WATCH: Piles of Trash Bags, Overflowing Dumpsters Lining Philadelphia Roads Stun Locals as Sanitation Workers Strike
The strike, led by AFSCME District Council 33, began earlier this week after contract negotiations with Mayor Cherelle Parker's administration broke down, CBS Philadelphia reported. Representing about 9,000 essential workers—including trash collectors, 911 operators, and Water Department staff, DC 33 is demanding better wages and full healthcare coverage.
The city has offered what it calls a historic proposal: a 13% pay bump over four years, or roughly 3.25% annually. Union leaders say that is not nearly enough, especially for lower-wage workers earning around $40,000 a year.
As talks remain stalled and no new meeting scheduled, trash is visibly piling up across the city. Viral TikTok videos have captured block-long piles of garbage and stuffed dumpsters, with commenters rallying behind the workers.
"You gotta be f***ing kidding me. This s*** is nasty," one resident said in a TikTok that has since amassed more than 1.9 million views. @selfxmade3
Only in Philly ♬ original sound - SelfMade
"Philly gonna find out how important sanitation workers are," one user commented. "They timed this perfectly."
Another added, "The mayor is destroying Philly. She needs to go."
The city has paused curbside pickup and set up 63 temporary drop-off sites for residents to dispose of waste, but the effort has so far done little to relieve the mounting debris.
Whether the pressure from viral outrage and legal action brings either side back to the table remains to be seen. As of Thursday afternoon, no resolution is in sight and trash continues visibly piling up in neighborhoods across the city.
Originally published on Latin Times
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Int'l Business Times
03-07-2025
- Int'l Business Times
WATCH: Piles of Trash Bags, Overflowing Dumpsters Lining Philadelphia Roads Stun Locals as Sanitation Workers Strike
Garbage is spilling into Philadelphia streets as sanitation workers enter their fourth day on strike, leaving residents stunned by scenes of overflowing dumpsters and trash bags piled high. The strike, led by AFSCME District Council 33, began earlier this week after contract negotiations with Mayor Cherelle Parker's administration broke down, CBS Philadelphia reported. Representing about 9,000 essential workers—including trash collectors, 911 operators, and Water Department staff, DC 33 is demanding better wages and full healthcare coverage. The city has offered what it calls a historic proposal: a 13% pay bump over four years, or roughly 3.25% annually. Union leaders say that is not nearly enough, especially for lower-wage workers earning around $40,000 a year. As talks remain stalled and no new meeting scheduled, trash is visibly piling up across the city. Viral TikTok videos have captured block-long piles of garbage and stuffed dumpsters, with commenters rallying behind the workers. "You gotta be f***ing kidding me. This s*** is nasty," one resident said in a TikTok that has since amassed more than 1.9 million views. @selfxmade3 Only in Philly ♬ original sound - SelfMade "Philly gonna find out how important sanitation workers are," one user commented. "They timed this perfectly." Another added, "The mayor is destroying Philly. She needs to go." The city has paused curbside pickup and set up 63 temporary drop-off sites for residents to dispose of waste, but the effort has so far done little to relieve the mounting debris. Whether the pressure from viral outrage and legal action brings either side back to the table remains to be seen. As of Thursday afternoon, no resolution is in sight and trash continues visibly piling up in neighborhoods across the city. Originally published on Latin Times
DW
20-05-2025
- DW
Fact check: Did Chinese fighter jets deliver aid to Gaza? – DW – 05/20/2025
Footage allegedly showing Chinese aid deliveries to Gaza has gone viral on social media platforms. But the images are false. Following an almost three-month blockade, Israel's government announced the decision to allow limited food aid into Gaza. In the last few days, the debate around aid deliveries to the enclave has been accompanied by fake and misleading information online. DW Fact check debunked some of the viral videos. Is China providing aid from the sky? Claim: This post on X from May 17, 2025, with over ten thousand views, purports to show China delivering aid by dropping it from the sky in Gaza. Online videos have claimed China delivered aid by dropping it from the sky in Gaza. Image: X DW Fact check: False In the 32-second video, 20 to 30 packages are seen falling from the sky with parachutes attached. The post is accompanied by a text listing Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, followed by numbers for each place. There is no reference to what these numbers mean. The figures could refer to recently announced investments and economic exchange frameworks between those countries and the United States. The post ends by claiming that the video shows China providing aid to Gaza from the sky. A reverse image search leads us to photographs of airdrops done in Gaza with similar parachutes. Those humanitarian aid deliveries took place at the beginning of March 2024. During that time, several countries dropped humanitarian aid from the sky in Gaza, as Israel blocked aid from crossing the border by land. This did not include China. Highly limited aid deliveries It is difficult to geolocate where the original video was taken because of the widespread destruction in Gaza and rapidly changing landmarks. Additionally, there is limited access to Google Street View in Gaza. The account that posted the video on X seems to belong to a woman from Pakistan who joined the platform in 2011. She doesn't seem to be the person who took the video, as it previously appeared on another account at the beginning of April. The video and claim circulated at a time when aid deliveries are highly limited