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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: famine

famine stories: 11 news summaries

(Newser) - Almost 25 years after Live Aid aimed to eradicate famine in Ethiopia, the country is facing new threats of malnutrition and mass starvation, the Independent reports. Ethiopia's erratic rains are the main culprit, failing to fall or coming too little too late, while recession-minded donors in wealthy nations are also... More »

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climate change • global warming • Ethiopia • famine • Live Aid • food aid • World Food Program

(Newser) - Global warming is real, but Al Gore’s crusade to curb carbon emissions is misguided and will squander money that could be applied cheaply and efficiently to those problems now, Danish statistician Bjørn Lomborg writes in Esquire. “Here’s the truth: There are better, more cost-effective ways to... More »

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climate change • Al Gore • global warming • carbon offsets • malaria • famine • humanitarian aid • carbon emissions • Bjorn Lomborg

Despite Hunger, N. Korea Rejects US Food Aid

Pyongyang boots humanitarian groups ahead of rocket launch

Mar 18, 09 6:48 AM CDT
(AP) - North Korea will reject future US food assistance and kicked out five groups distributing American aid, a move that could make an already precarious humanitarian situation even worse, reports the AP. Pyongyang gave no reason for refusing the aid, according to the State Department. North Korea faces chronic food shortages... More »

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North Korea • South Korea • State Department • famine • Pyongyang • food aid

Mugabe's Party Feasts
While Zimbabwe Starves

Over 200 farm animals to be consumed during four-day Zanu-PF conference

Dec 19, 08 12:30 PM CST
(Newser) - The government of Zimbabwe has planned a decadent feast for delegates from the ruling party while starvation and cholera run rampant in the general population, Time reports. Robert Mugabe and 5,000 Zanu-PF delegates will treat themselves to 124 cattle, 81 goats, and 18 pigs across a four-day conference now... More »

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food • Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe • famine • starvation • Cholera • Zanu-PF

 Indian State 
 Recommends Eating Rats 

Adding rodents to menu pushed as solution to food crisis

Aug 18, 08 12:47 PM CDT
(Newser) - Faced with high food prices and ebbing grain reserves, officials in the Indian state of Bihar have endorsed the consumption of rats, Reuters reports. The state government sees the strategy as a way to reduce the pest population as well as curb the demand for grain, and has even proposed... More »

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food • India • hunger • famine • rats • food prices • grain

OPINION

 Anti-'Frankenfood' Activists
 Should Modify Stance

Opposition to genetically souped-up crops has run its course

Aug 4, 08 5:48 PM CDT
(Newser) - The recent destruction of a research crop of genetically modified potatoes in England highlights how attitudes towards altered crops have changed, the Economist writes. A decade ago, Greenpeace activists caught in the act of destroying food crops were acquitted because of popular fear of the consequences of “Frankenfoods.”... More »

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food • hunger • genetically modified crops • famine • crops • experiments • academic research • environmentalists

 'Mediator' Mbeki Visits Mugabe 

South African president meets with Mugabe, though agenda unclear

Jun 18, 08 3:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - South African president Thabo Mbeki visited counterpart Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe today, the Guardian reports, an attempt to play the role of mediator ahead of run-off elections June 27. With the UN warning that 5 million could face starvation in a country plagued by political violence, Mbeki's agenda was unclear—... More »

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Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe • Morgan Tsvangirai • hunger • famine • Thabo Mbeki • election

Scientists Work on New 'Green Revolution'

Solving food crisis will depend on a steady diet of innovation

Apr 25, 08 1:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Food scientists are plotting a new "green revolution" to solve a growing food crisis, LiveScience reports. Facing what a World Food Program official called a “silent tsunami” of world hunger, researchers are working on a sequel to the first "green revolution" of the mid-20th century, whose innovations... More »

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hunger alleviation • famine • biofuel • food prices • World hunger • Food and Agriculture Organization • food riots • hunger riots

Locusts Swarm Northeast Kenya

Voracious pest could strip bare nation's crops

Dec 7, 07 2:28 PM CST
(Newser) - Threatened by the largest swarm of locusts seen in Kenya since the 1960s, authorities have begun spraying crops in affected areas in hopes of exterminating the rapacious pests before they have a chance to lay eggs. The locusts, each of which can consume its own weight in food daily, have... More »

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Kenya • agriculture • famine • locusts

Scientists
Race to Save Rice Crops

Floods, droughts, warming threaten world's most vital food

Jul 29, 07 7:09 AM CDT
(Newser) - While much of the world focuses its attention on oil, 1,000 people in a lab outside Manila are worrying about the other staple the modern world depends on: rice. Because of drought, floods, and overproduction, Asian rice yields are flatlining, the Journal reports; as a result, the price of... More »

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India • farming • drought • famine • Philippines • innovation • rice • Manila

Fast Food Replaces Grandma's Cooking

Across the globe, traditional diets fade

Jun 2, 07 9:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - Every nation has its traditional cuisines, but in today's fast-paced, globalized culture, cheap, fatty Westernized food is crowding out ancient preparations and presentations. Diets define who we are, Time reports, and in the modern world, once-unique food is becoming culturally homogenized. Global influences traditionally enriched flavors and techniques; today, the... More »

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food • nutrition • Spain • globalization • famine • world economy • Westernization • diet • fast food

11 Stories


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