NEWSWORTHY
Among migration of 1.9 million, desperate mom and daughter flee Venezuela on foot for Peru
As night approached, Sandra Cadiz wrapped her shivering 10-year-old daughter in a blanket and prayed for a ride up the frigid Colombian mountaintop known as "the icebox." Two days before, the mother and daughter had fled Venezuela on foot for a 2,700-mile trek through four ...
Survey of 104 countries finds 1.3 billion people live in poverty, including 662 million kids
A survey of 104 countries comprising 5.5 billion people that looked at health, education and living standards has found that some 1.3 billion people are living in poverty — including 662 million children. The Multidimensional Poverty Index released Thursday by the U.N. Development Program and ...
Black magic traps Nigerians in sex slavery abroad
When lesions broke out on Florence's face, she thought she had crossed a black magic curse that had been cast on her as she left Nigeria to work in Russia's sex trade. Florence is one of a rising number of poor women lured in recent ...
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the richest person on the planet, announced Thursday he was creating a philanthropic fund to help homeless families and launch preschools in low-income communities, committing an initial $2 billion. Bezos made the announcement on Twitter a year after asking for ideas ...
Japanese woman works to give impoverished Filipinos path to education and jobs
While in college, Takako Yamada was determined to brighten the days of impoverished Filipino children through sports and leisure activities — a right she believed some of them had been deprived of. The student, now 32, said that at the time, she believed her efforts ...
Sexuallly transmitted infections hit new record highs in U.S. in past year: CDC
Sexually transmitted infections like chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis soared to new record highs in the United States last year, public health officials said Tuesday. The reasons for the rise were not immediately clear, but the CDC pointed to prior research that has shown factors like ...
Half the world's schools lack clean water, toilets and hand-washing, experts warn
Nearly half the world's schools lack clean drinking water, toilets and hand-washing facilities, putting millions of children at risk of disease, experts warned Monday. Almost 900 million children have to contend with a lack of basic hygiene facilities during their education, putting their health at ...
'Staggering' crisis: Global food waste could rise by a third by 2030, study warns
Food waste could rise by almost a third by 2030 when more than 2 billion tons will be binned, researchers said Tuesday, warning of a "staggering" crisis propelled by a booming world population and changing habits in developing nations. The United Nations has set a ...
Why charity for the poor isn't futile
While we wait for politicians to act, it is important to concentrate our spare resources on effective aid that helps poor people lead the best lives they can.
'Potentially catastrophic effects': Red Cross warns of North Korea food crisis as crops fail in heat
A heat wave in North Korea has led to rice, maize and other crops withering in the fields, "with potentially catastrophic effects," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Friday. The world's largest disaster relief network warned of a ...
The U.N. Security Council is poised to back a U.S. proposal aimed at removing some of the hurdles that tough sanctions on North Korea have thrown up in the way of delivering humanitarian aid, according to documents obtained by AFP. North Korea's humanitarian crisis has ...
Where now for Venezuela, as it wrestles with 1,000,000% inflation?
Whether Venezuela's projected 1 million percent inflation sparks a social revolution or forces the government to open up the economy, one thing is sure: It will heap more misery on a suffering population. This week, the International Monetary Fund made the stunning projection, adjusting its ...
