Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The Arab states received the proposal made by Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh for creation of an “Arab union”, an analogue of the European Union (EU).
The Statement of the XXII Summit of the League of Arab States says that the Arab leaders endorsed establishment of quadrilateral commission to draw up a document on improvement of joint activity. The commission includes heads of Lybia, Egypt, Qatar, Iraq and Yemen and LAS secretary general.
Worst Drought in a Millenium Creates Severe Food Shortages
Beijing News has reported that drought has now seriously impacted the provinces of Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, the city of Chongqing, and the surrounding areas, affecting 61.3 million people, according to a disaster briefing released by the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs on March 23.
The drinking water supply for 18 million people, and water for 11.7 million large livestock and five million hectares (12.5 million acres) of farmland are compromised. More than 1.15 million hectares (2.9 million acres) of farmland is already decimated.
Epoch Times – Worst Drought in a Millenium Creates Severe Food Shortages.
NEWCASTLE, Wyo. - Grasshopper infestations
have taken on mythic tones here on the arid prairie of northeastern Wyoming — they blanket highways, eat T-shirts off clotheslines and devour nearly every scrap of vegetation on ranches and farms.
The myth may come closer to reality this summer than at any time in decades in several states in the West and the Plains.
Grasshopper invasion feared in some states – Life- msnbc.com
By Matt Joyce
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
While tensions continue to simmer around the Temple Mount after riots in and around the capital’s Old City earlier this month, a new campaign calling for the construction of the Third Temple atop the holy site has made its way to the sides of 200 Egged buses in the city, which now sport posters featuring a picture of a rebuilt temple on the Mount, and nothing else.
The posters, which contain the phrase, “May the Bais Hamikdosh be rebuilt speedily and within our days,” were sponsored by the Our Land of Israel group, which is led by Rabbi Shalom Dov Volpo and activist Baruch Marzel, leave out the site’s current structures – namely the the Aksa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
The Netherlands is grappling with an outbreak of a rare disease. It normally strikes farm animals, but it’s now sickening hundreds of people who have no contact with farms. While most people get something like the flu or pneumonia for a few weeks, some are sick for months, and a handful have died. The disease is caused by a type of bacteria so resilient that the U.S. government considers it a bioterrorism agent. From the Netherlands, Emily Kopp reports. (images courtesy of VJ Movement)
Truck driver Frank van Lent lives in a small town an hour southeast of Amsterdam. He used to play tennis and jog, but now a short stroll through his neighborhood is all he has energy for. His trouble began ten months ago.
Frank Van Lent and his partner Ans Brouwers
He became exhausted, he says. He developed a fever, headaches, muscle aches, heart palpitations. At first, his doctor was stumped. He prescribed antibiotics, but those didn’t help. Two months went by, but van Lent didn’t get better. He went in for more tests.
Outbreak of rare disease in the Netherlands | Health | PRI’s The World.
MERCED, Calif. – The mysterious 4-year-old crisis of disappearing honeybees is deepening. A quick federal survey indicates a heavy bee die-off this winter, while a new study shows honeybees’ pollen and hives laden with pesticides.
Two federal agencies along with regulators in California and Canada are scrambling to figure out what is behind this relatively recent threat, ordering new research on pesticides used in fields and orchards. Federal courts are even weighing in this month, ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overlooked a requirement when allowing a pesticide on the market.
via Bees in more trouble than ever after bad winter – Yahoo! News.
By GARANCE BURKE and SETH BORENSTEIN
http://news.yahoo.com
Hundreds of powerful US “bunker-buster” bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran.
The Sunday Herald can reveal that the US government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 “Blu” bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures.
Experts say that they are being put in place for an assault on Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities. There has long been speculation that the US military is preparing for such an attack, should diplomacy fail to persuade Iran not to make nuclear weapons.
via Final destination Iran? – Herald Scotland | News | World News.
Are we headed toward a global trade war? Maybe so, judging from the rhetoric that is being thrown around by some big names. The issue is whether the United States should try to remedy its trade deficit by forcing China to make its currency—and hence its exports—more expensive.
Paul Krugman, the U.S. economist and Nobel winner, is one of those talking tough. “It’s time to take a stand” against China’s currency peg with the U.S. dollar, he says. He’s urging Congress to name China as a currency manipulator and threaten it with tariffs of 25% on any Chinese goods entering the United States.
An estimated 440,000 people had multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in 2008 and a third of them died as the new variant of the TB mycobacterium continues to spread, the World Health Organization said Thursday. Nearly half of the cases were in China and India, which have been hit hardest by the outbreak. But in some areas of the world, especially three provinces in Russia, more than one in every four cases of tuberculosis are the result of the hard-to-treat strain, according to the report.
Worldwide, there were an estimated 9.4 million cases of TB and 1.8 million deaths, so the drug-resistant forms remain a relatively small problem. But experts fear that they will continue to spread, displacing the drug-susceptible strains and greatly complicating treatment and increasing its cost.
BARCELONA, Spain – The Mediterranean was heaving as the 68-year-old Italian stood in the cruise ship lounge. A moment later a monstrous wave shattered the windows and sent shards into her head, leaving her bleeding on the floor and calling out for her husband.
Torrents of water gushed into the Louis Majesty, pouring through several floors of the ship.
“I thought I would end up in the sea, drowned,” said Anna Lita, who had a black eye and bandages on her head and hand Thursday.
via Cruise travelers tell of deadly waves off Spain – Yahoo! News.
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