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Swarms of locust attack in the residential areas of Jaipur, Rajasthan, Monday, May 25, 2020. More than half of Rajasthan's 33 districts are affected by invasion by these crop-munching insects.(Photo: Vishal Bhatnagar/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Farmers in India and Pakistan fear potentially catastrophic crop damage as another wave of locust swarms wreaks havoc on the two nations as they continue to battle coronavirus pandemic.
Locusts, as CBS News reported, are "considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world, with a small swarm of about 40 million locusts capable of gobbling up enough food for 35,000 people."
For India, the current invasion marks the "worst plague in nearly three decades," Agence France-Presse reported.
"Usually they arrive from Pakistan between July and October and remain focused in Rajasthan," added CBS. "This time, however, weather conditions have helped the swarms spread into neighboring states."
The grasshopper-like creatures "have engulfed around 35,000 hectares in India's seven heartland states, threatening some vegetable and pulse crops," Reuters reported Tuesday, citing information from government officials and farm experts.
The swarms began entering the country last month through neighboring Pakistan's Sindh province, and farmers fear another June wave of locusts could decimate crops.
\u201cIndia is reportedly battling its worst locust attack in 25 years. The locusts have reportedly ravaged parts of western India, damaged crops, and threatened food security\u201d— NowThis (@NowThis) 1590679980
The Associated Press reported that India is facing three disasters at once--locusts, Covid-19, and "eviscerating heat." From the AP:
Temperatures soared to 118 degrees Fahrenheit (47.6 degrees Celsius) in the capital New Delhi this week, marking the warmest May day in 18 years, and 122 F (50 C) in the desert state of Rajasthan, after the world's hottest April on record.
India suffers from severe water shortages and tens of millions lack running water and air conditioning, leaving many to seek relief under shady trees in public parks and stepwells, the ancient structures used to harvest rainwater.
Though many people continued wearing masks properly, others pushed them onto chins, or had foregone them altogether.
K.L. Gurjar, deputy director of India's Locust Warning Organization, said Pakistan may have been overwhelmed by the huge number of locusts.
Pakistan's farmers have borne the brunt of the damage from the swarms.
Mir Gul Muhammad, who farms in the province of Balochistan, told the Guardian that the invasions have been the worst he's seen in this lifetime. "As a farmer, it will take years to recover from this loss," he said.
From the Guardian:
Ismail Rahoo, state minister of agriculture for Sindh, described the plague as a "dangerous and catastrophic threat to the economy, agriculture, and food security in Pakistan."
"This year it will be ten times worse than last year. They are attacking from three sides," he said. "The locusts and their eggs have now covered 50,000 square kilometres of farmland. We are expecting them to infest more than 5m hectares. And they are not just attacking Sindh province, but also the agricultural areas of Punjab and Balochistan."
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned back in January that the swarms then hitting the Horn of Africa represented "an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods." The agency issued another warning in April as a second wave was spotted that the numbers could surge.
In a statement last week on the locusts affecting the Sahel, Southwest Asia, the Horn of Africa, and Yemen, the FAO expressed concern about the likelihood of new swarms forming in June, saying that "the battle is long and is spreading to new areas."
"The locusts, combined with the impacts of Covid-19, could have catastrophic consequences on livelihoods and food security," said FAO Director-Genera Qu Dongyu.
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Farmers in India and Pakistan fear potentially catastrophic crop damage as another wave of locust swarms wreaks havoc on the two nations as they continue to battle coronavirus pandemic.
Locusts, as CBS News reported, are "considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world, with a small swarm of about 40 million locusts capable of gobbling up enough food for 35,000 people."
For India, the current invasion marks the "worst plague in nearly three decades," Agence France-Presse reported.
"Usually they arrive from Pakistan between July and October and remain focused in Rajasthan," added CBS. "This time, however, weather conditions have helped the swarms spread into neighboring states."
