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Climate change is blamed for catastrophic floods in the South Pacific and South Asia. Islands are being evacuated, and in Bangladesh (right), officials are saying that industrialized nations owe “due compensation” to those in the developing world affected by rising waters. Photo: Oxfam
Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court has focused attention on her Puerto Rican roots, at a time when the question of the island’s political future — statehood or independence? — is turning up again in Congress and the United Nations. Photo: Puerto Rico Day, New York City/Tom Giebel
By Bernice Yeung | Crowdfund this with Spot.Us
Part of the Prisons & Public Health news blog
Ron Sanders, a community-health worker serving former prisoners at San Francisco’s Transitions Clinic, struggles to keep his clients from being among the 66 percent of parolees who eventually return to prison. No easy task, as many are dealing with addiction, chronic illness, mental health problems — or all of the above. I first became interested in these issues when writing for the San Francisco Chronicle about Sanders, himself a former prisoner who is all to aware of the challenges parolees face. But why should Californians care about chronically ill prisoner and parolee health? What’s the connection between prison reentry, medical care and our communities?
Obesity among young people is a growing problem in the United States — and so is malnutrition, according to two new studies. In some states, nearly one out of every three children is obese. In others, one out of every five children under the age of five go hungry. Photo: msmail
Especially when his revolution may be fraying at the edges? Muhammad Yunus is lauded for a microlending thesis that spurs entrepreneurship in the developing world. But defaults are up, and lending down, as the economic crash takes its toll. Photo: Handout
No, it’s soccer, actually. Specifically, it’s the six-year-old Homeless World Cup, which teams homeless people from at least 56 countries — such as the 2008 world champions from Melboune, Australia (right) — to compete for the title, and win big in the game of life. Photo: Big Issue Australia
Teen pregnancies are in the pop spotlight, from the Oscar-winning film “Juno” (right) to MTV’s new reality show “16 and Pregnant.” Talk about reality: More than 750,000 U.S. teens will become pregnant in 2009, while globally the number reaches 14 million. Photo: Handout
Citizen media is driving, and skewing perceptions of, mainstream coverage of Iran’s turmoil. Postings on Twitter, Flickr and YouTube provide an unfiltered look at the situation on the ground, and include propaganda as well as first-person witnessing. Photo: .faramarz
Despite recent gestures, the ideological chasm between Cuba and the United States remains wide and deep. The latest development: An invitation to rejoin the Organization of American States was greeted with a shrug by the communist nation, which is sticking with its Cold War-era isolationist script. Photo: wjklos
High-speed rail is enjoying new buzz in Europe, Russia, Asia — and the United States, which sent Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood on a tour of the fastest rail systems in Spain (right) and elsewhere. What he learns could inform new high-speed rail projects back home. Photo: Sean Munson