A new study predicts that rising energy costs that have followed in the wake of Russia's war with Ukraine could push millions of people around the globe into extreme poverty.
In a joint research effort between the United States, China, the UK and Netherlands, the study from the journal Nature Energy assessed the impact of the war and found that energy prices have jumped 4.8 percent with the surge in the cost of coal and natural gas directly linked to Russia's invasion.
Low income-communities that were already facing issues like food insecurity are now at even greater risk of falling into extreme poverty, with countries like Poland and the Czech Republic, facing greater hardships with their economies heavily dependent on energy resources like coal.
In the U.S., consumers spent 14.3 percent more on energy last year than they did in 2021. Electricity prices alone rose 11.9 percent over the 12 months ending in January, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The study estimates that 141 million people around the world are at risk of falling into extreme poverty as costs continue to rise.
"Unaffordable costs of energy and other necessities would push vulnerable populations into energy poverty and even extreme poverty. Understanding how global energy prices are transmitted to households through global supply chains and how they are affected is crucial for effective and equitable policy design," the researchers wrote.
About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
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The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
