Look At Yazan: For God's Sake, This Has To Stop
In ghastly images and videos, the world just watched a ten-year-old Palestinian boy starve to death as a result of Israel's crippling blockade of Gaza, and America's complicity in that atrocity. For days, his helpless parents saw Yazan al-Kafarneh, who had cerebral palsy, waste away into a literal skeleton from lack of food and medical care, the latest in what aid workers warn is a looming "explosion" in child deaths. Yazan weighed 11 pounds when he died. Warning: Very disturbing.
With an implacable Israel continuing to use starvation of civilians as a weapon of war, aid workers say Gazans "are looking down into the abyss." Added to at least 30,534 Palestinians dead and nearly 72,000 wounded amidst the enclave's massive devastation, UN and WHO teams see "an accelerating starvation crisis," especially in the north, where roughly 75% of children are suffering from malnutrition and severe dehydration. To date, at least 20 Palestinian children and infants have died; officials say children in Gaza "are being starved at the fastest rate the world has ever seen," and warn, “The Gaza Strip is poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths." Still, Israel is blocking most aid trying to get in. Last week, soldiers massacred over 100 Palestinians scrambling to take flour off aid trucks on al-Rasheed Street in Gaza City, and troops just opened fire on another hungry crowd.
Saturday, the US in conjunction with the Jordanian Air Force made its first humanitarian airdrop into the Strip, dropping 66 bundles, or barely two trucks' worth, of food but no water or medical supplies. Aid groups criticized the move as "political theatrics," "humanitarian aid theater," and a deeply degrading "Band-Aid measure" serving mostly to "relieve the guilty consciences of senior US officials whose policies are contributing to the ongoing atrocities," and who've declined to demand a ceasefire. Evidently coordinating with Israel, Jordan even released a hokey, flashy video of King Abdullah ostentatiously taking part in one drop, with soaring music and quick cuts worthy of a Jason Bourne trailer. Aid officials agree the airdrops are "not an effective way to alleviate the starvation of 2.3 million people," nor the "anguished cries of those babies slowly perishing under the world’s gaze."
Warning:Video very disturbing.
Emaciated child dies from lack of food and medicine in Gazawww.aljazeera.com
Experts say the grisly reality of that humanitarian catastrophe "makes a brutal mockery" of such aid attempts. With at least 576,000 people "one step away from famine," the hungry range from the elderly - like Abdul Rahman al-Dahdouh, who died horribly of malnutrition and severe dehydration - to Mahmoud Fattouh, a two-month-old who starved to death after going days without milk, gasping for breath. For powerless parents, the anguish of watching their children suffer is exacerbated by their knowledge that aid is nearby, yet impossible to reach: Videos show many hundreds of trucks waiting to cross into Gaza amidst a broken system "Israel could fix (for) the sake of the innocent." One mother described seeing her daughter's weight wither from 27 kilos to six: "God protect us from what is coming." One frantic father wailed for bread for his son: "We're coming here to die."
For 10 days, emaciated ten-year-old Yazan al-Kafarneh lay still and dying under blankets on a bed at Rafah's Abu Yusuf al-Najjar Hospital, his body skeletal, cheeks sunk, eyes hollowed - in an intolerable irony, Auschwitz-like. For months, his family had moved south from Beit Hanoun, trying to find food, water and the care he needed for his cerebral palsy. At the hospital, he received fluids intravenously, but "hunger ravaged his body." "We found nothing, so he was met with a slow and painful death," said one relative. "This child had turned into a skeleton in this war." His grieving parents sat agonizingly by his bed, seeing him fade away. Yazan's father shared a photo of him, taken a week before the Israeli offensive began; it showed Yazan, full-faced, smiling. On Monday, as relatives and health workers prepared Yanzan's body for burial, his grieving father told reporters, "Today, I lost my son due to lack of food.”
