Two million children face starvation

Children suffer the most from the worst drought in decades in the Horn of Africa. (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/193043.html

Nearly two million children are facing starvation as the worst famine in 60 years continues to batter the Horn of Africa region.

UN sources said Sunday that these children, all under five, are just a small fraction of close to 13 million people facing hunger in the Horn of Africa.

At least 30,000 Africans have already starved to death as the region experiences its worst drought in decades. In many places, there has been no rain for the past two years.

The UN has declared famine in parts of southern Somalia and says the situation will get worse unless international aid comes in soon.

In Somalia, where a child is said to be dying every six minutes, three new districts were declared famine zones last week. Almost five million people are now at risk of starvation, but help has been hampered by continued violence.

Somalia has been worst affected by the famine in the Horn of Africa, as people in parts of Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Djibouti are also affected by the epidemic.

'Food inflation threatens millions in Asia'

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/176765.html

According to an ADB report released on Tuesday, domestic food price inflation hit an average of 10 percent in developing Asian countries at the start of the year.

The costs of essentials such as wheat, corn, sugar, edible oils, dairy products and meat underwent a double-digit rise, while the price of rice -- one of Asia's staple foods -- is also expected to peak.

If the situation is not contained, this can push at least 64 million people -- or nearly 2 percent of Asia's 3.3 billion people -- below the poverty line of USD 1.25 a day, the Manila-based bank warned.

Coupled with skyrocketing oil prices the current food price hike could also reduce economic growth in Asia by up to 1.5 percent this year.

While Asian economies have emerged strong from the 2008 global financial crisis, the rising cost of living has become a big concern in the region.

ADB's chief economist Rhee Changyong said Tuesday that if the global food crisis is left unchecked it could even undermine recent gains made in Asia's poverty reduction.

To stem the looming crisis many Asian countries have so far imposed export bans on their products, a practice that is not helping the cause, according to Rhee.

Instead, nations should strengthen social safety nets, increase investments in agricultural infrastructure and expand storage facilities, the ADB's senior economist said.

He added that these measures will ensure that food produce is not wasted, thus helping to keep prices in check.

World Bank: Food prices near dangerous levels

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/165804.html

The World Bank says the global hike in food prices have reached dangerous levels, pushing some 44 million more people into poverty in just over six months.

"Global food prices are rising to dangerous levels and threaten tens of millions of poor people around the world," AFP quoted World Bank chief Robert Zoellick as saying in a recent statement.

"The price hike is already pushing millions of people into poverty, and putting stress on the most vulnerable, who spend more than half of their income on food," he went on to say.

According to the latest edition of the bank's Food Price Watch, prices rose by 15 percent between October 2010 and January 2011.

According to reports, 100 million people became prone to extreme poverty in the 2008 food crisis. The World Bank defines “extreme poverty” as living on less than $1.25 a day.

The bank's food-price index rose 15 percent between October and January, led by wheat, sugar and edible oil. The level is only three percent below the 2008 peak, when surging costs sparked riots in more than a dozen countries.

Corn has surged 86 percent in the past year, and wheat is up 69 percent after drought and floods damaged crops from Russia to Argentina. The Food and Agriculture Organization's World Food Price Index reached a record high in January for a second consecutive month

Superstorm likely to hit California

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161328.html


Federal officials say California has more to fear than earthquakes. Officials are warning that something called an Ark storm could be so overwhelming that much of the entire state would become flooded. This super storm would drown entire cities and turn valleys into rivers. Mark Jackson is the chief meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Los Angeles. Jackson says the Ark storm is plausible mainly because it's already happened before.

He says historical data shows a massive storm system hit the state in the mid-1800s.

Scientists say computer models based on previous weather data suggest California can be hit with a storm system so powerful that the state's levees and flood control systems would be overwhelmed. And the damage would be the far worse than what was caused by Hurricane Katrina.

California focuses much of it's preparedness efforts toward earthquakes, like the Great American Shakeout drill held each year. But Jackson says an Ark storm poses just as much of a threat, if not more.

Infact, scientists estimate that an Ark storm would cause roughly five times the amount of damage than any so-called “Big One” earthquake.

Scientists say there are two main reasons why this Ark storm report was released.

One, they want the government agencies to start working together now to prepare a worst-case scenario and two, they're hoping this information will lead to the creation of an Ark storm warning system similar to the scale of those used for hurricanes.

Aussie flood creates war-like disaster

Floods slash $13 billion off Australian economy

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159932.html


Queensland State Premier Anna Bligh says Australia's flood-devastated state faces a reconstruction and cleanup similar to an effort following a war.

"This is going to be a long recovery. This morning as I look across not only the capital city (Brisbane), but three-quarters of my state, we are facing a reconstruction effort of post-war proportions," Bligh told Australian radio on Thursday.

Although flood waters peaked bellow feared catastrophic levels on Thursday, Australia's third largest city, Brisbane, and other devastated regions face years of rebuilding and even the threat of fresh floods in the weeks ahead.

Flooding has smashed infrastructure inundating roads and railways in Brisbane. The sewage leaked and spread into the water that remained one meter bellow the feared level.

The city center remained shuttered, more than 12,000 homes were flooded in the city of two million and some 118,000 buildings had their power cut.

Brisbane airport survived the swell and remains open, with almost all flights unaffected.

Forecasters say water levels are expected to slowly recede over the weekend. So far, the death toll from Queensland's flooding stands at least 23 with dozens more are reported missing.

The Queensland floods may end up costing the economy $13 billion because of lost productivity and damage to key infrastructure.

'Half of Niger's population hungry'

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138851§ionid=351020506


Niger is facing the worst hunger crisis in its history, with almost half of the population (or 7.3 million people) in desperate need of food, the UN's World Food (WFP) Program says.

The WFP says 17 percent of the African nation's children, or one in five, are acutely malnourished.

The charity Helen Keller International (HKI) has accused the international community of failing to respond effectively to repeated appeals for help for Niger.

HKI's Africa director, Shawn Baker, stated, "Famine is a very loaded word. But I think if you look in terms of the number of children affected, the way the livestock have been decimated, and the population movements that were seen earlier in the year, you certainly could consider a famine situation," reported BBC.

The UN reported that more than 67,000 people lost their homes after severe rains in the past week. The River Niger, the 3rd largest river in Africa, reached its highest level for 80 years, said the regional river authority, the ABN.

Not only are many village people going short of food, but their livestock, which are their only real assets, have died off.

Global warming cuts crops, ups famine

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138106§ionid=3510212


Scientists have warned of the effect of global warming on rice yields, saying climate change will make it harder to feed the world's growing population.

A group of scientists studied records from 227 farms in six important rice-producing countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, India, and China and found out that the yields have fallen by 10-20% over the last 25 years in some locations, BBC reported on Monday.

In a similar study in 2004, researchers in the Philippines discovered that the rice yields were dropping by 10% for every 1 degree centigrade increase in nighttime temperature.

According to the findings, global warming is cutting rice yields in many parts of Asia, and still more decline is predicted.

This is while the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has announced that one billion people are already hungry in the world and as the result, the UN has established an online petition to tackle the world's hunger epidemic.

However, scientists are very pessimistic about the future of cutting yields.

In another study on fully-irrigated farms that grow "green revolution" crops, researchers found compelling evidence for dropping of rice yields.

The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that as the daily minimum temperature increases, or as nights get hotter, rice yields drop.

"There have been some recent studies on US crops, in particular corn, that showed the drop-off after that threshold is substantial," the lead researcher Jarrod Welch of the University of California, San Diego said.

According to environmentalists, warmer climates will bring changes to rainfall, causing drought, adding to famine and hunger.