The grasshopper-like creatures "have engulfed around 35,000 hectares in India's seven heartland states, threatening some vegetable and pulse crops," Reuters reported Tuesday, citing information from government officials and farm experts.
The swarms began entering the country last month through neighboring Pakistan's Sindh province, and farmers fear another June wave of locusts could decimate crops.
\u201cIndia is reportedly battling its worst locust attack in 25 years. The locusts have reportedly ravaged parts of western India, damaged crops, and threatened food security\u201d— NowThis (@NowThis) 1590679980
The Associated Press reported that India is facing three disasters at once--locusts, Covid-19, and "eviscerating heat." From the AP:
Temperatures soared to 118 degrees Fahrenheit (47.6 degrees Celsius) in the capital New Delhi this week, marking the warmest May day in 18 years, and 122 F (50 C) in the desert state of Rajasthan, after the world's hottest April on record.
India suffers from severe water shortages and tens of millions lack running water and air conditioning, leaving many to seek relief under shady trees in public parks and stepwells, the ancient structures used to harvest rainwater.
Though many people continued wearing masks properly, others pushed them onto chins, or had foregone them altogether.
K.L. Gurjar, deputy director of India's Locust Warning Organization, said Pakistan may have been overwhelmed by the huge number of locusts.
Pakistan's farmers have borne the brunt of the damage from the swarms.
Mir Gul Muhammad, who farms in the province of Balochistan, told the Guardian that the invasions have been the worst he's seen in this lifetime. "As a farmer, it will take years to recover from this loss," he said.
From the Guardian:
Ismail Rahoo, state minister of agriculture for Sindh, described the plague as a "dangerous and catastrophic threat to the economy, agriculture, and food security in Pakistan."
"This year it will be ten times worse than last year. They are attacking from three sides," he said. "The locusts and their eggs have now covered 50,000 square kilometres of farmland. We are expecting them to infest more than 5m hectares. And they are not just attacking Sindh province, but also the agricultural areas of Punjab and Balochistan."
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned back in January that the swarms then hitting the Horn of Africa represented "an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods." The agency issued another warning in April as a second wave was spotted that the numbers could surge.
In a statement last week on the locusts affecting the Sahel, Southwest Asia, the Horn of Africa, and Yemen, the FAO expressed concern about the likelihood of new swarms forming in June, saying that "the battle is long and is spreading to new areas."
"The locusts, combined with the impacts of Covid-19, could have catastrophic consequences on livelihoods and food security," said FAO Director-Genera Qu Dongyu.
Farmers in India and Pakistan fear potentially catastrophic crop damage as another wave of locust swarms wreaks havoc on the two nations as they continue to battle coronavirus pandemic.
Locusts, as CBS News reported, are "considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world, with a small swarm of about 40 million locusts capable of gobbling up enough food for 35,000 people."
For India, the current invasion marks the "worst plague in nearly three decades," Agence France-Presse reported.
"Usually they arrive from Pakistan between July and October and remain focused in Rajasthan," added CBS. "This time, however, weather conditions have helped the swarms spread into neighboring states."
The grasshopper-like creatures "have engulfed around 35,000 hectares in India's seven heartland states, threatening some vegetable and pulse crops," Reuters reported Tuesday, citing information from government officials and farm experts.
The swarms began entering the country last month through neighboring Pakistan's Sindh province, and farmers fear another June wave of locusts could decimate crops.
\u201cIndia is reportedly battling its worst locust attack in 25 years. The locusts have reportedly ravaged parts of western India, damaged crops, and threatened food security\u201d— NowThis (@NowThis) 1590679980
The Associated Press reported that India is facing three disasters at once--locusts, Covid-19, and "eviscerating heat." From the AP:
Temperatures soared to 118 degrees Fahrenheit (47.6 degrees Celsius) in the capital New Delhi this week, marking the warmest May day in 18 years, and 122 F (50 C) in the desert state of Rajasthan, after the world's hottest April on record.
