poverty
Washington (AFP) - The US Supreme Court heard arguments Monday on whether cities can ban homeless people from sleeping outside, as the country grapples with increasing rates of Americans living on the streets and a lack of shelter beds. The case centers around regulations in the city of Grants Pass, in the western state of Oregon, which banned camping or using any kind of bedding on public property after its public parks became filled with tents, blankets and cardboard. Those breaking the rules face hundred-dollar fines and possible prison sentences for repeat offenders. Homeless advocates hav...
AFP
Los Angeles (AFP) - When Carlos Schmidt beds down on the hard streets of Los Angeles, he has nothing but a backpack and an old blanket, like thousands of other homeless people in one of the richest cities in the world's richest country. "At nighttime, I just find somewhere quiet like a park or a bus bench, where there's not a lot of chaos," the 37-year-old told AFP. "And I'll try to rest up right there for as long as I can." Schmidt is one of some 75,500 people living on the streets of Los Angeles and its sprawling suburbs, according to a January survey. The figure is up 70 percent since 2015,...
AFP
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Developing countries on Monday urged a shake-up in the global order to help the world's poorest, at a United Nations summit on ambitious anti-poverty promises that remain far off track. Hoping to show a focus on more than the war in Ukraine, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres convened the development summit on the eve of the annual General Assembly, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to take center-stage. In 2015, UN member states adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, 17 targets to transform the world by 2030 including by complete...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced the nomination of former Mastercard chief executive Ajay Banga as a candidate to lead the World Bank, after the development lender's current head announced plans to step down early. The World Bank has just started accepting candidate nominations in a process set to run until March 29, with the bank saying that women contenders would be "strongly" encouraged. The president of the Washington-based Bank is typically American, while the leader of the International Monetary Fund is customarily European. Banga, who is Indian-American, w...
AFP
Bobigny (France) (AFP) - An Iranian who got stuck for 18 years in a Paris airport, inspiring a Steven Spielberg movie starring Tom Hanks died on Saturday at the terminal, an airport official said. Mehran Karimi Nasseri died of natural causes just before midday on Saturday in terminal 2F at Charles de Gaulle airport outside the French capital, the official told AFP. Caught originally in an immigration trap -- unable to enter France and with nowhere to go -- he became dependent on his unusual place of abode and increasingly a national and international cause celebre. He called himself "Sir Alfr...
AFP
New York (AFP) - Metallica and Mariah Carey on Saturday led an A-list of musicians, and President Joe Biden made a surprise video appearance, as the Global Citizen Festival sought to mobilize action against poverty and climate change. Marking its 10th year, the six-hour festival brought thousands to New York's Central Park and featured a sister show in Ghana's capital Accra, where performers included American R&B great Usher and British grime icon Stormzy. Global Citizen awards tickets to fans in exchange for their commitment to take action to eradicate extreme poverty -- such as contacting el...
AFP
San Francisco (AFP) - Talk about an expensive date: a mystery bidder will be spending a record $19 million for the right to have lunch with legendary American investment guru Warren Buffett. That whopping bid, announced by eBay, came in the 21st -- and last -- such charity luncheon with the aging multibillionaire, who is chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Bidding on the eBay website opened last Sunday at a modest $25,000. But it shot up rapidly as rival bidders tried to outdo one another, finally ending Friday at a total of just over $19 million. The auction -- held annually, though canc...
AFP
New York (AFP) - On a Brooklyn street, Laurentino Marin doesn't stop to admire the Halloween decorations. Like every morning, the Mexican is busy filling a shopping cart with used cans and plastic bottles, which he will exchange for a few dollars. Marin, who is 80, is one of New York's estimated 10,000 "canners," mostly older migrants from Latin America and China who scrape a living sorting and recycling plastics and aluminum. Frail and stooped over, Marin stops in front of the stairs of a typical brownstone house that dots this neighborhood, lifts the lids of the trash cans and plunges his g...
AFP
Port-au-Prince (AFP) - Andre was hoping to "have a better life" in the United States than he could in Haiti. So he fled to Brazil, then traveled across South America to the US-Mexican border, just a few hours' flight from where his journey began. But the 32-year-old, caught up in an explosive migrant crisis, ended up where he started -- deported home like hundreds of his compatriots in recent days, with no money or belongings. "I had no future in my country, my salary was not enough to survive on," Andre, who asked that his last name not be used to protect his privacy, told AFP. Andre recounte...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - Massive US government stimulus payments during the Covid-19 pandemic last year boosted household income and lowered the share of Americans living in poverty, according to government data analysis released Tuesday. As the pandemic forced the economy to largely shutdown, causing massive job losses, the US Congress approved a series of huge rescue packages with cash payments to individuals, and funding to allow companies to continue paying wages. "Post-tax, real median household income increased 4.0 percent between 2019 and 2020," the Census Bureau said. And the measure of pove...
AFP
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