NEW YORK (AP) — Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans says the sense of urgency that younger generations bring to solving international challenges needs to be nurtured in the rest of the world.
“So many of the world’s most prolific movements were started by people when they were young,” Hugh Evans said, noting that Martin Luther King Jr. was only 34 when he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. “Can you imagine that? (Nelson) Mandela was 26 when he co-founded the ANC Youth League. Malala (Yousafzai) was 11 when she gave her first protest speech. And my hero (William) Wilberforce was 21 when he entered into politics. So we have to get our skates on.”
The Associated Press spoke with Evans shortly before Saturday’s Global Citizen Festival in New York, am event headlined by superstars like Post Malone and Doja Cat, as well as breakout artists like Benson Boone and Rauw Alejandro. The festival generated more than $1 billion in new commitments to fight extreme poverty, as well as a new partnership with FIFA in which Global Citizen supporters get tickets to matches by taking action on humanitarian issues.
The interview was edited for clarity and length.
A: We’re operating against the backdrop of a world with constant shocks -- the ongoing shock of recovering from the pandemic and now the shocks of global conflicts. That has resulted in the first time in our lifetime where poverty for the last three years has been on the increase. We’re talking about 719 million people now living on less than $2.15 a day worldwide. The other big shock that the world hasn’t yet fully experienced is the shock of climate change, which has the potential to push another 100 million people into extreme poverty in the next ten years.
A: Those are our big pushes this time. We want to address the reality that the world is confronting multiple crises at once.
A: Based on our most recent data, over 70% of our members are Gen Z. We need to continue to double down on that. It’s fueled by the reality that I think we have a model of activism powered through the Global Citizen app that young people can relate to. And it gives them the power of putting activism and advocacy within their own hands. I think that our approach has always been to try to equip young people with the best, most thoughtful policy asks that are backed by incredible research and data and have the ability to have the most profound impact to bring an end to extreme poverty.
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Global Citizen co-founder Hugh Evans, left, and Hugh Jackman speak during the Global Citizen Festival on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at Central Park in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said Sunday it has killed another high-ranking Hezbollah official in an airstrike as the Lebanese militant group was reeling from a string of devastating blows and the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
The military said Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Central Council, was killed on Saturday. Hezbollah confirmed his death, making him the seventh senior Hezbollah leader slain in Israeli strikes in a little over a week. They include founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades.
The Israeli military said it carried out another targeted strike on Beirut later on Sunday, with details to follow.
Hezbollah had earlier confirmed that Ali Karaki, another senior commander, died in Friday's strike that killed Nasrallah. The Israeli military said earlier that Karaki was killed in the airstrike, which targeted an underground compound in Beirut where Nasrallah and other senior Hezbollah figures were meeting.
Israel said at least 20 other Hezbollah militants were killed in the strike, including two close associates of Nasrallah, one of whom was in charge of his security detail.
Wreckage from the strike was still smoldering more than two days later. On Sunday, Associated Press journalists saw smoke over the rubble as people flocked to the site, some to check on what’s left of their homes and others to pay respects, pray or simply to see the destruction.
Hezbollah has also been targeted by a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that was widely blamed on Israel. A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon has killed at least 1,030 people — including 156 women and 87 children — in less than two weeks, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon by the latest strikes. The government estimates that around 250,000 are in shelters, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives, or camping out on the streets, Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told the AP.
Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets and missiles into northern Israel, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. No Israelis have been killed since the latest wave of strikes targeting top Hezbollah leaders began on Sept. 20.
Kaouk was a veteran member of Hezbollah going back to the 1980s and served as Hezbollah's military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. He often appeared in local media, where he would comment on politics and security developments, and he gave eulogies at the funerals of senior militants. The United States announced sanctions against him in 2020.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that consider themselves part of an Iran-backed “Axis of Resistance” against Israel.
Israel has responded with waves of airstrikes, and the conflict has steadily ratcheted up to the brink of all-out war, raising fears of a region-wide conflagration.
Israel says it is determined to return some 60,000 of its citizens to communities in the north that were evacuated nearly a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its rocket fire if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which has proven elusive despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
Chehayeb reported from Beirut.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
People check the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A woman sleeps on Beirut's corniche after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Children sit in a motorcycle cart in Beirut's Martyrs' square after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A boy sleeps in Beirut's Martyrs' square after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A family sleep on the ground in Beirut's corniche area after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
An elderly man stands near al-Amin Mosque in Beirut's Martyrs' square after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
People gather at the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Families sleep on Beirut's corniche after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A man stands on the rubble of buildings near the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A woman cares for her newborn girl, Fatima, in Beirut's Martyrs' square after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
People gather near the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
People check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A hole in the ground near the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A man walks on rubble at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
