The Current for Oct. 19, 2021
Today on The Current:
The kidnapping of a group of missionaries has brought the world's attention back to Haiti, but the security situation is so dire that Haitians staged a general strike Monday, calling on the government to address it. Matt Galloway talks to Gessika Thomas, a freelance reporter in Port-au-Prince; and Robert Fatton JR, the Julia Cooper Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia.
Then, Colin Powell, the first Black U.S. secretary of state, died Monday. We reflect on his career and legacy with Karen DeYoung, author of Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell, and the senior national security correspondent for The Washington Post.
Plus, COVID-19 cases in Syria have been ramping up for the past month, and the virus is now wreaking havoc on an already devastated health-care system. Francisco Otero y Villar, head of mission for Médecins Sans Frontières in Northwest Syria discusses this second wave, and what can be done to help.
And as world leaders get set to discuss the climate crisis at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, some scientists are betting on virtual reality to make you feel more connected to the state of our seas. We learn more about fostering ocean empathy with Jessica Blythe, assistant professor at the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont.; Dr. Erika Woolsey, a marine biologist and a visiting scholar at the Stanford University Virtual Human Interaction Lab in California; and Lasse Gustavsson, president and CEO of Oceanwise, an ocean conservation organization based in B.C.
