This week’s roundup includes global news we’re following, updates on our work at Secure Families Initiative, and a couple of heartwarming stories to start your week.
Stories from around the world (August 18-24, 2024)
1. Blinken says Israel has agreed to US proposal to close remaining gaps on ceasefire deal and calls on Hamas to do the same (CNN; August 19, 2024)
Despite the claims of Netanyahu’s agreement to the bridging proposal, there are still significant challenges before a deal can actually be reached. Not only has Hamas not agreed to the proposal but negotiators are still working on specific details on how an agreement would be implemented. They are also working to establish “clear understandings on how the different parties are going to make good on their commitments,” the top US diplomat said.
2. Ukraine attacks Moscow in one of largest ever drone strikes on Russian capital (Reuters; August 22, 2024)
Ukraine attacked Moscow on Wednesday with at least 11 drones shot down by air defences in what Russian officials said was one of the biggest drone strikes on the capital since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022.
3. Monkeypox in the headlines: Mpox screening stepped up globally as more cases emerge outside Africa (The Guardian; August 16, 2024)
Surveillance efforts against mpox are being ramped up globally, as trials for a new treatment showed disappointing results against the variant driving the current outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) determined that the upsurge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a growing number of countries in Africa constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (2005) on August 14, 2024. The mpox strain, clade Ib, began in September 2023 in the DRC, and now Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda are reporting an increasing number of cases; Cote d’Ivoire is reporting cases of clade II mpox for the first time since the start of the multi-country outbreak in 2022.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides an overview of the situation, and in their latest summary notably states that the risk of mpox coming into the United States is low. CDC has made this assessment due to the limited number of travelers and no direct commercial flights from DRC or its neighboring countries to the United States. The risk might change as more information becomes available, or if more cases appear outside central and eastern Africa. Moreover, there are no cases of clade I mpox reported in the United States as of August 21, 2024.
Mpox needs close or intimate contact to spread, so casual contact like you might have during travel is not likely to cause the disease to spread. The best protection against mpox is two doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine if you’re eligible.
Visit the WHO and CDC website to stay up to date on vaccines, methods of transmission, and what else to do to stay protected.
Secure Families Initiative has been hard at work fighting for military families, from protecting our families’ safety when we PCS to voting access.
PCS Safety: How Moves Put Military Families of Color at Risk (Military.com; August 21, 2024)
The 2021 Blue Star Families survey found that 46% of service members of color have considered racial/ethnic discrimination in their installation ranking decisions, and 42% consider concerns about safety due to their (or their family’s) racial/ethnic identity.
As a result of these events, SFI launched its PCS Safety Campaign, sharing stories … to raise awareness. And Congress has responded.”
Thanks to the hard work of our Military Families of Color Caucuses, the 2025 NDAA includes requiring brands to provide a report detailing their individual compassionate reassignment policies, including “an assessment of a service member’s ability to raise safety concerns within the reassignment or permanent change of station process.
Voting Rights: Secure Families Initiative Joins Voting Rights Groups in Amicus Brief to Protect Arizona’s Eligible Voters (August 21, 2024) This week Secure Families Initiative, the League of Women Voters of the United States, League of Women Voters of Arizona, and Modern Military Association of America filed an amicus brief this week in Mi Familia Vota v. Fontes, a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Here’s a short video from Executive Director Sarah Streyder explaining why we joined the lawsuit and providing a Supreme Court update.
And a quick mental health break for a few heartwarming stories.
1. A heartfelt story of history washing ashore: Letter in a Bottle, Written by Sailor at Virginia Base in 1945, Washes Ashore in Florida After Hurricane (Military.com; August 19, 2024)
It was a message in a bottle, handwritten under the letterhead “United States Navy, Amphibious Training Base, Little Creek, Virginia.” The date on the letter: “3/4/1945.” […] Inside the bottle, the piece of paper was folded in thirds. With it were three other objects. There was an empty bullet casing with no identifying markings or an engraved caliber. A circular hunk of metal, the size of a bubblegum ball, rolled around the bottom. And a thin piece of wood, similar to a coffee stirrer, leaned against the neck of the bottle.
2. We always love seeing service members shine in and out of uniform. Who else watched the Bronze medal rugby match during the 2024 Summer Olympics? An Army officer is one of the stars of the U.S. women’s Olympic rugby team (Task and Purpose; July 30, 2024)
Capt. Samantha Sullivan was an All American at West Point. Her coach said “everything you see is what you’re going to get.”