Displaying items by tag: shortages

Refugees living in camps along the Thai–Myanmar border are facing a deepening humanitarian crisis as food and medical aid is sharply reduced, even as they gain the long-denied right to work legally outside the camps. Decades-old assistance systems have been disrupted by Donald Trump’s major cuts to USAID and other humanitarian funding, leaving more than 100,000 refugees struggling with food shortages, declining education access, and collapsing healthcare services. Monthly food credits have been suspended for most families, forcing many to rely on dwindling savings or informal work, while only the most vulnerable continue receiving limited rations. Clinics once run by international agencies are now barely functioning, with severe shortages of medicines and trained staff. Educators warn hungry children may drop out of school to work illegally. Amid this hardship, Thailand’s decision to allow refugees to work legally offers a rare lifeline, restoring dignity and self-reliance: it could fill a migrant labour shortage after the conflict with Cambodia in July triggered an exodus of Cambodian workers. Yet fears of exploitation, family separation, and limited job opportunities remain, underscoring the fragile balance between hope and desperation.

In a makeshift field hospital near Avdiivka, a surgeon is treating soldiers for frostbite and shrapnel wounds as the war with Russia nears its two-year anniversary. With exhaustion and frustration mounting among defenders due to weapon shortages and the absence of a swift victory, casualties are rising. Vitalii, a former children's hospital surgeon, said, ‘I urge the West to be more decisive in assisting Ukraine; otherwise sooner or later their soldiers will (also) have to fight against this evil that has invaded our country.’ After many months, the Kremlin's forces appear close to surrounding the ruins of Avdiivka, with some Ukrainian soldiers privately admitting that the town, scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the war so far, could fall at any moment. In such dire circumstances, the resilience of the Ukrainian soldiers shines through as they continue to fight against overwhelming odds.

Ofgem has said that the UK is facing ‘a significant risk’ of gas shortages this winter due to Russia's war with Ukraine. It could possibly enter a ‘gas supply emergency’, leading to supplies being cut to the power stations using gas to generate electricity. This would place firms at risk of running out of money because of huge charges they must pay if they cannot deliver electricity. SSE,which operates four gas-fired power stations in the UK, is concerned that gas-fired power stations face millions of pounds worth of penalties ‘caused by events outside their control’.