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Kings Cross drug injecting center gains permanent status

After much debate the parliament’s upper house voted to maintain the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Kings Cross permanently this week on Wednesday. The votes stood 22 -15 for the centre to be given permanent status. This followed approval for a change from trial to permanent status by the lower house last week.

27 Oct 2010

Guardian examines global food price volatility

Rising food prices and shortages could cause instability in many countries as the cost of staple foods and vegetables reached their highest levels in two years, with scientists predicting further widespread droughts and floods, the Guardian reports in a story examining the significance of rising food prices worldwide.

27 Oct 2010

Stress can literally show up on the face

According to an Australian stylist stress affects the health as well as appearance. Gregory Landsman, the author of Face and Fitness said that high stress level is immediately visible on a person’s face.

26 Oct 2010

New York Times profiles USAID Administrator Shah

The New York Times profiles USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah and examines the challenges that come with leading the development agency at this point in time.

26 Oct 2010

Competition for agricultural land contributes to hunger of 500M small-scale farmers, U.N. official says

Approximately 500 million small-scale farmers worldwide are going hungry because of "an explosive cocktail" of farmland speculation, environmental damages and urbanization, Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, said on Thursday, the Associated Press/Winnipeg Free Press reports (Lederer, 10/21).

25 Oct 2010

Aid agencies threaten to leave Afghanistan as President Karzai orders private security firms to dissolve

Companies and aid organizations implementing hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S.-funded projects here say they are preparing to leave Afghanistan unless President Hamid Karzai amends a decree that outlaws their private security protection, the Wall Street Journal reports.

25 Oct 2010

Energy drinks under scrutiny as a pub ban is considered

Energy drinks might finally be facing a ban what with both the Australian Government and Opposition committing to handling the issue. The highly-caffeinated drink Mother is sold at 95 pubs and clubs across the state. This is despite NSW Health officials warning that energy drinks mixed with alcohol can provoke sexual assaults and an increased rate of violence.

24 Oct 2010

World Bank extends food crisis response fund for countries experiencing high food prices

"The World Bank on Monday cited growing instability in food prices" before announcing that it would extends its Global Food Crisis Response Program through June 2011, Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports (10/18).

22 Oct 2010

New York Times Magazine examines individual-initiated foreign aid projects

A New York Times Magazine article by the newspaper's Op-Ed columnist Nicolas Kristof examines a "revolution" that is "just beginning" and "might be called Do-It-Yourself Foreign Aid, because it starts with the proposition that it's not only presidents and United Nations officials who chip away at global challenges. Passionate individuals with great ideas can do the same, especially in the age of the Internet and social media."

22 Oct 2010

Surrogacy laws put to conscience vote

The New South Wales Parliament will have a conscience vote to decide on a bill that would grant parental rights to couples who have a child through surrogacy.

21 Oct 2010

North Carolina Academic Center to conduct youth violence prevention research

North Carolina will be home to the nation's first rurally focused youth violence prevention center, with a federal grant worth nearly $6.5 million to support a new project based in Robeson County and led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers.

21 Oct 2010

USAID administrator outlines feed the future initiative at World Food Prize symposium

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah on Friday in Iowa described the Obama administration's international agricultural development effort, Feed the Future, as a flagship effort for his agency and a key plank in the administration's global development strategy, but said it can't succeed without more support, CongressDaily reports.

20 Oct 2010

Coal seam gas toxins raise questions

Routine testing by Australia Pacific LNG found traces of four toxic chemicals, including benzene and toluene, in their wells in the Surat Basin. There are fresh calls for a ban on the extraction of coal seam gas in southern Queensland.

19 Oct 2010

SheKnows City Guide helps women to get expert advice on health

SheKnows one of the fastest growing online content and community global destinations for women, just launched a new city-specific resource titled SheKnows City Guide.

19 Oct 2010

Shift in agriculture techniques required to ensure future food security, U.N. special rapporteur on right to food says on World Food Day

Farming techniques must adapt to mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure global food security, Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, said in a statement to mark Saturday's World Food Day, Agence France-Presse reports.

19 Oct 2010

Parent abuse – lack of support for victims

According to new Flinders University research parents who suffer abuse and neglect by their children need more support. The report found that almost half the victims interviewed were unable to get support.

18 Oct 2010

Crackdown on liquor licensing breaches needed: Doctors

AMA Victoria has urged the State to look deeper into liquor licensing breaches and has alleged that there have been only four prosecutions out of the near 15,200 breaches. There were 1,200 venues who were reportedly supplying liquor “other than in accordance with the license”. AMA Victoria has asked the state government to introduce harsher penalties for venue operators that breach their liquor licensing conditions.

18 Oct 2010

Former U.N. Secretary-General, Gates Foundation CEO, Ethiopian official address World Food Prize conference

In a speech at the World Food Prize conference on Thursday, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan discussed several topics related to food security and said that discrimination against women is limiting agricultural development in Africa, the Des Moines Register reports.

18 Oct 2010

Opinions: PR for U.S. foreign aid; African food security

Foreign aid is a much cheaper way of conducting a country's foreign policy than the military - and in many cases it can be much more effective, too, Reuters' Felix Salmon writes on his blog.

18 Oct 2010

World Food Prize recipients call for investment in agriculture in developing countries

The 2010 World Food Prize recipients say despite the economic situation "it's no time for the United States to back off a historic pledge to invest in boosting the production of the world's poorest farmers," the Des Moines Register reports.

15 Oct 2010