As of last Tuesday, December 13, monthly payments of up to $400 have been delivered to the neediest families in various states of the United States.

The checks will be sent throughout the winter and can be requested now, some with a deadline of January 6th.

This initiative is part of the second phase of the Universal Basic Income (UBI) program to help the most vulnerable families in the face of rising inflation, particularly by offsetting high energy and food bills.

Which States Will Send Aid Checks Up To $400 A Month?

Massachusetts is one of the first states to hand out the cash to its residents are eligible for the entire month of January and are expected to run through March 2023.

The amount you receive each month depends on the size of the family and their income.

The reach remains the same as the first tier of the program, meaning those families who can qualify just need to meet the requirement Earn less than 30% of the defined median income and reside in Chelsea.

Eligible individuals can apply online until January 6, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. local time at the following link:

the following list shows the income you must have to be eligible depending on the size of the family core:

• Single household: $29,450
• Household of two: $33,650
• Household of three: $37,850
• Household of four: $42,050
• Household of five: $45,450
• Household of six: $48,800
• Household of seven: $52,150

The payments will be sent for 3 months from January to get the benefit $200 for a family of just one memberfrom 300 dollars for one of 3 and for one Households of 3 or more receive $400 per month During this time.

Applicants should not worry if they are selected in the first round as they may be eligible in this round as well.

I know will choose between 600 and 700 participants by a weighted lottery, said Tom Ambrosino, the city manager of Chelsea, a figure that will be lower than the first phase of the UBI scheme.

Local officials assured that:

Preference will be given to applicants with children under 18, disabled residents, veterans, those over 65, families ineligible for other forms of government assistance, families with a female householder, families with a member identifying as a minority/marginalized gender identity designated”

Monthly payments also in Virginia, California and New York

in Va 170 residents were selected Receiving direct payments totaling $12,000, that is will receive $500 for 24 months starting January next year.

Eligible people shouldn’t worry because this extra income won’t affect Social Security benefits, city officials confirmed.

You also don’t pay any taxes as it is a qualifying payment as a gift, nor does it affect the benefits of TANF or LJHEAP for those who also receive them.

However, no more applications will be received as the deadline expired last October.

In another state, however, applications to receive monthly checks are still pending.

This is New York, where a group of 175 people will receive $500 in relief checks beginning in early 2023.

On the other hand, in Coachella, California, a total of 140 families will also receive $400 a month for two years, but the application deadline has also passed here.

Who could still receive payments in the coming weeks?

defender in the United States are campaigning for Social Security to make new incentive payments to older people.

Senior Citizens League (TSCL) President Rick Delaney sent a letter to Congress last October asking for an increase in assistance to the elderly.

An additional stimulus petition was also created with a value of up to $1400 to help them cope with rising prices, especially for food and medicines, as most have already used up their retirement savings.

At this time, the arrival of the fourth stimulus check for seniors is uncertain because Congress has failed to grant such a request.

Nevertheless, Social security benefits have increased by 8.7% through 2023According to a federal government report, this cost-of-living adjustment means recipients will receive a monthly increase for the next year.

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Huge Chinese loans to Africa have created a dilemma in which China will struggle to recoup its money while maintaining its image as a friend of developing countries, Chatham House researchers said.

Africa’s external debt has quintupled to $696 billion between 2000 and 2020, with Chinese lenders accounting for 12% of that, according to a new report by the London-based think tank.

While Chinese lending to Africa has been criticized by the US and other Western nations as opaque and aimed at seizing African assets offered as collateral, the researchers said that was not the case.

“Far from being an elaborate strategy to dispossess African assets, profligate Chinese lending in its early stages may have created a debt trap for China – entangling it deeply with stubborn and increasingly assertive African partners,” the researchers said.

China, for example, is a big creditor to Zambia, which has defaulted on its debt. It has also lent to other African nations struggling to meet their debt obligations, including Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya and the Republic of Congo.

The economic fallout from the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have eroded the ability of many African nations to service their sovereign debt.

The continent is heading for a debt crisis, with 22 out of 54 nations threatened by a so-called debt crisis, according to World Bank and International Monetary Fund criteria.

