PRESS DIGEST-British Business

Associated Press
Google to invest $2 billion in Malaysian data center and cloud hub
Google plans to invest $2 billion in Malaysia, developing its first data center and a Google Cloud hub in the latest big foray by a U.S. tech giant in the Southeast Asian country. The news follows Microsoft's recent announcement that it would put $2.2 billion over the next four years into building Malaysia’s new cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim hailed Google’s investment as a sign of faith in Malaysia’s governance and economy.
AFP
China's Xi calls for Middle East peace conference
Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Thursday for a peace conference on the war between Israel and Hamas, as he addressed Arab leaders at a forum aimed at bolstering ties with the region.Addressing delegates, Xi on Thursday expressed support for a "broad-based" peace conference to resolve the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Associated Press
After nation's 1st nitrogen gas execution, Alabama set to give man lethal injection for 2 slayings
Alabama is set to execute a man Thursday evening who was convicted of bludgeoning an elderly couple to death 20 years ago to steal prescription drugs and $140 from their home. Jamie Ray Mills, 50, is scheduled to put to death Thursday evening at a south Alabama prison. It will be Alabama's first execution since the state conducted the nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas in January.
AFP
UN warns of disease risk after Papua New Guinea landslide
Survivors of a deadly Papua New Guinea landslide face a "significant risk of disease outbreak" and are yet to receive sufficient food and clean water supplies, a United Nations agency said Thursday.Six days after a mountainside community was buried in a sea of soil, boulders and debris, the United Nations' migration agency said water sources had become tainted and the risk of disease was soaring.
Reuters
US nears deal to fund Moderna's bird flu vaccine trial, FT reports
The federal funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) could come as soon as next month, and would also include a promise to procure doses if the phase-three trials turn out to be successful, the report said. Moderna and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for a comment. The United States, Canada and Europe have been in active talks with firms such as CSL Seqirus and GSK to acquire or manufacture H5N1 bird flu vaccines, which could be used to protect at-risk poultry and dairy workers, veterinarians and lab technicians.
Associated Press
Iran opens registration period for the presidential election after a helicopter crash killed Raisi
Iran opened a five-day registration period Thursday for hopefuls wanting to run in the June 28 presidential election to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash earlier this month with seven others. The election comes as Iran grapples with the aftermath of the May 19 crash, as well as heightened tensions between Tehran and the United States, and protests including those over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini that have swept the country. While Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 85, maintains final say over all matters of state, presidents in the past have bent the Islamic Republic of Iran toward greater interaction or increased hostility with the West.
NBC News
Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement holds breath on mass trial with an almost certain outcome
A Hong Kong court is set to rule whether 16 pro-democracy activists conspired to subvert the state in the Chinese territory’s single largest case under a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing.
Associated Press
A violent, polarized Mexico goes to the polls to choose between 2 women presidential candidates
Mexico goes into Sunday’s election deeply divided: friends and relatives no longer talk politics for fear of worsening unbridgeable divides, while drug cartels have split the country into a patchwork quilt of warring fiefdoms. It's unclear whether Mexico's next president will be able to rein in the underlying violence and polarization. “There’s too much hate," said Mexico City student Luis Ávalos, 21.
Reuters
Indian space startup Agnikul launches country's second privately built rocket
India's Agnikul Cosmos launched its Agnibaan rocket for the first time on Thursday, powered by the only Indian rocket engine to use both gas and liquid fuel in the country's second flight of a privately built rocket. The South Asian nation's space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has not successfully flown a rocket with a so-called "semi-cryogenic" engine. "A major milestone, as the first-ever controlled flight of a semi-cryogenic liquid engine realized through additive manufacturing," ISRO said on social media platform X.
NBC News
Justice Samuel Alito declines to step aside from Trump-related cases over flag spat
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito declined to step aside from two pending cases relating to Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 attack following recent news reports about contentious flags flown at his private properties.
AFP
Google to invest $2 bn in Malaysia: government
Google will invest $2 billion in Malaysia to house the firm's first data centre in the country, the government said Thursday, making it the latest tech titan to pump cash into the region in search of growth opportunities."When operational, Malaysia will join the 11 countries where Google has built and currently operates data centres to serve users around the world," the statement said.
TODAY
Celebrate America's birthday with these fun things to do on the Fourth of July
Here are the best things to do on the 4th of July with your family and friends. Find fun activities and ideas for Independence Day, even if you're staying home.
CNN
Iceland volcano dramatically erupts again as streams of lava reach town’s defensive walls
A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted Wednesday for the fifth time since December, spewing massive lava flows that threaten to cut off the town of Grindavík and prompting the evacuation of the world-famous Blue Lagoon.
Associated Press
At 100, this vet says the 'greatest generation' moniker fits 'because we saved the world.'
A profile of Andrew “Andy” Negra Jr., of Helen, Georgia, one of a dwindling number of veterans took part in the Allies’ European war effort that led to the defeat of Nazi Germany. SERVICE: Army’s 128th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 6th Armored Division. It was 1943, and Andrew “Andy” Negra Jr. had just finished high school.
CNN
Hong Kong democracy leaders convicted in most significant verdicts since Beijing’s national security crackdown
More than a dozen of Hong Kong’s leading democracy figures were found guilty Thursday on subversion charges, in the largest and most significant verdicts handed down to date in Beijing’s national security crackdown on the once free-wheeling city.
Associated Press
VP Harris to address US Air Force Academy graduates
Vice President Kamala Harris will speak at the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation on Thursday in Colorado, her first address at the ceremony that launches cadets into the Air Force or Space Force with pomp and the roar of jets. President Joe Biden spoke last year to graduates, who will become second lieutenants, thanking them for choosing “service over self,” and noting the challenges ahead for the country and the world, from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to America’s rivalry with China. Harris will speak in Falcon Stadium, which can host upwards of 46,000 people, during an election year, as details of a debate between Harris and Donald Trump’s yet-to-be-chosen running mate are being negotiated.
Associated Press
As Maduro shifts from migration denier to defender, Venezuelans consider leaving if he is reelected
One of the most influential politicians in Venezuela once deemed images of his fellow citizens abandoning their home country the result of a professionally scripted, “Hollywood-type blockbuster.” Migration, Diosdado Cabello said, was an issue conjured by a “media apparatus.” Similarly, his boss, President Nicolás Maduro, denied for years, at least publicly, that millions of people were literally walking away from Venezuela.
Associated Press
From electric vehicles to deciding what to cook for dinner, John Podesta faces climate challenges
John Podesta was two months into his new role as President Joe Biden’s global climate envoy when he faced his first international crisis — what to serve for dinner. Although Podesta is well known for his culinary skills, he usually sticks to cooking Italian. “I thought, OK, well, this is a diplomatic challenge,” Podesta told The Associated Press in an interview.
Associated Press
Boeing reaches deadline for reporting how it will fix aircraft safety and quality problems
Boeing is due to tell federal regulators Thursday how it plans to fix the safety and quality problems that have plagued its aircraft-manufacturing work in recent years. The Federal Aviation Administration required the company to produce a turnaround plan after one of its jetliners suffered a blowout of a fuselage panel during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Accident investigators determined that bolts that helped secure the panel to the frame of the Boeing 737 Max 9 were missing before the piece blew off.
Associated Press
AP interview: Divisions among the world's powerful nations are undermining UN efforts to end crises
Deep divisions especially among the world’s most powerful nations have significantly undermined what the United Nations can do to help nations move from conflict to peace, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said. Jean-Pierre Lacroix told The Associated Press in an interview that these divisions – most notably between the U.S. and the West on one side and Russia and often China on the other -- don’t only affect peacekeeping but everything the United Nations does in trying to promote peace and security. The result is that in some cases the rivalry can lead to the presence of U.N. peacekeepers being questioned by the parties to the conflict -- or even asked to leave, as happened in Mali and is happening in Congo, he said.

