crisis

“Dire Crisis of Poverty”: NYC Taxi Drivers Launch Hunger Strike to Demand Relief from Medallion Debt

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to turn now to yet another strike that’s underway, this one in New York City, where a group of taxi drivers are launching a hunger strike today, demanding the city enact debt relief for thousands of drivers who have been devastated by massive debt, accrued largely due to the artificially inflated cost of taxi medallions. This comes after taxi drivers held a 30-day, round-the-clock protest outside City Hall. Drivers have also been denouncing the mental health impacts triggered by the financial ruin. At least nine drivers have died by suicide. This is…

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20 October 2021

Democracy Now (U.S.A)

Spencer Ackerman: Today’s Crisis in Kabul Is Direct Result of Decades of U.S. War & Destabilization

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. We turn now to look at the roots of what’s become America’s longest war. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan October 7, 2001, less than a month after the al-Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Within days of the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan, the Taliban offered to hand over Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, but the Bush administration rejected any negotiations with the Taliban. This is Bush’s press secretary, Ari Fleischer, responding to a question in October 2001.…

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6 September 2021

Democracy Now (U.S.A)

Hurricane Ida Hits Oil Industry in Black & Native Communities on Louisiana Coast Amid Climate Crisis

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.AMY GOODMAN: I want to bring in another resident of the area, also who evacuated to Pensacola, Florida, as you did, Monique Verdin. I want to bring in Antonia Juhasz. As Hurricane Ida slammed ashore Sunday as a Category 4 storm off the southeast coast of Louisiana, with two-thirds of the state’s industrial sites in its path, including oil refineries, storage tanks and other infrastructure, like oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, this is — this Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality says it has asked more than 1,500 oil refineries, chemical plants and other industrial facilities…

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30 August 2021

Democracy Now (U.S.A)

U.N. Warns of “Humanitarian Catastrophe” in Afghanistan Amid Political Turmoil, Economic Crisis & Drought

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show in Afghanistan, as the United States flies out nearly 60,000 people, and counting, from the Kabul airport. The United Nations is warning Afghanistan is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, as the nation faces political upheaval, a worsening economic crisis and a devastating drought. The World Health Organization says about one-half of Afghanistan’s population, including nearly 10 million children, already need humanitarian assistance, and the numbers are expected to soar. More than half of all children under the age of 5 are malnourished. The U.N. estimates nearly 400,000 Afghans…

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24 August 2021

The Canary UK

There’s a public toilets crisis that we need to talk about

Support us and go ad-freeThere’s a problem in the UK that people don’t often speak about. Yet it’s one that affects many of us: the lack of public toilets and the hollowing-out of this vital public service. Taking the piss? Public toilets have been around since the Victorian era. But as Historic England wrote: Anyone caught short of late will know that public lavatories are no longer as convenient as they once were. Many have gone altogether, whilst others are frustratingly padlocked awaiting sale or demolition by local authorities. Some have been ingeniously repurposed – converted into flats, bars, restaurants, coffee shops, clubs, art galleries and even beauty…

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22 August 2021

Democracy Now (U.S.A)

Spencer Ackerman: Today’s Crisis in Kabul Is Direct Result of Decades of U.S. War & Destabilization

As thousands of Afghans try to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control, we look at the roots of the longest U.S. war in history and spend the hour with Pulitzer Prize-winning national security reporter Spencer Ackerman. “This is not the alternative to fighting in Afghanistan; this is the result of fighting in Afghanistan,” says Ackerman, whose new book, “Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump,” is based in part on his reporting from Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo. Source link

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20 August 2021

Democracy Now (U.S.A)

“There Just Isn’t Enough Supply”: Vaccine Gap Between Rich & Poor Countries Fuels Indonesia’s COVID Crisis

As the World Health Organization warns over 100 million more people will be infected with COVID-19 by early next year as the Delta variant continues to rapidly spread, we look at Indonesia, which has become the epicenter of the pandemic in Asia. Over the past 28 days, Indonesia has recorded 43,000 deaths, more than anywhere else in the world. More than half of the deaths have occurred in the past two months as the Delta variant overwhelmed hospitals across the country. Sana Jaffrey, director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict in Jakarta, says the public debate is largely focused on whether to protect public health or…

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12 August 2021

Democracy Now (U.S.A)

From Fires to Floods to Sea Level Rise, Human-Induced Climate Crisis Is Severely Disrupting Earth

We continue to discuss the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which details the damage of climate change already underway around the world and warns that much worse is yet to come unless governments drastically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The report tallies the losses from human-induced climate change “in an absolutely scientifically verifiable and attributable manner,” says climate scientist Saleemul Huq, director of the International Center for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh. “The path to keeping it below 1.5 degrees is diminishing by the hour.” We also continue with Kim Cobb and Bob Kopp, two lead authors of the new IPCC report. Source link

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9 August 2021

The Canary UK

Unequivocal, unprecedented: UN report sets out stark reality of climate crisis

Support us and go ad-freeHumans are unequivocally driving global warming – with impacts from heatwaves to rising seas and extreme rain already seen around the world, a new UN report warns. The assessment from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change paints a stark picture of the impact humans are having through activities such as burning fossil fuels – and the future the world faces if it fails to rapidly tackle the crisis. The world will reach or exceed temperature rises of 1.5C – a limit countries have pledged to try to keep to in order to avoid the most dangerous consequences of warming – over the next two…

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9 August 2021

The Canary UK

New UN report to set out stark reality of the climate crisis

Support us and go ad-freeA new UN report will set out a stark message on the state of the climate crisis. It’s expected to raise pressure on governments meeting for the crucial Cop26 talks in the autumn. IPCC warning The report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will be published on 9 August. It’s the first part of a review of current scientific knowledge about how the world is warming due to human activity. And it’s the first such global assessment since 2013, when scientists found that global warming was “unequivocal” and human influence on the climate was clear, with the majority of warming since…

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8 August 2021