| 1. Where is the United States in Prophecy? North Korea to 'Test Missile Capable of Striking U.S.'
North Korea is preparing to test fire a long range missile capable of striking the United States, according to media reports in South Korea and Japan this morning. The Yonhap News Agency in Seoul quoted South Korean officials who described satellite image showing a long cylindrical object being transported on a train through the North Korean countryside. The sinister object has been identified as a Taepodong-2, an intercontinental missile with a range of more than 4000 miles, capable of crossing the Pacific and striking targets in Hawaii or Alaska. Pyongyang’s last long range missile launches in 2006 and 1998, from a base in the east, caused shock across the region, particularly in Japan, where there is a deep sense of vulnerability to North Korean attack. The apparent preparations for a launch, which are easily discernible by spy satellites, may be intended by the government as a way of asserting itself as it prepares to resume nuclear disarmament negotiations with the new U.S. government of Barack Obama. North Korea's Scuds are able to reach all of South Korea, its Nodongs could attack Japan, and the Taepodong 2, which is believed to be in development, has the potential to threaten even Australia................... read more Unemployment rises in 98% of cities
In a sign that job losses are felt in every corner of the nation, unemployment rates rose in 98% of metropolitan areas across the country in December, according to a recent government report.n The Labor Department reported that the unemployment rates in 363 of 369 metropolitan areas rose in December 2008, compared with the same month in the prior year. In November, 364 of 369 areas reported higher unemployment rates. According to the report, 168 areas reported jobless rates of at least 7%, compared with just 33 a year ago, and 40 areas reported rates that were higher than 10%. Just 22 metropolitan regions had unemployment rates that were under 4%, down from 112 last year. A total of 95 regions registered unemployment rates that were at least 3 percentage points higher than a year ago. Not one region had a jobless rate decrease of more than 0.2 percentage point during that period. ................... read more “We may be at the start of the worst California drought in modern history”
A new survey of California winter snows on Thursday showed the most populous state is facing one of the worst droughts in its history, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said. The state, which produces about half the United States' vegetables and fruit, is in its third year of drought and its main system supplying water to cities and farms may only be able to fulfill 15 percent of requests, scientists said. The snowpack on California's mountains is carrying only 61 percent of the water of normal years, according to the survey by the state Department of Water Resources. Last year the snowpack held 111 percent of the normal amount of water, but spring was the driest ever recorded. "California is headed toward one of the worst water crises in its history, underscoring the need to upgrade our water infrastructure by increasing water storage, improving conveyance, protecting the (Sacramento) Delta's ecosystem and promoting greater water conservation," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "We may be at the start of the worst California drought in modern history," added Water Resources Director Lester Snow in a separate statement. December through January tend to be the wettest months but thus far the Sierra has only received one third of its expected annual snowfall. "A third of normal is devastating," said Elissa Lynn, a meteorologist with the state. "January is the biggest month for precipitation in the Sierra." "This could be a crisis situation," said Lynn. "In addition to conservation and rationing we could be paying higher prices for produce." Lynn said that some farmers have left fields unplanted based on expected lack of water.................... read more Is the US heading for a depression?