"I lost my child today," said Yanzan's weeping mother, who held him, an 11-pound wisp, in her arms as he died. "My son is now in heaven, but I never imagined that we would reach this stage. My message to the world is to look at Gaza’s children, and see how their lives have changed." "What are you waiting for?" Yazan's relative asked of an un-listening world. "You claim to be just and righteous. What are you waiting for? We have reached famine." The starvation of Gaza, with its children dying "in darkness and destitution," is a crime against humanity, charged a distraught Riyad Mansour, Palestinian Ambassador to the U.N. "Look at our children. Look at Yazan. Look at what agony they are enduring," he cried. "This has to stop. For God’s sake, this has to stop."
1 Million Acres Burned by Texas Smokehouse Creek Fire
Climate experts are warning that the Smokehouse Creek fire in the Texas panhandle—now the largest in the state's history with over over 1 million acres burned and counting—provides a horrifying look into a future of runaway temperatures that result in extreme destruction.
The fire is currently only 15% contained, but firefighters said Sunday they are hoping an approaching cold front will help them bring it under control. It's not clear what started the fire, but high temperatures, dry conditions, and strong winds have fueled it. Wind speeds have reached over 50 miles per hour.
President Joe Biden was at the Texas border on Thursday and criticized climate deniers who don't believe the climate crisis is contributing to these fires.
Climate change is contributing to the conditions that are making the fire so destructive, and more fires like this one are likely in the future. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) posted on Sunday about the need to fight the climate crisis to help reduce the frequency of these kinds of natural disasters.
We are in the middle of a climate crisis. We cannot sit back as these tragedies, like the devastating wildfires in Texas, become more frequent and more widespread. We must act. pic.twitter.com/ie6CC8ybxd
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 4, 2024
Writing in the New York Times over the weekend, journalist John Vaillant, author of the award-winning "Fire Weather: a True Story From a Hotter World," argued that the recent scenes from Texas represent a "terrifying" preview of what's to come—not just in Texas or any one place—but across the world. According to Vaillant:
It is alarming to see these fires and warnings in what is supposed to be the dead of winter, but fire, as distracting and dangerous as it is, is merely one symptom. What is happening in North America is not a regional aberration; it’s part of a global departure, what climate scientists call a phase shift. The past year has seen virtually every metric of planetary distress lurch into uncharted territory: sea surface temperature, air temperature, polar ice loss, fire intensity — you name it, it is off the charts.
At least two people have died from the Texas fire, and approximately 500 homes and businesses have been destroyed. Thousands of cattle have also died because of the fire.
"There's a lot of fuel on the ground," Texas A&M Forest Service spokesperson Jason Nedlo told CNN. "When you add high winds and low humidity to high fuel load levels, that's when you get the conditions that are ripe for large, fast-burning wildfires."
Climate scientists have been have been warning that the Smokehouse Creek fire is a vision of what's to come if the world doesn't address the climate crisis. A United Nations report from 2022 claimed that wildfires could increase by 30% by the year 2050.
The official wildfire season in Texas doesn't start until April, but with 2024 expected to be the hottest year since records began, experts predict such seasons will start earlier and generate larger and more numerous fires in regions across the world.
In his piece for the Times, Vaillant equated the growing wildfire threat to metaphorical dragons moving in on human and animal populations from the horizon.
"My earnest advice is to listen to climate scientists, to meteorologists, to fire officials," he concluded. "They are trying to save your lives. And if you see fire on the horizon, don’t fixate on the flames; pay attention to the wind. If it's blowing toward you, the embers are, too, and you better get ready to go."
Biden DOJ Launches Antitrust Probe Into Medicare Advantage Behemoth UnitedHealth
The U.S. Justice Department has launched an antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth Group, the world's largest health insurance company and a major provider of private Medicare Advantage plans that are notorious for
denying necessary care and bilking taxpayers.
The probe, first reported by The Examiner News and confirmed by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, drew applause from anti-monopoly campaigners who argue that healthcare industry consolidation has harmed patients through higher costs and worse care.
