ABC News

Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier: the gangster behind the violence in Haiti who may have political aspirations of his own

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Over the past two weeks, Haiti’s powerful gangs have plunged a country already on life support into a coma.

Key Points: 
  • Over the past two weeks, Haiti’s powerful gangs have plunged a country already on life support into a coma.
  • He is an unelected leader, taking power after Haiti’s president was assassinated in 2021, and has presided over the country’s economic freefall.
  • But Chérizier has emerged from the armed insurrection as the most formidable leader in Haiti, and some suspect he may have political aspirations of his own.
  • Haiti’s history is replete with political leaders with very dubious pasts, and the country’s citizens are used to their violent machinations.
  • According to Chérizier, his brand of violent street politics is very much in tune with the need of the hour.

Political acumen

  • The current political instability in Haiti has largely been manufactured by Chérizier and the gangs he leads as a cleverly thought-out survival strategy.
  • So, on the one hand, Chérizier’s decision to stir up a political uprising can be seen as a planned strategy to scare off any external forces seeking to impose order.
  • Chérizier has used Henry’s unpopularity and controversial decision to deploy foreign police officers in the nation to drum up a nationwide violent fervour for political change.
  • With Henry now out of the political scene, the chance that Haitians will be forced to embrace such an outcome may not be far-fetched after all.


Amalendu Misra has received funding from
British Academy /
Nuffield Foundation

“A Mind Is…”® New York Gala to Celebrate UNCF’s 80th Anniversary

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 28, 2024

New York, NY, Feb. 28, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UNCF (United Negro College Fund) will celebrate its milestone 80th anniversary during “A Mind Is…”® Gala at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City on Thursday, March 21, 2024.

Key Points: 
  • New York, NY, Feb. 28, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UNCF (United Negro College Fund) will celebrate its milestone 80th anniversary during “A Mind Is…”® Gala at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City on Thursday, March 21, 2024.
  • The New York “A Mind Is…”® Gala will recognize outstanding partners who help the organization effectuate this mission.
  • Proceeds from the gala will support UNCF-member HBCUs and college students from across New York and the United States.
  • Events like our ‘A Mind Is…’ New York Gala help us do just that,” said Lomax.

NAMI Announces Award-Winning Communicator Ann Andrews Morris as Chief Communications and Marketing Officer

Retrieved on: 
Friday, March 8, 2024

ARLINGTON, Va., March 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Alliance on Mental Illness ( NAMI ) welcomes Ann Andrews Morris as the new Chief Communications and Marketing Officer.

Key Points: 
  • ARLINGTON, Va., March 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Alliance on Mental Illness ( NAMI ) welcomes Ann Andrews Morris as the new Chief Communications and Marketing Officer.
  • With more than 20 years of experience in nonprofit communications and marketing leadership, Morris brings a wealth of expertise to NAMI.
  • In her role as CCMO, Morris will spearhead strategic communication and marketing initiatives to enhance and elevate NAMI's mission.
  • Morris is a recipient of 15 industry achievement awards for her outstanding work in strategic communications, marketing, and brand leadership.

Veteran ABC News Correspondent John Quiñones to Speak at The Immunization Partnership 2024 Annual Dinner

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, January 31, 2024

HOUSTON, TX, Jan. 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Immunization Partnership (TIP), a statewide nonprofit committed to a healthy Texas, is proud to welcome San Antonio native and award-winning ABC News correspondent John Quiñones as its 2024 annual dinner speaker.

Key Points: 
  • HOUSTON, TX, Jan. 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Immunization Partnership (TIP), a statewide nonprofit committed to a healthy Texas, is proud to welcome San Antonio native and award-winning ABC News correspondent John Quiñones as its 2024 annual dinner speaker.
  • Quiñones is the host of “What Would You Do?,” a program that puts the TV viewer in the place of action.
  • He will weave broadcast clips from the show into an engaging presentation about the significance of current events and how to affect change.
  • This special event, held Wednesday, June 5 at the Westin Riverwalk in San Antonio, precedes The Immunization Partnership’s inaugural public health summit , The Intersection.

‘We miners die a lot.’ Appalling conditions and poverty wages: the lives of cobalt miners in the DRC

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Estimates suggest that as many as 11,000 men and women work on the site, the majority of whom have no other means of deriving a livelihood.

Key Points: 
  • Estimates suggest that as many as 11,000 men and women work on the site, the majority of whom have no other means of deriving a livelihood.
  • Risking their lives, they tunnel deep into the red earth, excavating cobalt in shafts that descend as deep as 100 metres, and yet they receive almost none of the profits.
  • This story of labour exploitation and unequal exchange in Africa has become an all-too-familiar one to me.
  • I was eager to visit the site because I had heard many encouraging things about it.
  • Most artisanal mining sites are found in remote locations, remain unplanned and unregulated, and are subject to a host of social and environmental problems.
  • But at the same time, there has been much fanfare around the idea of organising artisanal miners into cooperatives, as a potential solution to this problem.
  • The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.
  • There are people who come from Kasai, the Chinese who leave China to come here, Canadians who leave their country to come here.
  • It is very good.

