Six In The Morning Friday July 10

The great fall of China?

The Chinese stock market is surprisingly parochial, and its collapse may not have the global fallout many fear

Clifford Coonan in Shanghai Follow @cliffordcoonan

There were splashes of intermittent rain and the air was muggy around the ShanghaiStock Exchange on the Pudong side of the Huangpu River, but the climate was slightly less dispiriting than it had been for weeks.

After rising by 150 per cent in a year, China’s stock market had nosedived in the past three weeks, losing 30 per cent of its value and badly jangling the nerves of investors.

Many of the companies in Pudong’s Lijiazui financial district, home to the World Financial Centre, the tallest building in the city, are listed on the Shanghai bourse.

Retail investors account for a whopping 85 per cent of Chinatrade, adding volatility to the mix, and adding fears of political fallout should a stampede mentality take hold.

One young man looked at his stock index Wechat page, and for the first day in weeks, the six indices on the app were in red, indicating that the markets were on the rise.

Macedonia's uniformed border thugs await war-weary Arab migrants arriving at Europe's doorstep

Those fleeing death and war face assaults and beatings from thuggish guards, says Robert Fisk

ROBERT FISK 

 

 

Friday 10 July 2015

I came to Greece to cover Europe’s shame – the possible departure of an EU member from the great post-war unification of the continent. But I found Europe’s shame on the border between Greece and the old Yugoslav republic of Macedonia when a group of young men from Aleppo showed me the weals and cuts and bruises they had sustained at the hands of Macedonia’s border thugs.

Let’s not call them guards, even though they had “Militia” painted on their trucks. Some were half-naked, sunbathing between bouts of seemingly beating the Arab world’s flotsam. Some carried clubs. Others chatted into mobile phones. And in front of them – camped on the railway lines, on the sideroads, slumped in the maize fields – were the Arabs.

The men and women of Médecins Sans Frontières moved among them, showing the humanity which Europe will not give them. There was food and fresh water and bandages and, I suppose, reassurance that not all Europeans would turn their back on them in their misery. But it was a place of tears.

Pope calls world leaders 'cowards'

By Daniel Burke, CNN Religion Editor

Updated 0338 GMT (1038 HKT) July 10, 2015

Pope Francis delivered a fiery denunciation of modern capitalism on Thursday night, calling the "unfettered pursuit of money" the "dung of the devil" and accusing world leaders of "cowardice" for refusing to defend the earth from exploitation.

Speaking to grassroots organizers in Bolivia, the Pope called on the poor and disenfranchised to rise up against "new colonialism," including corporations, loan agencies, free trade treaties, austerity measures, and "the monopolizing of the communications media."

Here's what one prominent American priest had to say about the speech:

Pope Francis in Bolivia just used the strongest language I can remember a pope using about the rights of the poor and of social justice.

— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) July 9, 2015

There is quite a lot to unpack in the speech, including the Pope's apology for the "many grave sins" committed by Catholic Church against Native Americans "in the name of God."

Snapchat features West Bank in social media 'victory'

Social media app casts spotlight on West Bank after move to show Tel Aviv without mentioning Palestinians causes storm.

10 Jul 2015 01:30 GMT 

The social messaging tool Snapchat has cast a spotlight on the West Bank, days after it chose to feature stories from Israel without mentioning Palestinians.

The networking app unleashed a wave of criticism from Twitter users for not showing both sides of the story when on Tuesday it depicted Israelis enjoying themselves in Tel Aviv on what some Twitter users said was "Palestinian land".

Following the backlash, the company, which allows users to take and send pictures or videos, called "snaps", announced that it would follow up with a West Bank Life story on Thursday.

For all those that said @Snapchat is going to censor the occupation. Here is the separation wall #WestBankLife pic.twitter.com/gJl4hs1ATf

— MB. (@CoolStoryLife) July 9, 2015

Social media users said they viewed the move as a victory.

'One of the largest human experiments in history' was conducted on unsuspecting residents of San Francisco

By Kevin Loria

San Francisco's fog is famous, especially in the summer, when weather conditions combine to create the characteristic cooling blanket that sits over the Bay Area.

But one fact many may not know about San Francisco's fog is that in 1950, the US military conducted a test to see whether it could be used to help spread a biological weapon in a "simulated germ-warfare attack." This was just the start of many such tests around the country that would go on in secret for years.

The test was a success, as Rebecca Kreston explains over at Discover Magazine, and "one of the largest human experiments in history."

But, as she writes, it was also "one of the largest offenses of the Nuremberg Code since its inception."

The code stipulates that "voluntary, informed consent" is required for research participants, and that experiments that might lead to death or disabling injury are unacceptable.

Sikh postman 'wins turban battle with Disney'

By Rajini VaidyanathanBBC News, Washington

• 5 hours ago
 
• From the sectionUS & Canada

A Sikh postman at Disney World has won his fight over claims he had been made to work away from customers so they would not see his beard and turban.

Lawyers for Gurdit Singh said he had been segregated from staff and customers at the Florida theme park because he violated a "look policy".

Disney now says Mr Singh can deliver post on all routes, in full view of customers.

The company says it does not discriminate based on religion.

Mr Singh, who has worked at the theme park since 2008 but always out of sight of visitors, said he was "incredibly thankful" Disney had decided to change course.

"My hope is that this policy change opens up the door for more Sikhs and other religious minorities to practise their faith freely here at Disney.