United States
Defense trumps poverty in Republican House
American soldiers learned the hard way not to walk down enemy trails in Vietnam — and certainly not twice. But here come the House Republicans, marching into the sunlight by shifting billions from poverty programs to the Pentagon, all within hours of adopting an entirely new round of tax cuts for ...
US lags in global measure of premature births
Fifteen million babies are born prematurely each year, and the United States fared badly in the first country-by-country global comparison of premature births, which was released Wednesday by the World Health Organization and other agencies....
Challengers for World Bank leadership ask for ‘a fair chance’
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s finance minister, is Africa’s standard-bearer in the contest to become World Bank president. Jose Antonio Ocampo, a former Colombian finance minister, is being championed by South America....
The future of work: trends and challenges for low-income workers
Many workers are facing uniquely tough times. Though now below its recessionary peak of 10 percent in October 2009, unemployment remains high at 8.2 percent, and job growth is slow. With around 25 million people unemployed or underemployed, it is clear that the jobs crisis did not subside with the o...
Jim Yong Kim secures World Bank job amid criticism of US domination of role. Seoul-born Kim beats Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who s...
The World Bank named Korean-born doctor Jim Yong Kim as its new president today amid criticism that the role had once more gone to a US-nominated candidate....

Republicans’ budgets imply deep cuts in programs helping the poor
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Food stamps helped reduce poverty rate, study finds
WASHINGTON — A new study by the Agriculture Department has found that food stamps, one of the country’s largest social safety net programs, reduced the poverty rate substantially during the recent recession. The food stamp program, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,...
Lawmakers face increasing pressure to raise the minimum wage
As the nation’s economy slowly recovers and income inequality emerges as a crucial issue in the presidential campaign, lawmakers are facing growing pressure to raise the minimum wage, which was last increased at the federal level to $7.25 an hour in July 2009....
Federal funds to train the jobless are drying up
With the economy slowly reviving, an executive from Atlas Van Lines recently visited Louisville, Ky., with good news: the company wanted to hire more than 100 truck drivers ahead of the summer moving season....

Welfare limits left poor adrift as recession hit
PHOENIX — Perhaps no law in the past generation has drawn more praise than the drive to “end welfare as we know it,” which joined the late-’90s economic boom to send caseloads plunging, employment rates rising and officials of both parties hailing the virtues of tough love....
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World Hunger News
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