India suffers from severe water shortages and tens of millions lack running water and air conditioning, leaving many to seek relief under shady trees in public parks and stepwells, the ancient structures used to harvest rainwater.
Though many people continued wearing masks properly, others pushed them onto chins, or had foregone them altogether.
K.L. Gurjar, deputy director of India's Locust Warning Organization, said Pakistan may have been overwhelmed by the huge number of locusts.
Pakistan's farmers have borne the brunt of the damage from the swarms.
Mir Gul Muhammad, who farms in the province of Balochistan, told the Guardian that the invasions have been the worst he's seen in this lifetime. "As a farmer, it will take years to recover from this loss," he said.
From the Guardian:
Ismail Rahoo, state minister of agriculture for Sindh, described the plague as a "dangerous and catastrophic threat to the economy, agriculture, and food security in Pakistan."
"This year it will be ten times worse than last year. They are attacking from three sides," he said. "The locusts and their eggs have now covered 50,000 square kilometres of farmland. We are expecting them to infest more than 5m hectares. And they are not just attacking Sindh province, but also the agricultural areas of Punjab and Balochistan."
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned back in January that the swarms then hitting the Horn of Africa represented "an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods." The agency issued another warning in April as a second wave was spotted that the numbers could surge.
In a statement last week on the locusts affecting the Sahel, Southwest Asia, the Horn of Africa, and Yemen, the FAO expressed concern about the likelihood of new swarms forming in June, saying that "the battle is long and is spreading to new areas."
"The locusts, combined with the impacts of Covid-19, could have catastrophic consequences on livelihoods and food security," said FAO Director-Genera Qu Dongyu.
"It is hard to see," said the head of the Committee to Protect Journalists, "if Israel can wipe out an entire news crew without the international community so much as batting an eye, what will stop further attacks on reporters."
Nearly two years into Israel's assault on Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces' killing of six journalists this week provoked worldwide outrage—but a leading press freedom advocate said Wednesday that the slaughter of the Palestinian reporters can "hardly" be called surprising, considering the international community's refusal to stop Israel from killing hundreds of journalists and tens of thousands of other civilians in Gaza since October 2023.
Israel claimed without evidence that Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera journalist who was killed in an airstrike Sunday along with four of his colleagues at the network and a freelance reporter, was the leader of a Hamas cell—an allegation Al Jazeera, the United Nations, and rights groups vehemently denied.
Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, wrote in The Guardian that al-Sharif was one of at least 26 Palestinian reporters that Israel has admitted to deliberately targeting while presenting "no independently verifiable evidence" that they were militants or involved in hostilities in any way.
Israel did not publish the "current intelligence" it claimed to have showing al-Sharif was a Hamas operative, and Ginsberg outlined how the IDF appeared to target al-Sharif after he drew attention to the starvation of Palestinians—which human rights groups and experts have said is the direct result of Israel's near-total blockade on humanitarian aid.
"The Committee to Protect Journalists had seen this playbook from Israel before: a pattern in which journalists are accused by Israel of being terrorists with no credible evidence," wrote Ginsberg, noting the CPJ demanded al-Sharif's protection last month as Israel's attacks intensified.
The five other journalists who were killed when the IDF struck a press tent in Gaza City were not accused of being militants.
The IDF "has not said what crime it believes the others have committed that would justify killing them," wrote Ginsberg. "The laws of war are clear: Journalists are civilians. To target them deliberately in war is to commit a war crime."
"It is hardly surprising that Israel believes it can get away with murder. In the two decades preceding October, Israeli forces killed 20 journalists."
Just as weapons have continued flowing from the United States and other Western countries to Israel despite its killing of at least 242 Palestinian journalists and more than 61,000 other civilians since October 2023, Ginsberg noted, Israel had reason to believe it could target reporters even before the IDF began its current assault on Gaza.
"It is hardly surprising that Israel believes it can get away with murder," wrote Ginsberg. "In the two decades preceding October, Israeli forces killed 20 journalists. No one has ever been held accountable for any of those deaths, including that of the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, whose killing in 2022 sent shock waves through the region."