Largest African debtors to China:

• Angola – $42.6 billion

• Ethiopia – $13.7 billion

• Zambia – $9.8 billion

• Kenya – $9.2 billion

China has been criticized for its perceived lack of engagement in global efforts to reduce developing countries’ debt burdens; US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has repeatedly said that Beijing has become the biggest obstacle to progress.

The story goes on

Jose Fernandez, undersecretary for economic growth, energy and the environment at the US State Department, said in an interview last week that China needs to be more transparent about the debts of African nations.

Concerned about the inability of many nations to repay their loans, Chinese institutions have slashed the amount of credit they will extend to Africa in recent years, Chatham House said.

New Chinese loans to African governments went from a peak of $28.4 billion in 2016 to $8.2 billion in 2019 and just $1.9 billion a year during the coronavirus pandemic back in 2020, the researchers said.

“China’s approach to African debt is a dynamic shift, with patterns of Chinese infrastructure-linked lending in Africa moving from resource-based profligacy to more calculated business or geostrategic decision-making,” Chatham House researchers said in the report, titled “The Response on the debt crisis in Africa and the role of China.”

“The image of China as a predatory lender intent on expropriating African assets is, in most cases, not tenable,” they wrote.

Still, there are indications that China may have lent money to the tiny Horn of Africa nation, Djibouti, to secure political clout, they said. Between 2012 and 2020, China provided $1.4 billion in investment and infrastructure loans to Djibouti, whose annual gross domestic product is about two hours of China’s economic output.

China has also established a military outpost just six miles from a US base in Djibouti on the Bab el Mandeb, a narrow strait through which about 30% of the world’s shipping en route to the Red Sea and Suez Canal leads .

“Djibouti provides a clear example of the tension between lending to certain African countries that are likely to struggle to make repayments in the future and the geostrategic need to build and maintain influence,” Chatham House said. “Djibouti is in a debt crisis, but the country may be too important for China to allow a default.”

China now faces the dilemma of enforcing its right to receive payments or adopting a more accommodating approach to maintaining its political ties, the researchers said.

China’s dilemma

While China initially sought to address debt repayment issues bilaterally, it is increasingly engaging in multilateral talks and will need to continue doing so if it wants the best chance of repayment, they said.

“Ultimately, China may feel that it needs to become more vigorous in collecting payments through unilateral action,” Chatham House said. “This would be particularly detrimental if China resorted to appropriating major assets such as ports, railways or power grids in response to defaults – the vision of ‘debt trap diplomacy’ is not impossible, but it is hard to overstate the strategic and political costs that would.” bring.”

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12/18/2022 1:43 pm (act. 12/18/2022 1:50 pm)

The band “Kalush Orchestra” won the Song Contest 2022 ©AFP

Defending champions Ukraine will be represented at the 67th Festival da Canção by electropop duo Tvorchi. The lineup around producer Andrew Hutsuliak and singer Jeffery Augustus Kenny from Ternopil in western Ukraine beat nine competitors on Saturday night with the English-language song “Heart of Steel”, reports the Ukrinform news agency. The national pre-selection was held in an air raid shelter.

Tvorchi was founded five years ago, after a casual acquaintance. Hutsuliak approached Nigerian Kenny on the street in Ternopil to improve his English. This developed into a musical collaboration between the two pharmacy students at the time. In 2020 they reached fourth place in the pre-selection of the Ukrainian song contest, their discography already includes four studio albums.

Under the impression of Russian aggression, the Kalush Orchestra of Ukraine won the 66th Song Contest in May with the song “Stefania”. As the end of the war is not in sight, Siegerland cannot assume the role of host as usual. The 67th Song Contest will therefore take place in May 2023 in Liverpool, England. A total of 37 countries will participate in the song contest, with the exception of Ukraine and the “Big Five” (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Great Britain), first having to go through one of the two semi-finals of the song week of the contest.

According to the head of the Global Management Center and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the Isthmus Giuseppe Loprete, the Channel nation proposed setting up an observatory in the region that would allow reliable data to be shared between different countries, which is key to adopting political Action is decisions.

Loprete pointed out that Panama is essential in this sense because of its geographic location.

