Katharine Houreld
@khoureld.bsky.social
Muckraker, traveler, adventuress. East and Southern Africa Bureau Chief for the Washington Post. Email: katharine.houreld at washpost.com
I've lost my job.
To those kind, strong, determined, courageous people I interviewed or worked with over the years: you will always inspire me.
To every stranger who helped: thank you.
To the arms dealers, liars, thieves, killers of children: I’m keeping my files.
See you all on the other side.
To those kind, strong, determined, courageous people I interviewed or worked with over the years: you will always inspire me.
To every stranger who helped: thank you.
To the arms dealers, liars, thieves, killers of children: I’m keeping my files.
See you all on the other side.
February 5, 2026 at 4:22 PM
I've lost my job.
To those kind, strong, determined, courageous people I interviewed or worked with over the years: you will always inspire me.
To every stranger who helped: thank you.
To the arms dealers, liars, thieves, killers of children: I’m keeping my files.
See you all on the other side.
To those kind, strong, determined, courageous people I interviewed or worked with over the years: you will always inspire me.
To every stranger who helped: thank you.
To the arms dealers, liars, thieves, killers of children: I’m keeping my files.
See you all on the other side.
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
4 federal agents pull over an elderly US citizen for the suspected crime of being brown, break her car window, throw her to the ground, then drive off after they find her US Passport in her purse. The Salem Police, when called, say there’s nothing they can do. www.salemreporter.com/2026/01/31/u...
U.S. citizen injured by federal agents in Salem who demanded to see “papers,” union says - Salem Reporter
A home care worker and union worker was pulled from her car and injured by federal agents Thursday according to a statement by SEIU 503. To comment on this story, use the form at the end of the repor...
www.salemreporter.com
February 1, 2026 at 2:47 PM
4 federal agents pull over an elderly US citizen for the suspected crime of being brown, break her car window, throw her to the ground, then drive off after they find her US Passport in her purse. The Salem Police, when called, say there’s nothing they can do. www.salemreporter.com/2026/01/31/u...
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
This article is a very good example of why "more training" and "more vetting" isn't the answer. Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez joined Border Patrol in 2018 and 2014 respectively. These aren't new agents. www.propublica.org/article/alex...
Two CBP Agents Identified in Alex Pretti Shooting
The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raym...
www.propublica.org
February 1, 2026 at 10:02 PM
This article is a very good example of why "more training" and "more vetting" isn't the answer. Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez joined Border Patrol in 2018 and 2014 respectively. These aren't new agents. www.propublica.org/article/alex...
Serving members of Kenya's security forces have been lured to fight for the Russian army in Ukraine, survivors and families say. They include a member of the elite U.S.-trained SPEAR unit, which guards the U.S. embassy in Nairobi. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...
Kenyan job seekers were lured to Russia, then sent to die in Ukraine
The Post spoke to four Kenyans who fought in Ukraine and relatives of nine other recruits, as a secret pipeline funnels young Africans to Russia’s military.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 2, 2026 at 10:46 AM
Serving members of Kenya's security forces have been lured to fight for the Russian army in Ukraine, survivors and families say. They include a member of the elite U.S.-trained SPEAR unit, which guards the U.S. embassy in Nairobi. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...
Cutting the funds to deliver 116,000 medical kits to treat victims of rape saved U.S. taxpayers $2 million. But it meant many women in eastern Congo could not longer get the pills they needed to prevent medicine, HIV, and deadly sexually transmitted diseases.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Congolese rape survivors search in vain for medicine after USAID cuts
In eastern Congo, where rape is widespread, the cancellation of USAID funding for PEP kits has left many victims vulnerable, according to nearly 50 interviews.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 22, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Cutting the funds to deliver 116,000 medical kits to treat victims of rape saved U.S. taxpayers $2 million. But it meant many women in eastern Congo could not longer get the pills they needed to prevent medicine, HIV, and deadly sexually transmitted diseases.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
It looks like 2025 will end up at about 1.47°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial baseline, making it likely the third hottest year in the last 120,000+ years.
Meanwhile, the 3-year running average is going to end the year above 1.50°C for the first time.
Meanwhile, the 3-year running average is going to end the year above 1.50°C for the first time.
December 16, 2025 at 3:05 PM
It looks like 2025 will end up at about 1.47°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial baseline, making it likely the third hottest year in the last 120,000+ years.
Meanwhile, the 3-year running average is going to end the year above 1.50°C for the first time.
