Katharine Houreld
@khoureld.bsky.social
Muckraker, traveler, adventuress. East and Southern Africa Bureau Chief for the Washington Post. Email: katharine.houreld at washpost.com
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...
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
"In an earlier post, she wrote: "As for the inevitable death, if I die, I want a loud death, I don't want me in a breaking news story, nor in a number with a group, I want a death that is heard by the world, a trace that lasts forever, and immortal images that neither time nor place can bury."
Photographer Fatima Hassona killed ahead of Cannes documentary debut
The Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassona, killed along with ten family members in an Israeli air strike on her home in northern Gaza, is the star of a documentary due to be screened at the Cannes film festival next month.
www.euronews.com
April 17, 2025 at 9:43 PM
"In an earlier post, she wrote: "As for the inevitable death, if I die, I want a loud death, I don't want me in a breaking news story, nor in a number with a group, I want a death that is heard by the world, a trace that lasts forever, and immortal images that neither time nor place can bury."
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
White House officials are preparing executive orders that would strip some enviro nonprofits of tax-exempt status for Earth Day, by @jendlouhy.bsky.social & @akshatrathi.bsky.social
🎁 Gift Link: Trump Officials Weigh Earth Day Move Against Green Groups www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
🎁 Gift Link: Trump Officials Weigh Earth Day Move Against Green Groups www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Trump Officials Weigh Earth Day Move Against Green Groups
White House officials are preparing executive orders that would strip some environmental nonprofits of their tax-exempt status, setting up a possible Earth Day strike against organizations seen as sta...
www.bloomberg.com
April 18, 2025 at 1:51 AM
White House officials are preparing executive orders that would strip some enviro nonprofits of tax-exempt status for Earth Day, by @jendlouhy.bsky.social & @akshatrathi.bsky.social
🎁 Gift Link: Trump Officials Weigh Earth Day Move Against Green Groups www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
🎁 Gift Link: Trump Officials Weigh Earth Day Move Against Green Groups www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
Revealed: world’s largest meat company may break Amazon deforestation pledges again www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Revealed: world’s largest meat company may break Amazon deforestation pledges again
Brazilian ranchers in Pará and Rondônia say JBS can not achieve stated goal of deforestation-free cattle
www.theguardian.com
April 17, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Revealed: world’s largest meat company may break Amazon deforestation pledges again www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Incredible report by @newyorker: paid providers of care in US jails have allowed inmates to die of hunger and thirst, screaming for help; one had his lower leg rot off; others eaten by rodents or insects after they died. Some "look like famine victims" www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Starved in Jail
Why are incarcerated people dying from lack of food or water, even as private companies are paid millions for their care?
www.newyorker.com
April 17, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Incredible report by @newyorker: paid providers of care in US jails have allowed inmates to die of hunger and thirst, screaming for help; one had his lower leg rot off; others eaten by rodents or insects after they died. Some "look like famine victims" www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Mary, a Kenyan HIV outreach worker, has 4 children of her own. When a colleague was murdered, she took in the 4 orphans, one HIV+. In Jan, the US suspended the programs supporting the family. The kids were thrown out of school; today, they were evicted. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Trump’s PEPFAR cuts upend the lives of Kenyan families battling HIV
U.S. aid allowed Mary, a former sex worker, to do HIV outreach work and support eight children. Her future, and the U.S.-led fight against HIV, are now in doubt.
www.washingtonpost.com
April 5, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Mary, a Kenyan HIV outreach worker, has 4 children of her own. When a colleague was murdered, she took in the 4 orphans, one HIV+. In Jan, the US suspended the programs supporting the family. The kids were thrown out of school; today, they were evicted. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
New paper alert! Zombie fires overwinter, going underground to smolder through winter before reemerging. Until recently, we knew these fires occurred but knew little of their ecological or carbon impacts. Along with my amazing coauthors, we set out to change this. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Overwintering fires can occur in both peatlands and upland forests with varying ecological impacts - Nature Ecology & Evolution
Field measurements of fires burning over winter at 20 sites in the Northwest Territories of Canada and in Alaska find that such fires occur in both peatlands and upland forests, and provide informatio...
www.nature.com
March 24, 2025 at 7:27 PM
New paper alert! Zombie fires overwinter, going underground to smolder through winter before reemerging. Until recently, we knew these fires occurred but knew little of their ecological or carbon impacts. Along with my amazing coauthors, we set out to change this. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
How Trump is “effectively institutionalizing disinformation,” pushing a “new era of post-truth politics” that enables his administration to use fictions to promote its agenda. 🎁🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/b...
Trump Leads a ‘Machinery’ of Misinformation in Second Term (Gift Article)
President Trump’s first four years in the White House were filled with falsehoods. Now he and those around him are using false claims to justify their policy changes.
www.nytimes.com
March 24, 2025 at 11:35 PM
How Trump is “effectively institutionalizing disinformation,” pushing a “new era of post-truth politics” that enables his administration to use fictions to promote its agenda. 🎁🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/b...
A dark joke in some diplomatic circles: "Call the U.S. for aid, China for trade and the Russians when you want to kill someone." - so what happens when the U.S. cuts its programs? with
@robyndixon.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
@robyndixon.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Trump’s global funding cuts leave a void in Africa for rivals to exploit
America’s vanishing presence in Africa has upended critical programs, severed relationships and left a vacuum that Russia and China will look to capitalize on.
www.washingtonpost.com
March 25, 2025 at 6:37 AM
A dark joke in some diplomatic circles: "Call the U.S. for aid, China for trade and the Russians when you want to kill someone." - so what happens when the U.S. cuts its programs? with
@robyndixon.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
@robyndixon.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Reposted by Katharine Houreld
Breaking News: The EPA plans to eliminate its scientific research arm, firing as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists.
Trump Administration Aims to Eliminate E.P.A.’s Scientific Research Arm
More than 1,000 chemists, biologists and other scientists could be laid off under a plan to dismantle the Office of Research and Development.
www.nytimes.com
March 18, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Breaking News: The EPA plans to eliminate its scientific research arm, firing as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists.