Government welfare systems
FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2021 file photo, Ana Paula de Santos poses for a photo inside a room that she occupies with her husband in a building that used to house a factory, amid the new coronavirus pandemic, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. De Santos, who worked as a maid, has been unable to work because of COVID-19 and says that she can't afford the cost of living after the Brazilian government cut off financial aid to poor families affected by the pandemic. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo, File)
Brazil scrambles to help the poor, while they barely hang on

By Marcelo Silva De Sousa Jun. 24, 2021 11:22 AM EDT

Idaho health department to close office in Preston

May. 25, 2021 02:50 PM EDT
PRESTON, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho Department of Health and Welfare office in the small town of Preston that helped people apply for Medicaid, food stamps, child...

FILE - This May 15, 2021 file photo shows an aerial view of the Penha Brasil favela where families have started relocating during the coronavirus pandemic in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The pandemic shantytown sprang up virtually overnight when people began using scavenged wooden boards to build shacks on a plot of empty land in Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)
Withdrawal of pandemic welfare fuels poverty in Brazil

By David Biller And Mauricio Savarese May. 25, 2021 10:29 AM EDT

New Zealand Finance Minister Grant Robertson, front right, walks with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, left, to deliver his budget to parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, Thursday, May 20, 2021. New Zealand plans to rebuild its Antarctic base and spend billions more on welfare payments as part of a spending program aimed at lifting the economy out of a coronavirus slump. (Mark Mitchell/NZ Herald via AP)
New Zealand spending plan includes rebuilding Antarctic base

By Nick Perry May. 19, 2021 11:25 PM EDT

Idaho lifts limit on gatherings, cites ample hospital space

By Rebecca Boone May. 11, 2021 07:21 PM EDT
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho is moving into a new stage of Gov. Brad Little's coronavirus reopening plans and lifting restrictions on the size of gatherings. ...

Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa, right, speaks with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, and Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi, center, during the opening ceremony of an EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 7, 2021. European Union leaders are meeting for a summit in Portugal on Friday, sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. Their talks hope to repair some of the damage the coronavirus has caused in the bloc, in such areas as welfare and employment. (AP Photo/Luis Vieira, Pool)
EU chided for not ensuring improved social rights at summit

May. 07, 2021 12:15 PM EDT

Workers stand near mock graves representing the deaths of labor rights during a May Day rally in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, May 1, 2021. Workers in Indonesia marked international labor day on Saturday curtailed by strict limits on public gatherings to express anger at a new law they say could harm labor rights and welfare. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Workers protest Indonesia's labor law in May Day rallies

By Niniek Karmini And Andi Jatmiko May. 01, 2021 02:10 AM EDT

FILE - In this Aug. 22, 1996, file photo President Clinton talks in the Rose Garden of the White House prior to signing legislation overhauling America's welfare system. (AP Photo/J.Scott Applewhite, File)
Path from Clinton to Biden takes U-turn on debt, trade, more

By Josh Boak Mar. 28, 2021 07:46 AM EDT

A demonstrator dressed in a bird mask, representing the black plague, stands near police guarding a city government office where demonstrators protest a two-week-long lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Brasilia, Brazil, Monday, March 1, 2021. It’s the second lockdown in Brasilia since the start of the pandemic one year ago. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Brazil economy faces headwinds after worst plunge in decades

By Diane Jeantet Mar. 03, 2021 12:14 PM EST

Bill to prevent Connecticut commuters from double-tax passes

By Susan Haigh Mar. 01, 2021 07:50 PM EST
A package of tax changes, including a plan to prevent 110,000 Connecticut commuters with out-of-state jobs from being double-taxed because they've been working...

Ohio bill toughening welfare program eligibility criticized

Feb. 25, 2021 10:00 AM EST
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Social service advocates are criticizing an Ohio bill that would toughen eligibility for food stamps and Medicaid benefits. ...

Health officials report first UK COVID-19 variant in Idaho

Feb. 24, 2021 04:21 PM EST
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Public health officials have confirmed two more cases of Idaho residents infected with COVID-19 variants, including the first known case of...

FILE- In this March 15, 2019, file photo, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte waves as he waits for European Council President Donald Tusk to arrive for a meeting at Catshuis residence in The Hague, Netherlands. The Dutch Cabinet was set to meet Friday Jan. 15, 2021, amid strong speculation that Prime Minister Mark Rutte's government will resign to take political responsibility for a scandal involving child benefit investigations. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
The buck stops here: Dutch govt quits over welfare scandal

By Mike Corder Jan. 15, 2021 03:53 AM EST

A homeless prepares to eat a free meal received from Progetto Arca Onlus inside a makeshift cardboard pallet in downtown Milan, northern Italy, Friday, Nov. 27, 2020. Nowhere in Italy is poverty more evident than in Lombardy, the northern region that has been the pandemic epicenter in both surges. The Coldiretti agriculture lobby estimates that the virus has created 300,000 so-called "new poor,'' based on surveys of the dozens of charity associations operating in the region. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Pandemic exposes the vulnerability of Italy's 'new poor'

By Colleen Barry Dec. 20, 2020 02:59 AM EST

Idaho vaccine dose reduction has 'significant implications'

By Keith Ridler Dec. 18, 2020 04:32 PM EST
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An unexpected cut in the number of coronavirus vaccine doses Idaho will receive next week will disrupt distribution plans, a state...

New Mexico lawmakers consider slimmer child welfare budgets

By Cedar Attanasio Dec. 03, 2020 10:57 AM EST
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s child welfare agencies on Thursday will jockey with other state departments for slim funding as they present their spending...

Erika Oliva, 39, collect food donations at a servants of Jesus congregation center in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. Oliva spends at least three hours a week standing in line at a soup kitchen. She spends a couple more at the social worker's office with her 8-year-old son, who has autism. She waits on the phone to the health center or when she wants to check if her application for a basic income program will get her the promised 1,015 euros ($1,188). (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
In Spain, coronavirus puts the poor at the back of the line

By Aritz Parra Nov. 05, 2020 02:41 AM EST

A view of a lunch box at the Pudding Pantry which they will be providing free, during half term for any child in need, who would normally get a free school lunch, after MPs voted to reject a motion to provide food to those in need during the school holidays, in Nottingham, England, Friday, Oct. 23, 2020. Pediatricians are urging the British government to reverse course and provide free meals for poor children during school holidays as the COVID-19 pandemic pushes more families into poverty. (Tim Goode/PA via AP)
UK doctors demand free meals for kids as COVID fuels hunger

By Danica Kirka Oct. 25, 2020 09:32 AM EDT

Australia's Jake Gordon passes the ball in the tackle of New Zealand's Sam Whitelock during the Bledisloe Cup rugby game between the All Blacks and the Wallabies in Wellington, New Zealand, Sunday, Oct.11, 2020. (Andrew Cornaga/Photosport via AP)
World champion Springboks withdraw from Rugby Championship

By Steve Mcmorran Oct. 15, 2020 09:45 PM EDT

FILE- In this June 4, 2011 file photo, Indian laborers carry firewood, as smoke rises from a bricks factory on the outskirts of Jammu, India. India should commit to carbon neutrality by ending fossil fuel subsidies and investing in clean solar power as it mobilizes trillion of dollars to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Channi Anand, File)
U.N. chief urges India to quickly move to clean solar power

Ashok Sharma Aug. 28, 2020 03:03 AM EDT