Dialogue with the press highlighted the data officially cited by the IOM, which ensures that from January to November this year, 227,987 migrants of 70 different nationalities passed through the Darién jungle on the border with Colombia in transit for the north country.

In addition, he pointed out that this route is a jungle and an inhospitable space through which irregular travelers travel, and opted for an orderly and safe migration.

According to Panama’s National Migration Service, the number of children entering the Canal Nation through the Darién Gap has surpassed 36,000 so far in 2022, surpassing the more than 29,000 seen the previous year, marking an all-time high since those statistics were kept.

More than 900 of the infants arrive at the isthmus without their families because they were separated in the jungle or are teenagers traveling alone.

According to official figures, so far this year the state has set aside more than $50 million for migrant care at reception centers, including biometric registration and health and food services.

Therefore, Panama has insisted at dozens of national events and international forums on the need for shared responsibility between sending and receiving countries to counter this scourge.

For the Deputy Director General of the National Migration Service, María Isabel Saravia, accountability must be sought from all parties.

“Security does not violate human rights and migration, it is part of what we must give these people by at least offering them the defense of their rights against criminal organizations that abuse them,” he noted.

In 2000, in view of increasing migration flows worldwide, the UN General Assembly proclaimed December 18th as the International Day of Migrants to promote the exchange of experiences and opportunities for cooperation between countries and regions.

jha/ga

The Ohio teacher says she was forced to resign after telling the principal that using students’ preferred pronouns violated her religion

By Sophie Mann

Published: 14:45 GMT, 18 December 2022 | Updated: 14:55 GMT, 18 December 2022

A former Ohio middle school teacher said she was forced to resign after telling the principal that she would not address students with their preferred pronouns because of their religious beliefs.

Vivian Geraghty, 24, is now embroiled in a lawsuit against the principal of Jackson Memorial Middle School, the Board of Education and two school district employees.

Geraghty, who is a Christian, worked at the school in Massillon, Ohio, where she taught art, until her abrupt retirement on August 26.

A 24-year-old Christian art teacher said she was forced to quit her job at an Ohio middle school because she didn’t want to address two of her students with their preferred pronouns

The school had adopted a policy that said its teachers would honor students’ wishes for the names and pronouns they wanted to be called

A federal lawsuit filed last week said that prior to her resignation, she “taught her class while remaining consistent with her religious practices and her scholarly understanding of human identity, gender and gender.”

In early August, two of Geraghty’s students urged them to use names that “consistent with their new gender identities and not their legal names.”

One of the students, according to the lawsuit, also wanted to be addressed with new “preferred” pronouns. The lawsuit also found that the school had a policy that required teachers to use whatever pronouns students wanted.

Disregarding Geraghty’s religious beliefs, the policy prompted her to meet with principal Kacy Carter “in the hope of finding a solution that would allow her to continue teaching without violating her religious beliefs and constitutional rights.”

Ohio director Kacy Carter, who allegedly told Geraghty that she needed to change her faith-based beliefs or resign

After her conversation with Carter, Geraghty was called to a separate meeting with Principal and District Clerk Monica Myers.

During the second meeting, Geraghty was told she would “put aside her beliefs as a government official” and any unwillingness to do so would be counted as disobedience, according to the lawsuit.

When the teacher resisted, she was sent back to her classroom, only to be pulled out minutes later and ordered to either change her mind or resign her position.

Feeling she had no other choice, she decided to resign and handed in a letter of resignation. She was then escorted out of the building.

The Alliance Defending Freedom has taken up Geraghty’s case, arguing that “no school official can force a teacher to put aside her religious beliefs in order to keep her job.”

Attorneys for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which has been handling Geraghty’s case, said the school has not considered ways to accommodate Geraghty and her students, such as moving them to a different classroom or addressing their students by their last names.

The lawsuit alleges that the school’s policies are unevenly enforced, for example, with Kacy being able to completely avoid using pronouns in his position.

The ADF also argued that Geraghty should not have been placed in a position where she had to “choose between her faith and her job.”

Logan Spena, attorney for the ADF, wrote: “No school official can force a teacher to give up her religious beliefs in order to keep her job.”

“The First Amendment prohibits this abuse of power.”