PRESS DIGEST-British Business - July 18

Latest Stories

Google to invest $2 billion in Malaysian data center and cloud hub

China's Xi calls for Middle East peace conference

After nation's 1st nitrogen gas execution, Alabama set to give man lethal injection for 2 slayings

UN warns of disease risk after Papua New Guinea landslide

US nears deal to fund Moderna's bird flu vaccine trial, FT reports

Iran opens registration period for the presidential election after a helicopter crash killed Raisi

Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement holds breath on mass trial with an almost certain outcome

A violent, polarized Mexico goes to the polls to choose between 2 women presidential candidates

Indian space startup Agnikul launches country's second privately built rocket

Justice Samuel Alito declines to step aside from Trump-related cases over flag spat

Google to invest $2 bn in Malaysia: government

Celebrate America's birthday with these fun things to do on the Fourth of July

Iceland volcano dramatically erupts again as streams of lava reach town’s defensive walls

At 100, this vet says the 'greatest generation' moniker fits 'because we saved the world.'

Hong Kong democracy leaders convicted in most significant verdicts since Beijing’s national security crackdown

VP Harris to address US Air Force Academy graduates

As Maduro shifts from migration denier to defender, Venezuelans consider leaving if he is reelected

From electric vehicles to deciding what to cook for dinner, John Podesta faces climate challenges

Boeing reaches deadline for reporting how it will fix aircraft safety and quality problems

AP interview: Divisions among the world's powerful nations are undermining UN efforts to end crises