The reaction to the killing of the six journalists this week from the Trump administration—the largest international funder of the Israeli military—and the corporate media in the U.S. has exemplified what Ginsberg called the global community's "woeful" response to the slaughter of journalists by Israel, which has long boasted of its supposed status as a bastion of press freedom in the Middle East.
As Middle East Eye reported Tuesday, at the first U.S. State Department briefing since al-Sharif and his colleagues were killed, spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the airstrike targeting journalists was a legitimate attack by "a nation fighting a war" and repeated Israel's unsubstantiated claims about al-Sharif.
"I will remind you again that we're dealing with a complicated, horrible situation," she told a reporter from Al Jazeera Arabic. "We refer you to Israel. Israel has released evidence al-Sharif was part of Hamas and was supportive of the Hamas attack on October 7. They're the ones who have the evidence."
A CNN anchor also echoed Israel's allegations of terrorism in an interview with Foreign Press Association president Ian Williams, prompting the press freedom advocate to issue a reminder that—even if Israel's claims were true—journalists are civilians under international law, regardless of their political beliefs and affiliations.
"Frankly, I don't care whether al-Sharif was in Hamas or not," said Williams. "We don't kill journalists for being Republicans or Democrats or, in Britain, Labour Party."
Ginsberg warned that even "our own journalism community" across the world has thus far failed reporters in Gaza—now the deadliest war for journalists that CPJ has ever documented—compared to how it has approached other conflicts.
"Whereas the Committee to Protect Journalists received significant offers of support and solidarity when journalists were being killed in Ukraine at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, the reaction from international media over the killings of our journalist colleagues in Gaza at the start of the war was muted at best," said Ginsberg.
International condemnation has "grown more vocal" following the killing of al-Sharif and his colleagues, including Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, Moamen Aliwa, and Mohammad al-Khaldi, said Ginsberg.
"But it is hard to see," she said, "if Israel can wipe out an entire news crew without the international community so much as batting an eye, what will stop further attacks on reporters."
Three U.N. experts on Tuesday demanded an immediate independent investigation into the journalists' killing, saying that a refusal from Israel to allow such a probe would "reconfirm its own culpability and cover-up of the genocide."
"Journalism is not terrorism. Israel has provided no credible evidence of the latter against any of the journalists that it has targeted and killed with impunity," said the experts, including Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
"These are acts of an arrogant army that believes itself to be impune, no matter the gravity of the crimes it commits," they said. "The impunity must end. The states that continue to support Israel must now place tough sanctions against its government in order to end the killings, the atrocities, and the mass starvation."
Fire-related deaths were reported in Turkey, Spain, Montenegro, and Albania.
With firefighters in southern Europe battling blazes that have killed people in multiple countries and forced thousands to evacuate, Spain's environment minister on Wednesday called the wildfires a "clear warning" of the climate emergency driven by the fossil fuel industry.
While authorities have cited a variety of causes for current fires across the continent, from arson to "careless farming practices, improperly maintained power cables, and summer lightning storms," scientists have long stressed that wildfires are getting worse as humanity heats the planet with fossil fuels.
The Spanish minister, Sara Aagesen, told the radio network Cadena SER that "the fires are one of the parts of the impact of that climate change, which is why we have to do all we can when it comes to prevention."
"Our country is especially vulnerable to climate change. We have resources now but, given that the scientific evidence and the general expectation point to it having an ever greater impact, we need to work to reinforce and professionalize those resources," Aagesen added in remarks translated by The Guardian.
The Spanish meteorological agency, AEMET, said on social media Wednesday that "the danger of wildfires continues at very high or extreme levels in most of Spain, despite the likelihood of showers in many areas," and urged residents to "take extreme precautions!"
The heatwave impacting Spain "peaked on Tuesday with temperatures as high as 45°C (113°F)," according to Reuters. AEMET warned that "starting Thursday, the heat will intensify again," and is likely to continue through Monday.
