The distribution of food, water and medicine to typhoon survivors here picked up speed on Thursday after a barrage of criticisms from aid workers and the Philippine and international press forced the Aquino administration to bring order to its response to the calamity caused by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.” But President Aquino, smarting from the international criticism over his slow response to Yolanda, appealed to the press for “greater accuracy in reports.”

All of the more than 47 million Americans, including 22 million children, who receive SNAP will see their food assistance reduced, when a modest boost in benefits to SNAP recipients, which policymakers included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to strengthen the economy and ease hardship, expires on Oct. 31. For a family of three, that cut will mean a reduction of $29 a month—$319 for the remaining 11 months of the fiscal year.