Rising corn costs are a high price to pay

Published on Sep 9, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish : America's corn harvest may be under way, but a summer drought has withered away much of the nation's expected yield.As a result, the price of corn is up as much as 40 per cent over last year.That's a problem because corn is a key ingredient in almost everything, from ketchup to coca-cola.

NATO denounces Taliban 'propaganda'

Published on Sep 6, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish : Taliban fighters claim they've forced NATO troops to retreat from one of their bases in Afghanistan's Wardak province. But NATO says the claims of success in are Taliban propaganda. Al Jazeera's Jennifer Glasse reports from Kabul.

Arrest of Banking Tycoon Sends Vietnam Reeling

Published on Sep 7, 2012 by linktv : Vietnamese businessman Nguyen Duc Kien has been arrested for corruption, but is he just the tip of the iceberg? Contributor Nguyen Qui Duc reports from Hanoi on people's reactions to the financial scandals rocking Vietnam.

General Assembly meeting highlights need to end nuclear testing for a safer world.

A participant looks over the programme of the General Assembly's informal meeting on the International Day against Nuclear Tests. UN Photo/R. Bajornas

6 September 2012 – The end of nuclear tests is one of the key means of achieving a safer and more secure world, United Nations officials stressed today, as the General Assembly met to observe the third annual International Day against Nuclear Tests.

“Nuclear tests are a threat to human health and global stability. Their effects are both harmful and long-lasting,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted in a video message for the observance.

The International Day is observed annually on 29 August, the date in 1991 when Semipalatinsk, located in north-eastern Kazakhstan and one of the largest test sites in the world, was closed for good. The observance draws global attention to the need to abolish nuclear weapons and achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world.

Mr. Ban urged States that had not yet done so to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) without delay. Pending the Treaty’s entry into force, he urged all States to uphold the existing moratorium on all nuclear test explosions.

The CTBT, which aims to establish a verifiable, permanent global ban on all types of nuclear explosive tests, has been signed by 183 States and ratified by 157.

Ratification by eight so-called Annex 2 States is required for the treaty to enter into force. They are China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, and the United States.

“While much has been achieved to bring us closer to a universally effective legally binding comprehensive nuclear-test ban, much remains to be done,” the President of the Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, told the gathered delegates in his address.

“The remaining effort is not necessarily scientific or financial but rather political. Stronger political commitment and true leadership are needed today more than ever,” he stressed.

Today’s observance includes a high-level panel on the role of the UN in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, during which panellists will present insights on how the Organization can further promote progress on the issue and advance confidence building, including through nuclear-weapon-free zones and other relevant measures.

Mr. Al-Nasser encouraged participants to engage in constructive exchanges, not only to promote the entry into force of CTBT but also to promote progress on all parallel fronts.

“Needless to say, this will require the efforts of not just governments. It will also depend on the active engagement of civil society and other relevant stakeholders who support our global cause in nuclear disarmament,” he said.

He added, “It is my hope that this effort will continue and will gradually succeed in bringing us closer to achieve what I believe is our collective objective, and that is: a world where all nations can live in peace and stability without the looming threat and danger of nuclear destruction.”

source here : 6 Sept 2012 

What's next : Criminalizes 911 deniers?

National 9/11 Museum at Standstill as Anniversary Nears.

Published on Sep 5, 2012 by VOAvideo : Eleven years after the September 11 terror attacks leveled the World Trade Center, work on a museum at the site, which was to open on the anniversary this year, has stopped - because of financial and power disputes. At the same time, family members of some of the victims are fighting the museum's plan to preserve unidentified human remains in an underground repository.

'Something Really Wrong': Dead Fish

Published on Sep 4, 2012 by CTVLondon : Tens of Thousands of Dead Fish Wash Up on Lake Erie Shore.



2011-2012 Unexplained Mass Animal Die-Offs Continue Published on Sep 3, 2012 by 2012truthishere : the strange large animal die offs, occurring around the globe.

Food Price Watch : August-2012.

MAIN MESSAGES: The prices of internationally traded maize and soybeans reached all-time peaks in July, following an unprecedented summer in both the United States and Eastern Europe in terms of high temperatures and lack of rain fall. Wheat prices have also soared to levels comparable to the 2011 peaks but below all-time records. Prices of rice remain stable from abundant supplies.

The abrupt food price increases turned favorable price prospects for the year upside down. World Bank experts do not currently foresee a repeat of 2008; however negative factors—such as exporters pursuing panic policies, a severe el Niño, disappointing Southern hemisphere crops, or strong increases in energy prices—could cause significant further grain price hikes such as those experienced four years ago.

Countries in the Middle East and North and Sub-Saharan Africa are most vulnerable to this global shock. They have large food import bills, their food consumption is a large share of average household spending, and they have limited fiscal space and comparatively weaker protective mechanisms. Domestic food prices in these regions have also experienced sharp increases even before the global shock due to seasonal trends, poor past harvests, and conflict. Local circumstances will also largely determine how high domestic prices will be pushed from much higher international prices. 

source here  :  

Previously Citizen Smith, today Citizen Khan?

