Headlines June 20, 2023 from Democracy Now!

Today marks World Refugee Day. According to the United Nations, the number of refugees globally has reached over 35 million — that’s 8 million more than a year ago. This comes as concern is growing that as many as 700 people trying to reach Europe may have drowned in last week’s shipwreck in Greece. Authorities have recovered 80 bodies, but hundreds more are feared to have drowned. Many of the passengers were from Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Palestine. On Monday, Pakistan declared a day of mourning for Pakistanis who drowned. The Greek Coast Guard is facing backlash over its failure to help rescue passengers before the overcrowded fishing boat sank.

United Nations member states have adopted a historic treaty to protect marine life in the high seas as warming ocean temperatures and pollution threaten millions of species. The first-ever agreement will create a special U.N. body charged with managing conservation of ocean life and will establish marine protected areas. The treaty will also establish new rules assessing the environmental impacts of exploitative commercial activities on the ocean, including excessive fishing.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has wrapped up a two-day trip to China. On Monday, he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing as both sides expressed a desire to stabilize relations to relieve soaring tensions between the world powers. Blinken also met with China’s top foreign affairs official, Wang Yi, who urged the United States to stop hyping up the threat posed by China. Blinken is the first U.S. secretary of state to visit China since 2018. This is Chinese President Xi Jinping.

President Xi Jinping: “State-to-state interactions should always be based on mutual respect and sincerity. I hope that through this visit, Mr. Secretary, you will make more positive contributions to stabilizing China’s U.S. relations.”

After the talks concluded, Blinken spoke to reporters in Beijing.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “In every meeting, I stress that direct engagement and sustained communication at senior levels is the best way to responsibly manage our differences and ensure that competition does not veer into conflict. And I heard the same from my Chinese counterparts. We both agree on the need to stabilize our relationship.”

Six Palestinians were killed and another 90 injured during a massive Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Monday. The dead included a 15-year-old Palestinian boy. At least one Palestinian journalist was shot and injured. During the raid, which was met by fierce resistance, Israel deployed U.S.-made Apache helicopter gunships for the first time inside the West Bank in nearly 20 years. The raid came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government agreed to accelerate the process for approving new settlements in the West Bank despite criticism from the United Nations, European Union and United States.