BATAMDA, Egypt — One place to begin to understand why this parched country has nearly ruptured relations with its upstream neighbors on the Nile is ankle-deep in mud in the cotton and maize fields of Mohammed Abdallah Sharkawi. The price he pays for the precious resource flooding his farm? Nothing.
Author: WHES
India and China’s plans to dam rivers before they flow through Bangladesh could destroy nation’s agriculture
Ongoing wrangling over vital waterways that pass through China and India – the two most populous countries in the world – could lead to agricultural devastation further downstream in Bangladesh, experts warn.
Philippine workers overseas toil far from home, dream of their return to their country, and send home income representing 10 percent of the total Philippine national product
MABINI, the Philippines — Mediterranean-inspired, pastel-colored houses dot the coast and hills of this rural town in the Philippines, dwarfing their traditional counterparts made of unpainted concrete blocks under roofs of corrugated zinc. The larger houses, barely inhabited, many of them empty, belong to overseas workers who plan to return here one day.
World hunger dips, but not by much
Higher incomes in Asian countries have lowered the number of hungry in 2010, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), but economists warn that volatile wheat prices are affecting other staple grains such as maize and rice, and could lead to setbacks.
Pakistan: What did you eat today?
For hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis forced by the floods to abandon their homes, food is a primary concern: some families have gone days without a meal.Frances Kennedy, a World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson, told IRIN: “We are very concerned about the nutritional situation. About 2.8 million people have been reached, but there are others in need. Camps are crowded and people are sleeping on sides of the roads.”
Upstarts chip away at the power of Pakistani elite
MUZAFFARGARH, Pakistan — In Pakistan, where politics has long been a matter of pedigree, Jamshed Dasti is a mongrel. The scrappy son of an amateur wrestler, Mr. Dasti has clawed his way into Pakistan’s Parliament, beating the wealthy, landed families who have ruled here.
Indian government agency fights US companies trying to copyright their versions of yoga. Yoga is ancient collective knowledge and should be available for use by anyone, agency says
Heard of Naked Yoga? Kosher Yoga? Yoga for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? More than 30 million Americans practice some sort of yoga in an ever-expanding industry generating an estimated $6 billion in the United States alone.
India tries using cash payments to slow birthrates
SATARA, India — Sunita Laxman Jadhav is a door-to-door saleswoman who sells waiting. She sweeps along muddy village lanes in her nurse’s white sari, calling on newly married couples with an unblushing proposition: Wait two years before getting pregnant, and the government will thank you.
A global graveyard for dead computers in Ghana (Photo slideshow)
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India asks: Should poor people have a right to food?
JHABUA, India — Inside the drab district hospital, where dogs patter down the corridors, sniffing for food, Ratan Bhuria’s children are curled together in the malnutrition ward, hovering at the edge of starvation. His daughter, Nani, is 4 and weighs 20 pounds. His son, Jogdiya, is 2 and weighs only eight.
