Uncontacted Amazon tribes could be wiped out by drug traffickers and oil companies

By Gregor MacLennan11 August 2011 Brazilian officials fear for the survival of an isolated Amazon group after a remote guard post on the Peru-Brazil border was overrun by heavily armed suspected drug traffickers who crossed the border from Peru. The guard post was protecting the headwaters of the Envira river where stunning aerial photographs of […]

Uncontacted Amazon tribe missing after armed drug dealers storm their forest

By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.com9 August 2011 Concern is rising for the welfare of uncontacted natives in the Brazilian Amazon after armed marauders stormed the area where they were last documented. Last week men with rifles and machine guns, believed to be drug traffickers from Peru, overran a remote government guard post run by FUNAI (Brazil’s […]

Mideast lung disease up with chemical wars – ‘Pulmonary pathologies in the Middle East probably surpass all other regions of the world’

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UPI) Jul 18, 2011 – Chemical warfare in the Middle East’s recent conflicts has caused lung diseases in the regions that were exposed to the poisonous substances in the Arabian Peninsula and elsewhere, a report said. “The frequent wars in the Middle East have included chemical ammunitions that can cause […]

Book review: Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence

By ARTHUR WESTING 14 July 2011 Some 200 years ago Benjamin Franklin noted that nothing is certain except for death and taxes. Today Franklin could readily have been additionally certain of the inevitability of two further events of sad note, namely armed conflicts and global warming. In his latest book, impassioned investigative journalist and courageous […]

U.N. deadlock on addressing climate change

By Neil MacFARQUHAR20 July 2011 UNITED NATIONS — The persistent inability of the United Nations to forge international consensus on climate change issues was on display Wednesday, as Security Council members disagreed over whether they should address possible instability provoked by problems like rising sea levels or competition over water resources. Western powers like the […]

Wars, food shortages and mass immigration: How global warming poses dire threat to Britain’s security

By David Derbyshire8 July 2011 Global warming will threaten Britain’s security by triggering wars, food shortages and mass migration, Energy Minister Chris Huhne warned today. Although the UK may escape the worst physical impacts of rising temperatures and sea levels, the UK will still be exposed to ‘alarming and shocking’ consequences of climate change elsewhere, […]

Overuse of Central Asia’s Amu-Darya river a threat to stability: UN

Geneva (AFP) July 11, 2011 – The over-exploitation of the Amu-Darya river which snakes across Afghanistan, Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, could threaten the long-term stability of the region, the UN said Monday. The problem dates back to the Soviet era, when a massive cotton growing programme was launched by Moscow, sapping up water and releasing […]

East Africa famine crisis of ‘unimaginable proportions’ looms – ‘My 3-year-old was the first in our group to die. We buried her and kept on walking.’

By Tom Parry in Dadaab, Kenya, Daily Mirror 12 July 2011 Hawa Muya cradles her baby boy while her daughter shelters from the sand and flies against her mum’s black robe. The 28-year-old is sitting patiently in a long line as she keeps a close eye on Hussein, who is 10 months, and Fatma, aged […]

In the Horn of Africa, drought threatens millions

By Aaron Maasho; Editing by George Obulutsa and Tim Pearce12 July 2011 BISLE, Ethiopia (Reuters) – Four-year-old Hussein Musa sits propped against his mother in a thatch-roofed hut, in a section cordoned off under a scorching sun to mark those with the worst symptoms. “They say he is severely malnourished. He is also suffering from […]

Graph of the Day: Food Price Index, 2007 – June 2011

The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 234 points in June 2011, 1 percent higher than in May and 39 percent higher than in June 2010. The FFPI hit its all time high of 238 points in February. A strong rise in international sugar prices was behind much of the increase in the June value […]

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