The New Humanitarian

At the start of the year, we published this analysis flagging how – even as the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine dominated headlines going into 2024 – it was important to remember the many other crises that were being too easily forgotten by the media and neglected by aid donors.

Why these 10 humanitarian crises still demand your attention

Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe. Netanyahu visits DC, as Palestinians pushed out of 83% of Gaza. All eyes this week have been on events outside of the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the US Congress on 24 July, giving a factually dubious speech that downplayed and misrepresented the staggering humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s now nearly 10-month-long war. US Vice President Kamala Harris also gave her first comments about the war as the likely Democratic Party nominee in November presidential elections after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Harris vowed her “unwavering commitment” to Israel’s security while also calling on Netanyahu’s government to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas. Ceasefire talks are ongoing, but Netanyahu has so far resisted global pressure to strike a deal to end the war. Instead, he has laid out a vision for indefinite, lower-intensity fighting against Hamas until Israel achieves “total victory” – something many experts say is not possible. On the ground in Gaza, Israel issued a fresh round of evacuation orders for parts of the southern city of Khan Younis – including parts of the Israeli-designated ‘humanitarian zone’ in al-Mawasi. More than 150,000 people have since fled those areas, according to the UN. The Israeli military has been heavily bombarding and redeploying ground troops in parts of Gaza it previously withdrew from, saying that it is pursuing Hamas militants that have regrouped. According to the UN, nearly 83% of Gaza’s territory is now under evacuation orders or has been designated as ‘no-go zones’ by the Israeli military. Around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.1 million Palestinians has been forcibly displaced – many multiple times – and the recorded death toll is nearing 40,000, according to health authorities in the enclave.

Venezuela’s election, Sudan peace talks, and Netanyahu’s DC visit: The Cheat Sheet

Marlene and I sat on the back patio of her home in Villa del Rosario, a town near Venezuela’s border with Colombia, sipping our coffees. A 44-year-old Venezuelan school teacher and single mother, Marlene painstakingly made a list of everything she could sell in her home to finance her trip to escape the crisis in Venezuela. On that list were her oven, pots and pans, tennis shoes, a swivel chair, and her two kids’ toys — items that represent the remnants of a once-stable life. The $12 she earns per month teaching would not be enough to travel to Chile, where she has family with whom she can stay.

It’s time to act: Why we can’t overlook the risk of a new exodus from Venezuela

Ever since President Nicolás Maduro was proclaimed the winner of the 28 July election, tensions have been escalating in Venezuela, with thousands of citizens taking to the streets across the country to protest against what they regard as a blatantly fraudulent result. Early on 29 July, the Venezuelan electoral...

Tensions rise over Venezuela presidential poll

At least 89 people have died and as many as 72 are still missing following the latest deadly shipwreck on the Atlantic Ocean migration route between the west coast of Africa and the Spanish Canary Islands. The boat – a traditional fishing vessel – set sail from near the Senegal-Gambia...

160 dead or missing in Atlantic migrant crossing

Hi, this is Will covering for Irwin for another edition of Inklings, where we explore all things aid and aid-adjacent unfolding in humanitarian hubs, on the front lines of emergency response, or in the dark corners of online aid punditry. It’s also available as an email newsletter. Subscribe here.

Inklings | Where’s the missing report on polio vaccine paralysis?

New York City, NY

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Cheryl E Preston

Yesterday was the third time this year that an ad stating Chelsea Clinton lives in a beautiful Virginia home popped up on my laptop. My computer did not warn me this was a dangerous site, so this time, I clicked on the link.

Chelsea Clinton is rumored to be living in Virginia but probably still in NYC

When the Israeli military issued evacuation orders on 13 October last year, telling 1.1 million Palestinians in the north of the Gaza Strip to head south, Mahmoud Shalabi decided he wasn’t going to leave. “I would rather die in my home than in a tent,” Shalabi told The New...

What is life like in northern Gaza?

Just a few kilometres from President Gustavo Petro’s palace in downtown Bogotá, hundreds of mostly Emberá Indigenous people live in a makeshift tent community in one of the Colombian capital’s most iconic parks. Fire smoke wafts from shelters fashioned from tarps and from signs that once...

When Colombia’s conflict-displaced come to the capital

Chicago, IL

Foodie in Chicago

Shortly before 3 AM, people in the Chicago area may have felt their houses shake as a 3.4-magnitude earthquake occurred about 60 miles west of the city. (CHICAGO) The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported a 3.4-magnitude earthquake around Somonauk, IL. Somonauk is in DeKalb and LaSalle Counties, 64 miles west of Chicago.