The sharp contraction of the US economy accelerated in the last three months of 2008, with official figures showing GDP shrinking at an annualised rate of 3.8%. With forecasters already predicting the worst US recession since World War II, how big a danger is there that the US economy will slip into a depression similar to the 1930s? The latest figures paint a gloomy picture of the US economy. Consumer spending, which makes up two-thirds of the economy, fell for the second quarter in a row, by 3.5%. This drop was led by a 22% drop in spending on durable goods like automobiles and washing machines. The decline in motor vehicle production was so great that it alone contributed 2% to the fall in GDP. Businesses as well as consumers have been hit hard by the slowdown. Exports, which had helped boost GDP earlier in the year, fell sharply, by 19.7%, as foreign markets for US products were hit by their own recessions. The economic uncertainty does seem to be changing consumer behaviour. People are saving more in preparation for the coming downturn. Consumers are being hit by a triple whammy: rising unemployment, which could rise from 7% to 10% of the workforce by the end of the year; restricted access to credit; and falling asset values. The fall in stock markets and house prices has reduced household wealth by 20%, from the middle of 2007. This alone has reduced consumption by around 1%, some economists estimate.................... read more
2. Israel - God's Timepiece Report: South African ports to reject Israeli ships
The Congress of South African Trade Unions has vowed to close ports to cargo ships from "apartheid Israel," the South African Daily News reported on Wednesday. The Congress has already announced it would refuse to offload a vessel scheduled to dock in Durban on Sunday. According to the report, this will be the second time COSATU's affiliate, the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU,) refuses to unload goods from or destined to "dictatorial and oppressive rogue states," which include Israel, Zimbabwe and Swaziland. A statement issued by COSATU said "This follows the decision by COSATU to strengthen the campaign in South Africa for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against apartheid Israel." A series of protests were also scheduled to take place in major South African cities starting Thursday, and several parliament members and senior union leaders are expected to attend. The statement, issued by COSATU, the Palestine Solidarity Committee and the Young Communist League recalled the successful boycotts imposed against South Africa during the apartheid era. "We call on other workers and unions to follow suit and to do all that is necessary to ensure that they boycott all goods to and from Israel until Palestine is free. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies, however, told the Daily News it was more likely that COSATU was more concerned with upcoming national elections than the state of the Palestinian people. "It is a pity COSATU cannot show the same solidarity with its own brothers in the African continent. More than 3 000 people in Zimbabwe have died of cholera, yet we do not see any protest about that." Krengel also said that a boycott would have little economic effect on Israel, and would prove to be unproductive. "As South Africans, we have been a nation which talks and reconciles. This is not helping at all, and does not help the Palestinians," he said.. ..................... read more Israel fears Syria is preparing to arm Hizbullah with Anti-Aircraft systems
Israel is concerned that Syria will transfer anti-aircraft missiles to Hizbullah in Lebanon while the IDF is preoccupied with the escalation in violence in the Gaza Strip, defense officials said on Tuesday. Defense Minister Ehud Barak toured the northern border on Tuesday amid a heightened level of alert, stemming from the fear that Hizbullah might carry out an attack to avenge last February's assassination of arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus. "It is difficult to know ahead of time where the [Hizbullah] response will come," Barak said. "We are also keeping an eye on the weapons smuggling from Syria to Hizbullah and there are a number of systems that we view as breaking the balance of power that cannot be allowed to be transferred." Israel is specifically concerned that Syria will transfer anti-aircraft systems to Hizbullah. Hizbullah is already believed to have shoulder-to-air missiles and the transfer of additional systems would severely impair the IAF's operational freedom over Lebanon. If these systems are transferred to Hizbullah, Israel would need to "consider its response," Barak said. The Prime Minister's Office's Counter-Terrorism Bureau issued a travel advisory this week, warning all Israelis of a potential Hizbullah attack overseas ahead of the one-year anniversary of the assassination on February 12. Barak said that if there was an attack, Israel would hold the Lebanese government responsible. "Hizbullah is not just a terrorist organization running around the hills but also sits at the cabinet table in Beirut," he said. "Therefore, the Lebanese government bears overall responsibility and any attempt to attack Israel will be met with a response."...................... read more Obama 'guarantees' West Bank withdrawal
