China has surpassed the US in the amount of daily dietary protein available to its population – an important indicator of a modern quality of life, and one that some commentators and politicians in the West thought would be impossible to achieve.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3270808/average-chinese-national-now-eats-more-protein-american-united-nations

Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday she would seek to “deter China” from invading Taiwan as part of her bid for a second term as European Commission president.

“The Indo-Pacific has become a decisive region for the world’s future,” she outlined in her manifesto, entitled Europe’s Choice.

“We will work with Japan, Korea, New Zealand and Australia with whom we face common challenges … This includes our collective efforts to deploy the full range of our combined statecraft to deter China from unilaterally changing the status quo by military means, particularly over Taiwan,” she said, making her clearest statement to date.

https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-vows-to-stop-china-from-invading-taiwan/

Bill Gates: Singapore is well suited to play the role of technology incubator to tackle climate change.

The proposal calls the establishment of a Palestinian state in the aftermath of October 7 "a reward for terrorism" and that such a reward would only encourage Hamas.

The Knesset passed a proposal saying that it was opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River late on Wednesday night. The vote passed with 68 in favor of the proposal and 9 against.

The move was put forward by the New Hope-United Right party MK Ze'ev Elkin and was supported by Yisrael Beytenu and The Land of Israel lobby, which has members from across the party spectrum, such as Likud, Shas, and National Unity Party.

The proposal would determine the Knesset's position on the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River.

It says that the establishment of a Palestinian state in "the heart of the Land of Israel" would pose an "existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens."

It also says that this would perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and would further destabilize the region.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-810774

Barack Obama says Biden "needs to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy."

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks about Ursula Von Der Leyen:

"There is not enough money in the world to force us to let migrants in... And there is not enough money in the world to put our children or grandchildren in the hands of LGBTQ activists. This is impossible."

Russia does not rule out new deployments of nuclear missiles in response to the planned U.S. stationing of long-range conventional weapons in Germany, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Thursday.

Interfax news agency cited Ryabkov as saying that the defence of Russia's Kaliningrad region, which is wedged between NATO members Poland and Lithuania, was a particular focus.

"I am not ruling out any options," the agency said he told reporters in Moscow when asked to comment on the U.S. deployment plans.

The United States said last week it would start deployment in Germany from 2026 of weapons that will include SM-6, Tomahawk and new hypersonic missiles in order to demonstrate its commitment to NATO and European defence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that Moscow would resume producing short and intermediate-range land-based missiles and decide where to place them if needed. Most of Russia's missile systems are capable of being fitted with either conventional or nuclear warheads.

Interfax quoted Ryabkov as saying Russia would choose from the widest possible array of options to work out the most effective response to the U.S. move, including in terms of cost.

He said Kaliningrad, the westernmost part of Russia that is cut off from the rest of its land mass, "has long attracted the unhealthy attention of our opponents".

"Kaliningrad is no exception in terms of our 100% determination to do everything necessary to push back those who may harbour aggressive plans and who try to provoke us to take certain steps that are undesirable for anyone and are fraught with further complications," Ryabkov said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-says-it-may-deploy-nuclear-missiles-response-us-weapons-germany-2024-07-18/

Ivermectin is often recognized, second after penicillin, for the greatest impact on human health.

The UK’s messy handling of its European Union exit damaged the country’s international reputation, the British minister responsible for EU relations told Bloomberg as his new Labour government seeks to reset ties with its closest trading partner.
Successive Conservative governments “tarnished it in their handling of Brexit” by “turning inwards when actually Britain should always be turning outwards to the world,” Nick Thomas-Symonds said Thursday in a Bloomberg TV interview at the European Political Community summit in Blenheim Palace, England.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer — in office for less than two weeks — is using the summit, where he’s hosting more than 40 of the continent’s leaders at Winston Churchill’s ancestral home, to begin repairing the country’s relationship with Europe after years of toxicity following Brexit.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-18/brexit-tarnished-uk-s-global-reputation-europe-minister-says

Bill Gates is promoting a high-altitude experiment to combat climate change, known as solar geoengineering.

This project involves the creation of a giant chemical cloud to cool the Earth.

US skies through global outage

This 12-hour timelapse shows the complete air traffic for American Airlines, Delta, and United flights over mainland USA during the massive worldwide tech outage Friday, after all three airlines enforced a nationwide ground stop.

ICJ rules Israel must 'immediately cease' all new settlement activity

As the International Court of Justice delivers its ruling on the legal status of the Israeli occupation of the occupied West Bank, hundreds of Israeli settlers are attacking the Palestinian town of Huwara - destroying properties, all under the protection of Israeli occupation forces.

When the Swedish hygiene products manufacturer Essity decided to withdraw from Russia in April 2022 following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine the Russian public was deprived of Libero diapers, Libress pads and Zewa toilet paper – the only brand with a flushable toilet roll core. At the same time the US company Johnson & Johnson also suspended supplies of its personal hygiene products in Russia.

The Russian state news agency TASS reported on Thursday that, after two years of intensive development, the Arkhbum Tissue Group had produced Russia’s first flushable toilet paper tube.

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/36066

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow blames the city’s severe flooding, which left 150,000 people without power for hours, on climate change and home owners with large parking spaces.

Doctors should use their status as a 'trusted member of the community' to warn patients about the dangers of climate change, health leaders say.

The Royal College of Physicians today issued new guidance that tells doctors to raise the topic during consultations and 'repeat it often'.

It calls on doctors to reduce carbon footprints by considering working from home and cutting back on prescriptions and tests.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13637313/Now-doctors-told-lecture-climate-change-Health-leaders-tell-medics-look-eco-distress-promote-remote-appointments-cut-emissions.html