(2021-08-04). Lebanon: one year after Beirut explosion, failing state struggles amid poverty and sectarianism. juancole.com 
By John Nagle | — ( The Conversation) — Twelve months on from the disastrous port explosion which killed more than 200 people, injured thousands and left an estimated 300,000 people without homes, Lebanon's dramatic descent into economic and political crisis deepens. So grave has been Lebanon's economic collapse that the World Bank ranks it …
(2021-08-04). Calling New Eviction Ban 'Just a Start,' Omar Says Rent Should Be Canceled Until End of Pandemic. commondreams.org Turner's defeat is a victory for an array of wealthy individuals and corporations alarmed at her willingness to challenge such corporate powerhouses as Big Pharma, insurance firms and the fossil-fuel industry.
(2021-08-04). UK Decision to Blame Iran for Ship Attack Premature Reaction. orinocotribune.com The Iranian Ambassador to the UK Mohsen Baharvand, in an interview with Financial Times, criticized the UK's recent accusations against the Islamic Republic over a strike on the ship Mercer Street, stressing that escalation "doesn't help anybody." | London's decision to blame the Islamic republic for last week's assault on Mercer Street was a "very premature reaction," Baharvand highlighted. | Baharvand was summoned to the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on Monday. In reaction to the summoning Iran's ambassador, Iran's foreign ministry summoned the British Chargé d'Affaires to lodge an offici…
(2021-08-04). An Old Idea for a Guaranteed Income Is Back in Style. zcomm.org A new proposal for a negative income tax could eliminate poverty in the United States…
(2021-08-03). The Eradication Of Extreme Poverty In China. popularresistance.org On 25 February 2021, the Chinese government announced that extreme poverty had been abolished in China, a country of 1.4 billion people. This historic victory is a culmination of a seven-decade-long process that began with the Chinese Revolution of 1949. The early decades of socialist construction laid the foundation that was deepened during the reform and opening-up period. During this time, 850 million Chinese people were lifted and lifted themselves out of poverty; that is to say, 70 percent of the world's total poverty reduction took place in China. In the most recent 'targeted' phase that began in 2013, the…
(2021-08-03). Refugees Continue to Face "Extreme Danger" in Mediterranean Sea as Aid Groups Scramble to Respond. democracynow.org 
The number of refugees trying to reach European soil continues to grow due to worsening poverty, violence and the climate crisis, and over 1,100 refugees have perished crossing the Mediterranean so far this year, according to the United Nations. We speak with Laurence Bondard of SOS Méditerranée, a humanitarian group that rescues migrants at sea, who says there is a severe shortage of search-and-rescue resources in the area to address the crisis. "The people that are actually fleeing via the sea that are on tremendously unseaworthy dinghies — most of the time without life jackets, without enough food or wat…
(2021-08-03). Pfizer and Moderna Hike EU Vaccine Prices as Rich Countries Oppose Patent Waiver. truthout.org 
With some of the world's wealthiest countries continuing to oppose temporary patent waivers for Covid-19 vaccines in order to more rapidly deploy life-saving shots worldwide, pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna have raised the price for European Union orders. | In its new supply contract with the E.U., Pfizer named a price of more than $23 per dose, up nearly 25% from about $18 on earlier purchases. Moderna said in its latest agreement that its mRNA vaccine will cost one-tenth more t…
(2021-08-03). Global Britain Slashes International Aid. counterpunch.org "Decisions on aid are eroding trust and eroding relationships between the UK and developing countries." — Abby Baldoumas, Financial Times, July 15, 2021 Politics is not merely the art of the possible but the pursuit of concerted hypocrisy. When it comes to that matter of funding good causes — foreign aid, for instance — wealthy