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Governments falling short in drought fight: UN
Animal footprints are visible in dry and cracked mud on the bank of the half-full Bewl water reservoir in Kent on April 5, 2012. Governments worldwide are failing to do enough to tackle drought, which lacks the headline-making punch of a hurricane but can have an equally devastating human and economic impact, the UN weather agency warn.
Governments worldwide are failing to do enough to tackle drought, which lacks the headline-making punch of a hurricane but can have an equally devastating human and economic impact, the UN weather agency warned Thursday.
“A flood or hurricane is over within hours or days. A drought can last weeks, months, a season, a year. But droughts can cause as many deaths over time as any other natural disaster,” said Robert Stefanski, head of World Meteorological Organisation?s (WMO) agriculture division.
Droughts in recent years have struck regions ranging from the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, China, India, Mexico and Brazil to the United States, Russia and southeastern Europe.
Droughts are estimated to affect tens of millions of people and cause tens of billions of dollars in economic losses every year.
They are expected to increase in frequency, area and intensity due to climate change, yet Read more…
Israel warns citizens of threat of ‘global jihad’ and Iranian-sponsored attacks
On March 6, the Counterterrorism Bureau at Israel’s National Security Council issued its semiannual travel warning report. Travel warnings, which the bureau emphasized were only “recommendations,” of varying degrees are currently in place for Israelis in 27 countries, including Thailand, Nigeria, Tunisia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey.
The warnings, according to the report, are “based on solid and reliable information, which reflects a real threat, based upon intelligence assessments.” The report from the bureau noted that Hezbollah blames Israel for the death of Imad Mughniyah in 2008, while Iran blames Israel for the deaths of a number of its nuclear scientists. According to the bureau, Iran and Hezbollah are still looking to exact revenge and are likely to do so by targeting Israelis abroad via suicide attacks or kidnappings.
According to a source in the bureau, Israel is “identifying a systematic campaign operating with the greatest vigor…. They [Hezbollah and Iran] are fully coordinated. It is one axis.” The source also revealed, according to the Jerusalem Post, tha Read more…
Hunt for illegal immigrants wants your fingerprint
A U.S. Border Patrol vehicle sits parked in front of a crowd of people peering through the U.S.-Mexico border fence at Border Field State Park in San Diego in 2009. At one time, before the enhanced border fence in the area, the San Diego area held the most popular routes for illegal immigrants heading into the United States. (Photo by Denis Poroy / Associated Press file)
Because others have broken the law, the federal government may soon make you prove that you are not a criminal.
Call it logic, Washington-style.
Legislators in the Senate, working to get a handle on illegal immigration, have been talking about requiring each and every person in the land to have an identification card, implanted with a fingerprint or some other biometric detail, in order to get a job. In other words, we would all be guilty until we could prove our innocence, would all be illegals until we could prove our citizenship.
The problem: undocumented workers. Washington’s solution: give the citizens documents.
This plan, being developed by senators working on an immigration fix, badly misreads the mood of the citizenry. The people – liberals and conservatives alike – do not trust the government to do the right thing. Don’t the nation’s elected officials read the polls? Do they really believe that Read more…
Nightmare superbug killing half of those who are infected says CDC
A nightmare gut bacteria that can kill up to 50 percent of those infected, the extremely drug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)–producing K. pneumoniae sequence type 258 (KpnST258) has emerged as an important pathogen worldwide. Hospitals are scrambling to get rid of this bacteria. Check out the video, “Hospitals scramble to kill ‘superbug’”on NBCNews.com.
A deadly class of superbugs nearly impossible to treat with a fatality rate approaching 50 percent need to be stopped. But how do scientists stop the CRE outbreaks from reaching the general public? The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has identified deadly ‘nightmare’ bacteria that’s resistant to antibiotics and spreading through the nation’s hospitals. There’s the potential for CRE bacteria to spread to patients with common ailments such as diarrhea or more severe infections such as pneumonia. The doctors don’t have any drug to treat CRE outbreaks because the bacteria is resistant to Read more…
Why Is Obama’s Growing DHS Army Buying Armored Vehicles?
Security: In addition to stockpiling over a billion bullets and thousands of semiautomatic weapons the feds would deny U.S. citizens, the vehicle of choice for fighting the counterinsurgency war in Iraq is appearing on U.S. streets.
The sequestration question du jour is why the Department of Homeland Security, busy releasing hundreds, if not thousands, of deportable and detained illegal aliens due to budget constraints, is buying several thousand Mine Resistant Armored Protection (MRAP) vehicles?
And just who are they intended to be used against?
This acquisition comes on top of the recent news of the stockpiling by DHS of more than 1.6 billion (with a ‘b’) bullets of various calibers, enough by one calculation to fight the equivalent of a 24-year Iraq War, and the ordering of some 7,000 5.56x45mm NATO “personal defense weapons” (PDW) — also known as “assault weapons” when owned by civilians.
Additionally, DHS is asking for 30 round Read more…
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