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Last Updated: Apr 30th, 2008 - 10:37:58 |
Food Riots Break Out Across the Globe
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| Food protesters in the Ivory Coast. Photo Credit: Gulf Times |
Global food prices have risen dramatically, adding a new level of danger to the crisis of world hunger. In Africa, food riots have swept across the continent, with recent protests in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mauritania and Senegal. In most of West Africa, the price of food has risen by 50 percent——in Sierra Leone, 300 percent. Last week, African finance ministers warned the rise in international food prices “poses significant threats to Africa”s growth, peace and security.” Other protests have been held this past week in countries including Cambodia, Indonesia, and Egypt. In Haiti, at least five people have died in riots over fifty percent price hikes for rice, beans and fruit since last year. The demonstrations continued Monday outside the national palace in Port-au-Prince.
Last month, the World Food Program issued a rare appeal for an additional $500 million dollars in funding. For its part, the Bush administration has reduced emergency food aid. Last month the US Agency for International Development said that a 41 percent surge in prices for wheat, corn, rice and other cereals over the past six months has generated a $120 million budget shortfall that will force the agency to reduce emergency operations. Bettina Luescher of the World Food Program says the enormous spike in food prices is caused by a variety of factors.
Bettina Luescher: “I think what we are facing is a perfect storm. More and more people are going hungry and need food aid. At the same time, we’ve got the lowest food reserves in some thirty years on the markets. At the same time, prices have gone up tremendously, sometimes doubled in the last few months, and you’ve got climate change with less harvest, droughts, floods. So the situation is really critical, and we have to act now. We cannot waste time. We have to act now.”
Rwanda Commemorates 1994 Genocide
On Monday Rwanda commemorated 14 years after the 1994 slaughter of some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and Hutus. President Paul Kagame attended a ceremony at a church in which 3000 people were massacred. Speakers included Andre Kama, a survivor of the genocide.
Andre Kamana: “It is important for continue to remember our people who have been killed in genocide. Until now we do not know where many are buried. In the last two months we have found more than a hundred bodies with the help of the people released by the gacaca courts. This is good for their families and for the other familes waiting to find their people.”
US Economy Loses 80,000 Jobs
In other economic news, the US economy lost 80,000 jobs in March, the biggest drop in five years. The official unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent. Since the start of the year, over 230,000 jobs have disappeared.
Brian Fabbri, chief economist of BNP Paribas: “The job losses that we’ve seen over the first three months of this year are basic confirmation of the fact that we probably have been in recession all year long. The idea, I think, is that not only will job losses make things more difficult, it will obviously cause consumer confidence to plunge, but it will also make it more difficult for people to actually go out and buy more things. And this is the downward spiral then that lost jobs create for the economy.”
McCain Jeered for Opposing MLK Holiday in 1980s
On Friday, the three major presidential candidates gave speeches marking the fortieth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Senator John McCain attended a memorial at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, the site of King’s assassination. McCain was jeered as he apologized for his longtime opposition to creating a federal holiday in honor of King. In 1983, McCain was one of seventy-seven Republican members of Congress to oppose the King holiday. In 1987, McCain publicly supported the governor of Arizona’s decision to repeal the state’s recognition of King.
Clinton & Obama Commemorate Death of Dr. King
At a rally in Memphis, Tennessee, Senator Hillary Clinton recalled seeing Dr. King speak.
Sen. Clinton: “Dr. King’s call to action that evening in Chicago led me to confront a world bigger and broader than the one I inhabited. He had a way of doing that, of pushing us outside our own comfort zone, of making it clear that we had to be part of the revolution that was going on. It wasn’t a revolution of guns. It was a revolution of hearts and minds, of attitudes and actions.”
Senator Obama spoke in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Sen. Obama: “Instead of having a politics that’s living up to Dr. King’s call for unity, we’ve had a politics that’s used race to drive us apart, when all this does is feed the forces of division and distraction and stop us from solving our problems.”
Clinton’s Top Strategist Steps Down After Trade Dispute
Senator Hillary Clinton’s chief campaign strategist Mark Penn has stepped down just days after it was revealed that he had been hired by the Colombian government to help lobby for a new trade deal with Washington. It is unclear what role Penn will retain in the campaign. His polling firm will continue to provide polling and advice to Clinton.
On Friday, several labor leaders called for Penn’s resignation after the Wall Street Journal reported that he had met with Colombia’s ambassador to help craft a strategy to secure passage of the Colombian Free Trade deal, which Clinton has opposed. Teamsters president James Hoffa said, “How can we trust that a President Hillary Clinton would stand strong against this trade deal when her top adviser is being paid by Colombia to promote it?” It is not the first time Mark Penn’s business deals at the firm Burson-Marsteller have come under scrutiny. Other clients of Penn’s have included the mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, the mercenary firm Blackwater and Philip Morris.
Two Ex-KBR Employees Say They Were Raped by Co-Workers in Iraq
Another female employee of the military contractor KBR has come forward with allegations of rape in Iraq. In an interview with The Nation magazine last week, a woman identified by the pseudonym Lisa Smith says two colleagues raped her at a southern Iraqi military base in January. Smith says a supervisor told her to “keep quiet” or face danger.
Last year, former KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones sued KBR and its former parent company Halliburton after she says she was drugged and gang-raped by employees of the company in Baghdad. Jones recounted that after she was raped, the company put her in a shipping container without food or water for at least 24 hours. She was also warned that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she”d be out of a job.
