China v EU: The fight for Europe's electric vehicle market
China makes the cheapest electric vehicles in the world. Europe needs them to meet ambitious climate targets.
But imports could send European car manufacturers into a tailspin. Will either side compromise?
Also this week: President Trump is fighting hard to get lower interest rates in the US. But will that send domestic inflation up? And what's the global effect?
And figures suggest only five million people from a population of 240 million pay tax in Pakistan. Can the government change the system to keep the IMF happy and stay in power amid the threat of protests?
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Al Jazeera
38 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
Countries denounce Israel but keep trading with it
As Israel's killing of Palestinians continues fast and slow, through air strikes and starvation, the foreign ministers of 28 countries have signed a statement calling for an end to Israel's war on Gaza. As these countries deploy words months after the United Nations and other groups warned of an oncoming famine, there has been little action on other fronts. Some of these countries have recognised the Palestinian state while France last week angered Israeli officials by announcing it would do the same in September. Still, many critics have pointed out that as countries make these statements, many of them continue to benefit from trade with Israel and have not imposed sanctions or taken any other action that could push Israel to end its genocidal war on Gaza. The war has killed at least 59,821 people in Gaza and wounded 144,477. Here's all you need to know about the countries profiting from Israel while condemning its military action: How much do the signatories of the statement trade with Israel? Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom all have more than $1bn in imports, exports or both with Israel, according to 2023 figures from the Observatory of Economic Complexity. What do these countries trade with Israel? Among the top items being traded are cars and other motor vehicles, integrated circuits, vaccines and perfumes. About $3.58bn in integrated circuits is the largest individual product going to Ireland, making up the overwhelming majority of Ireland's imports from Israel. Meanwhile, Italy exports to Israel more than any other country that signed the statement. Its $3.49bn of exports included $116m in cars in 2023. Do these countries recognise Palestine? Of those countries that issued the statement, Ireland and Spain recognised Palestine in 2024 and have spoken strongly against Israel's actions in Gaza. Still, that hasn't stopped them from continuing trade with Israel. Seven other countries that signed the statement also recognise the State of Palestine, including Cyprus, Malta and Poland, all of which recognised Palestine in 1988, shortly after the Palestinian Declaration of Independence. Iceland (2011), Sweden (2014), Norway (2024) and Slovenia (2024) also recognise the State of Palestine while France said it will do so in September at the United Nations General Assembly. Who signed the statement? Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. All of them are still trading with Israel. What was Israel's reaction to the statement? As expected. Oren Marmorstein, a spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote on X that Israel rejects the statement, saying 'it is disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas.' What else are countries trading with Israel doing? France, Germany and the UK called for an 'immediate ceasefire' in Gaza and 'unconditional release of all hostages' after they held an emergency call to discuss the war and the hunger crisis created by Israel's siege and aid blockade on the enclave. Has any of this made Israel change its behaviour? Attention has turned heavily towards the starvation of Palestinians in Gaza, leading even longtime Israeli stalwart supporters like former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to address the issue. Aid organizations report that thousands of children in Gaza are at risk of starvation while trucks full of food sit waiting across the border. The full flow of humanitarian assistance must be restored — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 24, 2025 This pressure has led Israel to announce 'tactical pauses' for 'humanitarian purposes' from 10am to 8pm (07:00 to 17:00 GMT) in al-Mawasi, Deir el-Balah and Gaza City. They started on Sunday. Despite the pauses, Israeli forces killed at least 43 Palestinians early on Sunday. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Sunday that it had recorded six more deaths over 24 hours due to famine and malnutrition, including two children. This brings the total number of starvation deaths to 133, including 87 children.
