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The European Union inches closer to approving a law banning products made with forced labor, and Trump and Biden supporters disagree on sending arms to Israel. Plus: How much would you pay for Colin Firth’s shirt from “Pride and Prejudice”?
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Photo: Martin Meissner / AP
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1. EU deal will ban goods made with forced labor. How does it compare to US law?
On Tuesday, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union reached a deal that would ban products made with forced labor.
While the text of the agreement doesn’t mention China specifically, supporters hope the law will block imports made by China’s Uyghur Muslim minority.
An estimated 100,000 Uyghurs and other ethnic minority ex-detainees in China are thought to be working under forced labor conditions following detention in re-education camps, according to the U.S. Bureau of International Labor Affairs.
How does the proposed EU law compare with U.S. regulations?
- The EU law will require investigations into companies suspected of using forced labor.
- By contrast, the United States’ Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act automatically bans all products made in Xinjiang, where most of China’s forced labor is thought to take place. Exemptions can only be made for companies that can prove their products weren’t made with forced labor.
U.S. regulations are not foolproof, however.
Companies like the Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein and online marketplace Temu skirt the law by sending small shipments directly to customers. Because packages with a retail value of less than $800 are not subject to duty fees and therefore lack formal entry documentation, it’s tough for the U.S. to enforce its ban in such cases.
Read Blue Marble’s full story on how companies like Shein and Temu can circumvent U.S. labor laws.
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2. A majority of Biden voters oppose sending weapons to Israel
Sixty-two percent of people who voted for Biden in 2020 say the U.S. should stop sending weapons to Israel until it ends its attacks on the Gaza Strip, according to a new poll released Tuesday.
By contrast, just 30% of people who voted for Donald Trump in 2020 say they would support stopping weapons transfers to Israel.
The survey, commissioned by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, was conducted among 1,000 American adults from Feb. 27 to March 1.
In other Israel-Gaza news:
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3. Haitian prime minister lands in Puerto Rico amid chaos back home
Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has been conspicuously absent since armed gangs launched a wave of violence in Haiti last week, arrived in San Juan on Tuesday.
Henry was last known to be in Nairobi, where he signed a deal on Friday with the Kenyan government to deploy 1,000 police to help restore order in Haiti.
His flight was originally headed toward the Dominican Republic, which shares a border with Haiti, but it was diverted, according to tracking data.
Several countries have canceled flights into Haiti since the armed gangs tried to take control of Port-au-Prince’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport. G9 and Family gang leader Jimmy Chérizier, also known as “Barbecue,” said on Tuesday he will fight to remove Henry “until the last drop of blood.”
The Biden administration has said that it will not send troops into Haiti, though the former U.S. envoy to Haiti, Dan Foote, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that military intervention led by the U.S. is “an absolute necessity now.”
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In other news
- Last year was the deadliest year on record for migrants, according to the International Organization for Migration, which started tracking migrant deaths in 2014. [Reuters]
- The war in Sudan could trigger “the world’s largest hunger crisis,” the U.N.’s World Food Programme said on Wednesday. Eighteen million people in Sudan are facing acute hunger; five million of them, starvation. [ABC News]
- A new set of best practices for the return of Nazi-looted art was presented at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Tuesday. The refined agreement ensures greater protections for the victims of Nazi persecution and their families. [The New York Times]
- Uh, that kinda seems like too many times: A 62-year-old German man got vaccinated against COVID 217 times, according to a study published this week. He’s apparently suffered no ill effects from the excess of shots, but doctors definitely do not recommend it. [The Lancet]
- Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Prize on Tuesday. Click through for photos of Yamamoto’s work, including one of a library that houses six million books. [The New York Times]
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Say that again
“We cannot guess what Austen would have made of ‘the shirt,’ but her novels contain plenty of seductions and elopements, so she understood the force of sexual attraction as she understood all aspects of the human heart.”
That’s Heather Thomas of the Jane Austen Society remarking on the shirt worn by Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy in the iconic “wet shirt scene” from the beloved BBC adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice.” The shirt was sold for $32,000 at a charity auction in London on Tuesday. [The Washington Post]
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‘This is what my mother worked all her life to try to prevent’
The death of Yonatan Zeigen’s mother — the noted peace activist Vivian Silver — in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks made Zeigen understand he “can’t lead a life that is detached from trying to make change.”
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What we’re watching
It’s strange to recommend “20 Days in Mariupol.” The documentary chronicles Russia’s siege of the Ukrainian city at the start of the war. So instead of “recommending,” I’ll simply say that I was very moved by the film, and that you should watch it if you can.
One of the things that most struck me about “20 Days in Mariupol” was just how much it showed. War and violence can remain abstract to those not experiencing it firsthand. News publications are often elusive and take a distanced view: Bombed cities are shown from high above. Dead bodies stay just outside of frame.
Mstyslav Chernov’s footage brings viewers close to the sorrow, bewilderment, and annihilation of the Ukrainian people, while underscoring how essential it is that journalists like himself are brave enough to capture it.
The full film is available for free on YouTube; the trailer appears below.
—Laura Adamczyk, staff writer
Thanks for reading. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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