The heatwave is also a sign of climate change, Akshay Deoras, a research scientist in the Meteorology Department at the U.K.'s University of Reading, told Agence France-Presse this week.
"Thanks to climate change, we now live in a significantly warmer world," Deoras said, adding that "many still underestimate the danger."
There have been at least two fire-related deaths in Spain this week: a man working at a horse stable on the outskirts of the Spanish capital Madrid, and a 35-year-old volunteer firefighter trying to make firebreaks near the town of Nogarejas, in the Castile and León region.
Acknowledging the firefighter's death on social media Tuesday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez sent his "deepest condolences to their family, friends, and colleagues," and wished "much strength and a speedy recovery to the people injured in that same fire."
According to The New York Times, deaths tied to the fires were also reported in Turkey, Montenegro, and Albania. Additionally, The Guardian noted, "a 4-year-old boy who was found unconscious in his family's car in Sardinia died in Rome on Monday after suffering irreversible brain damage caused by heatstroke."
There are also fires in Greece, France, and Portugal, where the mayor of Vila Real, Alexandre Favaios, declared that "we are being cooked alive, this cannot continue."
Reuters on Wednesday highlighted Greenpeace estimates that investing €1 billion, or $1.17 billion, annually in forest management could save 9.9 million hectares or 24.5 million acres—an area bigger than Portugal—and tens of billions of euros spent on firefighting and restoration work.
The European fires are raging roughly three months out from the next United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30, which is scheduled to begin on November 10 in Belém, Brazil.
"These are not abstract numbers," wrote National Education Association president Becky Pringle. "These are real children who show up to school eager to learn but are instead distracted by hunger."
The leader of the largest teachers union in the United States is sounding the alarm over the impact that President Donald Trump's newly enacted budget law will have on young students, specifically warning that massive cuts to federal nutrition assistance will intensify the nation's child hunger crisis.
Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association (NEA)—which represents millions of educators across the U.S.—wrote for Time magazine earlier this week that "as families across America prepare for the new school year, millions of children face the threat of returning to classrooms without access to school meals" under the budget measure that Trump signed into law last month after it cleared the Republican-controlled Congress.
Estimates indicate that more than 18 million children nationwide could lose access to free school meals due to the law's unprecedented cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid, which are used to determine eligibility for free meals in most U.S. states.
The Trump-GOP budget law imposes more strict work-reporting requirements on SNAP recipients and expands the mandates to adults between the ages of 55 and 64 and parents with children aged 14 and older. The Congressional Budget Office said earlier this week that the more aggressive work requirements would kick millions of adults off SNAP over the next decade—with cascading effects for children and other family members who rely on the program.
"Educators see this pain every day, and that's why they go above and beyond—buying classroom snacks with their own money—to support their students."
Pringle wrote in her Time op-ed that "our children can't learn if they are hungry," adding that as a middle school science teacher she has seen first-hand "the pain that hunger creates."
"Educators see this pain every day, and that's why they go above and beyond—buying classroom snacks with their own money—to support their students," she wrote.
The NEA president warned that cuts from the Trump-GOP law "will hit hardest in places where families are already struggling the most, especially in rural and Southern states where school nutrition programs are a lifeline to many."
"In Texas, 3.4 million kids, nearly two-thirds of students, are eligible for free and reduced lunch," Pringle wrote. "In Mississippi, 439,000 kids, 99.7% of the student population, were eligible for free and reduced-cost lunch during the 2022-23 school year."
"These are not abstract numbers," she added. "These are real children who show up to school eager to learn but are instead distracted by hunger and uncertainty about when they will eat again. America's kids deserve better.
Pringle's op-ed came as school leaders, advocates, and lawmakers across the country braced for the impacts of Trump's budget law.
"We're going to see cuts to programs such as SNAP and Medicaid, resulting in domino effects for the children we serve," Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) said during a recent gathering of lawmakers and experts. "For many of our communities, these policies mean life or death."