Steve McGookinBiden faces perfect storm of crises
As the Tuesday August 31 deadline looms for the final US withdrawal from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden’s administration is this weekend dealing with a perfect storm of crises, as Hurricane Ida wreaks havoc on the Gulf Coast and the Covid pandemic continues to rage.
Not to mention growing pressure on the President and Congressional Democrats to act to protect voting rights.
Amid warnings of further terror attacks in Kabul as the evacuation continues, the President on Sunday was in Dover, Delaware to join the families of the 13 US service members killed in a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport for the solemn return of their loved ones.
The UK completed its withdrawal at the weekend, in the midst of its own ongoing chaos and controversy.
See Also:
Taliban Tightens Grip As Afghan Chaos Unfolds
Taliban Takes Kabul; Returns To Power In Afghanistan
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‘Devastating’ Hurricane Ida barrels ashore
On the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, America’s Gulf Coast is confronting the impact of Ida, which made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday as a dangerous Category 4 hurricane, causing torrential rain and widespread power outages. President Biden said that the “devastation is likely to be immense.”
As the Gulf Coast is preparing to be inundated with flood water, further west there is exactly the opposite problem…
While the bigger global climate picture holds out little sense of optimism.
See Also:
Broadcasting As Usual As The Planet Burns: Media Coverage of Climate Breakdown
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Driven by Delta, Covid Shows No Sign Of Abating
With the US in the grip of a fourth wave of Covid, driven by the contagious Delta Variant, there were warnings this week that there could be 100,000 further Covid-related deaths by December, without changes to human behaviour.
For some states, though, the possibility of such change remains unlikely.
The UK rolled out the latest of its three-weekly changes to its travel restrictions which come into force on Monday, while from Tuesday, Italy will scrap quarantine requirements for fully-vaccinated travelers from the UK.
Here in Northern Ireland, there are growing concerns over the number of young people being admitted to hospital. At the South West Acute Hospital, almost three-quarters of those critically ill from the disease have not been vaccinated.
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Poll suggests shake-up in political unionism
The latest closely-followed local political poll from LucidTalk indicated a shift in support – in different directions – for both the DUP and the TUV.
The other big news in Northern Ireland this week was that we’ll soon have one less way to leave it…
See Also:
What Happens If Alliance Comes Second?
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Music world misses a beat
There were some notable passings in the world of music and popular culture this week, spanning several decades. Don Everly, who with his brother Phil created some of the best-known songs of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, the influential reggae singer and producer, died aged 85.
Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones since 1963 and the beating heart of the greatest rock and roll band in the world, died aged 80.
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