‘The work we do is hard’

  • Many told me they only started mining because they wanted to create a better life for their kids.
  • It is easy to understand why a parent would tolerate hardship, injustice and risk, if it could help their children.
  • We only do this work because we don’t have the means to survive.
  • The work we do is hard because it’s a job you do all day long.
  • We only do this work because we don’t have the means to survive.

‘We miners die a lot’

  • Six miners were killed and the depth and design of the tunnels meant that the bodies could not be recovered.
  • And to be sure, all the miners I spoke to feared such a disaster could happen to them at any time.
  • Death and injury is common among artisanal miners, due to both tunnel collapses and working without personal protective equipment.
  • We miners die a lot.
  • We miners die a lot.

Toxic dust and birth defects

  • Further compounding the hazardous working conditions, cobalt dust is toxic, affecting all those working in mines, but also those in the wider community.
  • That research also found high concentrations of uranium in the urine of exposed children and miners.
  • A Lancet study found that pregnant women living in cobalt-mining communities have the highest levels ever reported of heavy metals in their blood.
  • The same study demonstrated a five-fold increase in risk of birth defects in babies born to fathers working in cobalt mines.
  • Alphonsine, eloquently described the horrific conditions that washers must endure:
    There are several problems in doing this work.
  • Recent comparisons of time-lapse satellite imagery over the past five years demonstrates the dramatic growth of cobalt mines in and around Kolwezi.

The invisible face of the cobalt rush

  • Hunting for the buried blue treasure – a key ingredient in the lithium-ion batteries used in consumer electronics and electric vehicles that are vital to global efforts to combat climate change – artisanal miners like Ghislain have long been the invisible face of the cobalt rush.
  • The Congolese cobalt rush fuels a multi-billion-dollar industry for international mining companies and buying agents – often from China – that have moved into the country.
  • Southern Congo sits upon 3.4 million tons of cobalt, an estimated two thirds of the world’s known supply.
  • Alphonsine told me that she didn’t know what happened to the cobalt she washed, after it left the site.
  • Instead of buying well so that we too can win, they buy the products maliciously.
  • As the world transitions to electric vehicles, competition over supplies of cobalt continues to intensify, with global demand set to increase up to eight-fold by 2040.
  • Against this backdrop, the OECD estimates that there are more than 200,000 creuseurs, often labouring alongside large-scale industrial operations, who extract up to 30% of Congo’s cobalt.

Child labour

  • Such claims have provided fertile ground for a high-profile legal case against the world’s largest tech companies, launched in December 2019 by Congolese families, over deaths and serious injuries sustained by child labourers in cobalt mines.
  • In October 2022, the US Department of Labour added lithium-ion batteries to its list of goods produced by child labour.

No such thing as ‘clean cobalt’

  • Profit margins are much higher when it’s possible to purchase cobalt that is extracted under slave-like conditions.
  • And the reality is that cobalt unearthed by creuseurs is bought by agents and processed alongside cobalt from large-scale mines, with over 80% of it then being refined in China.
  • As things stand, there is no such thing as “clean cobalt”.

Plausible deniability


While the negative impacts of the cobalt boom may be increasingly visible and have now become impossible to ignore, industry is not held accountable, partially because it has found new ways to hide its exploitative business practices.

  • Complexity in the supply chain helps big corporations to demand profit-boosting efficiencies at arms’ length, giving them plausible deniability for the consequences of their actions.
  • These companies also have become adept at spinning their purported efforts to improve conditions.
  • Look at their websites and you’ll probably see a massive section devoted to sustainability and community-building.


For you: more from our Insights series:
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Unlocking new clues to how dementia and Alzheimer’s work in the brain – Uncharted Brain podcast series

To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. Subscribe to our newsletter.
For this research, Roy Maconachie received funding from the Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF), the Bath Research in Development (BRID) Fund, and the Bath Impact Fund.

Magazine Shop Reveals New Titles Launching This Season & Consumer Trends Driving "Digital Pocket" Expansion

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, January 24, 2024

With fast, free shipping, Magazine Shop enables superfans and special interest groups to browse and purchase their favorite magazines online, wherever they are.

Key Points: 
  • With fast, free shipping, Magazine Shop enables superfans and special interest groups to browse and purchase their favorite magazines online, wherever they are.
  • With new titles added weekly, Magazine Shop offers the widest selection of subject categories online.
  • Beyond nostalgia, Magazine Shop continues to see strong demand growth for special interest publications and celebratory issues.
  • Last month, TIME's Person of the Year featuring Taylor Swift shattered the magazine marketplace's order records with an astonishing 300K copies.

