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India

School Food Poisoning Kills 22 Children In India

BBC, TIMES OF INDIA, INDIAN EXPRESS

Worldcrunch

DHARMASATI GANDAMAND - At least 22 children have died from food poisoning after eating a school lunch in this village in eastern India.

The meal was served at a government primary school on Tuesday in Dharmasati Gandamand in the state of of Bihar. The Times of India reports an additional 23 students were taken to hospitals in the nearby towns of Chhapra and Patna in Bihar state, including 10 who were still battling for their lives Wednesday morning.

The children fell ill soon after eating a meal which consisted of rice, pulse legumes and soya bean, police said. The state education minister, PK Shahi, ordered a preliminary investigation, noting that the food was contaminated with traces of phosphorous, reports the BBC.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people began protesting in the Saran district late Tuesday night. Villagers are demanding harsh action against government officials responsible for the tragedy, reports The Indian Express. The Bihar government will offer 200,000 rupees ($3,370) in compensation to the families of each of the dead children.

India's Mid-Day Meal program provides free food to try to boost attendance, but often suffers from poor hygiene. As the food is not checked before being served, dead lizards, frogs, insects and rats were found in the past in the food cooked at schools. Last year, 130 children went to the hospital after being poisoned in Pune in western India.

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Geopolitics

Why The World Still Needs U.S. Leadership — With An Assist From China

Twenty years of costly interventions and China's economic ascent have robbed the United States of its global supremacy. It is time for the two biggest powers to work together, to help the world.

Photograph of Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden walking side by side in the Filoli Estate in the U.S. state of California​

Nov. 15, 2023: Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden take a walk after their talks in the Filoli Estate in the U.S. state of California

Xinhua/ZUMA
María Ángela Holguín*

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ — The United States is facing a complex moment in its history, as it loses its privileged place in the world. Since the Second World War, it has been the world's preeminent power in economic and political terms, helping rebuild Europe after the war and through its growing economy, aiding the development of a significant part of the world.

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Its model of democracy, long considered exemplary around the world, has gone through a rough patch, thanks to excessive polarization and discord. This has cost it a good deal of its leadership, unity and authority.

How much authority does it have to chide certain countries on democracy, as it does, after such outlandish incidents as the assault on Congress in January 2021? The fights we have seen over electing a new speaker of the House of Representatives or backing the administration's foreign policy are simply incredible.

In Ukraine's case, President Biden failed to win support for the aid package for which he was hoping, even if there is a general understanding that if Russia wins this war, Europe's stability would be at risk. It would mean the victory of a longstanding enemy.

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