Ravenna

Venezuela's Maduro confronts perils of his reliance on the military

When Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro reshuffled duties in his deeply embattled government earlier this week, it wasn’t the changes at the top of the transport and fishing ministries that caused a buzz. Instead, it was the sacking of the heads of several branches of the military, in particular the general overseeing the National Guard, that drew widespread attention. Recommended: Think you know Latin America?

Why Medicaid is central to health-care debate

Republican senators unveiled their long-anticipated healthcare plan to replace Obamacare on Thursday, and it includes significant changes to Medicaid, the joint federal-state program for the poor, elderly, and disabled. The bill, which does not yet have the support of enough senators to pass, reflects the ongoing tussle of costs vs. social benefits that sharply divides the two parties as well as Republicans themselves. Like the Republican legislation that passed the House in May, the draft bill put forward by Senate Republican leaders aims to rein in federal spending on the burgeoning program – a move they say will strengthen it in the long term.

Poverty-free China by 2020? Beijing says it's possible – but steepest climb ahead

Before the pigs arrived, Yu Anhen and her husband eked out a living as subsistence farmers in the remote mountains of Guizhou, one of China’s poorest provinces. “My husband and I are getting old and it’s getting harder for us to work outside,” Yu says. The largest pig should be ready for market in four to five months, where Yu hopes it will sell for about 3,000 yuan ($440).

Her recycling project faced long odds in Lebanon. Still, she persisted.

Packed inside are bundles of crushed plastic water bottles and barrels of empty soda cans, plastic bottle tops, and glass shards. The warehouse is the hub of a small but thriving local recycling initiative that began when a group of women came together to improve their village’s environment.