famine

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Overeating Taking Bigger Toll Than Food Shortages

Non-infectious diseases now more of a threat than infectious ones: report

(Newser) - It's a worldwide first: Today, eating too much is more of a health threat than food shortages. On a global scale, overeating costs more years of healthy life than does undernutrition, according to a massive new study. The Global Burden of Disease 2010 report compares illnesses and causes of...

Why North Korea Has So Many Famines

Slate: Bad management, lack of fertilizers, and lousy terrain

(Newser) - With North Korea agreeing to suspend its nuclear program in exchange for food aid (yet again), the Explainer blog at Slate takes on the question of why the North keeps suffering from famines and food shortages. In short, "poor growing conditions, fertilizer shortages, and general mismanagement." In the...

Half-Million May Face Famine in Sudan

US envoy warns of 'colossal disaster'

(Newser) - A tragic byproduct of the conflict in Sudan: If humanitarian organizations are not allowed in soon, half a million people could face near-famine by March. "There is a looming humanitarian disaster in Sudan," says the US envoy to Sudan, who is pushing for African intervention in the country....

Stars Unite to 'F*** Famine'

Group aims to raise awareness, not money

(Newser) - Bono, George Clooney, Colin Farrell, and a host of celebrities spout the F-word in a new ad with a simple message: "F*** famine." (Don't worry, it's still SFW, thanks to a lot of censoring.) "Famine is the real obscenity," explains Bono in the...

US Plans $100M in Somalia Famine Aid

Hundreds of thousands of children could die, warns official

(Newser) - As top US officials warn that hundreds of thousands of children could die in Somalia's famine, Washington is preparing to send $100 million in new aid, two officials tell the AP . To raise awareness of the crisis, Jill Biden traveled to a refugee camp to "ask Americans and...

Somalia Famine's Brutal Toll: 29K Kids Dead in 3 Months

All under the age of 5, according to the US

(Newser) - The UN has said that the famine in Somalia has killed tens of thousands, and the first specific estimate to emerge paints an even more heartbreaking picture. More than 29,000 children under the age of five have died in just the last 90 days in the southern part of...

Starving Somalis Leaving Children on 'Death Roads'

UN airlifting food to militant-controlled areas

(Newser) - Starving refugees and their children from famine-stricken Somalia are dying on their way to aid centers, the chief of the United Nations World Food Program warns. Desperate mothers have been forced to abandon dead or dying children along "roads of death" as they trek for days, sometimes weeks, to...

Starving Somalia to Get Famine Designation

UN agencies poised to add 'humanitarian catastrophe' label

(Newser) - Drought and food shortages have gotten so bad in southern Somalia that the UN is almost certain to upgrade the situation from a “humanitarian emergency” to a “famine/humanitarian catastrophe,” sources tell the Telegraph . “It’s 99% certain that tomorrow we will have to declare a full...

Horn of Africa Close to Famine

An estimated 12M people in jeopardy

(Newser) - A lack of rain and rising world prices have left an estimated 12 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia in dire need of food, the Telegraph reports. The reality is especially difficult to ignore in Dadaab, a city in northern Kenya experiencing its second-lowest rainfall in 60 years. Dadaab...

N. Korea Allows Private Food Markets
N. Korea Allows Private Food Markets
Jun 18, 2010 12:10 PM CDT

N. Korea Allows Private Food Markets

Pro-capitalist policy shift comes amid growing famine

(Newser) - North Korea has effectively admitted that it can't feed its citizens by allowing people to buy food and other necessities at private markets, the Washington Post reports. Such markets have existed under the radar for years, but the government order sanctioning what amounts to capitalism "abandons all pretense of...

Geldof Enraged by Report That Live Aid Paid for Weapons

95% of donations siphoned to rebel weapons, says BBC

(Newser) - Live Aid founder Bob Geldof is furious about a BBC report that said 95% of the Live Aid money his organization raised for Ethiopian famine relief in 1985 was diverted to buy weapons for rebel fighters. It's possible that "some money was mislaid, but to suggest it was on...

'We Are the World' Sequel to Help Haiti

Quincy Jones, Lionel Richie plan 25th anniversary re-recording

(Newser) - It's "We Are the World" take 2, this time for Haiti. Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie are getting some of the music industry's top stars together for a 25th anniversary re-recording of the song, with proceeds going to earthquake victims. The gathering will probably take place in Los Angeles...

To Battle Climate Change, Look Toward Africa

Fallout from changes in weather patterns threatens hard-won gains

(Newser) - A quarter-century after the Ethiopian famine crisis, another catastrophe threatens Africa: climate change. But this time, the First World stands to gain from improving the lot of the Third World. "The inefficiencies of the hydrocarbon economy will be replaced by clean, cheap renewables," pop star and activist Bob...

Famine Fear Returns to Ethiopia

(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...

Gore's Climate Crusade Misguided, Wasteful

(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...

Despite Hunger, N. Korea Rejects US Food Aid

Pyongyang boots humanitarian groups ahead of rocket launch

(Newser) - 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...

Mugabe's Party Feasts While Zimbabwe Starves

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

(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...

Indian State Recommends Eating Rats

Adding rodents to menu pushed as solution to food crisis

(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...

Anti-'Frankenfood' Activists Should Modify Stance

Opposition to genetically souped-up crops has run its course

(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.”...

'Mediator' Mbeki Visits Mugabe
 'Mediator' Mbeki Visits Mugabe 
Jun 18, 2008 3:05 PM CDT

'Mediator' Mbeki Visits Mugabe

South African president meets with Mugabe, though agenda unclear

(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—...

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