Death toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria: the facts about excess mortality – “Thousands of our fellow American citizens lost their lives”

15 September 2018 (Desdemona Despair) – On Thursday, Trump took time from his busy schedule to tweet that the official death toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria “was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible”.It’s hard to decide where to start with such a cockamamie claim, so […]

Philippines starts massive evacuations as Super Typhoon Mangkhut closes in – “We’re worried for the 10 million people living in the path of this destructive storm”

MANILA, Philippines, 13 September 2018 (NBC News) – Philippine authorities began evacuating thousands of people Thursday from the path of the most powerful typhoon this year, closing schools, readying bulldozers for landslides and placing rescuers and troops on full alert in the country’s north. More than 4 million people live in areas at most risk […]

Without evidence, Trump rejects official Puerto Rico hurricane death toll of 2,975 victims – San Juan Mayor calls him “delusional, paranoid, and unhinged from any sense of reality”

By Catherine Lucey, Zeke Miller, and Jonathan Lemire 13 September 2018 WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump on Thursday rejected the official conclusion that nearly 3,000 people died in Puerto Rico from last year’s Hurricane Maria, arguing without evidence that the number was wrong and calling it a plot by Democrats to make him “look […]

Global warming will likely alter the internal workings of our bodies – and cause a noticeable shift in our appearance

By Scott Solomon 7 September 2018 (NBC News) – As climate change brings rising temperatures, droughts, shifting patterns of precipitation, and longer growing seasons, plants and animals are evolving to keep pace.Biologists have observed squirrels and salmon developing at an accelerated pace, causing them to reproduce at a younger age. Earlier summers have caused some […]

FEMA confirms millions of water bottles for hurricane relief were left at Puerto Rico airport – “If Trump thinks the death of 3,000 people a success, God help us all”

By Justin Wise 12 September 2018 (The Hill) – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said this week that millions of water bottles meant for victims of Hurricane Maria have been left undistributed at an airport in Puerto Rico for more than a year. CBS News journalist David Begnaud reported on Wednesday that FEMA acknowledged […]

Siemens urges staff in eastern Germany to stand up to xenophobia – “It is time for civil society in the state to take a public stand promoting tolerance and humanity”

By Oliver Sachgau 5 September 2018 (Bloomberg News) – Europe’s largest engineering company is urging its employees in eastern Germany to take a stand against “xenophobia and public breach of law” after days of violent clashes in the state of Saxony that industry groups fear may scare off investors.Siemens AG managers wrote to the firm’s […]

Nauru refugees: The island where children have given up on life – 12-year-old on hunger strike – “We are starting to see suicidal behaviour in children as young as eight and 10 years old”

By Virginia Harrison 1 September 2018 (BBC News) – Suicide attempts and horrifying acts of self-harm are drawing fresh attention to the suffering of refugee children on Nauru, in what is being described as a “mental health crisis”. The tiny island nation, site of Australia’s controversial offshore processing centre, has long been plagued with allegations […]

Chemnitz riots show new strength of Germany’s far right – Neo-Nazis hunting in packs “like wolves” for immigrants

By Katrin Bennhold 30 August 2018 CHEMNITZ, Germany (The New York Times) – Waving German flags, with some flashing Nazi salutes, the angry mob made its way through the streets, chasing after dark-skinned bystanders as police officers, vastly outnumbered, were too afraid to intervene. A Syrian refugee and father of two, Anas al-Nahlawie, watched horrified […]

Puerto Rico government raises death toll from Hurricane Maria to nearly 3,000 – “The federal response to the hurricanes was disastrously inadequate, and thousands of our fellow American citizens lost their lives”

By Danica Coto 28 August 2018 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Puerto Rico’s governor raised the island’s official death toll from Hurricane Maria from 64 to 2,975 on Tuesday after an independent study found that the number of people who succumbed in the desperate, sweltering months after the storm had been severely undercounted. The […]

Migrants aboard Italian coast guard ship begin hunger strike

ROME, 24 August 2018 (AP) – Many of the 150 migrants stranded aboard a coast guard ship for a ninth day began a hunger strike Friday out of frustration that Italy won’t let them disembark in Sicily unless fellow European Union nations first pledge to take them, authorities said, in the latest standoff provoked by […]

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