as Israel stopped deliveries of humanitarian aid in Gaza on March 2, 2025 . On April 1st, the video gathered 52.3 million views on TikTok and the claim that China was responsible for the airdrop only came up in the comment section. In the following days, several posts with the same video appeared. This one shares screenshots repeating the claim of China's involvement, and others combine different videos to make new edits and posts that have also gathered millions of views. China has not released any official statements that it had airdropped aid into Gaza. The last reported deliveries of aid from the Chinese government date to February 19th this year and were transported in trucks . Even as limited aid deliveries into Gaza have currently resumed, these only refer to land deliveries . Did Chinese fighter jets fly over the pyramids on their way to Gaza? Claim: This post on X , which has been viewed over 270,000 times, allegedly shows Chinese fighter jets and a Chinese cargo plane flying over the Great Pyramid of Giza complex in Egypt on their way to drop aid and supplies to Gaza. This video does not show a delivery of aid by the Chinese military, but a joint military exercise between China and Egypt. Image: X DW Fact check: False The user who posted the clip on X on May 18, who identifies himself as a Kenyan parliamentary aspirant, describes the scenes as "iconic images." A reverse image search of the clip reveals a large number of posts with similar messages on other platforms, including YouTube , TikTok , Instagram and Threads . However, the footage is older and does not show aid delivery by the Chinese military. A reverse image search shows clips suggesting that the images are from April and refer to a military drill unrelated to Gaza. Here's one social media example in Portuguese . This context is further confirmed by an advanced internet search for military exercises in Egypt in the last few months. In April, China and Egypt launched their first joint military training, codenamed "Eagles of Civilization 2025," as confirmed here by the Egyptian government and here by the Chinese Ministry of Defence. Several pictures of the joint exercises were published by news agencies, including those of military jets flying over the pyramids. Furthermore, Chinese state-owned media outlet CGTN published video material of the exercise under the headline "Jets over pyramids." Military aircraft flew in formation at the Giza pyramid complex, as China and Egypt conducted their first joint air force exercise. Image: Ryan Woo/REUTERS Not the only false videos The two false videos above are not the only ones that have circulated online in recent days. Others include further videos taken out of context, like this one with 3 million likes on TikTok. It was taken in October 2024 and included aid from the US and France. The German armed forces also took part in this. This other one was originally taken in March 2024, as Jordan opened the airlift to drop aid over Gaza. Both also show military airplanes dropping aid from the sky, but the claim of Chinese involvement is false. This article is part of a collaboration between Germany's public broadcasting fact-checking teams ARD-Faktenfinder, BR24 #Faktenfuchs and DW Fact check. Edited by: Rachel Baig
Int'l Business Times
26-04-2025
- Int'l Business Times
'Shared Loss': Filipino Catholics Bid Pope Francis Farewell
Filipino faithful prayed the rosary inside a Manila church on Saturday as the funeral of Pope Francis played overhead on large screens. Young people crowded into the front rows of the Sacred Heart Parish Shrine, where a trio of large fans kept parishioners cool as four days of national mourning in Asia's Catholic bastion neared an end. Giving people a place to share their pain and loss was an "act of gratitude," parish priest Father Randy Flores told AFP. "Pope Francis is special for Filipinos because he came here and we saw his impact on the faithful, especially his message of peace and caring for the vulnerable and the poor," Flores said. "Filipinos really love him." Known to many Filipinos as "Lolo Kiko", or "grandfather Francis", the pope visited in 2015, when he ministered to the survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan, the deadliest storm in the country's history. Within hours of the announcement of his death this week, bells were rung and requiem masses were held at churches across the country of more than 90 million Catholics. On Saturday, as Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re delivered his homily in Rome, Joylene Sto. Domingo, 38, recounted how she had strained to catch a glimpse of the pontiff as he passed by on the streets of the capital. You could feel his kindness even from afar, the church youth advisor said. "As the faithful, our faith was reenergised and doubled" by his visit, she said. "He really cared for our youth," she added. "That's why he is our pope." Nedji Lee, a grade 9 student and parish volunteer, told AFP his own fondest memory of Pope Francis had come courtesy of a TikTok video. "He was asked if he could grant only one miracle (what would it be), and he answered that he wanted to heal all the sick children," the 16-year-old remembered. "It made me want to be a better person, a better Catholic." The funeral in Rome was still ongoing when the Manila service concluded. Some stayed and watched silently as the pageantry unfolded on the screens. The young people gathered around a framed photo of the pontiff to snap a group picture, then rushed off for promised snacks. Sister Imaniar Rusani, an Indonesian nun assigned to the Philippines, told AFP she had come to the service because it felt right to be with fellow believers for the funeral. "It's good to be with the people," she said, adding she was unbothered by the service being conducted mostly in Filipino, a language she does not speak. "What we have here is shared loss and faith, there's no language for that." Pope Francis was known to many Filipinos as 'Lolo Kiko' AFP