The Palestinian Authority received a guarantee from President Obama's administration that understandings reached with Israel during U.S.-backed negotiations while President Bush was in office would be utilized as starting points for current and future talks with the Jewish state, top PA officials told WND. With new general Israeli elections scheduled for next week, the move could limit the incoming Israeli prime minister, since the PA can point to points of agreement during previous talks between Bush and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The PA officials, speaking on condition their names be withheld, said they were enthusiastic about the new tone of the White House and about recent meetings with Obama's Mideast envoy, former Democratic Sen. George Mitchell. They said they believe that under Obama the Palestinians can extract from Israel concessions reaching "much further" than during talks held under the previous administration. "Regarding all understandings achieved between the parties, the Obama administration told us they will give guarantees to carry them out," said a top PA official. "With Obama, the number of settlers to be removed from the West Bank will be much more than 60,000," said the PA official, referring to previous negotiations in which Israel expressed a willingness to withdraw from up to 94 percent of the West Bank and move about 60,000 settlers into central settlement blocks closer to Jerusalem. The source told WND that Obama is said to favor Israel withdrawing from nearly the entire West Bank. . ...................... read more Israeli ultranationalist poised for election gains
The hottest slogan in the Israeli election campaign is a not-so-veiled attack on the country's Arab minority: "Without loyalty, there is no citizenship." The motto is plastered nationwide across buses and billboards. Above it looms the dour, bearded face of its mastermind, Avigdor Lieberman, who is enjoying a surge in opinion polls that indicate he could emerge as the political kingmaker after Tuesday's election. Recent polls have Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party edging past the Labor Party to become the third-largest faction in parliament. The two leading rivals for prime minister — Benjamin Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni — would have a hard time forming a coalition government without him. Lieberman's most polarizing policy is his initiative to redraw Israel's borders — pushing areas with heavy concentrations of Arabs outside the country and under Palestinian jurisdiction. Those who remain would be forced to sign an oath of loyalty to the Jewish state, and anyone who refused would lose the right to vote or run for office. Some 20 percent of Israel's 7 million citizens are Arabs and about a dozen serve in the 120-seat parliament. The Moldovan-born Lieberman, who still speaks in a thick Russian accent, seems unaffected by charges of racism, saying tough times require tough policies. He cites the refusal of Israeli Arabs to serve in the army or national service programs and their lawmakers' contacts with Israel's enemies in the Arab world. "Israel is under a dual terrorist attack, from within and from without," Lieberman said at a security conference Monday. "And terrorism from within is always more dangerous than terrorism from without."...................... read more Israel and Hamas Prepare for the Next Gaza War
As Israel prepared to launch its assault in Gaza in late December, it braced for substantial casualties among its troops. Commanders warned their men of Hamas' suicide commandos, missiles that could smash tanks and knock helicopters out of the sky, and long-range rockets that could reach deep into Israel. Yet when the dust had settled, the Islamist militants' primary military achievement was to maintain its rocket fire into Israel throughout the 22-day conflict. Of the 10 Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza, four were victims of friendly fire. The militants continue to fire rockets. On Tuesday a medium-range Grad missile struck the Israeli port city of Ashkelon in what may be Hamas' closing shot before an Egyptian-brokered truce finally takes effect. Hamas and its supporters have claimed victory as a result of simply being able to survive the fierce Israeli onslaught. As a result, Hamas says, Israel lost the political battle - its pummeling of Gaza and the heavy Palestinian death toll has offended many former supporters, leaving Hamas' political position strengthened. But in battle, Israel clearly held the upper hand. During the conflict, very few of Hamas' 15,000 fighters appeared, and neither did its feared arsenal of Iranian-supplied weapons. Several senior Israeli officers provided TIME with a detailed account of the military campaign. "There was never a single incident in which a unit of Hamas confronted our soldiers," one Israel Defense Forces (IDF) official says. "We kept waiting for them to use sophisticated antitank and antiaircraft missiles against us, but they never did." The Israeli military reported only four attempts by suicide bombers instead of the dozens they had anticipated from Hamas' special kamikaze unit. So what happened to Hamas? ...................... read more
5. Apostate Christianity Church protests Ohio's gay marriage ban
