By BRIAN M. CARNEY 3 SEPTEMBER 2011 As befits the chairman of the world’s largest food-production company, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe is counting calories. But it’s not his diet that the chairman and former CEO of Nestlé is worried about. It’s all the food that the U.S. and Europe are converting into fuel while the world’s poor […]
By Eric Luebehusen, U.S. Department of Agriculture31 August 2011 Southern Plains: The beat goes on across the southern Plains. In Texas and southern Oklahoma, another week of above-normal temperatures (up to 14°F above normal, with highs eclipsing 110°F) and sunny skies further offset the benefits of early month rainfall. Consequently, drought intensified over many of […]
By Samuel Okocha4 September 2011 There is reportedly growing evidence that Eritrea, like other countries in the horn of Africa, is suffering famine despite government’s claims that the population has the food it needs. Over 12 million people are said to be affected by drought and famine-the worst in the region in 60 years. Eritrea […]
[Update: Replaced “Azerbaijan” with “Iran” in the headline, thanks to reader Steve Bloom’s correction of Desdemona’s faulty geography.] By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI4 September 2011 Demonstrations were held Saturday in Tabriz and Orumieh — the capitals of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan provinces, respectively — and in several other towns in the two provinces to protest the […]
Bodo, Nigeria, August 16 (AFP) – The air smells like poison, the creek water carpeted with crude, and the boat operator covers his nose as he steps on a jetty in a region hit by what may be the world’s worst oil contamination. “We have been living with this mess for years,” says 31-year-old Friday […]
August 30 (Asahi Shimbun) – Extreme levels of radiation have been detected in soil within 40 kilometers of the quake-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the science ministry said. The finding emerged in a map published Aug. 29 that for the first time shows contamination levels of areas within a 100-km radius of the […]
GUIYANG, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) – A persistent drought in southwest China’s Guizhou Province has created a water shortage for 5.5 million people and 2.8 million livestock, local authorities said. Nearly 70 of the province’s counties and cities have been plagued by the drought, according to a meteorological monitoring report released on Monday. There will be […]
August 30 (Al Jazeera) – As Muslims around the world mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan and celebrate Eid Al-Fitr, many Somali Muslims will not be able to participate due to the ongoing famine in the Horn of Africa. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis, threatened by drought and civil war, have wound […]
August 30 (ReliefWeb) – Drought-hit Kenyans are resorting to desperate measures to find water which are putting their lives at risk, according to a Tearfund partner. The Turkana region is one of the worst affected by the lack of rain in Kenya, leaving many thousands of people who rely on livestock for their livelihoods battling […]
Shire, Ethiopia, August 30 (AFP) — In Ethiopia’s Endabaguna refugee camp, rows of gaunt Eritreans clad in rubber sandals give vent to their exasperation after days of trekking and dodging soldiers in an attempt to escape failed crops, hunger and an autocratic government. Over 12 million people across the Horn of Africa are struggling from […]
