🇨🇳 This could potentially be very consequential: China and a group of about 20 other countries (including Indonesia, Pakistan, Algeria and Serbia) are launching on Friday the "International Organization for Mediation" (IOM), a treaty-based multilateral organization that will be a platform for the peaceful settlement of international disputes.

It's basically a competitor to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague with a few notable differences, besides the obvious fact it is started by the Global South and not the West.

The fundamental difference seems to be philosophical: where the ICJ determines legal rights and wrongs through binding verdicts, the IOM will seek mutually acceptable "win-win" solutions that allow all parties to save face and maintain cooperation. It's designed as an alternative that prioritizes relationship preservation over legal victory.

This is basically what China achieved in its mediation role between Iran and Saudi Arabia. In that instance there was no point to determine a "loser" and a "winner": the objective was to resolve differences via mediation in order to restore the relationship. Which is often the case in disputes between countries.

Obviously, this represents yet another significant step taken to de-monopolize the West's hold over the international order. With such an institution, developing nations will be able resolve their disputes without having to navigate institutions designed by (and often for) the West.

It's also in many ways an illustration of the dysfunction of the current world order: when existing structures fail to serve the majority of humanity, new ones naturally emerge to fill that void.

Which will likely be remembered as a critical strategic error by the West: by failing to reform existing institutions to serve the world as it is instead of the world they preferred, they sowed the seeds of their growing irrelevance.

🔗 Arnaud Bertrand

🇵🇸❌🇵🇸 — Palestinians in Gaza stormed Hamas-held Al-Ghafari warehouse in Gaza and found it stocked with food and flour.

Hamas members inside opened fire, reportedly killing 5.

🔗 Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane)

🇮🇱❌🇵🇸 — Footage shows IDF soldiers using an old Palestinian man as a human shield, dressing him in a military uniform & forcing him to clear potentially booby-trapped areas.

➡️In the story the IDF soldiers posted, they're referring to one as “Shawish No 1”, Shawish is a code for human shield.

📊 Africa —the second most populous continent— contributes only 2% to the global economy.

🔗 Civixplorer

🇫🇷🧐📝 — French Parliament approves Law legalizing euthanasia in France and all its overseas territories

➡️ France’s lower house of parliament has approved a controversial bill to legalize assisted dying for adults with terminal illnesses, amid deep divisions in a country with strong Catholic traditions.

➡️ The National Assembly voted 305 to 199 in favor of the measure, which is backed by President Emmanuel Macron.

➡️ The bill now moves to the Senate and will return to the lower house for a second reading. Supporters hope it will become law by 2027.

📝 France currently allows what is called passive euthanasia – such as withdrawing life support – and deep sedation before death.

➡️ Under the bill, patients could request lethal medication, which they would take themselves, or if physically unable, have administered by a doctor or nurse.

➡️ They must be over 18, hold French citizenship or residency, and be suffering from an irreversible, advanced, or terminal illness causing constant, untreatable pain.

➡️ People with severe psychiatric conditions or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s would not qualify.

🇪🇸 In the last 26 years, the foreign-born share in Barcelona's prime working-age population has increased from 6% to 50%

Source: https://pablogguz.shinyapps.io/dataviz_migration_esp/

🔗 pablo

🇺🇸 Jason Bassler on X: No, this Palantir database isn’t like the others. It will combine:

-Tax filings
-Student debt
-Social Security
-Bank accounts
-Medical claims
-Immigration status

No previous database system has ever centralized this much personal info across various federal agencies.

🔗 Jason Bassler