Clergy at a church are protesting Ohio's ban on gay marriage by refusing to sign state marriage licenses for heterosexual couples. The Rev. John Tamilio III, head pastor at Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ, said the move is a civil-rights protest. Ministers won't sign the licenses until gay unions are legal in Ohio. Ohio voters approved a gay marriage ban in 2004. Heterosexual couples exchanging wedding vows at Pilgrim Congregational will need an additional civil ceremony by a justice of the peace or a judge to make their union legal. The United Church of Christ, a 1.2 million member denomination headquartered in Cleveland, adopted a resolution supporting gay marriage at a national synod in Atlanta three years ago. Greg Brekke, a spokesman for the national church, said each of the denomination's 5,600 congregations is free to choose whether to sign marriage licenses. The church says at least five other UCC congregations have undertaken similar marriage protests.... ................. read more
6. The Rise of Islam Islamic Nations Dominate '09 Persecution List
Reports that at least 10 Christians were abducted and killed for their faith – sometimes by beheading – during 2008 has pushed Somalia into the Top 10 among nation's that aggressively persecute Christians, according to a new report from Open Doors USA. The organization today released its 2009 World Watch List, which cited Korea – for the seventh straight year – as the nation that persecutes Christians more intensely than any other around the globe. But Somalia rose from 12th in 2008 to 5th this year because of the growing level of attacks there, according to the report which noted two of the worst three nations, Saudi Arabia and Iran, are nations governed by Islamic Shariah law, and seven of the Top 10 nations fall into that category. Paul Estabrooks, the organization's minister-at-large, told WND that those Islamic nations "certainly are impacted significantly by Shariah." According to reports from Compass Direct News, it was only about 12 weeks ago when an aid worker was beheaded in Somalia specifically for converting from Islam to Christianity. Witnesses told the organization Muslim extremists had gathered a crowd in Manyafulka village by telling them of a feast that was being prepared. Eyewitnesses who insisted on anonymity because they feared reprisals said the Islamics carried guns and swords and dragged a handcuffed Mansuur Mohammed with them. They reported one Muslim pulled back Mohammed's head, another recited the Quran and another twisted his head so an executioner could slit his neck. The killers then displayed the severed head to the petrified crowd, the report said. The report said a video taken on a mobile telephone later was circulated in what many saw as a strategy to terrify anyone contemplating conversion from Islam to Christianity..................... read more
7. Increase in Knowledge/New Technologies No Place To Hide: Google Offers People Tracking Software
Just because the Internet has broken down geographic barriers, don't assume that Google doesn't care about geography. The company plans to launch software called Latitude on Wednesday that lets mobile phone users share their location with close contacts. Google hopes it will help people find each other while out and about and to keep track of loved ones. "What Google Latitude does is allow you to share that location with friends and family members, and likewise be able to see friends and family members' locations," said Steve Lee, product manager for Google Latitude. For example, a girlfriend could use it to see if her boyfriend has arrived at a restaurant and, if not, how far away he is. To protect privacy, Google specifically requires people to sign up for the service. People can share their precise location, the city they're in, or nothing at all. "What we found in testing is that the most common scenario is a symmetrical arrangement, where both people are sharing with each other," Lee said. Latitude is part of Google Maps for Mobile, the company's mapping software for mobile phones, but also can be used through a gadget loaded onto its iGoogle customized home page. It'll work in 27 countries at launch, Google said. .......................... read more New IBM Supercomputer to be equivalent of two million laptops
IBM is to build a hugely powerful supercomputer capable of performing at 20 petaflops per second, twenty times faster than the current record holder, namely the 1 petaflop Roadrunner machine it delivered back in June to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. IBM has been contracted by the US government to build the machine, dubbed Sequoia, and is still developing the technology needed. According to Big Blue, Sequoia will have the power of 2 million laptops. Its closest rival, the world's first petaflop machine, Roadrunner, can only perform at speeds equivalent to 100,000 laptops combined. Understandably, a machine of this nature will occupy a lot room, namely 3,422 square feet (or 318 square metres). That is roughly the size of a large house, and although IBM claims it will be highly energy-efficient for the job it does, machines of this nature consume tremendous amounts of electricity and it is expected to occupy 96 refrigerator-sized racks. Big Blue believes that the 20-petaflop computing power of Sequoia will be so powerful, it will exceed the combined systems of every machine on the Top 500. .......................... read more Could ecoterrorists let slip the bugs of war?
