The shutdown of two small e-mail providers on Thursday illustrates why it is so hard for Internet companies to challenge secret government surveillance: to protect their customers’ data from federal authorities, the two companies essentially committed suicide.
Author: WHES
Violent and chaotic, Central African Republic lurches toward a crisis
BANGUI, Central African Republic — The two men lay still in the back of the pickup truck, staring up. Over them stood the uniformed rebels, rifles pointing out as the truck sped forward.
Zimbabwe’s avoidable food crisis: The latest crisis is not a natural disaster, but may be the result of corruption and incompetence
Nearly a decade after embarking on a controversial land reform programme, Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, is now suffering acute food shortages. In May 2013, its agriculture-based economy imported more than 150,000 metric tonnes of grain from neighbouring Zambia, at a price tag of $25 million. Maize is a staple for Zimbabwe, which consumes 2.2 million tonnes annually.
Poor children show a decline in obesity rate
After years of growing concern about obesity among children, federal researchers have found the clearest evidence yet that the epidemic may be turning a corner in young children from low-income families.
Post-recession, a greater share of food-insecure children have parents who are unemployed or working part-time
Between 2007 and 2011, the percentage of U.S. households with food-insecure children increased from 8.3 to 10.0 percent. Households with food insecurity among children are those in which one or more children lack consistent access to adequate food because the household has insufficient money and other resources for food.
In rural Honduras, the northward pull is strong
COMAYAGUA, Honduras — It is 1,862 miles from here to the kitchens and lawns of Houston. The route through Mexico is more dangerous than ever. And if Santos Arias somehow manages to reach the U.S. border without getting arrested, kidnapped, robbed, maimed, beaten or killed along the way, chances are he’ll be deported and have to start all over again.
As oil-rich Chad splashes the cash it must beware white elephant projects. Ten years after Chad’s oil came onstream, large infrastructure projects disguise a country failing to fruitfully invest its revenue
Four years ago, residents of Koudalwa village, near Bongor in south-western Chad, noticed 4×4 vehicles carrying Chinese people into the bush. They were searching for a good spot to build a central processing facility for their oil extraction project, having bought oil wells from Encana, a Canadian company.
Mali’s aid problem
There is little discernible economic infrastructure on the 635km drive from Mali’s capital, Bamako, to the central town of Mopti, except for speed bumps and checkpoints where local vendors congregate to target vehicles as they slow. Rusted signs and faded banners from international donors dot the scrubland, advertising development projects either long abandoned or never undertaken.
In Afghanistan, a second Guantanamo
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Other agencies clamor for data NSA compiles
WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency’s dominant role as the nation’s spy warehouse has spurred frequent tensions and turf fights with other federal intelligence agencies that want to use its surveillance tools for their own investigations, officials say.
