Fragile M23 ceasefire fuels fears of resumption of fighting in eastern DR Congo as Kinshasa rules out talks
Rebel leaders say they are fighting because the government broke a 2013 peace accord with the group, and because local Tutsis are at risk. Yet Rwanda is widely thought to be pulling the strings, reviving the group to push its own agenda.
Why Caesarean deliveries in US are higher for Black than White women, 2.2m live in maternity care deserts
President Joe Biden’s budget for fiscal year 2024 includes $471 million in funding to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity rates, expand maternal health initiatives in rural communities, and implicit bias training and other initiatives. It also requires states to provide continuous Medicaid coverage for 12 months postpartum, to eliminate gaps in health insurance. It also includes $1.9 billion in funding for women and child health programs.
In ex-US Secretary of State ‘Henry Kissinger’s killing fields’ in Cambodia media couldn’t report on the carnage
In another confidential cable sent in December 1973, Thomas Enders made a final accounting of solatium payments to those who had lost a relative in Neak Luong. They had actually not received the $400 per dead civilian that they had been promised. In the end, the US valued the dead of Neak Luong at just $218 apiece.
Why charities want banks and anti-money laundering agencies to rethink de-risking rules
To cope with this threat, Islamic Relief USA has seven different US bank accounts. The hope is that at least one will facilitate transfers to the fragile zones in which the organisation works. Other NGOs, such as members of the American Relief Coalition for Syria, reported delays or blocks to wire transfers impeding their ability to serve people in need.
Unhumanitarian crisis: How vague money-laundering and counter-terror protocols slow aid, hurt needy
Financial sector experts say the biggest roadblocks are caused by vague anti-money laundering and countering the finance of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations – enforced in the US by a web of government agencies, and for which there are no viable humanitarian exemptions.
Racism in medicine: ‘Father of gynaecology’ performed torturous surgical experiments on Black slaves in 1840s without anaesthesia
Until Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Black families were mostly barred from well-funded white hospitals and often received limited, poor or inhumane medical treatment. Black-led clinics and doctors worked hard to fill in the gaps, but even after the new protections, hospitals once reserved for Black families remained under-resourced, and Black women didn’t get the same support regularly available for white women.
Historic acquittal in Louisiana fuels fight to review ‘Jim Crow’ verdicts as non-unanimous jury convictions are vacated
Louisiana advocates also have turned to the Legislature in recent years. But the latest potential remedy stalled in the House and appears dead after representatives voted 50-38 against the measure on Thursday. It is unlikely supporters can revive the bill with two weeks left in the legislative session.
When Mexican president acquiesced to US migration policy, he exposed asylum-seekers to kidnapping, extortion, rape, torture and death
The Mexican Congress also significantly limited the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies’ operations in Mexico after the attempted arrest and prosecution of the former secretary of national defence. The reduction in bilateral security collaboration has led Republican representatives to call for US military intervention in Mexico to combat cartels and to designate them as terrorist organisations.
Mexican President Lopez Obrador spending on social programmes is irking US – intelligence leaks
López Obrador’s 2023 federal budget, presented to the Mexican Congress last fall, does increase funding for social programmes, including a significant raise for the pension provided to older Mexicans. It also prioritises large infrastructure projects, which are mostly concentrated in southern states of the country.
Research: Doctors in US don’t take Black women pregnancy seriously, so they’re more likely to die than Whites during labour
To be Black anywhere in America is to experience higher rates of chronic ailments like asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s and, most recently, Covid-19. Black Americans have less access to adequate medical care; their life expectancy is shorter.
