Red Eye On the News . . . November 29, 2023

Pakistan’s bosses forcing migrants out
Reuters, 10/31–As the clock ticked down to the Nov. 1 deadline Pakistan set for undocumented migrants to leave the country, Muhammad Rahim boarded a bus from Karachi to the Afghan border. "We'd live here our whole life if they didn't send us back," said the 35-year-old Afghan national, who was born in Pakistan, married a Pakistani woman, and raised his Pakistan-born children in the port city - but has no Pakistani identity documents. The Taliban government in Afghanistan said some 60,000 Afghans returned between Sept 23 to Oct 22 from Pakistan, which announced on Oct 4 it would expel undocumented migrants who do not leave. Pakistan is home to over 4 million Afghan migrants and refugees, about 1.7 million of whom are undocumented, according to Islamabad…Despite the challenges facing migrants, Pakistan is the only home many of them know and a sanctuary from the economic deprivation and extreme social conservatism that Afghanistan is grappling with, said Samar Abbas of the Sindh Human Rights Defenders Network, which is helping 200 Afghans seeking to remain.

China’s growth is limited by bosses’ desire for racial purity
The Economist, 5/3–For hundreds of years, China could boast of having more people than any other country. The title became official in the 1950s when the UN began compiling such data…A huge labour supply also helped to boost its annual gdp growth, which has averaged close to 9% over the past three decades. Last month China’s reign came to an end…the shift has troubling implications for the new number two. China’s working-age population has been shrinking for a decade…Its population as a whole declined last year—and it is aging rapidly. This is likely to hinder economic growth and create an enormous burden of care…Yet when officials in Beijing mull solutions, one seems largely absent from the discussion: immigration. China has astonishingly few foreign-born residents. Of its 1.4bn people, around 1m, or just 0.1%, are immigrants. China’s future economic and social needs resemble those that have made other societies recruit guest workers…opposition to multiculturalism is also fuelled by claims of Chinese racial purity long peddled by nationalists. Officials boast of a single Chinese bloodline dating back thousands of years.

Thousands of Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli bosses
Al Jazeera, 11/13–WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned of a “dire and perilous” situation in Gaza’s hospitals, saying more patients, including premature babies, are “tragically” dying. Gaza’s two largest hospitals, al-Shifa and al-Quds, have both closed. Israeli snipers continue to fire at anyone near al-Shifa Hospital, trapping thousands inside. The International Committee of the Red Cross has said the conditions under which civilians are evacuating in the Gaza Strip are “precarious and unsafe”. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said “pauses” are needed to enable the evacuation of hospital patients who need urgent medical care. More than 11,100 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, although the number has not been updated since contact was lost with key hospitals on Friday. In Israel, the death toll from Hamas’s attacks stands at more than 1,200, having been revised downwards…

Babies dying in Gaza from Israeli and U.S. bombs
France24, 11/6–Shorouq is seven months pregnant with her first child. She is living in a shelter in Khan Younis in the south of Gaza.  "How can I possibly give birth here?" she asks. "There's no access to healthcare and hygiene…More than 150 births take place every day…"A lot of people, especially children, are suffering from infections, including skin sores and waterborne diseases like diarrhea," says Dr Bashar Murad, director of the Al Quds Hospital in Gaza City…Diarrhea can be deadly. The World Health Organization says it is the second-biggest cause of death in children under 5 years old around the world. Shorouq is thirsty and hungry all the time. "If I'm lucky, I get one small bottle of water a day and two pieces of bread, with processed cheese and sometimes dried thyme,” she says.