👋 Halló!*
Welcome to Monday, where U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris starts campaigning after Joe Biden abandons his reelection bid, Israel orders the evacuation of part of an area it has designated a humanitarian zone in Gaza and the Tour de France ends in style on the French Riviera. Meanwhile, in Italian daily La Stampa, Carlo Petrini, founder of the International Slow Food Movement, reflects on how food sovereignty exposes migrant workers to numerous perils.
[*Faroese]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
“Biden quits.” Like many newspapers across the globe, Portuguese daily Público dedicates its front page to Joe Biden's officially withdrawing from the presidential race. To register the global tremor it caused, Worldcrunch has collected some of the most striking front pages worldwide. Discover our collection here.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Kamala Harris backed by top Democrats after Biden drops out of White House race. Several of the party’s heavyweights have followed Joe Biden in supporting the vice-president for November’s elections after the 81-year-old President announced his withdrawal on Sunday. The move came after weeks of increasing calls for Biden to step aside over health concerns. Democrats said they will discuss the next steps to select a new nominee this week. Several world leaders have reacted to the news, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who thanked Biden for his “unwavering support for Ukraine's fight for freedom.”
• Israel issues evacuation order in part of Gaza humanitarian zone. The Israeli military on Monday ordered civilians to temporarily evacuate from part of its designated humanitarian zone in southern Gaza as it says it is set to begin an operation against Hamas militants. Palestinian civilians reported that the announcement was followed by intense Israeli air and artillery strikes in and around Khan Younis. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is heading to the U.S. this week, where he is due to meet with President Joe Biden and to address the U.S. Congress.
• China and the Philippines reach deal to defuse tensions over disputed reef. The provisional agreement signed on Sunday comes after a series of clashes between the two countries which both claim the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. In June, Chinese forces on motorboats had rammed and boarded two Philippine navy boats to prevent them transferring food and other supplies to the ship outpost in the shallows of the shoal. Read more in this analysis translated from French by Worldcrunch: Battle Of The Sierra Madre: The U.S.-China Cold War Just Got Hotter.
• Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson arrested in Greenland on Japan warrant. The prominent anti-whaling activist is facing possible extradition to Japan reportedly for “previous anti-whaling interventions in the Antarctic region.” The 73-year-old Canadian American was arrested when his ship docked in the Greenland capital Nuuk to refuel on Sunday.
• Bangladesh students vow to continue demonstration despite scrapping of most quotas. Student leaders have called for a nationwide shutdown on Monday and demanded the release of detained protesters as well as the resignation of officials who ordered the deadly crackdown. The country’s top court scrapped most of the quotas on government jobs on Sunday that had sparked violent clashes that killed at least 147 people.
• Nursing home attack in Croatia leaves at least 5 dead. A gunman has shot five people dead in an elderly care home in the Croatian city of Daruvar. The suspect fled the scene but was arrested shortly afterward. No motive has yet been reported.
• Tadej Pogacar wins third Tour de France. The 25-year-old Slovenian cyclist won the final time trial of the 2024 Tour de France to secure the overall title in the month-long road race. With the win, Pogacar notched the first Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double of the 21st century. Sunday’s final leg was in the southern French city Nice rather than concluding on the traditional Champs-Elysees, as Paris prepares to begin hosting the Olympic Games later this week.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
8.5 million
According to Microsoft's latest estimate, 8.5 million of its devices — or less than one percent of all Windows machines — were affected by the global tech outage related to a software update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike last Friday. Still, the outage has caused massive disruption to various services, from airlines to healthcare, shipping and finance, companies and even governments, which lasted several hours. Globally 5,078 flights, or 4.6% of those scheduled, were canceled on Friday before the systems were restored.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
When “made in Italy” and food sovereignty are a recipe for exploitation
Following the horrific death of Satnam Singh, an Indian citizen working in Italian fields under slavery-like conditions, Carlo Petrini, founder of the International Slow Food Movement, reflects on how food sovereignty, a term dear to Giorgia Meloni and her far right government, exposes migrant workers to numerous perils, which can cost human lives.
🍅 The hype over “made in Italy” sometimes hides paradoxical and deeply worrying dynamics: It is important to know that not all tomatoes consumed in Italy are produced in the country, which does not produce enough tomatoes to satisfy even domestic demand. Data shows that tomato imports are on the rise. In 2023, the quantity imported from China (the largest supplier to Italy and the rest of the EU) increased by 50%. Nothing wrong with that. But a thorough analysis of these imports is what opens Pandora's box.
💸 Chinese tomatoes are significantly less expensive — due to the infinitely lower cost of labor and an incomparable use of chemicals — and Italian ones cannot compete. To keep their share of the market, some Italian producers resort to the caporalato system, where employees are treated as slaves rather than free workers (in Italy, labor costs are the largest share of producers’ expenses). This makes life for immigrants coming to Italy even more dangerous, feeding content to newspapers, but not obtaining even the most basic rights.
⚠️ The Chinese tomatoes canned in Italy are sold in Ghana or in other African countries, where there is a strong gastronomic tradition of tomatoes. Until 20 years ago, those countries had a blossoming economy tied to the harvest and production of fresh tomatoes. And this is where the people that have been forced for various reasons to cross deserts and seas to find a better life come in. The perversion of these systems means that they find themselves far from home doing the same work they would have done close to their loved ones. But they do it in working conditions on the margins of slavery.
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📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
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📣 VERBATIM
“Your luxury, our misery.”
— Some 20,000 activists chanted slogans and held signs during a protest on the Spanish island of Mallorca on Sunday to denounce the impact of tourism on locals, including skyrocketing housing costs. This is the latest in a series of protests in popular destinations like Barcelona, Malaga and the Canary Islands. Last year, a record 17.8 million people visited Mallorca and the other Balearic Islands, from mainland Spain and abroad. Figures are expected to be higher this year. Here’s a look at six different ways locals are fighting “overtourism” around the world.
👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH
• Can An Autocrat Ever Lose? Venezuela Election Tests The Limits Of Democracy — CLARÍN
• Could Iran's New Reformist President Really Be A Path To Middle East Détente? — KAYHAN-LONDON
• Théo Ould, The French Prodigy Squeezing Cool (And Bach!) Into The Accordion — LES ECHOS
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet and Laure Gautherin
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