The terrorists' letter arrived at the Mayor of Los Angeles's office on November 30, 1989. A group calling itself “the Breeders” claimed to have released the Mediterranean fruit fly in Los Angeles and Orange counties, and threatened to expand their attack to the San Joaquin Valley, an important centre of Californian agriculture. With perverse logic, they said that unless the Government stopped using pesticides they would assure a cataclysmic infestation that would lead to the quarantining of California produce, costing 132,000 jobs and $13.4 billion in lost trade. The infestation was real enough. It was ended by heavy spraying. It is still not known if ecoterrorists were behind it, but the panic it engendered shows that “the Breeders” were flirting with a powerful weapon. The history and future of insects as weapons are explored in my new book, Six-Legged Soldiers. As an entomologist, I was initially interested in how human beings have conscripted insects and twisted science for use in war, terrorism and torture. It soon became apparent that the weaponisation of insects was not some quirky military footnote but a recurring theme in human strife, and quite possibly the next chapter in modern conflicts. Insects are one of the cheapest and most destructive weapons available to terrorists today, and one of the most widely ignored: they are easy to sneak across borders, reproduce quickly and can spread disease and destroy crops with devastating speed. A great strategic lesson of 9/11 has been overlooked. Terrorists need only a little ingenuity, not sophisticated weapons, to cause enormous damage. Armed only with box-cutters, terrorists hijacked aircraft and brought down the World Trade Centre. Insects are the box-cutters of biological warfare - cheap, simple and wickedly effective. .......................... read more Humans 'will be implanted with microchips' prominent academic says
All Australians could be implanted with microchips for tracking and identification within the next two or three generations, a prominent academic says. Michael G Michael from the University of Wollongong's School of Information Systems and Technology, has coined the term "uberveillance" to describe the emerging trend of all-encompassing surveillance. "Uberveillance is not on the outside looking down, but on the inside looking out through a microchip that is embedded in our bodies," Dr Michael told ninemsn. Microchips are commonly implanted into animals to reveal identification details when scanned and similar devices have been used with Alzheimers patients. US company VeriChip is already using implantable microchips, which store a 16-digit unique identification number, on humans for medical purposes. Another form of uberveillance is the use of bracelets worn by dangerous prisoners which use global positioning systems to pinpoint their movements. But Dr Michael said the technology behind uberveillance would eventually lead to a black box small enough to fit on a tiny microchip and implanted in our bodies. This could also allow someone to be located in an emergency or for the identification of corpses after a large scale disaster or terrorist attack. "This black box will then be a witness to our actual movements, words — perhaps even our thoughts —-and play a similar role to the black box placed in an aircraft," he said. He also predicted that microchip implants and their infrastructure could eliminate the need for e-passports, e-tags, and secure ID cards. "Microchipping I think will eventually become compulsory in the context of identification within the frame of national security," he said. . .......................... read more
8. Christian Worldview/Issues Mississippi most religious, Vermont least, survey says
Want to be almost certain you'll have religious neighbors? Move to Mississippi. Prefer to be in the least religious state? Venture to Vermont. A new Gallup Poll, based on more than 350,000 interviews, finds that the Magnolia State is the one where the most people — 85% — say yes when asked "Is religion an important part of your daily life?"Less than half of Vermonters, meanwhile — 42% — answered that same question in the affirmative. Joining Mississippi in the top "most religious" states are other notches in the Bible Belt: Alabama (82%), South Carolina (80%), Tennessee (79%), Louisiana (78%), and Arkansas (78%). New England predominates in the top "least religious" states: Following Vermont are New Hampshire (46%), Maine (48%), Massachusetts (48%), Alaska (51%) and Washington (52%). "Clearly, states in the South in particular, but also some states in the Southwest and Rocky Mountains ... have very religious residents and New England states in particular, coupled with states like Alaska and others, are irreligious," said Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of The Gallup Poll. The reasons why, however, are far less clear, observers said. Overall, Gallup researchers found that 65% of all Americans said religion was important in their daily lives. Newport was surprised that one state — Utah — did not make the "most religious" list, given the state's large Mormon population. "They apparently have two kinds of people in the state," he said. "They have the very religious and devout Mormon population but it also looks like they have a lot of nonreligious people."................... read more Fox saves 'Narnia' from Disney
