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World Hunger News January 23 to February 23, 2010

 

The articles below were published in Hunger Notes between January 23, 2010 and February 23, 2010 and are now on the Hunger Notes front page, www.worldhunger.org.

United States
Millions of Americans are out of work, out of savings, and at the end of their unemployment compensation, with no jobs in sight
Peter S. Goodman New York Times
States consider Medicaid cuts as use grows Kevin Sack and Robert Pear New York Times
El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, border towns on each side of the Rio Grande, are worlds apart in violence caused by drug importation to the United States Dan Barry New York Times   See the New York Times series 'War without borders'  on drug trafficking between Mexico and the United States.
 US officials hopeful China will make concessions on currency. (Undervalued Chinese currency has led to US trade deficits with China, and loss of US jobs.)   John Pomfret  Washington Post
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer of South Carolina : "Don't feed the poor. They'll breed."  YouTube  
The poor are powerless and thus we remain silent about Bauer's remarks (Commentary) Leonard Pitts JrMiami Herald   Once stigmatized, food stamps find acceptance  Jason DeParle and Robert Gebeloff  New York Times

Africa
Military coup overthrows Niger president Tandja, who was planning to stay in power indefinitely Adam Nossiter New York Times
Malnutrition and high food insecurity predicted in Niger IRIN News
UN officials criticize US restrictions on Somalia aid Sudarsan Raghavan Washington Post
South African president Zuma 'deeply regrets pain' over love-child fathered with a woman who was not one of his wives BBC News  President Zuma gives exactly the wrong lesson on  HIV prevention (multiple sexual partners and no condoms--the principal way HIV is spread) to a nation where HIV is the biggest killer Kerry Cullinan Health-e (Zambia)
South Africa: A day in the life of a sex worker IRIN News

Asia
Amid starvation, runaway inflation, and food shortages in the Army, North Korea fires top economic officials, South Korean press reports Blaine Hardin Washington Post  Nepal: Why are so many young women killing themselves? IRIN News

Global
International humanitarian emergency aid system gets a 'B-minus' IRIN News   See report: The State of the Humanitarian System (76 page PDF file)  Study considers the future of humanitarian aid IRIN News   See report: Humanitarian Horizons: A Practitioners' Guide to the Future Many governments target  rights defenders in order to suppress human rights, Human Rights Watch says in a 90 country report Hunger Notes   See Hunger Notes special report: Harmful economic systems . Bleak portrait of Haiti orphanages raises fears for the children Ginger Thompson New York Times  Only one man is left to help tuberculosis patients amid the rubble of Haiti's only TB sanatorium  Ian Urbina  New York Times  (Factsheet: Haiti has the highest rate of TB in the Western Hemisphere)  Education was also leveled by the quake in Haiti Marc Lacey New York Times February 13, 2010

Special report: Food as a Human Right (Update): UN Human Rights committee gives preliminary recognition to  peasants' rights-- report describes marginalization of peasants, rural women and traditional fishing, hunting, and herding communities, reducing access to food among the poorest people FIAN International  See the report (MS Word file): "Report on discrimination in the context of the right to food A/HRC/AC/4/2: "

Opinion
Who benefits from coltan (DR Congo’s magic dust that has played a central role in transforming modern technology)? Khadija Sharife Pambazuka News
The worst of the pain of the economic crisis is felt by low income households--the lowest income group had unemployment of 30 percent while the highest income group had unemployment of 3 percent--yet there is a willful refusal by politicians and the media to focus on those who are suffering the most  Bob Herbert New York Times
South Africa’s ‘bling’ culture is a disgrace William Gumede
Hungry in America New York Times The poor are powerless and thus we remain silent about Bauer's remarks Leonard Pitts JrMiami Herald
Obama moves ahead with Africom Daniel Volman Africa Security Research Project J Also see the Congressional Research Service report, Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa (pdf file) S
 
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