For information about how CNN As Equals is funded and more, check out our FAQs.
Once primarily sold in markets and beauty stores, skin-lightening products have exploded in their availability online and today, they are pervasive on every major social media platform.
On Facebook and Instagram, vendors hawk creams and serums that promise lighter skin yet offer scant information about the products themselves, while on YouTube and TikTok you can find thousands of tutorials by people promoting potent products or home remedies without qualifications that support their claims. On TikTok alone, the hashtag #skinwhitening has over 254 million views, while #skinlightening has another 62 million.
“Social media has become the most powerful tool right now for the sale of skin-lightening products,” says Dr. Anita Benson, Nigeria-based dermatologist and founder of the Embrace Melanin Initiative to combat colorism and harmful skin-lightening practices in Africa.
Leonard Matana. 69, filling up a plastic container with water at a communal tap in the township of Kwanobuhle in South Africa.
By Riaan Marais for CNN and Derek Van Dam, CNN Photographs by Samantha Reinders and Riaan Marais for CNN
Updated 0055 GMT (0855 HKT) June 21, 2022
(CNN)Every day, Morris Malambile loads his wheelbarrow full of empty plastic containers and pushes it from his home to the nearest running tap. It’s much further than the usual walk to the kitchen sink — just a little under a mile away — but it’s not the distance that bothers him.
It’s the bumpy road — which runs between tightly packed shanty dwellings and beige public-funded houses — that makes balancing containers filled with 70 liters of water on his return a pain.
“Home feels far when you are pushing 70 kilograms of water in a wheelbarrow,” said the 49-year-old resident from the impoverished South African township of Kwanobuhle.
How much reliance should be placed on the major international human rights NGOs? Can they be trusted to work without bias? How are they governed?
These are subjects I discussed recently in a short paper done for the Council on Foreign Relations’ Diamonstein-Spielvogel Project on the Future of Democracy. It is entitled Human Rights NGOs: “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” and can be foundhere. Tiếp tục đọc “Human Rights NGOs: “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?””→
TTCT – Dù thể thao Việt đã có nhiều thành tích đáng tự hào, chúng ta còn phải học người Thái dài dài.
Đêm 5-6, làng bóng chuyền thế giới chấn động với chiến thắng 3-2 của đội nữ Thái Lan hạng 15 thế giới trước đội hạng nhì Trung Quốc tại giải Nations League 2022 ở Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ.
Xem trận đấu này mới thấy thất bại 0-3 của các cô gái Việt Nam, hạng 84 thế giới, trước Thái Lan ở chung kết SEA Games 31 hai tuần trước tại Quảng Ninh là chuyện bình thường.
Đội tuyển bóng chuyền Thái Lan đã vươn tầm thế giới. Ảnh: Volleyball World
Andrew MullenDeputy Editor, Political Economy 25 June 2022
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