BBC facing investigation for Muslim sitcom ‘disrespectful’ to Islam

UK broadcaster BBC is facing an investigation after launching a controversial sitcom about a Muslim family. The show sparked outrage over its treatment of ethnic and religious issues.

Citizen Khan is a comedy show from BBC1 about the Muslim community in Birmingham and began its run on Monday August 27. The network has received over 700 complaints saying the programme caused offence and insulted Muslims and Islam according to metro.co.uk. 

Media critics complained the show strengthens stereotypes about the Muslims. The Independent writer Arifa Akbar labeled it "not just outdated, but lazy and offensive."

The UK media regulator Ofcom is considering a formal investigation to see if any broadcasting rules have been broken after receiving 20 complaints about the show.

BBC sitcom Citizen Khan accused of being disrespectful to Muslims and Islam to face investigation (Image from www.bbc.co.uk)

The sitcom mocks the head of the Khan family, who overestimates his own importance and place in the community and business world.  

According to BBC synopsis "Mr Khan is a loveable larger than life character, with strong opinions and big dreams… Things would be so much easier if everyone just listened to him and followed his lead, but his obsessively house-proud wife and two feisty daughters usually have other ideas."

Defending the show the BBC said that a new comedy always provoked "differing reactions". 

"Citizen Khan has made a very positive start, launching successfully with 3.6million viewers,”  a BBC spokesman is quoted by The Daily Mail as saying. “New comedy always provokes differing reactions from the audience. The characters are comic creations and not meant to be representative of the community as a whole.”

British Muslim Adil Ray, is the man behind the show and plays the leading role of Mr Khan told This Is Staffordshire:"The biggest, most important, thing you can do is laugh at yourself… If you can laugh at yourself, it doesn't matter what anybody says to you as you're laughing already."

“My own cultural outsider's view is that Citizen Khan pays British Muslims perhaps the highest compliment television can bestow, which is treating them like any other creed and people by subjecting them to a gentle domestic sitcom in the tradition of My Family,” Mark Lawson of the Guardian wrote in defense of the series.

The show also prompted debate among Twitter users; opinions are split.

31 Aug, 2012   |  source here  >>

America's deadly leftovers?

Female bomb clearance teams created in Laos

Published on Sep 2, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish : During the Vietnam War, the US dropped millions of cluster bombs on Laos.Forty years on, an estimated 80 million remain buried and unexploded - posing a risk to anyone who goes near them.

Now, 50 women have joined teams of the Mine Action Group, MAG, to clear as many as they can.The decision to have three of its 14 teams led entirely by women is also a financial one, as the work helps elevate the women's position in society.

Starving Africa?

From Twitter : Injustice Facts ‏@InjusticeFacts

Americans and Europeans throw away enough edible food to feed every starving person in Africa.

Israel strike on Iran a done deal?

Published on Sep 1, 2012 by RussiaToday : Israel prepares citizens for war

Despite Washington clearly not favoring military confrontation with Iran - Israel isn't ruling it out. Major drills simulating missile strikes in case of a war with the Islamic State have been held in Tel Aviv. And these emergency exercises are not the only way Israelis are being prepared for an attack, as RT's Middle East correspondent Paula Slier explains.

Severe Droughts Drive Food Prices Higher, Threatening the Poor

WASHINGTON, August 30, 2012 – Global food prices soared by 10 percent in July from a month ago, with maize and soybean reaching all-time peaks due to an unprecedented summer of droughts and high temperatures in both the United States and Eastern Europe, according to the World Bank Group’s latest Food Price Watch report.

From June to July, maize and wheat rose by 25 percent each, soybeans by 17 percent, and only rice went down, by 4 percent.  Overall, the World Bank’s Food Price Index, which tracks the price of internationally traded food commodities, was 6 percent higher than in July of last year, and 1 percent over the previous peak of February 2011.

“Food prices rose again sharply threatening the health and well-being of millions of people,”said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “Africa and the Middle East are particularly vulnerable, but so are people in other countries where the prices of grains have gone up abruptly.”

Overall, food prices between April and July continued the volatile trend observed during the previous 12 months, which halted the sustained increases between mid-2010 and February 2011. Prices increased in April, came down in May and June, and sharply increased in July.

Sharp domestic price increases have continued in this quarter, especially in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, experienced the highest price increases in maize, including 113 percent in some markets in Mozambique. Meanwhile, the Sahel and eastern Africa regions experienced steep price increases of sorghum: 220 percent in South Sudan, and 180 percent in Sudan, for instance.

According to Food Price Watch, weather is the critical factor behind the abrupt global price increases in July. The drought in the U.S. has resulted in vast damages to the summer crops of maize and soybeans, for which the country is the world’s largest exporter. Meanwhile, the dry summer in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan has contributed to projected wheat production losses.

more here  >>

The UN's Response to the Crisis in Mali

They tell us what they want without telling us what & how they are goin' to do it? Not just yet?

Published on Aug 30, 2012 by UnitedNationsDPA In just a short time, the West African country of Mali has turned from a regional success story into a major source of international concern. Soldiers overthrew the country's democratic institutions in a coup in March 2012. Amid this crisis, rebels and extremists have taken over large parts of Mali's north.

Watch how the United Nations supports its regional partners in addressing the situation through diplomatic efforts.