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93: Cases of mpox — the viral infection formerly known as monkeypox — have surged in the Toronto area, with at least 93 cases at the end of July, a fourfold increase over the same period last year. Toronto health authorities say the virus, which spreads via close bodily contact, has been especially prevalent among gay and bisexual men. The WHO on Wednesday declared a global health emergency after a new mpox strain surged in Africa. The symptoms tend to be mild, but the disease can be deadly, especially for children. A vaccine exists but is in short supply.
2: The two largest Canadian rail companies are threateningto lock out their employees as soon as Aug. 22 amid stalled labor talks with the Teamsters union. Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Canadian National Railway are at loggerheads with the union over a new contract, with the Teamsters demanding more rail safety guarantees. Last week a federal mediator was brought in to speed up the talks.
6.48 billion: American pharma giant Johnson & Johnson is preparing to show it has widespread support for a proposed $6.48 billion bankruptcy settlement with claimants who say its talcum powder products gave them cancer. Tens of thousands of claimants were given until late July to vote on the proposal, and a 75% threshold is required for approval. J&J is attempting to offload the liability onto a newly created subsidiary in a maneuver that has already been rejected twice by federal judges.
1/4: Nearly one quarter of active-duty women in the US military experienced sexual assault between 2001 and 2021, according to a new study by Brown University’s Costs of War Project. Black women and LGBTQ service members were disproportionately likely to be victims, said the report, which also estimated that the number of sexual assault cases in the military in 2021 and 2023 was likely twice as high as Pentagon estimates, reaching more than 70,000 in each of those years.
3: You may remember the children’s story about “country mouse and city mouse,” but now there’s “country bird and city bird” — and in this tale, the urban fowl are particularly foul. A new global study says city-dwelling birds — ducks, crows, gulls, and geese, in particular — are three times more likely than their country cousins to host antibiotic-resistant strains of disease. “Anti-microbial resistance,” as it’s known, is a major concern for epidemiologists, especially given the increased transmission of disease from animals to humans.
It's been nearly four months since a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, OH, setting off a public health crisis and sparking uncertainty and fear amongst the residents of this Ohio town. While the national news crews may have moved on, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg insists that the United States government has not. "This is something we need sustained attention on" Buttigieg tells Bremmer in a wide-ranging interview for GZERO World. "Years from now, you could see health effects."
But who, ultimately, is responsible for the disaster? "Norfolk Southern," Buttigieg argues, "has to be accountable for the short-term and long-term consequences of their derailment."
There's no sugarcoating it. America needs work. Not just when it comes to the state of democracy, either. A 2022 report found that 43,000 US bridges are “structurally deficient.” The report also found that those same bridges are crossed 168 million times a day. At the current rate, it would take 30 years to fix all of the country’s structurally deficient bridges. Do you feel lucky?
It's not a question Americans particularly want to ask themselves on every morning commute or summer road trip. The richest country in the history of the world should be able to keep its infrastructure updated and its roads intact. Globally, of course, the number of faulty bridges is much higher, but at least here in the United States, things may be starting to change. On November 6, 2021, Congress passed the Biden administration’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which includes $550 billion for America’s roads, bridges, mass transit, rail, airports, and ports. On GZERO World, Secretary Pete Buttigieg discusses what he has called "the single largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the Interstate highway system."
As we all know, allocating the money is only half the battle. Ensuring it’s spent correctly is where the...rubber meets the road. In a wide-ranging interview with Ian Bremmer, Secretary Buttigieg addresses pressing news, from the debt ceiling showdown in DC to the latest revelations following February's East Palestine train derailment. They also look big-picture at US infrastructure's role in foreign policy and where China's global aspirations clash with America's manufacturing concerns. Oh, and they talk 2024, of course, and about why the Secretary recently changed his permanent address from Indiana to that swing state, Michigan.
Listen: In this episode of the GZERO World podcast, we’re bridging America’s divides, and we mean that literally. It’s infrastructure week on GZERO World, and Ian Bremmer is talking to Mr. Infrastructure himself: US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. They discuss the state of America’s roads, bridges, and tunnels, as well as the landmark legislation meant to upgrade them all. They also talk about how major technological advances in electric vehicles and industrial shipping are poised to change the ways we move, and the things we ship. Oh, and they talk 2024 and why the Secretary recently changed his permanent address to that swing state, Michigan.
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Will the US preemptively sanction China over Taiwan?
If you thought US-China ties couldn't get any icier, think again. Washington is reportedly mulling sanctions in a bid to deter Beijing from invading Taiwan — and nudging the EU to follow suit. No specifics yet, but the package would presumably target the Chinese military, which has upped the muscle-flexing ante near the self-ruled island since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei in early August. Such a move would be similar to how the US and its allies warned Russia there would be a steep price to pay for invading Ukraine. Taiwan would welcome preemptive sanctions and has long called for the Americans and, more recently, the Europeans to do more to protect the island against Chinese aggression. But any sanctions would also rile Xi Jinping, who’s up for “reelection” next month and has vowed to reunite the island with the mainland before the 100th anniversary of the People's Republic in 2049 – by force, if necessary. While the White House has refused to comment, a sanctions plan could signal that US intelligence believes Xi might make a play for Taiwan sooner rather than later.
Cooperation at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
This week, Uzbekistan will host the latest meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a gathering of world leaders who present their club as an alternative to Western-led institutions, such as the G7 and NATO. There will be photos of powerful people like China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, India’s Narendra Modi, and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan smiling and shaking hands, and in some ways, they can help one another. Xi can make a show of embracing Putin as Europeans and Americans work to isolate his government. Putin can offer Modi more oil at even more sharply discounted prices. Erdogan can back Putin’s bid to include Russian grain and fertilizer alongside permitted shipments of Ukrainian grain. Modi can reassure Xi that his security partnership with Washington remains limited. But behind the scenes, there is friction. Xi will talk up his friendship with Putin, but he won’t create bigger problems for China’s economy by openly ignoring Western sanctions on Russia. Just this week, Xi and Modi pulled troops back from their shared Himalayan border, but deadly hostilities between them could restart at any time. Putin and Erdogan remain on opposite sides of a shooting war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In short, there’s plenty for these leaders to talk about, but this cooperation forum won’t sharply increase their actual cooperation.
US iron horse strike averted
Think you’re annoyed at all those work demands during your time off? Unions representing half of America’s organized freight rail workers were ready to go on strike this Friday unless they reached an agreement with rail companies that would, among other things, relax the requirement that they stay “on call” 24/7. The economic impact of a strike would have been huge as nearly 30% of US freight moves by rail. It also would have affected many passenger services and driven already-dizzying inflation rates even higher. But just in the nick of time, known “ferroequinologist” (that’s your word of the week — more below) Joe Biden announced a tentative deal early Thursday between unions and companies to stop the strike. It’s a big relief for the president, who didn’t want to clash with organized labor, an important Democratic constituency, by asking Congress to use its authority to impose an agreement on unions as Republicans wanted. What’s a ferroequinologist? From the Latin ferrum (iron) and equus (horse), it’s literally an enthusiast of “iron horses,” an early 20th-century term for trains. “Amtrak Joe” loves trains!
The cancellation of the high-speed rail project to link Kuala Lumpur and Singapore has raised speculation that the Malaysian government will instead build a KL to Johor Baru HSR line.