Did You Feel the Earthquake?

Savannah, GA

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Daily Coffee Press

Newly returned indictments in the Southern District of Georgia include felony charges for illegal firearms possession and drug distribution, while additional defendants have been sentenced to federal prison or await further proceedings after pleading guilty to federal gun charges.

Federal Charges in Southern GA: Indictments and Sentences for Firearms and Drug Offenses

Colorado State

Contributors represent independent, third-party users who have joined our contributor program and self-verified their accounts. They have also demonstrated their experience writing hard news for other outlets. Contributors are expected, like all users, to adhere to our Community Standards.

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David Heitz

A bill quietly introduced this spring in the Colorado legislature to decriminalize the possession of drug paraphernalia obtained by harm reductionists has become law. As low-key as the legislation was introduced, the bill was signed into law without fanfare June 6. It garnered little to no media attention.

Colorado legalizes needles, pipes for meth and crack if obtained by harm reduction group

The US has blocked a British judge from holding a hearing on the British-held island of Diego Garcia to determine whether a group of asylum seekers is being unlawfully detained there. Around 60 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers have been confined to a fenced camp the size of a football...

US blocks Diego Garcia asylum seekers detention hearing

The nexus isn’t a myth. The response to the refugee crisis in eastern Chad is a rare example of a joined-up approach to humanitarian and development challenges. Since war broke out in Sudan last April, more than 750,000 refugees and migrant returnees have fled to eastern Chad. They joined more than 400,000 people still displaced in Chad since the Darfur genocide of the 2000s.

Yes, the nexus is real. But it needs a radical overhaul

The world is woefully off track when it comes to eliminating hunger and malnutrition, with one in 11 people going hungry in 2023 – a level that has remained unchanged for three consecutive years – and more than one in four slashing the quantity and quality of the food they consume or skipping meals, data from a UN flagship report shows.

Climate, conflict, and debt keep hunger and malnutrition stubbornly high globally

Ocilla, GA

Last Thursday, agents from the South Central Drug Task Force (SCDTF) made an arrest following a successful execution of a search warrant at a residence in Ocilla. According to officials, the search yielded a significant quantity of drugs, including tablets suspected to contain fentanyl, associated with a criminal street gang.

Successful Drug Bust in Ocilla Leads to Arrest Linked to 'Local Criminal Street Gang'

Denver, CO

A man peacefully sitting with his son in his car in their church parking lot was assaulted by a Denver police officer in June 2019 and will receive a $75,000 settlement. The payoff appears on the Denver City Council agenda for Monday. The item is on the consent calendar. Items on the consent calendar are considered routine and generally pass in a block vote without discussion.

Man hit in face by Denver police officer to receive $75,000 settlement

The Lens

This year’s area of low oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico is larger than average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Thursday. The “dead zone” is approximately 6,705 square miles , as measured last week. Within NOAA’s 38 years of measuring the dead zone, this year’s assessment marks the 12th-largest area of low to no oxygen, which can kill fish and marine life.

Gulf ‘dead zone’ larger than average, larger than expected for 2024, scientists announce

Almost 3,000 children have been arrested and 1,000 convicted over mostly gang membership-related charges in El Salvador as part of President Nayib Bukele’s so-called “war on gangs”, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. The report includes testimonies of 90 people, among them 66 victims...

Salvadoran minors pay price of gang crackdown

Two immigrants from south of the border told the City Council Monday they were harassed when using hotel vouchers for shelter in Denver. Speaking through an interpreter, Leivy Ortega and Henry Aguilar said they received vouchers for hotel stays from an unnamed non-profit. But they had problems using the vouchers, they said. Ortega said she came to Denver from Connecticut and lived in her car for 15 days. She received a three-day hotel voucher, she said, but hotel staff initially would not honor it. She did not name the hotel. She said staff finally looked at her paperwork and gave her a room, but they wanted to charge her. for it. She said they initially weren’t going to allow her to stay because she has a service animal.

Immigrants allege Denver hotel staff mistreated them

NewsBreak

Lula ‘scared’ of post-election violence in Venezuela

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has expressed concern over threats of post-election violence made by his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro, who opinion polls favour...

Lula ‘scared’ of post-election violence in Venezuela

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