Qatar Tribune
20 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
US universities still a valuable investment for Chinese families
Agencies Jason Lin of Xiamen surprised his mother this year by applying to 10 undergraduate schools in the United States and receiving a US$15,000 annual scholarship from Brandeis University near Boston. There, he intends to earn a master's degree in economics over the next five years. But to his mother, it's like he's venturing into the wild, compounding the anxiety parents often feel when their adult children leave the nest. She's afraid of 'instability' in the US. And Lin, 19, has concerns that even a traffic ticket could get him deported. But he weighed the pros and cons, laid it all on the table for his mother, and decided on Brandeis in time for the coming fall semester. Despite a sharp increase in US-China tensions this year, Chinese students such as Lin are still pursuing American higher education much as they have in the past, but they are being more selective than before, according to applicants and university officials. 'Basically, the thought of going to the States came to me when I was in ninth grade,' Lin explained. He expects more academic freedom in the US than in other countries and recalls the 'vibe' in New York when he visited as a tourist. Well-known schools, highly ranked programmes associated with the majors of students' choices, and flexible financial aid packages have become bigger if the university campus is located in a relatively safe American city, it gets bonus points in the selection process among Chinese applicants. 'The US does have the pre-eminent global research universities, for now at least,' said Rory Truex, an assistant professor with Princeton University's Department of Politics. 'And many students are willing to take the risks to get access to that opportunity.' Some public and private universities across the US are expecting the number of students from China during the 2025-2026 term to be comparable to enrolment figures over the past five years. The University of New Mexico, a public school specialising in STEM and health-related disciplines, has 89 Chinese students on campus and expects 20 more this autumn, putting the total higher than at the same time last year or in 2023, according to campus communications director Steven Carr. The university welcomed 21 new Chinese students last autumn, and 16 at the start of the 2023 academic nationals appreciate that the school has affordable tuition; offers scholarships for undergraduates and graduate students; and features hands-on learning opportunities in graduate programmes, Carr said. He said the campus can sometimes offer 'resources tailored to international students'. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in May that the United States would start 'aggressively' revoking visas issued to Chinese students and would 'enhance scrutiny' of new applications. The administration of US President Donald Trump was on track after its first 100 days to deport about half a million people this year, according to the Migration Policy Institute think tank. Singapore has been tipped to attract more Chinese students due to perceived instability in the US. In June, Trump announced that the US would indeed allow Chinese students into American universities, as part of a wider deal with China. However, many students and their parents were already on high alert over reports of students being denied visas, being detained at immigration checkpoints, or being shown hostility in America amid bilateral spats over trade and competing geopolitical ambitions. A pivotal moment came in May, when the Department of Homeland Security took steps to restrict the entry of new international students and considered revoking existing visas for current Harvard students, citing national security. But a federal judge blocked the government's move to bar foreign students and scholars from entering the US to study or work at Harvard, and the Ivy League school made that clear on its website. The University of California, San Francisco, admitted eight students from abroad for the upcoming academic year to its nationally ranked pharmacy graduate school, and five were Chinese nationals. One more was admitted from China but could not get a US visa. Last year, just four out of the School of Pharmacy's 127 students were from other countries. Applications from China, a perennial chief source of applicants, have shown no sign of slowing, said the school's admissions director, Joel Gonzalez. 'For the most part … when you look at the number of international students, probably the majority of them are going to be from China,' Gonzales said at his office in a tower of classrooms and university-run medical wards up the hill from San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and a city bus ride from Chinatown. Reasons for their applications 'could be the diversity of San Francisco versus somewhere in the [US] Midwest that might not be as inviting to a student in China', he said. 'And we're the top-ranked programme in California, so I can't help but think that those variables come into play.'It was another well-ranked programme, Human Computer Interaction, that drew Zhou Yubo to the University of Michigan for his graduate studies in August. Now he is just waiting to see whether he gets the necessary student visa, having already waited more than six weeks. The 22-year-old, with a tech-related undergraduate degree and two previous stays in the US, said he believed the campus in Ann Arbor would be 'a good place to study hard', due to what he sees as a lack of entertainment options compared with other university towns. Personal careers are now more important to US-bound Chinese students than visa issues or geopolitical pressures, said Perry Link, a comparative literature-Chinese professor at the University of California, Riverside. 