NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Fears Growing Over Global Food Supply

Russia announced a 12-month extension of its grain export ban on Thursday, raising fears about a return to the food shortages and riots of 2007-08 which spread through developing countries dependent on imports. The announcement by Vladimir Putin came as the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation called an emergency meeting to discuss the wheat shortage, and riots in Mozambique left seven dead. The unrest in Maputo, in which 280 people were also injured, followed the government’s decision to raise bread prices by 30 per cent. Police opened fire on demonstrators after thousands turned out to protest against the price hikes, burning tyres and looting food warehouses. Although agricultural officials and traders insist that wheat and other crop supplies are more abundant than in 2007-08, officials fear the deadly...

China intensifies military build-up against Taiwan: reports

China is ramping-up its military presence facing Taiwan despite the easing of hostilities across the Strait, a defence ministry report cited by local media warned Wednesday. "Although the cross-Strait ties have improved significantly in recent years, the Chinese communists' military have not slowed at all their pace of build-up aimed at Taiwan," the United Daily News said, citing the ministry report...
 
 

 

  Ahmadinejad predicts the removal of 'Zionists' from the world
The hardline leader told the annual Palestinian solidarity day rally in Tehran that a popular revolt by the people of the Middle East would extinguish the Jewish homeland even if the governments reach a peace agreement. "If the leaders of the region do not have the guts, then the people of the region are capable of removing the Zionist regime from the world scene," he said...

Are Saudi dissidents preparing to overthrow the king?

It’s an allegation almost too surreal to be real. In a claim reminiscent of the most elaborate Middle East conspiracy theories known to date, a “reliable” source in the beleaguered Yemeni government has told the Yemeni news site Al Watan that a group of Saudi dissidents are secretly being trained by separatist Yemeni rebels in military warfare and covert communications so as to overthrow the Saudi king. Analysts, however, think the source is a government official trying to disseminate false information to turn the Saudi...
 



 

Angry in America: Inside Alex Jones' World

"Good old Uncle Samwill stage attacks ... that's how they keep the slaves in line," the libertarian radio host says during a rant on his show. "We have to wake up and face the fact that we have a criminal government." Jones, who sits at the helm of an independent media empire, is arguably the nation's premiere purveyor of what could be called paranoia porn. "World government means world tyranny run by a scientific...

Hurricane Earl a Harbinger of Worse to Come?

Hurricane Earl—now a Category 3 hurricane with winds of up to 115 miles (185 kilometers) an hour—is expected to nearly miss North Carolina's Outer Banks (map) early Friday morning. But the storm could be the first of several intense hurricanes to menace the U.S. East Coast as the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season heats up, according to Jeff Masters, meteorological director for the Weather Underground website. Hurricane Earl's path is expected to pass about a hundred miles (160 kilometers) offshore from Cape Hatteras around 2 a.m. ET Friday. As of 11...