They live in a world of plenty, but one in seven will go hungry today
Enough crops can be grown to feed the planet. But spiralling grain prices,
stock market speculation, climate change and corrupt and failing
governments have left almost a billion people facing starvation.
Today is World Food Day. It might, if one heeds the words of Ban Ki-moon, be more suitably designated Global Lack of Nutrition Day. For, according to a statement by the Secretary-General of the United Nations this weekend, in a world that can produce enough food to feed everyone, nearly a billion people will go hungry today. And that is one in seven of us.
A welter of little-noticed reports have been published on the subject in the past week, notably a study of worldwide food insecurity by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Ruined Sirte becomes a killing ground as Gaddafi loyalists face destruction, but mete out death of their own
For nine days, forces of the new Libyan government have been trying to seize the last area of Sirte still under Gaddafi loyalist control - with horrific destruction all around.
It was envisaged by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi as a model of what a modern African city should be: a brilliant panoply of university and hospitals, with a glittering seafront and a marble-lined conference centre to host leaders from around the world.
But this weekend the centre of Sirte, the birthplace of the former Libyan leader and lavished with money and attention for that reason, is a squalid ruin in which a pocket of diehard Gaddafi loyalists - outnumbered and outgunned - are slogging it out in a desperate, destructive attempt to delay their inevitable defeat.
Sri Lanka diplomat accused of war crimes
Ben Doherty
SRI LANKA'S high commissioner to Australia, former admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, should be investigated for war crimes, a brief before the Australian Federal Police says.
The submission, from the International Commission of Jurists' Australian section, has compiled what a source has told theHerald is direct and credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Sri Lanka Navy.
There are witnesses - Sri Lankans now living in Australia - who can attest to the alleged crimes, the source said.
Kenya vows to run al-Shabaab to ground
BERNARD MOMANYI NAIROBI, KENYA - Oct 16 2011
Branding Somalia's al-Qaeda inspired al-Shabaab rebels "the enemy", George Saitoti said Kenya intended to track down the kidnappers whose raids on two beach resorts have dealt a major blow to Kenya's tourism industry.
"Our territorial integrity is threatened with serious security threats of terrorism, we cannot allow this to happen at all," said Saitoti.
"It means we are now going to pursue the enemy, who are the al-Shabaab, to wherever they will be, even in their country," he told reporters.
"Our territorial integrity is threatened with serious security threats of terrorism, we cannot allow this to happen at all," said Saitoti.
"It means we are now going to pursue the enemy, who are the al-Shabaab, to wherever they will be, even in their country," he told reporters.
Brazil president holds her own as Lula successor
Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's first female president, has taken a tough line on corruption, turning a challenge into a victory. She also has not been shy about criticizing key allies such as the U.S.
October 16, 2011
When Dilma Rousseff took over as president of Brazil in January, she had rather big shoes to fill. Her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, finished his two terms as one of the most popular leaders in the world, with his country riding a wave of economic progress and optimism.
Rousseff, known as Dilma in Brazil, had little executive experience or public profile until Lula handpicked her to carry the torch for his center-left Workers' Party. The former guerrilla waged a successful campaign and gained a reputation as a tough and pragmatic technocrat, but many were unsure whether she'd have the skill, or luck, needed to follow in Lula's seemingly blessed footsteps.
'Enough is enough': London 'Occupy' protesters camp out
Around 250 demonstrators decrying corporate green pitch tents outside London's iconic St Paul's Cathedral
Around 250 protesters set up camp outside St Paul's Cathedral in the heart of London on Sunday, promising to occupy the site indefinitely to show their anger at bankers and politicians over the global economic crisis
The group, inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, began their protest to decry corporate greed and economic inequality on Saturday when several thousand gathered to try to take over the area in front of the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
After being thwarted by lines of police, the group moved to the cathedral, located next to the privately-owned square housing the LSE, where they erected about 70 tents and camped out overnight.
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