Rising unemployment set to push benefit numbers past 30M
Washington Post Nov 26, 08 6:05 AM CST
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Rising unemployment is expected to push the number of Americans on food stamps to an all-time high of more than 30 million this month, the Washington Post reports. Food pantries say they are also experiencing a surge in demand and a hunger hotline in Washington DC says its calls have more than tripled—and come mostly people who have never sought help before.
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LiveScience Sep 5, 08 12:50 PM CDT
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Does thinking make us fat? Researchers say that intellectual activity just might cause us to pig out, LiveScience reports. Volunteers who performed a series of problem-solving tasks in a study consumed almost 30% more calories afterward than those who just sat around and took it easy. One theory: The body demands food to restore glucose depleted by the stress of thinking.
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Adding rodents to menu pushed as solution to food crisis
Reuters Aug 18, 08 12:47 PM CDT
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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 that restaurants start offering the rodents.
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OPINION
Opposition to genetically souped-up crops has run its course
Economist Aug 4, 08 5:48 PM CDT
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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.” Today, such crops have been accepted by most as safe.
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Food price hikes push everything but dirt out of reach for Haiti's poor
Guardian (UK) Jul 29, 08 6:08 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Impoverished Haitians have been reduced to living off mud cakes, the Guardian reports. The cakes of clay and water—long eaten by poor pregnant women seeking calcium—are increasingly the only food many families can afford. The global fuel and food crisis has hit Haiti, and half the population is malnourished.
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As prices soar, mothers feed the men and eat what remains
Washington Post Jul 20, 08 5:06 AM CDT
(Newser)
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As food and fuel prices continue to climb, impoverished families across Africa are hurting worse than ever—and women are suffering the most. The Washington Post follows one Burkina Faso mother in her daily struggle to feed her family and survive in a culture that puts her last at mealtime. "When there is less food, women are the first to eat less," said one human rights advocate.
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Findings covered up to avoid US embarrassment
Guardian (UK) Jul 4, 08 3:45 PM CDT
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Biofuel production has been the driving force behind the growing food crisis, pushing prices up 75%, according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian . The most detailed research ever conducted on the issue emphatically contradicts the US position that biofuels are responsible for a mere 3% price bump. It hasn’t been published, sources say, for fear of embarrassing President Bush.
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South African president meets with Mugabe, though agenda unclear
Guardian (UK) Jun 18, 08 3:05 PM CDT
(Newser)
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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—particularly since Zimbabwe's main opposition accuses him of siding with Mugabe.
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'Second disaster' looms if aid is not allowed in
Washington Post May 9, 08 4:52 AM CDT
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Emergency supplies for some 1.5 million Burmese desperately in need of help are ready to be flown into the cyclone-stricken regions—but the military junta is still blocking delivery. Only two UN planes have been allowed to land in Burma. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon tried unsuccessfully to telephone Burma's top general to make a personal appeal to allow more relief supplies to get through, reports the Washington Post .
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Thousands protest over inflation and soaring prices
BBC May 5, 08 10:31 AM CDT
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Soldiers shot and killed at least two people in Somalia as thousands rioted over inflation and soaring food prices. A recent rash of counterfeiting has led some merchants to only accept US dollars, instead of local shillings, the BBC reports. In response, angry Somalis threw rocks and burned tires, shouting, "Down with the dollar-receivers."
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Inflation takes bite out of traditional offerings at Indian temples
Washington Post Apr 30, 08 1:13 PM CDT
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Skyrocketing food prices have a new victim in India: Hindu deities. Supplicants offer milk and other food at temples where they pray, but with the cost of staples soaring, many are unable even to feed themselves, the Washington Post reports. "If poor people don't even have enough for bread, how will they donate milk to the gods?" asks a priest.
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Ban plans task force, calls on donors to deliver on sorely underfunded pledges
BBC Apr 29, 08 10:52 AM CDT
(Newser)
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United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is putting together a task force to deal with an "unprecedented" world crisis that's left 100 million without enough food, the BBC reports. Ban also called on donors to follow through on pledges for the World Food Program, saying only 62% of the $755 million needed has been promised—and only $18 million delivered.
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Rising food prices threaten a more serious global crisis
Newsweek Apr 27, 08 3:31 PM CDT
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Even as the burgeoning price of oil slaps consumers at the pump, a darker global market crisis looms as rising commodities prices compound the pressures of poverty worldwide. The UN has said that spiking food prices have started "a silent tsunami threatening to plunge more than 100 million people on every continent into hunger." Newsweek investigates the causes, which are both complicated and simple.
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Official blames multinationals for surging food prices
Reuters Apr 20, 08 4:02 PM CDT
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A UN envoy called the world's food crisis "silent mass murder" today and blamed multinationals for "monopolizing the riches of the Earth," Reuters reports. Jean Ziegler, UN food rapporteur, chalked up surging food prices in poorer nations to biofuels, commodities markets, and EU subsidies—meaning the West is responsible for this "horror."
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