Amid mounting food crisis, governments fear revolution of the hungry

Last week’s meetings in Washington of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Group of Seven were convened in the shadow of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. While Wall Street’s turmoil and the deepening credit crunch dominated discussions, leaders of the global financial institutions were forced to [...]

Jackson says Haiti suffering ‘horror’

The Rev. Jesse Jackson is calling on the Bush administration to address the “horror of hunger” in Haiti.
“People are literally starving to death. Some are eating mudpies as a staple diet,” said Jackson said at a news conference in Miami after arriving from a three-day visit to Haiti, The Miami Herald reported Wednesday. … [...]

Somalia: Starvation Fears in North

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Mubarak vows 30-pct wage rises to fight prices

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak vowed on Wednesday to raise public sector salaries by 30 percent in 2008 to combat rises in food prices amid rising public discontent over the state of the economy.  
In a televised speech ahead of Labour Day on May 1, Mubarak said he had asked the government to ensure that “salary [...]

Brazil forecasts record ethanol production in 2008

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No wheat deal signed at France/Egypt meeting

 French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier and Egypt’s Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid discussed sales of French wheat to Egypt at a meeting on Wednesday, but no deal was signed, a French farm ministry spokeswoman said.
“Rachid Mohamed Rachid informed (Barnier) as part of a discussion on the world food crisis that he was in talks with [...]

Stop biofuels to fight world hunger, food scientists say

Some top international food scientists Tuesday recommended halting the use of food-based biofuels, such as ethanol, saying it would cut corn prices by 20 per cent during a looming world food crisis.
But even as the scientists were calling for a moratorium, U.S. President George W. Bush urged the opposite. He declared the United States should [...]

Grain giants’ profits soar in crisis

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Food crisis squeezing Vietnamese poor

In her torn shirt and cheap flip-flops, the young street vendor crouches on the sidewalk of Vietnam’s biggest city, breathing the fumes of thousands of motorbikes and worrying how to cut her living costs.
Twenty-nine-year-old Nguyen Thi Bich Hoang says she is growing thinner every day because the soaring price of rice is forcing her to eat [...]

The world’s food insecurity

Paul Rogers in openDemocracy
The food crisis is now affecting many countries across the world. Millions of people in dozens of countries are unable to afford the food they need, and malnutrition is on the rise. From Egypt to Indonesia, Haiti to Thailand, and across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, increasingly vociferous public protests over food prices [...]