 Rojak is a colloquial Malay word for “eclectic mix,” and is the name for a Javanese dish that typically combines sliced fruit and vegetables with a spicy dressing. Underground surrogacy An investigation by a Chinese TV station last month uncovered what it described as the “largest underground surrogacy lab” in northern China. Hundreds of women, some as young as 17, had eggs extracted or embryos implanted — without anesthesia — in recent years, “with each egg priced and sold like merchandise,” Henan TV reported. The massive scandal prompted an official probe and reignited debate about women’s reproductive rights in China. Surrogacy floats in a legal gray area in China, the Baiguan Substack wrote. Proponents argue that legalizing it could help reverse the country’s population decline. It would benefit families who now want more children after being restricted by the one-child policy, especially women past child-bearing age. But critics say surrogacy would disproportionately help rich families and exploit poorer women who see it as “their way to escape poverty.” Age-old tale Former US President Donald Trump stoked controversy during Tuesday’s debate when he pushed debunked claims that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating pets. But unlike other far-right conspiracy theories, US antagonism towards Haitians dates back to America’s founding and its “fear of Black autonomy and success,” historian Alexis Coe wrote for the Study Marry Kill Substack. The US founding fathers worried that Haiti’s revolution could “serve as a symbol of freedom for enslaved people” and inspire uprisings across the newly formed United States. Centuries later, that fear still haunts the country, Coe argued. The “ominous shadows” Trump cast on Haitian refugees “aren’t defined by the immigrants’ actions but by America’s ancestral fears and prejudices,” she wrote. Labor pain When Israel restricted the movement of Palestinians after the Oct. 7 attack, it found itself suddenly short of workers. So it turned to India, asking for 10,000 laborers, particularly for construction jobs. But an Indian Express investigation found that many Indians sent to Israel did not have the required skills. The skills mismatch raises “serious concerns about [Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s] reckless approach to labour diplomacy,” The India Cable Substack argued, showing Delhi’s willingness to play along with Israel’s “political game” in Palestine and potentially endangering thousands of Indian citizens in a conflict zone. But, more pressingly, Modi has “actually lowered the reputation of India as a source of quality labour,” the newsletter wrote, which could be particularly damaging since India is the world’s largest exporter of workers. | 