Twentieth Century Fox yesterday swooped in like a fantasy novel's knight in shining armor to save "The Chronicles of Narnia." The company signed on to co-produce "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," the third film in the series based on the beloved children's novels by C.S. Lewis. The franchise's future had been in doubt when Disney last month dropped the series it had co-produced with Walden Media. Walden - owned by conservative Christian businessman Philip Anschutz and responsible for smaller-scale family hits including "Because of Winn-Dixie" and "Nim's Island" - owns the rights to the seven-book series. Whether Fox can learn from Disney's mistakes and reinvigorate a family franchise that's at the very center of debates about commerce, culture and religion is something about which observers disagree. Then again, only in Hollywood could a product that racks up a cool $420 million worldwide be considered, in some eyes, a failure. That's just how Disney saw the performance of the series' second film. The first, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," was an unqualified success. The Christmas 2005 fantasy cost $180 million to make and raked in $745 million worldwide. "Prince Caspian," released in May 2008, cost $225 million but only made $420 million. That still seems like a tidy sum, though, and it's more than any other Disney film made last year, except for the critical and commercial darling "WallcE."............... read more Church attendance is on the rise as the economy turns down
When bad things happen, Judy Shierman sees the silver lining. And in the case of the economic downturn, it is this: Attendance has shot up at the First Baptist Church in downtown Calgary, where she is the associate pastor. “I love to see new people,” she says. She began noticing the increase in September – around the time the wheels fell off the global economy. Since then, her congregation has bloomed by 20 per cent to about 350 people. While she acknowledges other factors may have contributed, she suspects economic woes helped to usher new faces into the pews. “People tend to draw closer together and rely on each other during difficult times like this,” she says. As businesses falter and Canadians fret over whether they're next for the unemployment line, churches across the country are enjoying a dose of good fortune. The economy is cropping up more and more frequently in interviews with his research subjects on both sides, he says. “The hypothesis among some of these participants is that as people are without material and financial things … they'll find this void in life that only God can fulfill.” “Things have to get a lot worse before people are going to start seeking their answers in religion,” said Rev. Joel Vander Kooi of the Bethel United Reformed Church, an evangelical church in Calgary. In his 25 years as a pastor, he has seen people turn to the church in great numbers only once: after Sept. 11, 2001, when he was a pastor in Walker, Mich. Unless the economic crisis drags on and begins to severely affect vast numbers of people, he predicts his church's membership will remain constant at 500. “People don't start asking the really hard questions until they're really pressed to it,” he says. ... .................. read more Bible teacher Randall Price to lead new expedition in search of Noah's Ark in Turkey
Saddened by the wickedness of man, God directs the righteous Noah to build an ark for his family and two of each species of animal. Together, they ride the ark through 40 days and 40 nights of torrential rains that God unleashes upon the Earth. And when the waters subside, Noah and the animals return to land. "That seems almost like a fairy story," said archaeologist Randall Price, who is director of Liberty University's new Center for Judaic Studies. "But we believe it was an actual event." This summer Price, 57, plans to continue on a journey to prove just that as he joins an expedition to Mount Ararat. His team believes that it is there, in Eastern Turkey, where Noah's Ark remains preserved underneath layers of rubble and ice. "There's a whole trail of history pointing to it [Mt. Ararat]," Price said in a recent interview. "But in our age, people tend to think it is more of a story like Jack and the Bean Stalk.' Our aim is to show that the Bible is good history." He pointed to Genesis 8:4, which states, "and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat," in The New International Version of the Bible. For centuries, expeditions have set out to find Noah's Ark but have been unable to find any concrete evidence, beyond that of an unwavering faith, to support its existence. Last fall, a new tip peaked both his and Price's interest. A Kurdish shepherd told them that he had seen the ark, and even climbed on top of it, when he was a boy. The team hypothesizes that the ark is preserved in several pieces beneath a glacier on the mountain, and every so often the glacier recedes, exposing part of the vessel.. ... .................. read more
