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Hunger in the news

A daily selection of news reports from the world's media dealing with hunger and responses to it.
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Responding to Emergencies
9 January 2009

People Of Lesotho Struggle With Rising Food, Fuel Prices

Article Tools Print Discuss Urban families in Lesotho, a small landlocked southern African country, are struggling to cope with rising food prices, according to a recent survey. Practically every household interviewed in a vulnerability assessment reported being affected by escalating food costs; more than half of urban households admitted borrowing food to get by, and more than 40 percent said they had been forced to cut down on meals. [...] "Food security is a chronic problem in Lesotho, but high food prices have hit people living in the peri-urban areas particularly hard," said Bhim Udas, country representative of the World Food Programme (WFP), which was involved in the survey. "Most of the people with low incomes spend 75 to 80 percent of their money only to buy food."
IRIN Sunday Independent
Responding to Emergencies
9 January 2009

Philippines: Rebels Bomb Electricity Tower, Official Says

Separatist rebels bombed an electricity transmission tower in the southern Philippines on Saturday, according to military spokesperson Lt. Stefani Cacho. [...] Last month, armed men attacked a U.N. truck carrying food to the southern Philippines, killing the driver's assistant, according to the U.N. World Food Program.
CNN
For Companies
9 January 2009

Takashimaya Starts Selling Love Bears

A department store chain Takashimaya starts selling Love Bears, stuffed animals that were displayed during the past Christmas Holiday season. Customers decide on the price of purchase, and a portion of the sales will be donated to WFP. This is the fourth year that the Takashimaya sells Love Bears.
Tokyo Newspaper
Responding to Emergencies
9 January 2009

UN High Commissioner for Human rights demands war crime investigation in Gaza

According to the United Nations World Food Programme, at least 80 percent of the population of Gaza is in need of urgent food aid. The director of WFP Josette Sheeran demands Israel allow better access for humanitarian aid to Gaza
YLE
Responding to Emergencies
9 January 2009

UN says it will soon resume suspended aid in Gaza

U.N. officials said Friday they will resume their suspended humanitarian aid operations in Gaza "as soon as practical," based on assurances from the Israeli Ministry of Defense that aid workers be better protected. U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said Friday that the Israeli military told the U.N. it "deeply regretted" the incidents that led the U.N. to suspend aid in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. The U.N. halted deliveries to the Gaza Strip on Thursday after gunfire from an Israeli tank killed an aid truck driver, and the international Red Cross said it would restrict activities after one of its drivers was injured in a similar incident. [...] With the assurances Friday that Israel will not shoot at the vehicles, the World Food Program and UNICEF can resume moving supplies into or around Gaza. Those agencies said they were still operating in the Palestinian territory, where 1 million people are without electricity and 750,000 are without running water, according to the U.N. relief agency.
International Herald Tribune
Responding to Emergencies
9 January 2009

UN Team To Explore Ways Of Supporting Security In Violence-Wracked Somalia

A U.N. team will head to the Horn of Africa next week to explore ways of supporting the African Union (A.U.) peacekeeping force in Somalia where violence sees an upsurge, U.N. said on its website Friday. The team includes the U.N. deputy special representative for Somalia, Charles Petrie, representatives from U.N. Political Office for Somalia as well as departments of peacekeeping, field support and political affairs at the UN Headquarters in New York. Talks will be held in Nairobi and Addis Ababa to discuss ways of supporting the A.U. mission as well as Somalia's transitional security forces and police. [...] Thursday the World Food Programme reported one staff member was shot dead by gunmen near the capital Mogadishu, the second killing of its worker in the country within three days.
Xinhua
Responding to Emergencies
8 January 2009

Serious shortage of food and medicine in Gaza

UN and international agencies accuse of the worsening situations in Gaza and are warning the consequences. WFP stressed that the food distributions in Gaza is "extremely difficult." Because of the fighting, only a quarter of the food for some 265,000 people has been distributed. WFP also added that even in the areas where food distribution is possible, people are afraid of going outside therefore 50 % of the 1.5 million residents could be in hunger.
Sankei Newspaper
Hunger in the news
7 January 2009

Frenetic UN diplomacy over Gaza

As the Israeli offensive in Gaza ended its 11th day, foreign ministers from the key powers arrived in New York for a 48-hour period of frenetic diplomacy. [...] The search for a diplomatic solution to the crisis seems to be coalescing behind the proposal by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, backed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, for a truce followed by talks with Israel and the Palestinians.
BBC News
Hunger in the news
7 January 2009

Israel Resumes Attack After Pause for Aid Delivery

Israel said Wednesday that it would send senior officials to talk with Egypt about halting the conflict in Gaza, but there were no immediate signs of a diplomatic breakthrough. Fighting between Israel and Hamas militants continued after a brief pause earlier in the day. International pressure for a negotiated cease-fire intensified a day after Israeli shells killed some 40 people at a United Nations school in Gaza.
New York Times
Hunger in the news
7 January 2009

Israel Warns Residents Along Gaza-Egypt Border of Air Strikes

Israeli aircraft have dropped leaflets over Rafah in southern Gaza, warning people to leave the border city before air strikes are launched. Rafah has the only crossing between the Palestinian territory and Egypt, but it is largely closed. It also has an extensive network of illegal tunnels into Egypt, used by Hamas militants as well as civilians to smuggle supplies.
Voice of America