Matt Stoller, research director at the American Economic Liberties Project, said in a statement Tuesday that the Department of Justice is "right to investigate UnitedHealth Group for monopolization, and we hope to see enforcement action taken soon."
"For years, UnitedHealth has unfairly and illegally leveraged each of its businesses to strategically squeeze out competitors and monopolize all corners of healthcare, from insurance and pharmaceuticals to home healthcare," said Stoller. "In the process, UnitedHealth has degraded patient care, demoralized and devalued doctors and nurses, put independent pharmacies out of business, and ripped off taxpayers."
"United gained its foothold on the system through its relentless path of acquisitions."
The Examiner News reported that the DOJ notified UnitedHealth last October that it had launched a "non-public antitrust investigation into the company." According to the Journal, Justice Department investigators "have in recent weeks been interviewing healthcare industry representatives in sectors where UnitedHealth competes, including doctor groups."
Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth, is the largest employer of doctors in the U.S., and the company is currently working to acquire the home healthcare provider Amedisys in a $3.3 billion deal that has drawn scrutiny from the Justice Department.
As Krista Brown and Sara Sirota wrote last year for the newsletter HEALTH CARE un-covered, "It's not hyperbole to describe UnitedHealth as the bulk of our country's healthcare system—and its $85 billion in publicly disclosed acquisition spending played a big part."
"United gained its foothold on the system through its relentless path of acquisitions," they added, "and each additional business it purchases is, and has been, used to leverage its control of the healthcare industry."
UnitedHealth is currently the nation's largest provider of privately run, publicly funded Medicare Advantage plans, which have faced growing criticism from the Biden administration and Democratic lawmakers for dramatically overcharging the federal government and denying care claims that likely would have been approved under traditional Medicare.
Last year, UnitedHealth ditched the brand name naviHealth, a technology-focused subsidiary that faced backlash after reporting by STAT detailed the company's use of artificial intelligence algorithms to deny essential care to elderly patients.
Additionally, as Brown and Sirota noted, UnitedHealth employees alleged that company executives " pressured them to deny coverage or lose their jobs," sparking a class-action lawsuit.
"In short, naviHealth was transformed from a company meant to better manage post-acute care to a machine that maximizes profits," Brown and Sirota added. "It was UnitedHealth-ified."
'Uncommitted' Wins Nearly 20% of Democratic Primary Vote in Minnesota
Nearly 20% of Minnesotans who took part in their state's Democratic presidential primary on Super Tuesday voted "uncommitted," the latest warning to President Joe Biden that his unwavering support for Israel's assault on Gaza risks eroding his base ahead of November's high-stakes general election.
Roughly 46,000 Democratic primary voters in Minnesota, which Biden won in 2020, marked the uncommitted option on their ballots just a week after more than 100,000 Michiganders registered their own protest votes against the incumbent president.
Leaders of the hastily organized uncommitted effort in Minnesota expect to win at least one delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Uncommitted won two delegates in Michigan.
(Update: Uncommitted won 11 delegates in Minnesota.)
"Tonight's numbers showed that President Biden cannot earn back our votes with just rhetoric," Asma Nizami, a spokesperson for Vote Uncommitted MN, said Tuesday. "It is not enough to simply use the word 'cease-fire' while Biden funds bombs that kill civilians every day."
"Democrats want Joe Biden to change his policies: stop sending weapons to Israel and use all possible leverage to end Israel's war crimes in Gaza," Nizami added.
Biden, who is likely to face former President Donald Trump in November, swept to victory in all 15 Democratic primaries held in U.S. states on Tuesday. (Businessman Jason Palmer won American Samoa's Democratic caucus.)
In total, more than 250,000 voters marked uncommitted or a similar option in Democratic primaries across the 15 states, including more than 54,000 in Massachusetts, over 43,400 in Colorado, and around 88,000 in North Carolina.
