All posts tagged: crises

In Yemen, war at home and in the region drives up prices | Humanitarian Crises News

In Yemen, war at home and in the region drives up prices | Humanitarian Crises News

Published by Sam Flores

Sanaa, Yemen – Ahmed Yahya, 28, fills his taxi with 10 litres of petrol as he begins his workday early in the morning. “I feed my taxi with fuel first so that it can help feed my family,” Yahya, a taxi driver, said as he wiped the dust from his front window at a petrol station on the outskirts of Sanaa. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Up until earlier this week, Yahya used to pay 4,750 Yemeni riyals, the equivalent of roughly $8.90 in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The price had remained unchanged for about four years in territory under the rebel group’s control – including the capital Sanaa. But then, on Monday, the Houthis announced a roughly 10 percent increase in the price of petrol, up to 5,250 Yemeni Riyals ($9.80). After years of economic misery, Yahya described the price hike as another “painful surprise to an already devastated people”. The Houthi-run Yemen Petroleum Company said the diesel and petrol price increase was the result of a “global increase in fuel …

Humanitarianism is not collapsing. It is being traded and compromised | Humanitarian Crises

Humanitarianism is not collapsing. It is being traded and compromised | Humanitarian Crises

Published by Sam Flores

Today, as we mark World Humanitarian Day, we must reflect on the state of humanitarianism. Humanitarian work has always been framed upon the collective assumption that there are lines that should never be crossed, even in wars. For a generation, we had binding international agreements that treated the act of protecting a child in need of food or a medic treating the sick and wounded as a fundamental legal right. Today, the consensus and meaning behind these laws are gone. Too many governments are no longer consistently defending the rules-based order that they helped create. When it suits them, some are openly disregarding international law. Others are applying it selectively, condemning their adversaries for violations while tolerating the same behaviours by their allies. Many more are simply remaining silent at times when condemnation and action are required. When governments feel that their own geopolitical and domestic interests are more important than their legal obligations, our rules-based humanitarian system becomes diminished and corrupted. Enforcement becomes inconsistent. Tolerance of excessive civilian casualties becomes routine. And anything becomes …

How state actors are exploiting climate crises to spread disinformation

How state actors are exploiting climate crises to spread disinformation

Published by Sam Flores

  The number of heatwaves is on the rise in France, which endured its third major heatwave in mid-July. Climate disinformation is on the rise, too – as exemplified by this tweet, which insinuates that heatwaves in Europe may have been triggered by work done by the American scientific endeavour HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program), based at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.  This tweet insinuates that the US program to study the ionosphere, HAARP, might be causing heatwaves in Europe. © X It refers to an old conspiracy theory that the antennae used by HAARP – a scientific project that aims to study the ionosphere, the layer of atmosphere located at an altitude of between 80 and 640 kilometres – are actually being used to manipulate the global climate.   There is no scientific basis for this theory. And yet this disinformation, which is being spread by a pro-Russian account called @camille_moscow, is far from the only fake narrative about the climate being pushed by a foreign actor.   Mathilde Jourde, a researcher at French think tank IRIS, explains:  “Information …

Trump Can’t Spin His Way Out of His Two Latest Crises

Trump Can’t Spin His Way Out of His Two Latest Crises

Published by Daniella Wilson

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. President Trump spent the weekend trying to calm the waters in Washington and roil them in the Persian Gulf. Let’s begin with the less serious of these two self-inflicted crises. This spring, Trump for some reason became fixated on the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, which had not previously been a topic of national discussion, but which he believes should vibrate with a deep Technicolor blue. The administration awarded no-bid contracts for both a color coating and a new water-purification system, with the latter going to a company tied to a Trump-campaign donor previously convicted of conspiracy to bribe. Surprising no one, both parts of the project have been a disaster. As my colleague Matt Viser has vividly reported, the pool is beset with algae, and the blue coating is coming off in big chunks. Now Trump says …

China pledges new humanitarian aid packages for Lebanon and Iran | Humanitarian Crises News

China pledges new humanitarian aid packages for Lebanon and Iran | Humanitarian Crises News

Published by Sam Flores

NewsFeed China has announced it will send a round of humanitarian aid to Lebanon and Iran and play an active role in fostering regional peace. The foreign ministry spokesman described Beijing as ‘deeply saddened’ by the humanitarian disaster. Published On 17 Jun 202617 Jun 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Source link

Study Warns Biodiversity Loss Could Trigger Wave of Debt Crises

Study Warns Biodiversity Loss Could Trigger Wave of Debt Crises

Published by Sam Flores

LONDON, June 5 (Reuters) – Financial markets are underestimating the ⁠economic ⁠risks of biodiversity loss, potentially exposing ⁠countries to sovereign debt crises and sharply higher borrowing costs, according to research published ​on Friday. The study, led by economists from the Universities of Sussex, Sheffield and Heriot-Watt, presented what they described as the world’s ‌first biodiversity-adjusted sovereign credit ratings model. It ‌said existing ratings frameworks fail to incorporate environmental degradation, leaving some $83 trillion of global assets vulnerable to mispricing. Using an ⁠adjusted version of ⁠S&P Global’s ratings methodology, the researchers estimated that even a partial collapse of ​key ecosystems – including wild pollinators, marine fisheries and tropical forests – could increase annual global sovereign debt interest payments by $162 billion. “Financial markets are effectively blind to nature-related risks,” said the University of Sussex’s Matthew Agarwala. “As biodiversity loss undermines economic performance, it becomes harder for ​countries to service their debt, raising borrowing costs and fiscal strain.” Ecosystems underpin the global economy through “ecosystem services” like ⁠crop ⁠pollination and seafood production. Partial disruption ⁠to these could …

The crisis is Sudan is much worse than what is acknowledged | Humanitarian Crises

The crisis is Sudan is much worse than what is acknowledged | Humanitarian Crises

Published by Sam Flores

I recently visited Khartoum for the first time since the war started. It quickly became clear to me that the world still doesn’t fully comprehend what has happened there. In the streets of Sudan’s capital, the destruction was apocalyptic. A city that used to have a population of 7 million seemed almost empty as we drove through its districts. The buildings were almost all destroyed or partially flattened by shelling and air attacks, while those left standing were riddled with bullet holes. I had never seen this scale of destruction before in my 30 years of working with Islamic Relief. The difficulty in accessing many areas, and the sense that this a complicated war in a faraway place, means the crisis has not received anywhere near the international attention it needs. There are more than 58,000 recorded deaths so far, but there are estimates that as many as 150,000 may have been killed. It is hard to track casualty numbers when the country’s infrastructure lies in ruins and millions of people are displaced. People are not just …

Amid Middle East conflict, ASEAN countries eye more coordinated response to future crises

Amid Middle East conflict, ASEAN countries eye more coordinated response to future crises

Published by Sam Flores

UPHOLDING FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION Gaps in a coordinated response to the conflict were seen as recently as two weeks ago, when Indonesia’s Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa floated the idea of imposing a levy on ships passing through the Malacca Strait. Purbaya said this was part of a push to maximise the country’s strategic position along global trade and energy routes, and was inspired by Iran’s plan to charge ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. In the wake of Purbaya’s proposal – which he later said he was not serious about – Singapore’s and Indonesia’s foreign ministers stressed the importance of freedom of passage in the crucial strait. The Malacca Strait is a major shipping lane for global trade and energy. It is primarily bordered by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, and connects the Indian and Pacific Oceans. According to the draft declaration seen by AP, ASEAN leaders will emphasise the “importance of upholding international law and ensuring that regional cooperation remains anchored in dialogue, trust and respect for sovereignty”. Southeast Asia will “maintain open, …