By Tami Luhby5 September 2012 NEW YORK (CNNMoney) – More than 50 million Americans couldn’t afford to buy food at some point in 2011, according to federal data. Children in some 3.9 million households suffered from food insecurity last year, with their families unable to provide them with adequate, nutritious food at times. Nearly 17 […]
By Jeff Cox, cnbc.com 5 September 2012 The number of Americans on food stamps hit a record high in June, and economists don’t expect much improvement as long as unemployment remains high. Those receiving benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program numbered 46.37 million, the government announced in a report that hit just days ahead […]
3 September 2012 (BBC) – Typhoon Bolaven has killed 48 people in North Korea and left more than 50 others injured or missing, state-run KCNA news agency reports. The typhoon “brought big damage” to North Korea and displaced more than 20,000 people, it said. Hundreds of trees were felled and power cut. The North was […]
By Larry Elliott, www.guardian.co.uk2 September 2012 The last decade saw the end of cheap oil, the magic growth ingredient for the global economy after the second world war. This summer’s increase in maize, wheat and soya bean prices – the third spike in the past five years – suggests the era of cheap food is […]
By Glenn Ashton28 August 2012 Food prices are rapidly heading toward new record territory, with far more at play than a simple drought in the US Midwest. There are serious implications, especially for nations with high rates of inequality and poverty. We will almost certainly face a potentially catastrophic, global scale famine in the next […]
By Larry Elliott, www.guardian.co.uk30 August 2012 The World Bank issued a global hunger warning last night after severe droughts in the US and eastern Europe sent food prices to a record high. Damage to crop harvests from exceptionally dry weather this year raised sharply the Bank’s food price index taking it above its peak in […]
By Terry Weiss, Money Morning Richard Duncan, formerly of the World Bank and chief economist at Blackhorse Asset Mgmt., says America’s $16 trillion federal debt has escalated into a “death spiral, “as he told CNBC. And it could result in a depression so severe that he doesn’t “think our civilization could survive it.” And Duncan […]
By Muneeza Naqvi, Associated Press27 August 2012 KATHURA, India (AP) – The farmer walks past muddy fields of stunted sugarcane and damaged rice paddies as a light drizzle falls. “Too late, too late,” he says of the rains he has been praying for since many weeks ago. For nearly two months, Satyavan Narwal’s eyes scoured […]
Contact: Franco Sassi, franco.sassi@oecd.org21 February 2012 Until 1980, fewer than one in ten people were obese. Since then, rates doubled or tripled and in 19 of 34 OECD countries the majority of the population is now overweight or obese. OECD projections suggest that more than two out of three people will be overweight or obese […]
By Jeremy Hsu, InnovationNewsDaily Senior Writer, LiveScience.com 14 August 2012 Rising seas threaten to drown island countries such as the Maldives and Kiribati in the era of global warming — a dire scenario that has forced leaders to plan for floating cities or consider moving their entire populations to neighboring countries. Most countries won’t need […]