"Voters strongly rejected Biden's funding of Israel's war in Gaza at the polls," said Layla Elebad, campaign manager of Listen to Michigan. "And they will continue to do so until the Biden administration changes course and calls for a permanent cease-fire and stops their unchecked funding of Israel's genocide."
On the Republican side, Trump won every state that voted Tuesday except for Vermont. The Financial Times and other outlets reported early Wednesday that Nikki Haley, Trump's last-remaining Republican challenger, has decided to end her campaign.
"Take them seriously, their message is clear that they think this is an intolerable situation and that we can do more."
Organizers of uncommitted efforts across the U.S. have made clear that their goal is not to harm Biden's general election prospects, but rather to make clear that his support for Israel's war on Gaza is both morally odious and politically dangerous, potentially costing him key support in Michigan and other battleground states.
In a statement following Tuesday's contests, senior Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said the president "shares the goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East" and is "working tirelessly to that end."
But the administration's military support for Israel has continued even as Biden has called for a temporary cease-fire and criticized the Israeli government for impeding the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Biden's campaign has also reportedly been avoiding college campuses and holding smaller events to dodge Gaza-related protests.
"Our goal is to get the president's attention, and we are doing that," Asma Mohammed, an organizer of the uncommitted effort in Minnesota, said Tuesday as the primary results rolled in. The uncommitted vote in Minnesota was reportedly strongest in areas with higher concentrations of young voters.
Polling data released Tuesday by the Center for Economic and Policy Research showed that 62% of voters who supported Biden in 2020 want the U.S. to "stop weapons shipments to Israel until Israel discontinues its attacks on the people of Gaza."
Tim Walz, Minnesota's Democratic governor, said during a CNN appearance late Tuesday that "the situation in Gaza is intolerable" and that uncommitted voters are "asking to be heard."
"And that's what they should be doing," said Walz. "That's a healthy thing that's happening here... Take them seriously, their message is clear that they think this is an intolerable situation and that we can do more."
Federal Judge Dismisses Pharma Giant's Challenge to Medicare Drug Price Negotiations
The president of consumer advocacy group Public Citizen on Friday urged Big Pharma to "drop its far-fetched lawsuits and accept that the era of Medicare price negotiation is here to stay," after a federal judge in Delaware rejected drug company AstraZeneca's case challenging provisions under the Inflation Reduction Act.
AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP et al. v. Becerra et al. is one of several cases that drug companies have filed against the federal government seeking to block Medicare from negotiating drug prices on behalf of patients—as the governments of every other high-income country do, with Americans paying as much as four times what people in countries such as the United Kingdom and Canada pay for their medications.
The company claimed that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
Chief Judge Colm Connolly in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware ruled that "because AstraZeneca's participation in Medicare is not involuntary, AstraZeneca does not have a protected property interest in selling drugs to the government at prices the government will not agree to pay. Accordingly, AstraZeneca's due process claim fails as a matter of law."
"Drug corporations have no constitutional right to price gouge Medicare, contrary to Big Pharma's claims."
In other words, said Patients for Affordable Drugs (P4AD), the judge emphasized that "the company's desire for higher prices does not supersede the government's ability to protect patient interests."
"On behalf of patients across this country, we are encouraged but not surprised that the court has rejected AstraZeneca's self-serving arguments and essentially said the company didn't have a leg to stand on," said Merith Basey, the group's executive director. "This ruling sends a clear message that Big Pharma's greed cannot continue to be prioritized over patients' well-being and underscores the importance of Medicare negotiation to begin to rein in exorbitant drug prices."
"The judge's decision reaffirms that pharmaceutical companies like AstraZeneca have the option to participate in Medicare voluntarily, accepting slightly lower negotiated prices if they wish to access a market worth billions," added Basey. "Once again, a judge has reviewed drug company claims, and the result has gone against the drug company and for the people of the United States."
AstraZeneca's drug Farxiga, which is used to treat Type 2 diabetes, was one of 10 medications selected by the Biden administration last year for the first round of negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act's (IRA) Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. In 2022, the company reported nearly $4.4 billion in revenue from Farxiga.