Meanwhile, the 3-year running average is going to end the year above 1.50°C for the first time.
Thousands of civilians are being held for ransom after the RSF captured El Fashir, with kidnappers staging torture and executions on camera if families cannot pay. One man could only pay for his wife and children; he was killed in front of them www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
In Sudan, thousands held hostage for ransom — and killed if they can’t pay
RSF fighters in El Fashir have rounded up civilians en masse, survivors told The Post, subjecting them to torture and extorting their families for cash.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 14, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Thousands of civilians are being held for ransom after the RSF captured El Fashir, with kidnappers staging torture and executions on camera if families cannot pay. One man could only pay for his wife and children; he was killed in front of them www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
In 2024, renewable energy accounted for over 90% of global power capacity expansion. That is because it makes economic sense. IRENA_DAT_RE_Capacity_Highlights_2025-1.pdf
November 16, 2025 at 11:22 AM
In 2024, renewable energy accounted for over 90% of global power capacity expansion. That is because it makes economic sense. IRENA_DAT_RE_Capacity_Highlights_2025-1.pdf
Sudanese children - their parents dead or missing - are wandering alone through a burned desert strewn with bodies, desperately seeking help. Some are badly wounded; all are starving. Many saw parents killed; others just lost them in the chaos www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
In Darfur, Sudan’s lost children wander through a landscape of death
Around 200 unaccompanied children have arrived in the Sudanese town of Tewila after escaping El Fashir, where RSF fighters have carried out mass killings.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Sudanese children - their parents dead or missing - are wandering alone through a burned desert strewn with bodies, desperately seeking help. Some are badly wounded; all are starving. Many saw parents killed; others just lost them in the chaos www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
Just two decades ago, China had little capacity to manufacture cars — and owning one was considered a novelty.
Today, China produces and exports more cars than any other country in the world.
Meanwhile we in Europe still pretend we can somehow stop EVs from taking off by holding on to old tech.
Today, China produces and exports more cars than any other country in the world.
Meanwhile we in Europe still pretend we can somehow stop EVs from taking off by holding on to old tech.
October 29, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Just two decades ago, China had little capacity to manufacture cars — and owning one was considered a novelty.
Today, China produces and exports more cars than any other country in the world.
Meanwhile we in Europe still pretend we can somehow stop EVs from taking off by holding on to old tech.
Today, China produces and exports more cars than any other country in the world.
Meanwhile we in Europe still pretend we can somehow stop EVs from taking off by holding on to old tech.
The intimacy of the cruelty in Sudan's El Fashir: A wounded man appeals to an RSF commander. “I know you,” he tells Abu Lulu. “I called out to you a while ago.”
“I will never have mercy,” the commander responds. “Our job is only killing.”
He shoots him dead.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
“I will never have mercy,” the commander responds. “Our job is only killing.”
He shoots him dead.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Paramilitary massacres unfolding in Sudan’s Darfur, videos show
RSF paramilitary fighters are carrying out mass ethnic killings in the recently captured city of El Fashir, according to videos, aerial images and interviews.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:58 AM
The intimacy of the cruelty in Sudan's El Fashir: A wounded man appeals to an RSF commander. “I know you,” he tells Abu Lulu. “I called out to you a while ago.”
“I will never have mercy,” the commander responds. “Our job is only killing.”
He shoots him dead.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
“I will never have mercy,” the commander responds. “Our job is only killing.”
He shoots him dead.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
To assume all businesses want to strip away green regulations would be very wrong
Companies are complaining about EU failing to deliver on laws originally intended to come into force at the beginning of 2025 to stop commodities tied to deforestation being sold in EU
www.ft.com/content/7593...
Companies are complaining about EU failing to deliver on laws originally intended to come into force at the beginning of 2025 to stop commodities tied to deforestation being sold in EU
www.ft.com/content/7593...
October 20, 2025 at 8:01 AM
To assume all businesses want to strip away green regulations would be very wrong
Companies are complaining about EU failing to deliver on laws originally intended to come into force at the beginning of 2025 to stop commodities tied to deforestation being sold in EU
www.ft.com/content/7593...
Companies are complaining about EU failing to deliver on laws originally intended to come into force at the beginning of 2025 to stop commodities tied to deforestation being sold in EU
www.ft.com/content/7593...
Climate curious? Don't wade thru the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — a 3,000-page tome of jargon heavy enough to knock out a hungry polar bear. You can play a card game with some mates instead - and still get the science.
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solu...
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solu...
