AMES, Iowa - An observance next week is designed to draw attention to the plight of the world's hungry, but Iowans got an early start Thursday night.

The Hunger Banquet at Iowa State University was held in advance of next Tuesday's International Women's Day. Oxfam America, an organizer of the day, says the observance spotlights the role women play in growing and gathering food for their families.

Jim Ennis, executive director of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference in Des Moines, which also supported the banquet, says hunger is a major issue for women who are most responsible for food production in many developing countries.

"Women comprise the majority of the world's food producers, and we don't see that necessarily in the United States."

Ennis says there's concern that programs designed to help women increase production and battle hunger in the developing world will be cut as Congress looks for ways to trim the budget. The event in Ames, and others scheduled across the country, are aimed at helping struggling women farmers move from daily survival to providing a better long-term life for themselves and their families.

The Hunger Banquet was a great way to expose Iowans to the challenges that struggling farmers face across the globe, Ennis says.

"A Hunger Banquet, where people can experience the opportunity to see what folks are experiencing in other countries, is a unique one."

With increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather hitting harvests, Oxfam says, women face an even steeper uphill struggle to feed their families these days.


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Haitian-led groups in Massachusetts are calling for a temporary pause in deportations as political instability and violence engulf the island.

They said anything less would be a death sentence. Armed gangs now control most of the capital city, Port-au-Prince, cutting distribution of medical and food supplies.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass. said the U.S. must help restore security and save lives.

"Stabilizing Haiti is not just the right thing to do," Pressley stated. "It is essential to addressing the migrant and asylum-seeking crisis here at home."

Massachusetts has one of the largest Haitian diasporas in the country, and Haitians now make up the vast majority of asylum-seekers currently residing in the state's shelter system.

The United Nations reports nearly 400,000 Haitians have been displaced by the recent violence, with many seeking shelter in public buildings. Heavily-armed groups set fire to more than 20 school classrooms in the capital last month and are recruiting children.

Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said American-made weapons are fueling the crisis.

"Haiti does not produce arms, does not produce ammunition," Jozef pointed out. "All of those are coming from the outside."

Aid groups say weapons are often hidden among donations in shipping containers traveling from U.S. ports. Jozef, along with other Haitian-led groups, is asking House Republicans to unblock $40 million in requested State Department funding for an international security force to help restore order and safe routes for relief groups to operate.


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On Monday, Arizonans gathered at the State Capitol to honor the dead in the war between Israel and Hamas, and demand a halt to the killing.

Liz Hourican, one of the protest organizers, said the event was intended to call on Congress and policymakers to support a ceasefire, enable greater humanitarian access to Gaza and stop the use of American tax dollars for Israel to buy weapons that have killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, including over 4,500 children.

Hourican said it's time to question what she calls the United States' "blind support of Israel."

"The 'security state' that we the taxpayer have long been paying for - and they have a special exemption, with regards to weapons and military funding, etc," she said. "We have to take a look at this, that we are all with blood on our hands as taxpayers."

The Biden administration supports a humanitarian pause in the conflict, but has not yet called for a ceasefire. Some lawmakers in Congress have sponsored efforts to put an end to hostilities in the region and send humanitarian aid to Gaza, but these have gained little traction. This comes as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk last week accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes.

Hourican argued it is unacceptable to think the four-hour daily "humanitarian pauses" Israel recently agreed to in northern Gaza are enough. The protesters said hospitals as well as places of worship shouldn't be caught in the cross-hairs of the conflict. Hourican added they don't think Congress should be funding efforts that put innocent lives in harm's way.

"We cannot pay for an outpost in the Middle East to harm Palestinians. They deserve respect and human rights. One word sums it up - 'equality' - but 'ceasefire' today," she said.

Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have increased across the U.S. since the war erupted. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy organization, received nearly 1,300 requests for help and reports of bias between early October and early November. In an average month last year, the group saw just over 400 complaints.

One of the nation's largest labor unions has become the latest organization to demand a ceasefire in Gaza as Israel's war with Hamas plays out.

The American Postal Workers Union announced on Wednesday that its members are "shocked and saddened by the tragic and ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine." The statement condemned the Hamas violence of Oct. 7 but also said Israel's response "has made the prospects for peace more remote."

APWU Detroit local president Keith Combs said an estimated 4,000 children are among more than 10,000 deaths in the conflict so far.

"Israel has shut off the flow of food, water, fuel and medical supplies to the Gaza Strip, a war crime," he said. "A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding every day in Gaza. Thousands more innocent civilians stand to die - wholly preventable deaths."

The White House announced Thursday that Israel has agreed to a daily four-hour "humanitarian pause" from bombing Gaza to allow civilians to flee, but there's no word on whether those who leave will be allowed back in at a later date. The push for a longer pause came as part of President Joe Biden's renewed diplomatic push to free hostages taken by Hamas.

Combs said the union's position is that anything less than an immediate ceasefire, release of hostages and massive humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza will not be enough.

"We call on our government - which is the primary foreign benefactor of the Israeli government - to use all its power to protect innocent lives," he said, "and to help bring about peace in the region, and not use our tax dollars for more war."

Other unions have also made statements regarding the violence in Gaza, including Starbucks Workers United, which posted a message of solidarity with Palestine on X, formerly Twitter, on Oct. 9. Starbucks executives sued the union in federal court to stop using the company's name and logo, as trademark infringement. The union has filed its own countersuit.


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