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As Iran and the United States maintain rival blockades on the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters, we look at the more than 20,000 seafarers stranded on commercial ships since the outbreak of the war and unable to move out of the region. These maritime workers are often working-class men from developing countries across the Global South who form the crews on about 1,500 oil tankers, cargo ships and other vessels currently stuck on the water. Unpaid for several weeks, they lack the visas to disembark in any of the Gulf countries near the ships.
"There is lack of food, there is lack of provisions, there is lack of water," says Mohamed Arrachedi of the International Transport Workers' Federation, joining us from Bilbao, Spain. "The seafarers are just exposed and absolutely vulnerable."
We also speak with Manoj Yadav, general secretary of Forward Seamen's Union of India, who says the mental health of the workers is rapidly deteriorating as many have also lost connection to their families.
"They are trained for serving on board merchant vessels. They are not trained for the war," Yadav says.
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More than 50 countries are gathered this week in Santa Marta, Colombia, in a groundbreaking effort to establish another forum of international cooperation on phasing out fossil fuels and halting the climate crisis. This comes after years of frustration over the United Nations-led COP process, which requires consensus. The initiative was launched in the final hours of the COP30 conference held in Belém, Brazil, last year, as fossil-fuel producing countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia blocked the formal commitments sought by more ambitious nations.
"This gathering in Santa Marta is about breaking the deadlock, creating a space where mission is not held hostage, and where real pathways to phase out fossil fuels can be discussed openly and honestly," says South African activist Kumi Naidoo, president of the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative.
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 The U.S. Justice Department proposed on Wednesday that Congress take up legislation to curb protections that big tech platforms like Alphabet's Google and Facebook have had for decades, a senior official said, following through on U.S. President Donald Trump's bid to crack down on tech giants.
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