Climate-curious but confused? Grab a beer and some cards.
Fresk converts the latest climate science into a hands-on card game, helping players understand the causes, effects and feedback loops of climate change.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 20, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Climate curious? Don't wade thru the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — a 3,000-page tome of jargon heavy enough to knock out a hungry polar bear. You can play a card game with some mates instead - and still get the science.
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solu...
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solu...
The girl died, sweating and shivering. The boy's hand slipped from his mother's as she screamed. Both could have been saved by drugs that the U.S. had already bought, paid for and shipped - only a couple of kilometers away. But USAID cuts had stopped deliveries www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
Trump’s USAID pause stranded lifesaving drugs. Children died waiting.
USAID antimalarial and HIV supplies valued at nearly $140 million were delayed in the first half of the year or not delivered at all due to the Trump administration’s foreign aid pause, The Post found...
www.washingtonpost.com
October 3, 2025 at 3:49 PM
The girl died, sweating and shivering. The boy's hand slipped from his mother's as she screamed. Both could have been saved by drugs that the U.S. had already bought, paid for and shipped - only a couple of kilometers away. But USAID cuts had stopped deliveries www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
Sudan's civil war has seen a proliferation of anti-aircraft weapons: deadly drones, MANPADS, and truck-borne surface-to-air missile systems. Even Turkey's advanced Akinci drones, which the military used to help retake the capital, are getting shot down. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
New antiaircraft weapons propel Sudan’s war, imperil global security
Fighters now possess antiaircraft weapons that could threaten civilian air traffic and what appears to be a Chinese surface-to-air missile system, experts said.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 29, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Sudan's civil war has seen a proliferation of anti-aircraft weapons: deadly drones, MANPADS, and truck-borne surface-to-air missile systems. Even Turkey's advanced Akinci drones, which the military used to help retake the capital, are getting shot down. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
Hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher, cut off by 19 miles of earthen berms built by rebel forces now attacking the town. @khoureld.bsky.social and her @washingtonpost.com colleagues have been speaking with some of those behind the dirt walls.
Starving and surrounded: el-Fasher residents plead for aid - The World from PRX
Hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher, cut off by 19 miles of earthen berms built by rebel forces now attacking the town. Katharine Houreld and her Was...
theworld.org
September 24, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher, cut off by 19 miles of earthen berms built by rebel forces now attacking the town. @khoureld.bsky.social and her @washingtonpost.com colleagues have been speaking with some of those behind the dirt walls.
Love & pain in Sudan's el Fashir
- the father trying to comfort his daughter, raped when she went to pick wild weeds for her starving family. The man praying a last time with his dying brother, shot as they fled. The mother whose young sons are missing.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
- the father trying to comfort his daughter, raped when she went to pick wild weeds for her starving family. The man praying a last time with his dying brother, shot as they fled. The mother whose young sons are missing.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Starvation or execution: Sudanese under siege face ‘death everywhere’
Families in El Fashir are eating animal feed. Children have been raped while foraging for food. Those who try to escape have been kidnapped and killed.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 22, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Love & pain in Sudan's el Fashir
- the father trying to comfort his daughter, raped when she went to pick wild weeds for her starving family. The man praying a last time with his dying brother, shot as they fled. The mother whose young sons are missing.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
- the father trying to comfort his daughter, raped when she went to pick wild weeds for her starving family. The man praying a last time with his dying brother, shot as they fled. The mother whose young sons are missing.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Excellent report by @propublica.org on abuses migrant workers face under the H2A visas. Sex trafficking, kidnapping, beatings, deaths. Sofi ended up bound in the back of a pickup, her abuser smearing her blood on a shrine. Police arrived before he killed her. projects.propublica.org/h2a-visa-far...
A Farmworkers Visa Promised Her a Better Life. It Was a Trap.
Sofi left behind her child in Mexico for the promise of providing him a better life. She ended up a victim of an operation that is alleged to have exploited the H-2A visa program — and the workers it ...
projects.propublica.org
September 18, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Excellent report by @propublica.org on abuses migrant workers face under the H2A visas. Sex trafficking, kidnapping, beatings, deaths. Sofi ended up bound in the back of a pickup, her abuser smearing her blood on a shrine. Police arrived before he killed her. projects.propublica.org/h2a-visa-far...