P4AD said Connolly's ruling was a victory for patients like Karen, a Pueblo West, Colorado resident.
"I am on Medicare and was prescribed Farxiga with a bill of over $600 for a three-month supply. I am on a fixed income and can no way afford that amount of money," Karen told the group, which has signed onto amicus briefs in seven different cases regarding Medicare price negotiations.
Tony Carrk, executive director of Accountable.US, noted that Big Pharma previously spent millions lobbying against the drug price negotiation provisions in the IRA.
“Big drug company executives are stopping at nothing to price gouge Americans and pad their profits," said Carrk. "Now they are trying to do it by clogging the judicial system with meritless lawsuits. Today's ruling is a victory for the Biden administration's historic cost-lowering program and for seniors who need lower prescription drug costs."
Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, pointed out that the IRA's restraints on Big Pharma's price gouging are only "modest" but will make a difference to seniors, saving $100 billion over a decade.
"In response, Big Pharma has launched a flurry of preposterous lawsuits against the Medicare drug negotiation provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act," said Weissman. "As Public Citizen has argued in amicus briefs, drug corporations have no constitutional right to price gouge Medicare, contrary to Big Pharma's claims."
Weissman said his expects that with seven pending cases, "today's decision is the first of many rejecting Big Pharma's attack on the act's effort to rein in exorbitant prescription drug prices."
Majority of Americans Want Halt of US Weapons Bound for Israel: Poll
A new poll released Tuesday revealed that a majority of Americans want to the U.S. government to stop supplying the Israeli military with weaponry to carry out its brutal assault on Gaza that has killed over 30,000 Palestinians, most of them civilian men, women, and children.
As organizers called on Democratic voters in at least seven states to vote "uncommitted" on their Super Tuesday primary ballots on Tuesday to help push the Biden administration to demand a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, the YouGov poll provided another measure of Americans' growing outrage over their government's material and political support for the "genocidal" campaign by Israel's far-right government.
Commissioned by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), the poll of 1,000 U.S. adults asked respondents whether they agreed with the statement: "The U.S. should stop weapons shipments to Israel until Israel discontinues its attacks on the people of Gaza."
Fifty-two percent of people said they agreed with the statement, while just 27% said they disagreed.
CEPR co-director Mark Weisbrot noted that while the call for a cease-fire "can mean different things to different people... the support for halting weapons shipments is specific and unambiguous."
Less than two weeks after scientists projected that at least 6,500 people would likely die in Gaza in the coming months even in the case of an immediate, permanent cease-fire, Weisbrot said many Americans may have "already moved past" the idea that a cease-fire is sufficient.
"Support for stopping U.S. weapons shipments to Israel has gained traction in recent days," noted CEPR, "as the Gaza death toll has surpassed 30,000 people, about two-thirds of them women and children."
Since the Biden administration's approval of weapons shipments to Israel since October, Israel has decimated civilian infrastructure across Gaza while also blocking nearly all humanitarian aid, leaving the entire population facing "crisis-level hunger" that is approaching famine in some areas.
"We have the power to stop this. Everyone knows that the U.S. could end this today if we wanted to," said Weisbrot, posting a video of European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell calling on U.S. President Joe Biden and other Western leaders to "provide less arms" to Israel, considering Biden's stated belief that too many civilians are being killed.
We have the power to stop this. Everyone knows that the U.S. could end this today if we wanted to. This is Josep Borell, the highest official of the European Union in charge of foreign policy, telling the United States government that they need to do something, like cut weapons… pic.twitter.com/F9y8zwgPxj
— Mark Weisbrot (@MarkWeisbrot) March 5, 2024
Tuesday's poll revealed that ending weapons shipments for Israel is popular across the political spectrum.
Sixty-two percent of people who voted for Biden in 2020 agreed that the U.S. should end shipments, while only 14% disagreed.
