Poverty News

Beggars taken off the streets for Philippines papal visit

Manila - The Philippines government came under fire Friday after admitting that hundreds of homeless people were taken off Manila's streets and put into luxury accommodation during Pope Francis's recent visit, when he preached compassion for the poor.

World's poor headed for better lives in 2030: Gates

New York - The lives of the poor will improve faster in the next 15 years than at any time in history, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates and his wife Melinda say.

Richest 1% to own half of world’s wealth by 2016, says Oxfam

Paris - Wealth accumulated by the richest one percent will exceed that of the other 99 percent in 2016, the Oxfam charity said Monday, ahead of the annual meeting of the world's most powerful at Davos, Switzerland.

Op-Ed: Why we must care that half of public school students are poor

The Southern Education Foundation reports that 51 percent of all public school students are now on the federal free and reduced-price lunch programs, the highest percentage in at least 50 years. Why this matters:

LatAm's cash transfer 'revolution' at crossroads

Montevideo - In the past generation, a mass exodus from poverty has transformed Latin America, the world's most unequal region, spurred on by innovative welfare programs that now face an uncertain future.

Homeless residents make lives in Madrid's airport

Madrid - In Madrid airport's bustling fourth terminal, Edu's trolley is loaded with suitcases, but he won't be checking them in. Unlike the thousands of Christmas travellers, he is not flying anywhere.

Trade and tension at Europe's troubled African borders

Melilla - Hassan Ibrahim, both physically and mentally disabled, staggers on his weakened legs as he pushes two huge packs of contraband goods loaded on a wheelchair.

Politician claims more and more people having DIY funerals

London - A politician has claimed that families are having to bury their dead relatives in their gardens as the rising cost of funerals has forced them to take extreme measures.

Op-Ed: In the wake of the Ferguson riots, 'white privilege' revisited

While protests against the grand jury decision in Ferguson and elsewhere continued through the Thanksgiving weekend, the concept of "white privilege" has been presented as an acceptable phraseology.

Most of world's poorest nations stuck in a structural rut: UN

Geneva - The planet's poorest nations like Ethiopia, Malawi and Angola have failed to cash in on strong economic growth due to a lack of structural reforms and left them wallowing in poverty, the UN warned.

Housing is a right: Edmonton rally Special

The Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness (ECOHH) organized a rally on November 21 to proclaim housing as a right.

Op-Ed: U.S. should consider incentive pay in filling teacher assignments

The Obama administration has just instructed states to develop plans by next June showing how they will ensure that poor and minority students are being taught by "high-quality" teachers. This "equity of assigning teachers" presents a huge challenge.

Economic crisis pulls 2.6 mn children below poverty line: UNICEF

Geneva - At least 2.6 million children have fallen below the poverty line in the world's richest nations since the economic crisis struck in 2008, UNICEF said in a hard-hitting report Tuesday.

Advocacy group urges renewed global push to end Africa poverty

Washington - Nations vowing to wipe out poverty in Africa have failed to come through with sufficient aid, an international advocacy group said in a report released Monday, urging them to make good on their pledges.

Advocacy group urges renewed global push to end Africa poverty

Music training shapes the brains of children

Los Angeles - Musical training helps to shape the developing brain of children. Studies showed that after two years in a music enrichment program children displayed enhanced sophisticated brain responses to spoken syllables.

Op-Ed: Poverty and inequality — A study in ignorance and failure

Sydney - The word “poverty” produces a lot of information and no results. Studies don’t even begin to define it. Huge amounts of data and money are spent, ineptly, failing to solve the problem.

Corruption costs poor countries $1 trillion a year: NGO

Paris - Corruption, fraud and money-laundering cost poor countries a total of $1.0 trillion a year, the anti-poverty organisation ONE said in a study released on Wednesday.

Low-caste Indians still forced to clean human waste: rights group

Mumbai - Low-caste Indians are still routinely forced into manually removing human excrement from toilets despite a highly-publicised law introduced last year to end the "discriminatory practice", a rights group said Monday.

Op-Ed: Detroit's controversial water shutoff reeks of 'too big to fail'

Detroit's deep financial woes have been public for years. Many of its residents are behind on their water bills, and the city has been controversially shutting off water to some delinquent residents. But are delinquent businesses getting a free ride?

More than 2.2 billion people 'poor or near-poor': UN

Tokyo - More than 2.2 billion people are "poor or near-poor", with financial crises, natural disasters, soaring food prices and violent conflicts threatening to exacerbate the problem, a United Nations report said Thursday.

Venezuela moves to empty Tower of David skyscraper slum

Caracas - Venezuelan authorities on Tuesday began moving residents out of the Tower of David, a Caracas skyscraper so notorious as a haven for squatters and gangs it was depicted in the US TV series "Homeland.

Eric Elliott's fight against poverty with code goes viral

In his words, Eric Elliott lost everything in 2008 and had to sell his house in 2009, resorting to couch surfing with friends. But by 2010, he had turned all of that around by entering one of the highest-paid industries of all right now: web development.

Desperate and alone, immigrant children to be housed in Dallas

Dallas - More than 1,000 unaccompanied children who crossed illegally into Texas earlier this month are on their way to shelters in Dallas, Texas.

Indiana GOP candidate: Nobody has guts to let poor wither and die

Valparaiso - A Republican candidate for the Indiana House of Representatives is defending a controversial Facebook comment about poor people in which he lamented that "no one has the guts to just let them wither and die."

Boy tied to bus stop highlights struggle for disabled Indians

Mumbai - The nine-year-old boy dressed in blue lay listlessly on the pavement in the scorching Mumbai summer afternoon, his ankle tethered with rope to a bus stop, unheeded by pedestrians strolling past.

Homeless memorial honours lives lost in Edmonton Special

Edmonton - An estimated forty men and women died in Edmonton in 2013 as a direct or indirect result of not having adequate shelter.

Review: 'Falling Into Place': Hattie Kauffman's story of faith and hope

"Falling Into Place" is a memoir about how finding faith in a higher power and oneself can bring out inner strength and peace. Hattie Kauffman’s trials become lessons of perseverance and hope for all of us.

Nigeria eyes private funds to spark agriculture boom

Lagos - Can investors get rich by backing Nigerian agriculture?

IMF no longer forces 'structural adjustment': Lagarde

Washington - The International Monetary Fund has changed and no longer imposes tough "structural adjustment" programs as it did in poor countries two decades ago, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said Saturday.

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The report also draws attention to the non-availability of health services in informal settlements, both for communicable diseases (for instance diarrhoeal diseases, acute respiratory infections and TB); and for non-communicable diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, which kill 35 million a year and, on current trends, could be responsible for 75 per cent of all deaths within a decade.

Zoriah