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
The U.S. Air Force has started upgrading the 747 jetliner that the government of Qatar donated to the U.S. this summer, the Air Force said in a statement this week. Industry and Pentagon officials have said the extensive upgrades could cost as much as $1 billion. nyti.ms/4prxszi
Upgrades Begin on Plane Donated by Qatar to Serve as Air Force One
The 747 jetliner needs extensive security modifications. Some members of Congress worry that President Trump will pressure the Air Force to do the work too quickly.
nyti.ms
September 16, 2025 at 6:25 PM
The U.S. Air Force has started upgrading the 747 jetliner that the government of Qatar donated to the U.S. this summer, the Air Force said in a statement this week. Industry and Pentagon officials have said the extensive upgrades could cost as much as $1 billion. nyti.ms/4prxszi
The last fight for Sudan's capital. Families desperate to escape. An influx of new fighters, drugged up and fleeing defeat. And a massacre denied by RSF leadership, but then proudly owned by a commander on the ground. These were the last days in Salha. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Drugs, blood and terror: Inside a paramilitary massacre in Sudan
At least 31 people were massacred on April 27 in Salha, a neighborhood south of Khartoum, survivors said. The Post has reconstructed the events of that day.
www.washingtonpost.com
July 17, 2025 at 9:22 AM
The last fight for Sudan's capital. Families desperate to escape. An influx of new fighters, drugged up and fleeing defeat. And a massacre denied by RSF leadership, but then proudly owned by a commander on the ground. These were the last days in Salha. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
0.1% of Dartmoor in good ecological condition. And each Dartmoor ewe loses its owner £16.90 – the ecological and economic craziness of the current sheep grazing regime well explained by @chrisgpackham.bsky.social. Time to change how this amazing place is managed. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Sheep are destroying precious British habitats – and we taxpayers are footing the bill | Chris Packham
Large parts of Dartmoor have been denuded of wildlife, harmed by farming and a mess of government schemes that are costly in every way, says naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham
www.theguardian.com
July 15, 2025 at 1:48 PM
0.1% of Dartmoor in good ecological condition. And each Dartmoor ewe loses its owner £16.90 – the ecological and economic craziness of the current sheep grazing regime well explained by @chrisgpackham.bsky.social. Time to change how this amazing place is managed. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
A U.S. company airdropped food to empty villages in South Sudan that had been attacked by government forces. Some were too afraid to get the aid; others crept back, fearful but starving. Here's what happened next: www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
U.S. entrepreneurs want to tear up the international aid system’s rulebook
Fogbow is working with combatants to deliver food to some of the world’s most desperate and inaccessible places. Aid groups warn of unintended consequences.
www.washingtonpost.com
July 8, 2025 at 12:26 PM
A U.S. company airdropped food to empty villages in South Sudan that had been attacked by government forces. Some were too afraid to get the aid; others crept back, fearful but starving. Here's what happened next: www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Children clung to life in Sudan by the slenderest of threads, supported by community soup kitchens. Then the USAID funding cuts came, and their mothers watched them starve to death one by one. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
In Sudan, where children clung to life, doctors say USAID cuts have been fatal
The Trump administration’s cuts to USAID had an immediate and deadly impact in war-ravaged Sudan, according to civilians, doctors and aid officials.
www.washingtonpost.com
June 30, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Children clung to life in Sudan by the slenderest of threads, supported by community soup kitchens. Then the USAID funding cuts came, and their mothers watched them starve to death one by one. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
House approves Trump’s massive tax and immigration package
The legislation would extend tax cuts and add billions in new spending — and trillions in new debt. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202... (Az delegation’s votes below)
May 22, 2025 at 1:11 PM
House approves Trump’s massive tax and immigration package
The legislation would extend tax cuts and add billions in new spending — and trillions in new debt. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202... (Az delegation’s votes below)
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
U.S. methane gas can never meet the EU methane rules especially with Trump removing regulations. Everybody knew that. So...
The EU has decided to create some loopholes that will make dirty US LNG appear clean.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
The EU has decided to create some loopholes that will make dirty US LNG appear clean.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
Exclusive: EU explores tweaking methane rules for US gas to help trade talks, sources say
The European Union is looking at ways to make it easier for U.S. gas exports to comply with its methane emissions rules, as the bloc attempts to avert a trade war with U.S. President Trump, three sources told Reuters.
www.reuters.com
April 21, 2025 at 11:54 AM
U.S. methane gas can never meet the EU methane rules especially with Trump removing regulations. Everybody knew that. So...
The EU has decided to create some loopholes that will make dirty US LNG appear clean.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
The EU has decided to create some loopholes that will make dirty US LNG appear clean.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...