By MELISSA EDDY18 February 2014 ATTERWASCH, Germany (The New York Times) – A grove of apple saplings grows on the lee side of Ulrich Schulz’s barn. He did not plant them for the fruit, he said, but as an act of rebellion against a nearby mining company that wants to raze his farm, which his […]
1 February 2014 (World Bulletin) – Even by Brazilian standards – man, it’s hot. January was the hottest month on record in parts of Brazil including its biggest city, São Paulo. The heat, plus a severe drought, has kindled fears of water shortages, crop damage and higher electricity bills that could drag down the economy […]
By Suzanne Goldenberg 8 February 2014 (The Observer) – On 17 January 2014, scientists downloaded fresh data from a pair of NASA satellites and distributed the findings among the small group of researchers who track the world’s water reserves. At the University of California, Irvine, hydrologist James Famiglietti looked over the data from the gravity-sensing […]
By Jayne Keedle 23 January 2014 (UNH) – Thirty-nine percent of unemployed Americans are experiencing long-term unemployment in the wake of the 2008 recession, which is more than double the percent unemployed more than six months but actively seeking work in 2007, according to new research about trends in long-term unemployment since the recession from […]
18 November 2013 (World Bank) – Disasters trap people into poverty, as indicated by the evidence from many countries. For example, following the 2011 drought, poverty levels in Djibouti returned to levels above those in 2002, indicating a loss of almost 10 years of development gains. Studies from rural Ethiopia and Andhra Pradesh, India, indicate […]
4 January 2013 (MercoPress) – Argentina sanctions power companies for repeated outages that affected millions Federal Planning Minister Julio De Vido said the government of President Cristina Fernandez will not give in to “companies’ pressure’ that seek to reach a tariff hike. “The system failed where there was no investment,” the minister affirmed accusing Edenor […]
18 November 2013 (World Bank) – Since the 1980s, there has been an upward trend in disaster losses. During the 1980–2012 period, estimated total reported losses due to disasters amounted to US$3.8 trillion. Weather-related or hydro-meteorological disasters accounted for 74% (US$2.6 tril- lion) of total reported losses, 87% (18,200) of total disasters, and 61% (1.4 […]
By Mari Saito and Antoni Slodkowski30 December 2013 SENDAI, Japan (Reuters) – Seiji Sasa hits the train station in this northern Japanese city before dawn most mornings to prowl for homeless men. He isn’t a social worker. He’s a recruiter. The men in Sendai Station are potential laborers that Sasa can dispatch to contractors in […]
By Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent 17 December 2013 (The Guardian) – The government has been accused of putting “anti-European ideology” before the needs of the most deprived people in society after Britain rejected help from a European Union fund to help subsidise the costs of food banks. David Cameron, who was heavily criticised […]
By Maria Godoy17 November 2013 When you think of Oregon and food, you probably think organic chicken, kale chips and other signs of a strong local food movement. What probably doesn’t come to mind? Food stamps. And yet, 21 percent of Oregon’s population – that’s one out of every five residents – relies on food […]
