Over 1.0b people going hungry every day across the globe
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
From Fazle Rashid
NEW YORK, Apr 20: The agriculture ministers from G8 nations meeting in Italy to review the global food crisis were told by the UN that more than 1.0 billion people across the globe are going hungry every day and this is going to rise because of the economic recession and rise in food prices due to shrinkage of acreage as the sector has been hit by credit freeze.
The G8 nations said the world is "very far from reaching" the UN goal of halving the number of people facing chronic hunger by 2015 "in the clearest admission yet by the leading countries of the failure". Oxfam, the world renowned non-government organisation (NGO) called the current meeting of the G8 nations "another nail in the coffin of the goal to reduce world hunger."
The US agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack strongly feels that food security and global stability are indispensibly tied in a sign that the US worries about global food crisis This could unleash a social convulsion particularly in poor countries, the analysts are warning. Food security will become a front issue in all future international discussions.
The US agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack said the number of global population will rise to 9.0 billion in 2050 and the problem of feeding them will be compounded by global warming.
On the global political front, the US ,Australia and the Netherlands, as feared earlier, will stay from the UN-sponsored conference on anti-racism as they are opposed to the forum turning out to be a plank to single out Israel for attack and try to stiffle criticism of Islam. Canada, Israel and Italy had earlier announced that they would stay away from the conference beginning in Geneva today.
The United States opted to side with Israeli lobby ignoring the demands of the African-American who wanted Washington's participation. African-Americans will hold a protest rally today.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the boycotting nations had allowed the Middle East politics to intrude into a conference on discrimination, the New York Times (NYT) said in a report. MS Pillay expressed her shock and disappointment over the US decision to boycott.
Human rights advocates said boycotting countries are losing chance to set their record straight on racism. These governments are ceding the floor to more radical voices.
Meanwhile, over 8000 UN staff are opposed to shifting of their office to midtown Manhattan and are revolting against the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
They fear that shifting would make them exposed to potential terrorist attack. The agitating UN staff accused the secretary general of not responding to the their concerns. Many, who have been holding on to cozy posts, are reluctant to be shifted to other postings. The UN office has undergone a refurbishment at a cost of $2.0 billion. The New York school children have been barred from visiting the UN office because of the lax security measures.
In another development, Exxon-Mobil, the oil giant, edged past world's largest retailer WalMart to take the top place in prestigious group of 500 companies that are grouped together by Fortune Magazine. The 500 biggest publicly traded companies based on their revenue earnings are rated annually. The Fortune 500 income fell 85 per cent, the biggest in 55 years. Citigroup and Bank of America fell out of the top ten and Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual and Wachovia were among 38 companies whose names were totally erased from the listing.
NEW YORK, Apr 20: The agriculture ministers from G8 nations meeting in Italy to review the global food crisis were told by the UN that more than 1.0 billion people across the globe are going hungry every day and this is going to rise because of the economic recession and rise in food prices due to shrinkage of acreage as the sector has been hit by credit freeze.
The G8 nations said the world is "very far from reaching" the UN goal of halving the number of people facing chronic hunger by 2015 "in the clearest admission yet by the leading countries of the failure". Oxfam, the world renowned non-government organisation (NGO) called the current meeting of the G8 nations "another nail in the coffin of the goal to reduce world hunger."
The US agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack strongly feels that food security and global stability are indispensibly tied in a sign that the US worries about global food crisis This could unleash a social convulsion particularly in poor countries, the analysts are warning. Food security will become a front issue in all future international discussions.
The US agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack said the number of global population will rise to 9.0 billion in 2050 and the problem of feeding them will be compounded by global warming.
On the global political front, the US ,Australia and the Netherlands, as feared earlier, will stay from the UN-sponsored conference on anti-racism as they are opposed to the forum turning out to be a plank to single out Israel for attack and try to stiffle criticism of Islam. Canada, Israel and Italy had earlier announced that they would stay away from the conference beginning in Geneva today.
The United States opted to side with Israeli lobby ignoring the demands of the African-American who wanted Washington's participation. African-Americans will hold a protest rally today.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the boycotting nations had allowed the Middle East politics to intrude into a conference on discrimination, the New York Times (NYT) said in a report. MS Pillay expressed her shock and disappointment over the US decision to boycott.
Human rights advocates said boycotting countries are losing chance to set their record straight on racism. These governments are ceding the floor to more radical voices.
Meanwhile, over 8000 UN staff are opposed to shifting of their office to midtown Manhattan and are revolting against the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
They fear that shifting would make them exposed to potential terrorist attack. The agitating UN staff accused the secretary general of not responding to the their concerns. Many, who have been holding on to cozy posts, are reluctant to be shifted to other postings. The UN office has undergone a refurbishment at a cost of $2.0 billion. The New York school children have been barred from visiting the UN office because of the lax security measures.
In another development, Exxon-Mobil, the oil giant, edged past world's largest retailer WalMart to take the top place in prestigious group of 500 companies that are grouped together by Fortune Magazine. The 500 biggest publicly traded companies based on their revenue earnings are rated annually. The Fortune 500 income fell 85 per cent, the biggest in 55 years. Citigroup and Bank of America fell out of the top ten and Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual and Wachovia were among 38 companies whose names were totally erased from the listing.