FTA Announces Final Rule to Encourage Private Sector Involvement in Transit Projects

Today, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) published the Private Investment Project Procedures (PIPP) Final Rule. The Final Rule describes new procedures to encourage private sector involvement in public transportation projects. FTA anticipates using the lessons learned through the experimental procedures to develop more effective approaches to private participation and investment in transit projects.

For more information, please see:

• News Release: U.S. Department of Transportation Announces Final Rule to Encourage Private Sector Involvement in Transit Projects
• PIPP Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• Private Sector Participation home

---

Questions? Contact Us Read our Privacy Policy

STAY CONNECTED:

You are receiving this information because you signed up to receive timely information from the Federal Transit Administration.

SUBSCRIBER SERVICES:
Manage Preferences  |  Unsubscribe  |  Help

---

This message has been sent by Federal Transit Administration · 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20590

Terrified dogs beaten and skinned

Footage reveals that dogs and other animals were still alive and struggling after their throats were slit.

	View this message online.  |   Donate Now
	Will you help animals like Meyli escape misery and a terrifying death?   Dear Aaaaaaa, Meyli is terrified. The floor around her is slick with the blood of dozens of dogs killed before her, and their bodies hang on hooks or soak in vats of water. The slaughterhouse reeks of death—and she and the other dogs in the holding pen are frantic to escape. Soon, a worker will grab her with metal pincers and bash her over the head with a wooden club. She may not die instantly—and still struggle to breathe even after her throat is slit, writhing on the filthy floor before her skin is peeled off. Meyli is no different from the loyal, loving dogs who share many of our homes—but rather than receiving affection, she'll be violently killed so that her skin can be turned into a belt or pair of gloves. Will you give to PETA's "Save Our Skins" Matching-Gift Challenge today and help prevent animals like her from enduring torment and pain? What dogs like Meyli experience seems like a scene from a horror movie, but it's happening in Chinese slaughterhouses right now. An employee of one told a PETA Asia investigator that just that single operation killed and skinned as many as 200 dogs a day. The investigator witnessed dog skin being turned into men's work gloves and other items that are exported from China and sold all around the world to unsuspecting consumers. And it's not just leather—dogs and cats sold at Chinese animal markets are also killed for their fur and sometimes skinned alive! On Chinese fur factory farms, foxes, minks, and rabbits are confined to filthy, cramped cages until they are yanked out, bludgeoned, and skinned. Investigators documented that the hearts of some of those animals were still beating even after their fur was cut off their bodies. No animal should suffer for a pair of shoes, a wallet, or a bit of fur trim. Your donation to this special matching-gift challenge will be doubled—pushing us closer to our $250,000 goal. With help from our determined supporters, PETA's campaigns have reached so many consumers that now it's rare to see a full-length fur coat—and more designers than ever are shunning fur, leather, and other animal-derived materials. Even Donatella Versace—whose use of fur we vigorously campaigned to stop—has joined Michael Kors, Gucci, and others in going fur-free. PETA Asia's exposé of the Chinese dog-leather industry inspired members of Congress to seek a ban on the importation of dog leather. And major brands like H&M, Zara, Topshop, and Gap Inc. are dropping angora and mohair in quick succession following PETA exposés of these grisly industries, so it's clear that momentum is on our side—thanks to support from kind people like you. Please donate to our "Save Our Skins" challenge today. Every penny of your contribution will strengthen PETA's groundbreaking work to reduce and ultimately stop cruelty to animals by the clothing industry. Thank you for your compassion. Kind regards, Ingrid E. Newkirk President
This e-mail was sent to sajanram.shrestha@blogger.com. Please let us know if you'd prefer that we use a different e-mail address. Want to get more active for animals? Sign up to receive additional updates about PETA's work through our subscription page. You can also choose to receive fewer e-mails or unsubscribe if you're absolutely certain that you want to become less involved in our work for animals.        This e-mail was sent by PETA, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510 USA. Dogs in header: © PETA/Manfred Karremann

Proposed legislation in Hungary would severely restrict support to asylum-seekers