9. Other Events To Watch Gadhafi, as new African Union chairman, will seek single state
President Moammar Gadhafi of Libya was named chairman of the African Union on Monday, wresting control of a body he helped found and has long wanted to remake in his Pan-African image. His installation as the new head of the 53-member body resembled more of a coronation than a democratic transfer of power. Gadhafi was dressed in flowing gold robes and surrounded by traditional African leaders who hailed him as the "king of kings." The choice of Gadhafi was not a surprise — he was the leading candidate — but the prospect of his election to lead the African Union caused some unease among some of the group's member nations. Gadhafi is an ardent supporter of a long-held dream of transforming Africa — a collection of post-colonial fragments divided by borders that were drawn arbitrarily by Western powers — into a vast, unified state that could play a powerful role in global affairs. He has repeatedly proposed immediate unity and the establishment of a single currency, army and passport for the entire continent. He pledged Monday to bring up the issue for a vote at the African Union's next summit meeting, in July....................... read more Environmentalists pushing for two child limit, abortion to save environment
Couples who have more than two children are being “irresponsible” by creating an unbearable burden on the environment, the government’s green adviser has warned. Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the government’s Sustainable Development Commission, says curbing population growth through contraception and abortion must be at the heart of policies to fight global warming. He says political leaders and green campaigners should stop dodging the issue of environmental harm caused by an expanding population. “I am unapologetic about asking people to connect up their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how they decide to procreate and how many children they think are appropriate,” Porritt said.
“I think we will work our way towards a position that says that having more than two children is irresponsible. It is the ghost at the table. We have all these big issues that everybody is looking at and then you don’t really hear anyone say the “p” word.” The Optimum Population Trust, a campaign group of which Porritt is a patron, says each baby born in Britain will, during his or her lifetime, burn carbon roughly equivalent to 2½ acres of old-growth oak woodland - an area the size of Trafalgar Square. The British population, now 61m, will pass 70m by 2028, the Office for National Statistics says. The fertility rate for women born outside Britain is estimated to be 2.5, compared with 1.7 for those born here. The global population of 6.7 billion is expected to rise to 9.2 billion by 2050. Porritt, who has two children, intends to persuade environmental pressure groups to make population a focus of campaigning.. ........................ read more Hungry Again - Economic Crisis Could Multiply Food Crisis
Fears over global hunger are back, and this time there are two drivers—not only volatile commodity prices, but also job losses and plunging incomes around the world. A study released last week by the International Labor Organization predicted that if current economic conditions continue through the new year, 200 million workers, mostly in developing countries, will be pushed into extreme poverty by loss of jobs or lowered wages. "Our message is realistic, not alarmist," says ILO Director-general Juan Somavia. "We are now facing a global jobs crisis." And, by proxy, a potential food crisis. Even though agricultural commodity prices are down from their peak last summer, hunger is likely to increase this year in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, which have the world's harshest labor markets and highest hunger levels, as well as in the Caribbean and parts of Central Asia. At a global food security summit in Madrid last week, UN and government officials blamed worsening unemployment and dramatically decreasing remittances from abroad, which account for as much as a quarter of GDP in some poor countries ....................... read more |
Posts
