WNA Globe

World News by Wild Rose

#poverty ร—

Chinese man, 19, lives under bridge with pet dog, works long hours to save for tuition

Residents of a city in central China have come to the aid of a poor 19-year-old student who works more than 10 hours a day as a food delivery rider to earn money to cover his tuition fees. Tang Wei, from Xinhuang county in Hunan province, was admitted by a technical college in Changsha, the capital city of the province, the Changsha Evening News reported. He will kick off his college life in September. In early May, Tang left his hometown, heading to Changsha and hoping to find a temporary...

Elderly landlords of subdivided flats say they canโ€™t afford upgrade costs

Some elderly landlords in Hong Kong have said they cannot afford renovations costing as much as HK$400,000 (US$51,060) to ensure their subdivided flats comply with new regulations and they may be forced to take units that rent for HK$3,000 a month off the market. At a media session on Friday, four landlords owning subdivided flats in Sham Shui Po and Yau Ma Tei said they had registered for the governmentโ€™s grace period under the Basic Housing Unit Ordinance but were struggling to meet the new...

Yemen family eats tree leaves as aid dies out

With no food aid, 65-year-old Saeedah Mohammed heads out with a plastic bag to pick tree leaves near her displacement camp in southern Yemen, before serving them to her grandchildren to stave off hunger. Behind the camp wooded hills stretch under a clear sky, while on the ground, yellowed and stony earth is strewn with rubbish. Amid the trash and destitution, daily life manages to organise itself, however imperfectly. Worn-out clothes dry on lines strung between spindly trees, and two old...

Anxiety, depression plague up to 66% of Hong Kong subdivided flat tenants: NGO

As many as two-thirds of 158 subdivided housing tenants supported by an NGO in Hong Kong have shown signs of anxiety or depression, highlighting calls for stronger counselling and social support. The Kwun Tong Methodist Social Service (KTMSS) said on Thursday that it had served 158 families living in subdivided flats in the district in 2024-25, about half of whom had at least one child with special educational needs. The households had an average income of about HK$15,350 (US$1,960), with about...

35 families in Hong Kong shoebox flats face eviction since start of new rule

Thirty-five families living in Hong Kongโ€™s subdivided units have faced eviction in the two and a half months since the government rolled out a new regime to eradicate substandard shoebox homes, according to housing authorities. Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin also said on Wednesday that another 40 subdivided flat households from Yee Wa Building in Sham Shui Po, who faced eviction last year, were still living in the block and were considering their future options. The Basic Housing Units...

Selling children to survive: Afghan fathers forced to make impossible choices

In Afghanistan today, a staggering three in four people cannot meet their basic needs.