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Instability and global food prices

In this report from the Center for Strategic & International Studies, part of its Global Forecast 2011, Johanna Nesseth Tuttle writes, "As food prices have risen - to a new, all-time high in 2011 - it is clear that, although we are not inevitably destined for instability as a result of declining food stocks, without serious commitment and focus we will be hard-pressed to manage the dramatic increase in food production that will be needed to meet global demand".

17 Jun 2011

Guardian interviews USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah

The Guardian examines USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah's role in U.S. development policy and looks at some of the domestic challenges he faces.

16 Jun 2011

Opening the door for a lady – benevolent sexism or chivalry?

According to a latest study by feminist psychologists, men who open doors for women are guilty of ‘benevolent sexism’. Helping the ladies choose the right computer as well as carrying their shopping are also signs of ‘unseen’ sexism in society, according to the report.

16 Jun 2011

Where does non-emergency food aid fit in development?

"Pre-positioning food stocks has some important advantages besides saving time: it can lower program costs for the food itself and shipping. Mostly, however, it's crazy that the Congress still requires that U.S. food aid be bought here and transported around the world on U.S.-flagged ships," Kimberly Ann Elliott, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, writes on the "Views from the Center" blog.

15 Jun 2011

Smoking ban in NSW prison

In a new directive, prisoners at the Lithgow jail in central western New South Wales will be banned from smoking in their cells as part of a six-month trial to begin next year.

13 Jun 2011

Climate change to reduce water available for agriculture, report says

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) "on Thursday warned climate change will restrict the availability of water for farming in decades to come, including in the Mediterranean region, and urged governments to take action," Agence France-Presse reports.

13 Jun 2011

G20 to launch initiative to reduce food price volatility

The G20 plans to launch an initiative aimed at reducing food price volatility when the group's agriculture ministers meet this month in France, the Financial Times reports. According to the newspaper, G20 agriculture ministers will discuss the details of the Agriculture Market Information System (AMIS) initiative during their meeting in Paris, which begins on June 22.

10 Jun 2011

Volatile food prices likely to continue, threatening food security in developing world, FAO says

"Drought in some areas and heavy rain in others are keeping world food prices near record levels, threatening the food supply for poorer, food-importing countries," the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in its biannual report on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reports.

9 Jun 2011

Yikes! 5,085 kilojoules and 80.5 grams of fat in one burger

After the naming of a Hungry Jack's burger as the unhealthiest in the nation, all state governments are planning to introduce legislation requiring fast food outlets to list the energy content on their menus.

9 Jun 2011

DASH diet comes out on top

DASH diet, often recommended to help adults lower their blood pressure has ranked over more popular options in a ranking of 20 diets by U.S. News & World Report. The DASH diet, the magazine concluded, was the best overall. Government approved DASH standing for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension was chosen by the magazine’s panel of nutrition experts among other things, being nutritious, easy to follow and protecting against heart disease and perhaps diabetes.

8 Jun 2011

Food poisoning with E coli low but Salmonella high

According to public health officials this Tuesday, progress has been made in combating the microbes behind 50 million yearly U.S. food poisoning cases. These affect one in six Americans. This comes from the newest federal FoodNet report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that shows that total food-borne illnesses dropped by nearly a quarter in the last decade and a half, but salmonella infections have steadily refused to drop, climbing slightly in recent years.

8 Jun 2011

Cooperation is key to finding global food security

"We need a global approach to achieving food security," Tom Daschle, former Senate majority leader and chair of the DuPont Advisory Committee on Agricultural Innovation and Productivity for the 21st Century, writes in a Politico opinion piece.

8 Jun 2011

UH environmental engineer to test parts of Galveston Bay for dioxins and PCBs

A University of Houston environmental engineer will test parts of Galveston Bay for toxic chemicals in an effort to help state officials determine the best way to handle those pollutants.

8 Jun 2011

U.S. should delay and reform Pakistan aid, report says

U.S. aid efforts in Pakistan have become "muddled" and should be delayed until reforms are implemented, a report (.pdf) compiled by a Center for Global Development (CGD) task force, said on Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reports (Tandon, 6/1).

3 Jun 2011

Editorial: Food security should be a priority

"Any system that produces enough food for the entire world and yet fails to feed one in seven people, which is subject to rampant speculation and land-grabbing, and where crops and land that could be used to feed people are instead turned into fuel for Hummers, is patently not working," a Guardian editorial says.

3 Jun 2011

Celebrities urge decriminalization of drug possession

Dame Judi Dench, Sir Richard Branson, actress Julie Christies and Sting have added their support to an ex-drugs minister and three former chief constables in calling for the decriminalization of the possession of all drugs. These celebrities together with leading lawyers, academics, artists and politicians have signed an open letter to David Cameron to mark this week's 40th anniversary of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act. The letter, published in a full-page advertisement in Thursday's Guardian, calls for a “swift and transparent” review of the effectiveness of current drugs policies.

2 Jun 2011

Oxfam report warns about steep increases in food costs, demand

With food costs rising for the second time in three years, Oxfam released a report on Tuesday predicting "the price of some staples such as corn will double in the next 20 years amid a permanent crisis caused by rising demand, flat crop yields and climate change," Associated Press/Forbes reports.

1 Jun 2011

USAID report questions Haitian quake death toll

The death toll from the January 2010 earthquake that struck Haiti was significantly lower than the toll claimed by Haitian leaders, according to the draft of a report prepared for USAID not yet publicly released, the Associated Press/Herald Sun reports.

1 Jun 2011

IUFoST Conference to focus on latest innovations in food technology

The International Union of Food Science and Technology will bring some of the best minds in academia and industry to China, to present the latest innovations in food technology and discuss pressing issues faced by the industry.

1 Jun 2011

Ceelox receives US patent titled ‘System and Method for Secure and Interactive Dissemination of Information’

Ceelox, Inc. proudly announced today that it was issued a patent from the U.S. Patent Office. The patent, U.S. Patent Number 7,945,520 entitled "System and Method for Secure and/or Interactive Dissemination of Information," provides the ability for associating message content with a media element, such as an advertisement, sending the message to a designated recipient, and presenting the media content only after the "unwrapping" of the message through the use of biometric authentication.

1 Jun 2011