Grenfell Tower Survivors Still Displaced 10 Months After Blaze

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Grenfell Tower Survivors Still Displaced 10 Months After Blaze Photo The charred remains of Grenfell Tower in London after a fire tore through the high-rise. Credit Andy Rain/EPA, via Shutterstock LONDON — Nearly 10 months after the fire in London’s Grenfell Tower residential high rise that killed at least 71 people, many of the families left homeless are still living in hotels or other temporary accommodations.
More than 200 households were displaced by the fire on June 14 that ripped through the 24-story tower, whose residents were mostly low- and middle-income. Additionally, nearly 100 families from nearby towers damaged by the fire are also still in emergency accommodations, Dominic Raab, a junior housing minister, told lawmakers last week.
The local council that oversees the upkeep of Grenfell and the recovery process has spent about $280 million to secure new housing for the displaced families. Many of them complain, though, that they are dissatisfied with their options and they ..

German Food Bank Reopens Doors to New Foreign Applicants

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German Food Bank Reopens Doors to New Foreign Applicants Photo The volunteer director of the Tafel food bank in Essen, Germany, said that at one point three-quarters of its clients were foreigners. Credit Ksenia Kuleshova for The New York Times BERLIN — A German food bank is to begin considering non-German applicants again next week, after setting off a national debate on refugees and poverty by deciding to bar any more foreigners from signing up for its service.
The food bank, in the western city of Essen, found itself at the center of a media storm that brought it international media attention, vociferous support from some Germans — reflected in increased donations — and a public rebuke from Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Its case became a talking point in the continued conversation over the country’s decision, three years ago, to welcome more than a million refugees: Jörg Sartor, volunteer director of the food bank, the Essener Tafel, said he had made the initial policy change in part be..