Two Belgian teenagers who were found with thousands of ants valued at more than €8,000 and allegedly destined for European and Asian markets will be sentenced in two weeks, a Kenyan magistrate has said.

Njeri Thuku, sitting at the court in Kenya's main airport, said she would not rush the case but would take time to review environmental impact and psychological reports filed in court before passing sentence on 7 May.

Yale University has become the latest top institution in the United States to ban a pro-Palestine group, this time for protests against a visit by far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Ben-Gvir’s stop near the university in New Haven, Connecticut, on Wednesday sparked outrage as protesters criticised the minister’s support for surging attacks on Gaza, and most recently, his calls to bomb “food and aid depots” in the Palestinian territory.

The administration also said the student organisation Yalies4Palestine would lose its official status for sending “out calls over social media for others to join the event” and for later taking credit for the event.

U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this week indicated that there might be an easing in tensions with China.

Archived

[Analysis by Nomura, a financial services group.]

• Some USD560 bn of China’s annual exports may need to find new markets, which can be disruptive to economies
• 45 countries that experienced large increases in their shares of imports from China are generally the ones that experienced the sharpest slowdowns in manufacturing growth and where evidence of disinflation was strongest
• This year, with a US-China trade war raging, the results illuminate just how exposed economies are to the flood of China imports turning into a deluge

With the US-China trade war in full force, many emerging economies, particularly those in Asia, are exposed to the flood of inexpensive Chinese imports turning into a deluge.

[...]

Statistics suggest that China’s highly competitive manufacturers, far from retreating, have penetrated new markets around the globe to make up for lost orders in the US. Local manufacturers in countries outside the US – from EVs in Germany and steel in Brazil to toys in Vietnam and electronics in India – have been facing increasing competition from goods imported from China.

Over 2017-24, China’s exports to the US grew by a cumulative 21% to US$524 billion, whereas China’s exports to the rest of the world grew three times as fast, by 67% to US$1.2 trillion. We estimate some US$100 billion of this was then re-exported to the US via Mexico and ASEAN, as a way for companies in China to circumvent US tariffs.

Against this backdrop, and using 2024 data, if we assume that all of China’s indirect exports to the US via Mexico and ASEAN (US$100 billion), half of China’s direct exports to the US (US$262 billion) and a smaller, one-quarter of China’s total exports to the EU, UK, Canada and Japan (US$198 billion) are at risk, then in aggregate some US$560 billion of China’s annual exports would need to find new markets.

A sudden flood of Chinese imports into emerging market economies can be very disruptive. Faced with growing cut-throat import competition, the likely initial response by local firms would be to cut prices to maintain market share, but at the cost of reduced profits. This can be good news for consumers but over time, as local firms accumulate financial losses, they would need to downsize, cut back on jobs and capex, and ultimately many may need to close down.

[...]

Going forward, these economies might become more vulnerable to cut-throat competition from China. The drum beat of anecdotes of this China shock is growing louder.

Okay, in certain cases this has an obvious answer. Former dog lover, one bit me, now I would rather they be happy and healthy far away from me. Direct bad experiences can ruin things for you.

But I'm wondering. I've never been hurt by a spider but I'm still scared of them. Meanwhile, other people absolutely love this type of critter. I like !snakes@lemmy.world. Why do I see them as cute; why am I not afraid? Danger does not really explain it, because both animals have species that can hurt people and that are harmless. There are probably folks who love mosquitoes and don't like cats. Aside from "this animal has personally hurt me or someone I know before," I wonder what determines what causes some animals to fall in some people's "good" bucket and others in their "bad." Why some people like what others do not and vice versa. (Yes, personal preference, but I'm curious as to the reason behind these preferences.)

Pro-Palestinian protesters confront Israeli National Security Minister [Ben Gvir] as he leaves event near Yale | CNN (2025-04-23)

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/23/us/yale-university-protest-israel-gaza/index.html
------

>> Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was confronted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators in New Haven, Connecticut, Wednesday night ...

>> “Water bottles were thrown” at Ben Gvir, his office said, when the far-right minister exited a building in front of protesters following a speech he gave at Shabtai, a private Jewish society at Yale, not officially affiliated with the university.

>> Earlier Wednesday evening as the event began, protesters crowded the sidewalk outside the gated building...

>> Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators also gathered at Yale University Tuesday night to protest Ben Gvir’s visit.

>> A #Yale spokesperson told CNN an “unregistered group” of 200 people not “affiliated with any recognized student organization” gathered Tuesday ...

@palestine@lemmy.ml @palestine@a.gup.pe @israel

In this election, voters are more distrustful than ever of politicians, and the political heroes of 2022 have fallen from grace, swept from favour by independent players.

A Roy Morgan survey has found, for the first time, that Australians are driven more by who they distrust than who they trust.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is the most distrusted figure, outranking even US President Donald Trump. [!!!!!!!!!!!!] He’s three times more distrusted than Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Bombing tents, targeting journalists, killing families: just a normal day for the terror state of Israel.

"Al-Aqsa Radio journalist Saeed Abu Hassanein was killed along with his wife and daughter when their tent was bombed by Israel."

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250424-israel-kills-another-palestinian-journalist-and-his-family/

@palestine@lemmy.ml @palestine@a.gup.pe

#Palestine #FreePalestine #Gaza #GazaGenocide #Israel #IsraelWarCrimes #journalism #news #media #warcrimes #Genocide #family

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China on Thursday sent three astronauts to its permanent space station Tiangong to replace the crew stationed there since last October.

The Shenzhou-20 spaceship took off at 5:17 p.m. local time (0917 GMT) from Gobi Desert in northwestern China, according to state media.

Archived without paywall:

https://web.archive.org/web/20250424134846/https://www.404media.co/even-the-u-s-government-says-ai-requires-massive-amounts-of-water/