AUSTIN, Texas, 27 April 2018 (AP) – Advocacy groups said Friday that Texas is poised to unfairly distribute billions in federal funding provided for housing repairs following Hurricane Harvey’s devastation — prioritizing wealthy homeowners over poorer victims in ways that could constitute racial discrimination. At issue is a draft state rebuilding plan that says homeowners […]
By Justine Calma 24 April 2018 (Grist) – Seven months after Juan and Jonathan Leija were forced to evacuate their flooded homes during Hurricane Harvey, the cousins face challenges that go beyond just recovering their lives. Building back isn’t easy for anybody, but the Leijas are doing it as looming policy decisions threaten to uproot […]
20 April 2018 (UN News) – The arrival of pre-monsoon rains in southern Bangladesh has revealed an alarming level of risks for Rohingya refugees, United Nations humanitarian agencies said on Friday, warning that they do not have the funds needed to protect hundreds of thousands of desperate people once the rainy season begins in earnest.“The […]
By Marwa Eltagouri 12 April 2018 (The Washington Post) – About 840,000 people across Puerto Rico were without power Thursday as the U.S. territory continues to struggle after the damage caused by Hurricane Maria last fall, according to island’s Electric Power Authority.The power company, in tweets Thursday, said that a tree had fallen onto the […]
By Adolfo Flores 31 March 2018 San Pedro Tapanatepec, Mexico (BuzzFeed) – Taking a drag from her cigarette, a Mexican immigration agent looked out toward a caravan of migrants that grew larger with each step they took on the two-lane highway.When the agent, who’d covered her uniform with an orange and white shawl, learned that […]
1 March 2018 (Mongabay) – On Tuesday, a federal judge in California ruled that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not abuse its authority in waiving dozens of environmental laws to build sections of wall along the border between the U.S. and Mexico. The ruling frees the department to waive laws for future border […]
1 March 2018 (AFP) – Puerto Rico’s power grid broke down again on Thursday, leaving some 800,000 customers without power, as the US Caribbean possession struggles to recover five months after Hurricane Maria slammed the island. Justo Gonzalez, head of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), said that one of the island’s main transmission […]
By Danica Coto 18 February 2018 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Associated Press) – Puerto Rico’s power company said Sunday that it will reduce its operating reserve to save money amid a cash shortfall as officials warned that the move could destabilize the U.S. territory’s fragile electrical grid. William Rios, director of generation at Puerto Rico’s […]
14 February 2018 (UN News) – “This is an urgent signal for action, and the report recommends the directions to follow,” Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Executive Director of UN Women, said on the launch of the new report, Turning promises into action: Gender Equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters […]
GENEVA, 14 February 2018 (UNHCR) – The United States Government must respect the rights of human rights defenders, a group of UN experts* has said, amid concern over action being taken against a Mexican woman who campaigns to protect migrants’ rights. Maru Mora Villalpando, who has been in the US since 1996, is facing deportation […]