CEPR pointed out that "Among those who did not vote in the 2020 presidential elections—a key group containing voters that both Democrats and Republicans would like to turn out this year—fully 60% agreed that the U.S. should block weapons shipments."
The latter result is one "that the Biden campaign should be worried about," said Weisbrot. "These are the voters Biden needs to turn out to expand his base."
People who voted for former Republican President Donald Trump in 2020 were the only group in which a majority opposed halting weapons shipments, with 55% saying the shipments should continue. Thirty percent said they should stop.
Khanna, Schumer Lead Call for FTC Probe of Big Oil Consolidation
"Americans are paying the price for Big Oil's greed and are still struggling to keep up with gas prices higher than pre-pandemic levels."
U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday led dozens of congressional colleagues in urging federal regulators to investigate the recent historic surge in oil and gas industry consolidation.
In a bicameral letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan, the lawmakers took aim at what analysts say is the biggest-ever wave of Big Oil mergers and acquisitions (M&A), which totaled a staggering $190 billion last year, including $144 billion worth of industry consolidation in the fourth quarter alone.
"Contrary to disinformation spread by industry groups, these deals are not about efficiency, international competitiveness, or lowering costs; they are designed to pump more profits out of Americans' pockets—plain and simple," the letter led by Khanna (D-Calif.) and Schumer (D-N.Y.) states. "Fossil fuel companies have overwhelmingly identified investor pressure as the reason to keep prices high so they can continue to benefit from record profits. Americans are paying the price for Big Oil's greed and are still struggling to keep up with gas prices higher than pre-pandemic levels."
The lawmakers urged the FTC to "consider all harms that past and future mergers present to American consumers" and "oppose any acquisitions it determines to be in violation of antitrust law."
The FTC is currently investigating last year's megamergers involving Chevron and Hess, ExxonMobil and Pioneer, and Occidental Petroleum and CrownRock.
"Oil and gas is undergoing a historic consolidation wave comparable to what occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s giving rise to the modern supermajors," Andrew Dittmar, a senior vice president at the analytics firm Enverus, said earlier this year. "After a decade of lowered investment in exploration and with the major U.S. shale plays largely defined, M&A has become the preferred tool to replace declining reserves and secure longevity in these companies' profitable upstream businesses."
The lawmakers' letter warns that "if a small group of dominant firms is allowed to control this industry, American consumers and industry competition will only suffer."
"Therefore, we urge the FTC to extend its current investigations, open inquiries into these new deals, and take all appropriate actions to protect competition in this industry," the letter adds. "Lax enforcement during the last generation, such as allowing Exxon and Mobil to merge, resulted in market manipulation, unstable supply, and price hikes for Americans. We must avoid similar mistakes going forward."
The letter is backed by advocacy groups including Food & Water Watch, Public Citizen, Friends of the Earth, Center for Biological Diversity, Indigenous Environmental Network, Greenpeace USA, Zero Hour, and Sierra Club.
Civil War Risks Triggering 'Epic, Biblical-Style Famine' in Sudan
"Millions of lives and the peace and stability of an entire region are at stake," warned the head of the World Food Program.
International humanitarian organizations warned Wednesday that Sudan's civil war risks triggering severe famine unless the fighting stops.
Fighting between rival factions of Sudan's military government broke out nearly 11 months ago and spread rapidly throughout the northeastern African nation of 46 million people. Around 15,000 people have been killed and nearly 6 million others displaced during the war, while an estimated 1.5 million Sudanese have fled the country as refugees.
Those who remain in Sudan are reeling from recent drought and flooding driven by the climate emergency, a potent two-punch combination that has pushed millions of people to the brink of famine.
"The war in Sudan risks triggering the world's largest hunger crisis," said Cindy McCain, director of the United Nations World Food Program, in a statement. "Twenty years ago, Darfur was the world's largest hunger crisis and the world rallied to respond. But today, the people of Sudan have been forgotten. Millions of lives and the peace and stability of an entire region are at stake."