The Refugee Brief, 30 May

By Kristy Siegfried @klsiegfried   |  30 May, 2018 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Proposed legislation in Hungary would severely restrict support to asylum-seekers. A draft law submitted to parliament on Tuesday would, if passed, significantly limit the abilities of NGOs and individuals to support asylum-seekers and refugees, potentially depriving them of vital aid and services, including food, healthcare, legal assistance, housing and education. A separate bill proposing changes to Hungary’s constitution would place additional limits on eligibility for asylum . The BBC reports that Hungary’s parliament, where Prime Minister Victor Orban’s Fidesz party has a two-thirds majority, is set to debate the bill ahead of a vote expected to take place next week. The bill was first introduced to parliament in February. In a statement on Tuesday, UNHCR urged the government to respect the fundamental human right to seek asylum and withdraw the bill, warning that without the support of NGOs, many refugees and asylum-seekers would suffer serious hardship. The statement notes that since January, Hungary has effectively closed its borders to almost all asylum-seekers. Last year, the country granted refugee status to just 1,216 people. “Huge unmet needs” in Syria’s eastern Ghouta. Syrian authorities report that more than 10,000 people have returned to the Damascus suburb over the past two weeks, following its recapture in April. Another 200,000 people are believed to have remained there throughout the years of siege and violence. On Tuesday, in a briefing to the UN Security Council, the UN’s aid chief, Mark Lowcock, said there was a critical need for greater humanitarian access to the area. Since mid-March, only one aid convoy has been authorized to enter the former enclave. During the visit to Saqba and Kafr Batna earlier this month, “it was clear there are huge unmet needs, and extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure,” said Lowcock. He added that only six aid convoys this year had reached areas of northern Homs, Douma and southern Damascus that are home to 2 million Syrians in desperate need. WHAT’S ON OUR RADAR Developing cyclone threatens Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. Al Jazeera reports that an area of low pressure in the Bay of Bengal was already bringing large amounts of rain to the western part of Myanmar on Monday. Heavy and prolonged rain is expected to follow in its wake as the monsoon season picks up across Bangladesh and Myanmar. Refugees living in shelters in vast, hilly settlements in southeast Bangladesh are vulnerable to landslides and flooding during the coming months. Paris police evacuate city’s largest encampment. Police began moving some 1,500 migrants and asylum-seekers living in a makeshift camp next to a canal in northeast Paris on Wednesday morning. The inhabitants, mainly from Africa, were taken by bus to temporary accommodation centres while bulldozers flattened the tent city known as “Millénaire”. The area and others like it have been at the heart of a debate between France’s interior minister and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. The mayor and aid groups have pressed for those removed from the camps to be given shelter. Cameroon’s anglophone crisis simmers. The Guardian reports from the frontline of Cameroon’s conflict between the French-speaking government in Yaoundé and the Anglophone pro-independence movement in the country’s northwest. Over 20,000 Cameroonians have fled into Nigeria and many more have been internally displaced. People in a village called Belo told the Guardian that following fighting between armed groups and security forces, civilians had come under attack . “They burned houses, raped women and executed people at random,” said one woman. More refugees finding jobs in Germany. The number of refugees with paying jobs increased by 60 per cent last year, according to new figures from the German Employment Agency. Handelsblatt reports that the rise has been largely driven by the service sector, especially the hotel and restaurant industry. Many companies also hope to recruit young refugees to their apprenticeship programmes. The number of refugees starting apprenticeships reportedly more than doubled last year, but many business leaders are calling on the government to step up support for such training programmes and to provide greater clarity about the legal status of asylum-seekers who take part in them. GET INSPIRED “Before the conflict in Syria I was a normal person,” says Zuhair, who was seriously injured by an airstrike that hit his shop. He was evacuated to Tripoli, Lebanon for treatment for his fractured spine, but then “sat at home” for 18 months, unsure how to resume life in a wheelchair. The International Rescue Committee introduced him to Ayman, a local phone repair shop owner who also uses a wheelchair. He agreed to take Zuhair on as an apprentice while the IRC paid for his transport. “When you work, you forget you’re disabled,” says Ayman. DID YOU KNOW? On average, only two asylum-seekers a day are allowed to enter Hungary through two “transit zones” at its border with Serbia.

Follow UNHCR DONATE Produced by the Communications and Public Information Service.  Managing Editors: Melissa Fleming, Christopher Reardon and Sybella Wilkes Contributing Editor: Kate Bond Subscribe to The Refugee Brief or view recent issues HQP100 P.O. Box 2500 CH-1211 Geneva 2 Tel +41 22 739 85 02   |   Fax: +41 22 739 73 14 Views expressed in reports highlighted in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR. Unsubscribe   |   Update Profile   |   Privacy Policy   |   View this email in your browser

