USA – US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has declared gun violence a public health crisis in the United States. In an advisory issued on Tuesday, Murthy called for more stringent laws to limit the widespread availability of firearms, which many blame for the country’s unparalleled levels of gun violence.

“Firearm violence is an urgent public health crisis that has led to loss of life, unimaginable pain, and profound grief for far too many Americans,” Murthy said in a statement. While high-profile mass shootings attract a large share of attention, everyday gun violence is a persistent threat that has led to a dismal upward trend of gun injuries and deaths. Murthy noted on Tuesday that young people and communities of colour are especially impacted.

It is unclear what changes, if any, the declaration could bring, with efforts to enact gun control at a standstill at the federal level, where many conservative politicians resolutely oppose any efforts to place greater limitations on firearms access. Many Republican-led states have moved to further roll back existing restrictions. The National Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful political group that has fought to further loosen limits to firearms access, called the advisory an “extension of the Biden administration’s war on law-abiding gun owners”. Murthy said that the impact of gun violence extends beyond the roughly 50,000 people killed in the US per year, with lingering effects for those who witness or survive shootings or deal with injuries or the loss of loved ones. (Al Jazeera) …[+]

BRASILIA – Brazil’s financial market maintained its 2024 economic growth forecast almost unchanged, even after the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) of Brazil’s Central Bank decided last week to pause the monetary easing policy adopted in August, the bank said.

According to the bank’s weekly Focus survey of leading financial institutions, analysts slightly increased their GDP growth forecast for 2024 from 2.08 to 2.09 percent, while keeping it steady at 2 percent for 2025.

At its latest meeting last week, the Copom maintained the Selic rate, the economy’s basic interest rate, at 10.50 percent annually. Analysts expect the rate to hold steady for the rest of year, and gradually decline to 9.50 percent next year. Analysts raised the inflation forecast from 3.96 to 3.98 percent for this year and from 3.80 to 3.85 percent for next year, both of which remain within the official target range of 3 percent with a tolerance of 1.5 percentage points above or below.

Regarding the exchange market for Brazil’s currency, which currently trades at 5.40 reals to the U.S. dollar, analysts expect the currency to trade at 5.15 reals to the dollar by the end of the year and next year. As to the balance of trade, analysts anticipate a surplus of $81.78 billion in 2024 and of $76 billion in 2025. Foreign direct investment in Brazil is projected to reach $70 billion in 2024 and $73 billion in 2025. (Xinhua)

Photo: A man walks past the building of Brazil’s central bank in the capital of Brasilia. (Stratfor)   …[+]              

GAZA STRIP  –  A high risk of famine persists in Gaza and the situation “remains catastrophic” as the war between Israel and Hamas continues, according to a report released by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

“A high risk of famine persists across the whole of the Gaza Strip as long as conflict continues and humanitarian access is restricted,” the report said. “Only the cessation of hostilities in conjunction with sustained humanitarian access to the entire Gaza Strip can reduce the risk of a famine occurring in the Gaza Strip.”

The report projects that 96% of the population of Gaza – more than 2 million people – will face crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of food insecurity through at least the end of September. Nearly half a million are projected to face catastrophic levels, the most severe level on the IPC scale where people “experience an extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion of coping capacities.”

“Given the unpredictability of the ongoing conflict and humanitarian access challenges, any significant change may lead to a very rapid deterioration into Famine,” the report said.

“The last few months have demonstrated that food and humanitarian access and malnutrition prevalence can change very quickly, the risk of epidemics is increasing and eight months of extreme pressure on the lives of the population make them much more vulnerable to collapse into famine,” said the report, compiled by the IPC’s Famine Review Committee.

The findings of the report echo testimonies from those on the ground about the dire humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Nearly nine months of Israel’s bombardment and siege have depleted the health care system, battered water infrastructure and created dire conditions for the entire population of more than 2.2 million people.

Increased Israeli attacks in the southern city of Rafah have triggered mass displacement and an outbreak of infectious diseases in the sprawling tent camps where people cannot access basic sanitation. With no signs of an imminent ceasefire being agreed to stop the fighting, relief workers say the suffering of civilians on the ground will only get worse.

“The latest data shows that, to be able to purchase food, more than half of the households had to exchange their clothes for money and one third resorted to picking up trash to sell,” the report detailed in its “special snapshot.” “More than half also reported that, often, they do not have any food to eat in the house, and over 20 percent go entire days and nights without eating.” (CNN)

Photo: The mother of Amjed Al-Qanooa, 3, who suffers from severe malnutrition, shows the pills prescribed for her son in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza. (AFP) …[+]