The crisis is particularly acute in and around the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and in the vast, arid western region of Darfur, where one of the warring factions, the Rapid Support Forces, and its allies have massacred, pillaged, and terrorized members of the predominantly Massalit community.
In Khartoum, hundreds of thousands of people are struggling to find food due to dwindling supplies for the communal kitchens on which many depend and a communications blackout. People venturing outside their homes in search of food run the risk of being shot or shelled amid the fighting.
Meanwhile, some areas of Darfur haven't received any food aid in nearly a year as fighting has rendered it practically impossible for humanitarian workers to operate. According to a February report by Doctors Without Borders, one child is dying of starvation every two hours, and nearly 40% of infants and toddlers are malnourished.
"We are in grave danger of epic, biblical-style famine in Sudan," warned Jan Egeland, who heads the Norwegian Refugee Council, in a Reuters interview.
Egeland added that continued failure to deliver food aid to Darfur soon could mean "a death sentence for millions in desperate need."
According to the WFP:
Over 25 million people across Sudan, South Sudan, and Chad are trapped in a spiral of deteriorating food security. WFP is unable to get sufficient emergency food assistance to desperate communities in Sudan who are trapped by fighting because of the relentless violence and interference by the warring parties. Right now, 90% of people facing emergency levels of hunger in Sudan are stuck in areas that are largely inaccessible to WFP.
Humanitarian assistance has been further disrupted after authorities revoked permissions for cross-border truck convoys, forcing WFP to halt its operations from Chad into Darfur. Over one million people in West and Central Darfur had received WFP assistance via this lifeline route since August, and WFP was in the process of scaling up to support that number each month as hunger and malnutrition continue to skyrocket in Darfur.
Meanwhile, as hundreds of thousands of refugees flee into South Sudan and Chad, humanitarian efforts there have reached a breaking point.
"I met mothers and children who have fled for their lives not once, but multiple times, and now hunger is closing in on them," said McCain. "The consequences of inaction go far beyond a mother unable to feed her child and will shape the region for years to come. Today I am making an urgent plea for the fighting to stop, and that all humanitarian agencies must be allowed to do their lifesaving work."
WFP said it "urgently needs unimpeded access in Sudan to address the escalating food insecurity, which will have significant long-term impacts on the region, along with an injection of funding to respond to the spread of the humanitarian crisis to neighboring countries."
"Ultimately," the agency added, "a cessation of hostilities and lasting peace is the only way to reverse course and prevent catastrophe."
Following French Victory, Spain's Left Wants to Enshrine Abortion Rights in Constitution
"The French feminists did it. The Spanish feminists can do it."
Days after French lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to enshrine the right to abortion care in their country's constitution, Spain's far-left Sumar Party on Wednesday announced its intention to do the same, ensuring people can terminate pregnancies in a country where abortion is technically legal—but where doctors frequently refuse to provide care.
"Deciding about our bodies is a right that must be included in the constitution. French women have shown us the way: We have to protect the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy," said Yolanda Díaz, leader of the Sumar Party and the country's minister of labor and social economy.
Since 2010, abortion has been legal in Spain up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, and in 2022 the government passed a law criminalizing the harassment or intimidation of a pregnant person seeking an abortion. The country also recently began to allow minors aged 16 and 17 to get abortion care without parental consent and abolished a mandatory waiting period.
But government statistics show that in at least five of Spain's 17 autonomous regions, no public hospital offers abortion care. Doctors calling themselves "conscientious objectors" can refuse to provide care, forcing many patients to travel long distances to get an abortion or to go to a private clinic.
"Freedom is being able to decide whether or not you want to be a mother," said Díaz on Wednesday. "Freedom is being able to decide about your daily life."
The proposed amendment was announced as Sumar leaders spoke at an event promoting feminist policies.
French Senate member Mélanie Vogel called the proposal "wonderful news" out of the neighboring country.
"Forward," she wrote in Spanish.
France's amendment made it the first country in 50 years to enshrine the right to an abortion in its constitution.