Jones has said that 38 other female contractors have privately come forward with their own stories of sexual harassment and abuse in Iraq and other countries. A criminal probe into Jones”s case has lasted more than two-and-a-half years. No charges have been filed.
Lisa Smith, as we will call her to protect her privacy, will be testifying publicly tomorrow before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Jamie Leigh Jones is the founder and director of the Jamie Leigh Foundation, which assists U.S. citizens victimized by government contractors or other corporations while working abroad. She has testified twice before Congress and spoken out in the media about her case.
Questions Raised Over New Domestic Satellite Surveillance System
Plans for the Department of Homeland Security to launch a new satellite surveillance system is coming under new criticism on Capitol Hill. Last week Secretary Michael Chertoff said the satellite surveillance system would be soon ready to go. But now the Wall Street Journal reports Democrats are threatening to shut down the program unless the department does more to address privacy concerns. The satellite program is designed to provide federal, state and local officials with extensive access to spy satellite imagery to assist with emergency response and other domestic security needs. But critics say the Bush administration hasn’t created legal safeguards to ensure that the program won’t be used for domestic spying.
More International News
Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Insists Mugabe Has Been Defeated
In Zimbabwe, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is insisting he beat President Robert Mugabe outright in last month’s presidential election and that no runoff vote is needed.
Morgan Tsvangirai: “A run-off will polarize and traumatize this country, this country does not need another war… It is now therefore imperative for SADC, the AU, and the UN, to move in to prevent this chaos, violence and dislocation that now grips this country. African leaders surely must now say ‘no’ to Mugabe in the same way the Zimbabwean people have said ‘no’ to him.”
Meanwhile, Mugabe is calling for a recount. Official election results still have not been released. A Zimbabwe court is expected to rule today on whether it has the authority to order the release of the delayed presidential election results.
International Campaign Against Gentrification Launched
In New York, members of the local rights group Movement for Justice in El Barrio rallied at City Hall Sunday to launch an international campaign against gentrification. The residents say they’re fighting poor conditions at dozens of East Harlem buildings recently purchased by the British investment firm Dawnay-Day Group. Movement for Justice in El Barrio members say they plan to work with other tenants-rights communities facing similar struggles worldwide, including in Spain, England and Mexico.
Olympics Consider Scrapping Torch Rally Due To Protests
The Associated Press reports the International Olympic Committee is considering scrapping the international leg of the Olympic torch relay as a result of a series of pro-Tibet protests. On Monday officials in Paris were forced to extinguish the Olympic flame and carry it by bus when protesters tried to seize it. Wang Hui of the Beijing Organizing Committee criticized the ongoing protests.
Wang Hui: “For those few separatists who attempt to sabotage and destroy the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay, we express our strong condemnation. The Olympic flame belongs to the people around the world, so the behavior of a few separatists would not gain sympathy from people and will cause strong criticism and is doomed to fail.”
Khoury Souhail, the president of the International Olympic Committee in Lebanon said the Olympic games should be free from politics.
Khoury Souhail: “I think the problem of Tibet in China is an internal problem. I am against to manage the problem of politics with sport. Sport is our game, it is the game for the athletes, it’s a game for the organisers, it’s a game for Beijing, for all the movement around the world. I think it’s better to keep this problem clear.”
Report: Israel Is Secretly Importing Iranian Oil
An Israeli energy newsletter has revealed Israel is secretly buying oil from Iran despite an official boycott. The newsletter EnergiaNews reports Israeli companies get around the boycott by having the oil delivered to European ports where it is then bought by Israelis. The oil is then imported into Israel by the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Company which keeps its oil sources secret.
Israel Shuts Radio Station Set Up To Bring Together Israelis & Palestinians
Meanwhile police in Israel have shut down a Jerusalem radio station whose stated mission was to bring Israelis and Palestinians together. During a raid on Monday, police confiscated the station’s equipment and detained eight workers. Israeli officials accused RAM FM of broadcasting without a permit. The station broadcasts in Jerusalem and Ramallah. It was started a year ago by a South African Jewish businessman who modeled it after a South African station which was set up in apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.
Report: U.S. Sent 14 Prisoners to Jordan
A new report from Human Rights Watch concludes the CIA has transferred at least 14 prisoners to Jordan for interrogation and torture since 2001. The rights group says Jordan served as a proxy jailer and interrogator for the CIA from 2001 until at least 2004. During this period, no other country is believed to have held as many prisoners as Jordan.
President Bush Urges Congress to Approve Colombian Trade Deal
In news from Washington, President Bush has announced he will soon ask Congress to approve a trade agreement with Colombia. Bush said the need for this deal is too urgent to delay.
President Bush: “This agreement will advance America’s national security interests in a critical region. It will strengthen a courageous ally in our hemisphere. It will help America’s economy and America’s workers at a vital time. It deserves bipartisan support from the United States Congress.”
Once the trade deal is submitted to Congress, legislators have 90 business days to approve or reject it. Labor unions and human rights organizations have been pushing Congress to reject the treaty in part because Colombia has the highest rate of killings of trade unionists in the world. According to Human Rights Watch, seventeen trade unionists have been killed in Colombia in the first three months of this year. Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have both publicly opposed the deal. But it was revealed last week that Clinton’s top strategist had been hired by the Colombian government to lobby for the trade deal. The adviser, Mark Penn, CEO of the lobbying firm Burson-Marsteller, stepped down from his post after it was disclosed that he had personally met with Colombia’s ambassador.
© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com
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