'The graduate students, who are mostly in STEM fields, are interested in joining the international quest to advance scientific learning in universities or companies in the US,' Link said. 'Undergraduates are usually full-tuition-paying students from wealthy or fairly wealthy backgrounds in China,' he said. 'A lot of them study business or accounting and are looking for careers in the US or in family-affiliated firms back in China. They like to position themselves to do well in both systems – Chinese and American.' Another Ivy League school, Cornell University, has similarly found little change this year from last, despite some Chinese students having a little trouble getting visas, said Wendy Wolford, vice-provost for international affairs. Cornell lets students without visas start their studies at one of Cornell's three 'top' partner schools in other countries, she said. The California State University campus in the inland college town of Chico counts Chinese nationals as 3.5 per cent of the international student body, public relations director Andrew Staples said. The relatively small, crime-free city of 101,000 people is a selling point, he added. Students from second- and third-tier Chinese cities may go for the state school's relatively low tuition and living costs, compared with schools in bigger American urban areas, Staples said. 'Chico's setting as a university town offers an accessible and immersive American college experience that appeals to students and families alike,' he said.
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Al Jazeera
UK blasts Hong Kong rewards for help to catch activists overseas
The United Kingdom has condemned Hong Kong authorities for offering payment in exchange for assisting in the arrest of pro-democracy activists living in Britain, even as the British government begins the process of reinstating an extradition deal with the autonomous Chinese city. Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper issued a joint statement on Friday shortly after Hong Kong announced cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of 19 pro-democracy activists based abroad, including in Britain, who are accused of violating the strict national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020. In their statement, Lammy and Cooper called on China to stop targeting opposition voices in Britain. 'The Hong Kong Police Force's issuing of further arrest warrants and bounties on individuals living in the UK is another example of transnational repression,' their statement read. The bounties range from 200,000 to one million Hong Kong dollars (about $25,000-$125,000), depending on the individual the Hong Kong authorities seek to arrest. This is the fourth time Hong Kong authorities have made reward offers, which have drawn strong criticism from Western countries, to which China, in turn, has denounced as 'interference'. In their statement, the two British ministers said that 'this Government will continue to stand with the people of Hong Kong, including those who have made the [United Kingdom] their home. We take the protection of their rights, freedoms, and safety very seriously'. But a recent proposal by the British government to reform extradition rules has prompted serious concerns, with some fearing it could pave the way for a resumption of extraditions to Hong Kong, which have been suspended since the 2020 national security law was enacted. On Friday, Al Jazeera reported that the UK Home Office applied to Parliament to make changes to the country's legislation regarding extradition on July 17, followed by a letter to Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp the next day. 'It is in our national interest to have effective extradition relationships to prevent criminals from evading justice and the UK becoming a haven for criminals,' the July 18 letter from Security Minister Dan Jarvis said. The Home Office also plans to restore an extradition framework with Chile and Zimbabwe, according to the letter, which was shared on X by Conservative MP Alicia Kearns. Cases for Hong Kong and Zimbabwe would both be considered on a 'case-by-case basis', Jarvis said. About 150,000 Hong Kong nationals migrated to the UK under a special visa scheme introduced in 2021. In 2024, legislators in Hong Kong approved a new national security law – referred to as Article 23 – that gave the government new powers to crack down on all forms of dissent on the grounds of alleged treason, espionage, sedition and external interference in Hong Kong's internal affairs. Since then, Hong Kong has been offering bounties for the arrest of activists who have fled the city while facing charges related to the pro-democracy protests. Hong Kong, a former British colony, is a particular sticking point for the UK due to its historical relationship and the sharp decline in political freedoms in Hong Kong since China imposed controversial national security legislation in 2020. The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the guarantee of a high degree of autonomy, including freedom of speech, under a 'one country, two systems' formula.
