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POPSUN vehicle seized in Darfur The driver was robbed of his personal possessions, his UN identity card and a hand-held radio. UNAMID reported the incident to the Government of Sudan police and National Intelligence for Safety and Security. The peacekeeping mission in Darfur is working with Sudanese police forces to try to improve their respect for human rights and their ability to enforce the law. UNAMID police in West Darfur are currently preparing to conduct a training course designed for Sudanese Movement Police. The Sudanese forces will be trained in law enforcement, human rights, community policing, child protection and protection of women. The course will be held from November 9 to November 27 and is expected to be attended by 90 local police officers.
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POPSFree Rice You guess the meaning of vocabulary words and Free Rice donates 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program!
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POPSOil-Rich States Starve the World Food Program The OPEC total amounts to roughly one minute and 10 seconds worth of the organization’s estimated $674 billion in annual oil revenues in 2007 — revenues that will be vastly exceeded in 2008 with the continuing spiral in world oil prices. This year, the U.S. had contributed $362.7 million to WFP just through May 4, according to the website. That figure does not include another $250 million above the planned yearly contribution that was promised by President George W. Bush in the wake of WFP’s April warning that a “silent tsunami” of rising food costs would add dramatically to the world population living in hunger. Nor does it include another $770 million in food aid that President Bush has asked Congress to provide as soon as possible. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, with oil revenues last year of $164 billion, does not even appear on the website donor list for 2008.
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POPSU.N. Suspends Aid Shipments To Myanmar After Government Confiscates Donations White House: Myanmar OKs One U.S. Aid Delivery Earlier Friday, Ky Luu, director of the U.S. office of foreign disaster assistance, had said that skilled aid workers were being forced to sit on the sidelines as victims of last week's cyclone die. His comments reflect mounting frustration among the United States and other countries as they wait for permission from the military-led government to begin trying to help. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354722,00.html
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POPS'End Of The Ethanol Dream' Astounding TV Commentary Frankly, I'd doubt any American broadcaster would have the nerve to say the following with cameras rolling and microphones switched on Absolutely must-see video available here, transcript follows The ethanol craze grew out of alarmism and the deep desire of governments, especially here in North America and Europe, to be seen as green. Now, it's clear that growing corn to make ethanol not only takes more energy to produce than it saves on the other end, but the subsidies, particularly in the States and Europe, for such production is one of the factors driving an international food crisis that, as always, is hardest on the poorest people of the world. (enthusiastic h/t to NBer Par for the Course) http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/05/02/astounding-tv-commentary-end-ethanol-dream
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POPSWorld's New Crisis: Soaring Food Prices
"Frankly speaking, that G8 meeting is in June and we cannot wait," Mr Zoellick said, after meeting the IMF and the World Bank's Development Committee. "We estimate that a doubling of food prices over the last three years could potentially push 100 million people in low-income countries deeper into poverty." The World Bank has warned that food prices will remain elevated this year and will probably stay above 2004 levels until 2015. "We estimate that the effect of this food crisis on poverty reduction worldwide is in the order of seven lost years," Mr Zoellick said. He said that almost half of $500 million that the World Food Program recently requested in additional pledges for food aid had been committed, but the May 1 deadline for raising the money would not be met. The parliamentary secretary for international development assistance, Bob McMullan, said yesterday Australia was one of the largest donors through the World Food Program, giving $61.7 million last year.
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POPSUN Says World Fisheries Face Collapse “We are getting more and more alarming signals of dramatic changes in the oceans. The recovery from the changes we’re making will probably take a million years.” The report found the most affected areas included those responsible for half the world’s fish catch. A slowing of ocean currents as a result of climate change may over the next 100 years interrupt the transport of nutrients to the most valuable coastal fishing zones, and the flushing away of pollution. In other impacts, Nellemann said he expected more than 50 percent of coral reefs to die by 2050 as a result of rising temperatures, with resulting impacts on tourism. Carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels create an acid when dissolved in water, and could over the coming decades make the sea more acidic than at any time in the past 65 million years, and by 2100 could prevent mollusks in some seas from forming shells.
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POPSWhere Hunger Will Hit in 2030 I know that if the drought keeps up, Australia will have trouble producing enough food, let alone food for export. "Mad Max" may prove more accurate than Orwell. These starving people will not stay at home and die, they will search for somewhere they can grow food. Australia will become more crowded and there will be a lot of market gardens.
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POPSHappity New Year!! 2008 May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them. May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes, and tell the world about your virtues. May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, may the commercials on TV not be louder than the program you have been watching, and may your check book and your budget balance - and include generous amounts for charity.
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POPSBuild Your Vocabulary - Feed The World More: Viral marketing, the compelling game, and the cause it supports are key to the site's success, WFP's Barton says. An ad is featured on the bottom of each page, and it is these advertisers who ultimately fund the checks Breen writes to the WFP. He is looking into Google ads and hiring an ad agency to run the site. Breen has specified that he wants the WFP to buy locally to support farmers in developing countries, rather than using imported food, which tends to depress local crop prices. Breen has already sent $113,000 to the WFP and will send more in increments of $10,000 to $15,000 as advertising dollars roll in, Barton says. Breen says he sends all profits to the WFP, and the site has no political or religious affiliation. He donates his time and pays the cost of leasing the site's servers himself. "Some people like to give money to their colleges or whatever," he writes by e-mail, "and this I what I prefer to do with it."
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POPSJapanese "Research" 1,000 Whales: Delicious! Japan is planing on killing a THOUSAND whale for "research"?!? What on earth are they possibly researching? And what will they possibly do with all that whale? I mean, seriously, imagine EATING a THOUSAND WHALES! I'm confused about this anyway. In the past we hunted whales for oil, not food, which is why whaling was such big business. Since then we have discovered that it is far easier to hunt other things for oil, such as citizens of the developing world. (And thanks to high birth rates those aren't endangered yet!) So the question is: what do the Japanese have against the whales? A thousand whales sounds like they've got a grudge to settle! I mean this isn't just "a little research." This is more like Ahab "researching" the white whale!
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POPSMalawi averts famine by dropping free-market policies Interesting story. After being pushed for years to adhere to strict free-market policies with regard to agriculture (i.e., abandon subsidies, encourage the cultivation of cash drops, and use foreign exchange to import food), Malawi finally decided to ignore the advice of the World Bank and others and begin aggressively subsidizing inorganic fertilizer and seed for farmers raising food for domestic consumption. As a result they now have a surplus of food and child malnourishment has fallen sharply.
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