Humanitarian crisis in Central African Republic intensifies

The Refugee Brief, 25 May

By Kristy Siegfried @klsiegfried   |  29 May, 2018 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Humanitarian crisis in Central African Republic intensifies. A growing number of Central Africans are taking refuge from violence in increasingly remote locations where aid agencies struggle to reach them, according to Najat Rochdi, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for CAR. Speaking at a press conference in Geneva on Monday, she said the renewed violence was affecting previously relatively stable areas in the north and centre of the country where post-conflict recovery projects had started. Rochdi warned that severe acute malnutrition in six administrative regions was higher than 15 per cent of the population – the emergency threshold. “Unfortunately, the situation has worsened because we had in one year’s time an increase of 70 per cent of the internally displaced people,” she said. The worsening crisis comes at a time when the humanitarian response in CAR is facing severe funding shortages and food rations have had to be cut by a third in some cases. Rise in attempted crossings to Italy and Spain. Humanitarian ships and Italy’s navy and coastguard vessels rescued more than 1,800 migrants and refugees from the central Mediterranean between Friday and Sunday, while Spain’s maritime rescue service rescued more than 500 people from 17 boats attempting to cross the Strait of Gibraltar over the weekend. Improved weather conditions were thought to be a factor behind the increase in attempted Mediterranean crossings, but a spokesperson for the Aquarius, a rescue ship run by SOS Mediterranée and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said it was unclear why the Libyan coastguard “had not been so active” in recent days. A baby boy born on the Aquarius on Saturday was named Miracle. María Jesús Vega, a UNHCR spokesperson in Madrid, warned that Spain is facing “another challenging year,” with sea arrivals reaching 4,409 by early May and 217 people having died in the attempt. “Government action is more urgently needed than ever,” she told the Guardian. For the Mediterranean as a whole, the number of crossings this year is less than half the total during the first five months of 2017. WHAT’S ON OUR RADAR Child refugees go missing in UK after being trafficked from France. More than 120 child refugees believed to have been trafficked to the UK from northern France have gone missing, according to a report by the Child Trafficking Advice Centre (Ctac), a charity. Ctac works with the Refugee Youth Service, a Calais-based charity, to locate and safeguard children trafficked to the UK from France, but so far only 68 have been located, while 128 are still missing . The report alleges that some of the children are sexually abused, forced to take drugs and subjected to violence by their adult smugglers or traffickers. Displaced families in Mali living under precarious conditions. More than 8,000 people who fled violence in Mali’s northern Ménaka region, near the border with Niger, urgently need food, water, medical and psychosocial support, according to a recent assessment by the Norwegian Refugee Council. The NRC said the families were living in makeshift shelters in remote areas and drinking stagnant rain water. After numerous attacks by armed groups, “they now live in anxiety and under psychosocial stress”, the NRC said in a statement. Israel said to give 300 Sudanese asylum-seekers temporary residence. The government extended legal protection to the asylum-seekers from Sudan’s Darfur region in response to a High Court petition . Haaretz reports that the new status, to be granted within 30 days, would give the asylum-seekers the same rights to work and receive social benefits as refugees. Some 2,500 asylum-seekers from Sudan have been waiting for years for Israel to process their asylum claims, it said. The state’s latest decision follows two similar ones earlier this year giving legal status to 500 Sudanese. Syrian refugees in Jordan to access university courses. Hundreds of Syrians living in refugee camps in Jordan will soon be given the chance to take university courses and receive vocational training thanks to a new project launched by the University for Refugees (UniRef), a Swiss nonprofit. Starting in early 2019, the university courses will be delivered by faculty members from Jordan’s Al-Isra University. Each student will be provided with a computer and will take intensive English language lessons in addition to their academic course work. GET INSPIRED A project in Vienna is giving refugees the opportunity to learn an instrument from music students who gain credits for teaching them. Unisono is an initiative of the Vienna branch of Live Music Now, an international organization founded by violinist Yehudi Menuhin. The refugees and students recently played their first concert together at a pub in the city. One Afghan refugee, Wahid, said he had not only learned to play the guitar – he’d also met many Austrians. DID YOU KNOW? One in four people from the Central African Republic is either internally displaced or a refugee.

Follow UNHCR DONATE Produced by the Communications and Public Information Service.  Managing Editors: Melissa Fleming, Christopher Reardon and Sybella Wilkes Contributing Editor: Kate Bond Subscribe to The Refugee Brief or view recent issues HQP100 P.O. Box 2500 CH-1211 Geneva 2 Tel +41 22 739 85 02   |   Fax: +41 22 739 73 14 Views expressed in reports highlighted in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR. Unsubscribe   |   Update Profile   |   Privacy Policy   |   View this email in your browser