THE CIPHER BRIEF ANNOUNCES TOM NAGORSKI AS MANAGING EDITOR

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 23, 2024

NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cipher Brief, a digital news organization focused on covering national and global security, is pleased to announce that Tom Nagorski is joining the newsroom as Managing Editor. Nagorski comes to The Cipher Brief with deep experience as an editor, correspondent and author and has served as Global Editor for Grid and The Messenger and as ABC News' Managing Editor for International Coverage. At ABC he was also Foreign Editor, Senior Broadcast Producer for World News Tonight and an international reporter and producer for the network. He has also served as Executive Vice President of The Asia Society. Working from multiple countries, Nagorski has received eight Emmy Awards, the Dupont Award for excellence in international coverage, the Overseas Press Club Award and a fellowship from the Henry Luce Foundation.

Key Points: 
  • The Cipher Brief is a digital media publication specializing in national and global security news, analysis and perspective
    NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cipher Brief, a digital news organization focused on covering national and global security, is pleased to announce that Tom Nagorski is joining the newsroom as Managing Editor.
  • Nagorski comes to The Cipher Brief with deep experience as an editor, correspondent and author and has served as Global Editor for Grid and The Messenger and as ABC News' Managing Editor for International Coverage.
  • At ABC he was also Foreign Editor, Senior Broadcast Producer for World News Tonight and an international reporter and producer for the network.
  • "The Cipher Brief is thrilled to welcome Tom to lead our editorial team as we continue to expand our coverage both in the U.S. and overseas," said Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly.

2024 National Disaster Resilience Conference: Resilience Reimagined Opens Call for Presentations

Retrieved on: 
Monday, January 8, 2024

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Jan. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) invites experts to submit presentations for consideration by the National Disaster Resilience Conference (NDRC24) committee. Set to take place from November 20 to 22, 2024, in Clearwater Beach, Florida, the conference seeks to explore innovative approaches and programs that drive advancements in resilience policy, practice, science, and engineering.

Key Points: 
  • TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Jan. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) invites experts to submit presentations for consideration by the National Disaster Resilience Conference (NDRC24) committee.
  • NDRC24 serves as a platform for industry leaders to share insights that will shape the future of disaster safety.
  • Stories of Resilience: Showcasing the cause of disaster safety through human resilience and recovery in real-life case studies.
  • For more information or to submit an abstract, visit the National Disaster Resilience Conference website or email [email protected] .

"CELEBRATION OF RESCUE" EVENT SPOTLIGHTS 360-DEGREE VIEW OF NORTH SHORE ANIMAL LEAGUE AMERICA'S LIFE-SAVING MISSION

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, November 18, 2023

NEW YORK, Nov. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- North Shore Animal League America, the world's largest no-kill animal rescue and adoption organization, hosted a "Celebration of Rescue" on Friday, November 17 at the exquisite TriBeCa 360o overlooking the twinkling lights of Lower Manhattan. This year's event drew attendees from all sectors of New York's animal-loving community and beyond, many of whom have adopted from North Shore Animal League America. Television personality and executive producer Brian Balthazar served as Host for the evening's festivities and North Shore Animal League America foster-parent, spokesperson, and Board Member Beth Stern was the event's Chairperson.

Key Points: 
  • This year's event drew attendees from all sectors of New York's animal-loving community and beyond, many of whom have adopted from North Shore Animal League America.
  • Television personality and executive producer Brian Balthazar served as Host for the evening's festivities and North Shore Animal League America foster-parent, spokesperson, and Board Member Beth Stern was the event's Chairperson.
  • Actors Lily Rabe and Edie Falco, longtime Animal League America supporters, provided voice overs for these moving segments.
  • To learn more about Celebration of Rescue, the Online Auction, and to donate, visit www.animalleague.org/celebrationofrescue
    Celebration of Rescue supports North Shore Animal League America's ever-expanding no-kill mission with all proceeds from the event dedicated to the ongoing no-kill mission to Rescue, Nurture, Adopt, and Educate.

Unforgettable Gala, Longest-Running Awards Event Celebrating Asian and Pacific Islanders in Entertainment, Announces ChimeTV as First-Ever Broadcast Partner

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, November 8, 2023

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Nov. 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- After more than two decades of honoring the biggest and most impactful Asian and Pacific Islander names in entertainment, arts and culture, the Unforgettable Gala will be available on cable and streaming platforms for the first time. Event producer Character Media has announced today that ChimeTV will serve as the exclusive broadcast partner, bringing the show to U.S. cable subscribers and streaming audiences worldwide. 

Key Points: 
  • Event producer Character Media has announced today that ChimeTV will serve as the exclusive broadcast partner, bringing the show to U.S. cable subscribers and streaming audiences worldwide.
  • Popularly known as UNFO, the longest-running premier Asian American awards show, Unforgettable is attended by the biggest names from the Asian and Pacific Islander community.
  • Also announced today are honorary co-chairs, journalist Lisa Ling and filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton, leading this year's awards Selection Committee.
  • The awards gala will take place December 16, at the Beverly Hilton and will air on ChimeTV at a later date.