I'm late to this incredible piece by Ratik Asokan, but it's a must-read: On the long struggle of sanitation workers in India, as well as Pakistan, in The New York Review of Books

nybooks.com/online/2023/08…

The entire island of Puerto Rico has one pediatric heart surgeon. One. That's not a typo. It's a sign of how terrible Puerto Rico's healthcare crisis has become.
bit.ly/4cOEGal

NEW: Samantha Power, the director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, told Congress on Wednesday that famine has begun in northern Gaza, which has been devastated by six months of Israeli military operations including a near-total blockade.

nytimes.com/live/2024/04/1…

New Crisis Group report on famine in Gaza says Israeli aid distribution has been a fiasco and that Israel is trying to work around the international system in order to play favorites among big families who agree to its agenda.

The strategy risks consequences similar to…

96 shots in 41 seconds

BREAKING: Arizona Supreme Court rules to uphold the state’s 1864 near total abortion ban, which will wipe out nearly all access in the state (currently up to 15 weeks). Voters will likely have the chance to override this ban in November via ballot initiative.

'One gets to a point where death no longer matters and seems more comfortable than this life that we are living.' -- Palestinian man interviewed by NPR today, responding to Q if he's worried about Israeli invasion of Rafah

The war in Israel and Gaza has unleashed a tidal wave of censorship and suppression here in the United States. I talked with Genevieve Lakier about it for Knight First Amendment Institute’s new podcast, War & Speech. More coming soon—please subscribe!

Like World Central Kitchen, the heroic Palestine Red Crescent first responders who went to rescue 6-year-old Hind Rajab also received clearance from the Israeli military to get her. They were killed by the Israeli military anyway and so was 6 year old Hind.

This morning I published my latest feature with Guardian US - an investigation into how US prisoners are dying of preventable and treatable conditions. theguardian.com/us-news/2024/a…

This is Mansoor Adayfi, held at Guantanamo for 15 years, touching for the first time since he left an artwork made by another detainee to illustrate their degredation. Neither were ever charged with a crime.

'But when the past comes uncomfortably close to the events you’re living through...you realise how new so many of our institutions and customs are, and how fragile.'

This essay is so, so good.

972mag.com/lavender-ai-is…

The Israeli military hit all three cars in the convoy one by one after observing passengers switch vehicles after the first was hit and then transfer wounded to a third vehicle. Members of the convoy 'even notified the people responsible that they were attacked':

Cyprus says aid ships have turned back from Gaza with some 240 tons of undelivered aid after strike apnews.com/article/israel…

'The transaction would amount to the largest US foreign military sale to Israel since the country went to war with Hamas on October 7'

Al Shifa hospital, before and after

A common misconception about famine is that food in markets means food is generally available.

As this article reflects, limited food may be present but financially inaccessible to a population.

A steep drop in purchasing power - as in Gaza - is a frequent factor in famines.